Four-Wheel Drive Historical Marker
N 44° 37.289 W 088° 45.516
16T E 360485 N 4942407
The Four-Wheel Drive Historical Marker is located next to the four wheel drive museum at the corner of Memorial Cir and 11th St in Clintonville, WI.
Waymark Code: WM2KFP
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 11/15/2007
Views: 51
In this machine shop, in 1908, Otto Zachow and William Besseraich developed and built the first successful four-wheel drive automobile. Their car, the “Battleship”, soon proved that it could go anywhere a team of horses could go” and led to the founding, in 1909, of the Badger Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, (word “Badger dropped in 1910 and name changed to FWD Corporation in 1958). Government interest in motor vehicles and the success of the four-wheel drive in early military tests caused the company to switch from cars to the manufacture of motor trucks. In two World Wars, U.S. and allied armies won the battle of transport with military vehicles of four-wheel drive design. As civilization moves on to new horizons, transportation and progress are served by trucks invented and built in this community using the Zachow-Besserdich principle of applying power to all wheels of a vehicle.
Erected 1960
County: Waupaca
Location: Historical Center
MarkerID: 102
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Visit Instructions:
- A picture of the marker with your GPSr or you holding your GPSr.