Global InformationFour Wheel Drive information
 1958 FWD fire engine | |
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1909 in Clintonville, Wisconsin |
| Founders | Otto Zachow, William Besserdich |
The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, more often known as Four Wheel Drive (FWD), was a pioneering American company that developed and produced all-wheel drive vehicles. It was founded in 1909 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, as the Badger Four-Wheel Drive Auto Company by Otto Zachow and William Besserdich.[1] The first production facility was built in 1911 and was designed by architect Wallace W. DeLong of Appleton, Wisconsin.[2]
FWD renamed FWD Corporation and its associates Seagrave, Baker Aerialscope, and Almonte Fire Trucks were sold in 2003 to an investment group headed by former American LaFrance executive James Hebe. Today, the Seagrave Fire Apparatus group is a flagship company of ELB Capital Management.
- ^ Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1945, pp. 210-14.
- ^ "Machinery and Tool Manufacture". Industrial World. 45 (1): 299. March 6, 1911 – via Google Books.