GMSea,
Well, if'n you want to go all the way back to the Roaring Twenties, GMC's answer to the AC Mack "Bulldog" was the "Big Brute", which had a huge 4 cyl, long stroker. (Will have to do some "digging" to find out vital statistics)
Most trucks back then were either based on car chassis (**** , Chevy, Dodge Bros.) or they were BIG Trucks (Mack, Republic, Fageol,GMC, and so on). Up until the '20s, most trucks had four cyl engines; by the mid-'20s, medium duty trucks began to appear (REO's Speedwagon, and IHC's "Six-Speed Special"), sporting sixes, and the big boys also began to change over to sixes as well.
Engines for the bigger trucks were often bought from jobbers such as Buda, Continental, Herschel-Spillman,Lycoming, Waukesha, and some others.
Mack made their last four cylinders in the early '40s, with the model FN: a "C"-cab, chain drive heavy-duty buggy that was an anachronism even when new.(speaking of anachronisms, Auto-car was still offering heavy trucks with a 2-cyl. engine located under the seat into the '20s!)
**** offered a four cylinder between 1940 & '42 in their trucks- essentially the same as the **** -Ferguson 9-N tractor engine- all 40 hp of it!
The Divco Milk truck, Stutz Pack-Age-Car, IHC Metro-Van and White-Horse delivery
trucks also used various "undersquare" fours.
In terms of engine ancestry, the "in-line" four appeared around 1900, and has never entirely left the scene;even after it lost favor as a car powerplant, it still had a place as an industrial & agricultural power plant.
Well, I could keep going, but this is probably enough to chew on for a while. :rolleyes:
Frank
PS: Everything was "long-stroke" until the mid-fifties ! (Except for some racing engines)
[ 12-17-2001: Message edited by: Frank54 ]
