1936 Federal Model 20
with Grummet body

A sturdy and economical ‘work horse’ for 1930s and 40s Australia

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About This Federal Model 20

Driver Classics 1936 Federal with Grummet a body, Driver Brothers fleet #2, is believed to be a Federal Model 20. Federal #2 carried out eleven years of reliable service and was sold in December 1947 due to the arrival of a new replacement Bedford OB.

Our Federal was re-discovered in 1977 by bus enthusiast Charles Craig who found it in a barn on a farm in Bachus Marsh, Victoria. Although dusty and full of rubbish, it was in surprisingly good condition. Charles subsequently purchased the Federal and invited Eric Driver to authenticate its originality.

At the time of Eric’s authentication, the Federal was painted red and had a sedan type door fitted. As there were many similar Federals on the road in the 1930s and 1940s, Eric looked for unique Driver Brothers adornments and three in particular – a brass fleet number in a specific position on the dashboard, a serrated edging on the rear bumper and a ‘Sections and Fares’ list on both interior rear quarter panels next to the back window. At the first inspection, only the serrated edging on the rear bumper was evident causing Eric to say “It’s not a Driver Brothers Federal” as a few other operators also used the serrated edging.

All were a little disappointed, but Charles Craig was convinced it was a Driver Brothers Federal and continued searching. Charles later discovered a barely visible imprint in the position that Eric had identified of where the brass number ‘2’ on the dashboard would have been, a barely visible, very faint imprint of the sections and fares on one rear quarter panel that had been lightly painted over and after removing some exterior paint, a colour that looked like Driver Brothers Fernleigh Blue fleet colour. Charles invited Eric Driver back again and Eric confirmed it was indeed ex Driver Bros Federal, fleet #2. After garaging and maintaining the Federal for a number of years, in May 1989, Driver Bus Lines purchased the Federal back from Charles Craig.

The Federal Model 20 chassis was built in Detroit, Michigan USA and the body was built by Grummet body builders. H. A. Grummet was established in 1926 by Hugo August Grummet in West Brunswick, a suburb of Melbourne.

This Federal is powered by a Hercules 228ci, 6 cylinder, JXA petrol engine with a Clark 4 speed constant mesh transmission.

The Story

In 1910, the Bailey Motor Truck Company of Detroit, Michigan USA changed its name to the Federal Motor Truck Company. In the thirties and early forties, US sourced chassis’ such as GMC, Diamond T, Reo, International, White, Ford and Federal were extremely popular with Melbourne private bus operators, but the Driver Brothers preference was for the sturdy Federal, in part due to the Federal agent, a one man sales, marketing and support person who impressed them greatly.

Driver Brothers first Federal, fleet #1 99-812 with a 19 passenger Grummet of Brunswick VIC body, arrived in December 1935 and it replaced a 1934 14 passenger Bedford WHB, also with a Grummet body. A second Federal, fleet #3 30-257 with a Grummet body followed shortly after in January 1936.

In December 1936, Federal #2 54-255 (later AT-045) with a 19 passenger Grummet body arrived and was followed by a new look streamlined Federal, fleet #4 166-347 in June 1938, this time with an Armidale VIC based Martin and King body. Then in December 1939, streamlined Federal fleet #3 AY-444 with a ‘round-back’ Grummet body was purchased and finally Driver Brothers last streamlined Federal, fleet #1 DC-325, a May 1941 Martin and King bodied “war time special exemption delivery”. Because of war time limitations, the Federal chassis for this delivery, purchased in January 1941 was held by Driver Brothers initially to be used for parts. In view of ‘conditions caused by the war’, it was decided to have a body fitted sooner and keep the fleet relatively new.

Driver Brothers purchased 3 different Federal models between 1935 and 1941 that all had similar specifications. The first models were in Federal’s Silver Anniversary series from 1935. They were identified by 4 horizontal chrome bars, mounted on the side of the engine cowl with a Federal nameplate above the bars and a ‘drop centre’ front bumper.

The second model from December 1936 was Driver Brothers fleet #2 and this is the example that we have preserved in our Driver Classics collection. On this model, the side of the engine cowl featured 3 chrome bars placed over vertical louvers with the Federal name on the centre bar and it also had the ‘drop centre’ front bumper.

The final series from 1938 had a new streamlined front end that became known locally as the ‘bullnose’ with a modern streamlined grille, 3 chrome bars on the side of the engine cowl with a circular emblem containing the Federal name and this time, a straight front bumper. The 1938 streamlined Federal front end was designed by internationally recognised industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss.

“With Federal at the four corners of the Earth” – that was the headline used on Federal’s 1935 Silver Anniversary brochure highlighting the significance of the export market. Federal trucks and chassis were now shipped to 131 foreign ports including Hong Kong, Africa, Syria, Japan, Australia, Spain, India and China. The Federal chassis were partially disassembled and completely boxed for export shipment. “The Silver Anniversary Federals are as sturdy as they are beautiful!” stated Federal’s advertising.

With the outbreak of WW2, many new commercial vehicles began to be seconded by the Australian Army. With new vehicles unavailable, the pre-war Driver Brothers Federals had to last the duration of the war, which was obviously unknown at the time. With good servicing practises and skilled repairs, the Federals performed outstandingly well for the duration of the war years.

At the conclusion of the war, General Motors-Holden was ready to offer a modern, radically styled forward control (flat front) bus, including both a GM-H designed and initially GM-H built body on a General Motors’ UK produced Bedford OB chassis.

Concurrent with this, the government imposed strict currency and economic controls that limited foreign currency exchange. This resulted in severely limiting all US sourced chassis, and assisting UK sourced chassis, which was the government’s intention in helping the war effort. Also, post war Federals were now sold through Commonwealth Motors instead of their longtime respected one-man agent.

Although Federals had a proven track record, bus operators including Driver Brothers, then switched away from Federals and similar vehicles to GM-H’s modern post war design.

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