Stewart & Stevenson history

In 1905, the Southern Motor Car Company heard of the growing reputation of Stewart & Stevenson and asked the two men to repair an "automobile." The automobile was a four cylinder, 24-horse powered roadster called the Dixie Flyer, which had almost been destroyed by fire.

By 1930, the company was the largest distributor of customized diesel engines in the United States.

In 1938, the company became a distributor for General Motors' new diesel engine.

In 1956, the company constructed the first diesel power engines with 1,000 horsepower, which doubled the horsepower of the Detroit Diesel engine product line.

He first worked for the company in 1958.

Representing the other half of the founding lineage, Donald Stevenson, 60, has served as a director since 1975.

The business began to boom with the passage of the 1978 federal energy deregulation law.

FMTV’s origins trace back to a United States Army TRAining and DOctrine Command (TRADOC) requirements document issued in 1983 for a Medium Tactical Truck (MTT), the intended replacement for the in-service 2.5-ton truck.

In July 1984 a program to look at a future 5-ton truck procurement to replace in-service 2.5- and 5-ton trucks began.

The Request For Proposals (RFP) for FMTV was released in 1988.

One of the companies, Stewart & Stevenson Services, produced a truck based on the Austrian company Steyr’s 12M18 truck and eventually won the first contract in 1991 to produce the US Military’s new Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle (FMTV) fleet.

During the same period, earnings rose from $15 million to $35.7 million, and, by 1994, sales had increased to $982 million.

FMTV A1 variants have an earlier 1998 EPA emissions compliant version of this engine, the 3126 ATAAC which developed 275 hp at 2400 rpm and 1107 Nm torque at 1600 rpm in LMTV variants and 330 hp and 1153 Nm torque in MTV variants.

Stewart & Stevenson and Oshkosh Truck Corporation were awarded contracts in April 2001 for the Evaluation Phase (Phase 1) of the FMTV A1 Competitive Rebuy (FMTV A1 CR) program for the next FMTV production contract.

Following trials and evaluation, in April 2003 the contract was awarded to Stewart & Stevenson.

Production of the FMTV A1 CR (designated FMTV A1R) began in Q3 2004.

Current production FMTV A1P2s are powered by a 2007 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions compliant 7.2-liter six-cylinder Caterpillar C7 diesel engine developing 275 hp and 1166 Nm torque in LMTV variants and 330 hp and 1166 Nm torque in MTV variants.

With FTTS already faltering, BAE Systems was awarded a bridging contract in June 2008 for up to 10,000 FMTVs or trailers, the contract including an option (which was exercised) for 10,000 additional vehicles.

In August 2009, the United States Army announced that Oshkosh Defense had been awarded the FMTV A1P2 rebuy production contract.

Since deliveries started in 2010, Oshkosh has received orders for over 24,300 FMTV trucks and 11,400 FMTV trailers.

United States budgetary projections of March 2012 suggested that due to funding constraints the FMTV program would be terminated in FY14.

Under the FMTV contract orders could be placed until December 2013, with first deliveries to commence within one year of that, with final deliveries one year later.

The FMTV A1P2 rebuy was awarded as a five-year ‘build-to-print’ requirements-type award that at award allowed the United States government to order from 0 up to 12,415 trucks and 10,926 trailers through to calendar year 2014.