FWD SU-COE (Four-Wheel Drive Special Utility – Cargo and Ordnance Equipment) Special 4X4 Prime Mover was Produced by the Four-Wheel Drive (FWD) Auto Company during World War II. Most of the chassis produced were supplied to Britain under Lend-Lease or Canada where they were used as general cargo trucks, artillery tractors and snowplows. Some short-wheelbase versions with open cabs were used predominantly by the U.S. Marine Corps as artillery tractors, but were also used as troop transports, and cargo trucks. The vehicle on display served on Guadalcanal.
According to the U. S. War Department, Quantities of Lend-Lease Shipments, a total of 90 5–6-ton 4×4 Prime Mover trucks were delivered to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) towards the end of the war. These 90 vehicles were part of a 1944 Ordnance Department order requesting the Four-Wheel Drive Company in Wisconsin to manufacture 2,700 vehicles for the Lend-Lease program.
