TheCaldwell Vale Truck & Bus Co. was an Australianautomobile,bus,truck andtractor manufacturer from 1907 to 1913 in theSydney suburb ofAuburn. The company started in 1907 when Felix Caldwell and Norman Laurie Caldwell ofSouth Australia filed for a patent covering"Improvements in and connected with driving and steering motor propelled vehicles". In short, the patent was for afour-wheel-drive system withfour-wheel-steering. Later they combined with Henry Vale ofNew South Wales and in 1910, the trio applied for a patent covering"Improved power steering gear for heavy motor driven road vehicles".[1] Few technical details have survived about the marque and roughly 40 examples of the vehicles appear to have been made. Atouring car, it is known to have hadfour-wheel drive, a 30 hp six-cylinderengine andfour-wheel steering. The company also built a fairtractors.[2] In 1912–13, the company lost a court case to do with the performance guarantee of the trucks and was taken over byPurcell Engineering in 1916.[3]
A surviving example can be seen at the National Road Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
Another surviving example can be seen atBooleroo Steam & Traction Preservation Society Inc It can be seen running at their yearly RallyBS&TPS Facebook PagePhoto showing working at their 2018 rally -1910 Caldwell-Vale tractor in Action
