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What probably has the distinction of being the world's first four wheel drive vehicle had an electric motor on each wheel,the Colombia truck of 1902 remaining in production until at least 1908,the actual production quantity is not known.Also in 1908 saw the introduction of the Aultman steam powered truck and the Cotta car,the latter employing four seperate chains to convey its drive.We should not overlook the four wheel drive,six cylinder 50 hp Spyker which came from Holland and made an appearance at the 1903 Paris show.There was also the awesome 60 hp racing version which ran in the Paris to Madrid inter-city race.
Yet the real history of four wheel drive starts in the small American town of Clintonville,Wisconsin in about 1905 when two local blacksmiths,Otto Zachow and William Besserditch,decided to take an agency on the Reo car.At this time the roads in America were around the worst in the world,in fact excessively dusty in the summer and deeply rutted quagmires in the winter months.The astory goes that one day in 1907 Zachow set out to a nearby town called Appleton,the road was so bad that the Reo slipped into a ravine.He eventually managed to extract himself and the car,not by driving out forwards but by reversing out,effectively turning his car into a front wheel drive Reo ! As a direct result Zachow set about conceiving a four wheel drive systemintended to prevent a repetition of this episode,to this end he fashioned a double 'Y' universal joint on his forge which was designed to permit the wheels to turn and also to convey the all important front wheel drive.He then went ahead and converted a White steam car to four wheel drive and as a result,William Besserditch and Doctor W.H.Finney,founded in 1908 the Four-Wheel Drive Auto company.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
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