Hauling Industry News
Pair of wood gas-powered Ford trucks at auction combine classics with apocalypse readiness.
While the Den Hartogh Museum in the Netherlands might have boasted the largest private collection of prewar Fords, the full list of vehicles heading to auction now that the museum has closed reveals that it also contained one of the most diverse collections of prewar Fords, running the gamut from stock cars and trucks to coachbuilt beauties to unusual conversions, including a pair of trucks modified to run on wood.
Under the right conditions, burning wood will produce sufficient quantities of wood gas — a combination of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, and tar — to power an internal combustion engine. While the gasification process has mostly driven generators and produced gas for cooking and lighting since its discovery in the 19th Century, a few automobile pioneers did try to make wood gas-powered cars. Story by Daniel Strohl / www.hemmings.com.