Walk Around Photo Feature:             1939 Ford Maultier

This is a Walk Around of a 1939 Ford Maultier (Mule). I took these photos at the 2013 WWII Weekend in Reading Pa.

I talked to the owner a bit and asked about the vehicles history, and was informed that this vehicle was captured in Russia, shipped to Canada for trials and evaluation, and was kept in a small collection for a while, until it was auctioned off to private collectors. 

The owner said it was a pre-production vehicle that was built using existing trucks and parts on hand that came from captured equipment. 

I am only repeating what I was told a the event, and I do not wish to get into the argument of whether this vehicle is authenic or not, to me it was a neat vehicle worthy of taking photos of.  

This Maultier is operated by the 11. SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland Re-enactment group. 

From Wikipedia

'"During 1941 Germans troops discovered that their wheeled transport vehicles were unsuitable for the muddy rasputitsa conditions that marked the beginning and end of the Russian winter. Only halftracks were able to operate in these conditions, but removing them from their operational purposes for supply duties would have been unworkable. Instead, Germany began to build half-tracked versions of their Opel, Daimler-Benz and Ford trucks by removing their rear axles and placing new driveshafts connected to Panzer I track assemblies with Carden Lloyd type suspension assemblies. The Panzer I was out of production at this point, and existing track parts could be used for cost effective conversion of the trucks. The Carden Lloyd suspension was similar to that used by the Universal and Bren-gun carriers."