The secret is to drive really fast.

Tolar New Mexico was basically wiped off the map in 1944 after a train carrying 160 500-pound bombs (enough to fill four B-29 bombers) caught fire and exploded after stopping there.

It was a 2 stick 6 speed. Basically a 5 speed with the option of an extra low first gear. An "underdrive" if you will.

The main box has 5 forward gears.

The aux has reverse, low, and direct.

What else could that arrow on the fender be for? I remember a character in a John Updike short story from the early 1950s bragging that his new car had blinkers, like it was a prestige thing. I guess heavy trucks had them a bit before that.

["Blinkers" for cars got their start in the late 1930s. - Dave]

The previous radiator cap(s) must be on the loose. This one is leashed.

Note the flags. Probably red, for the explosives. Unlike the white flags on so many Shorpy locomotives. I'm guessing the "Explosives" sign was red, too.

The truck seems to be getting a little shuteye, or is it winking at the camera? If wartime precaution, why not on both headlights?

[Because when your headlight burns out, you replace it with whatever is handy? - Dave]

Explosives haulers get the new tires.

On the way to Hawthorne, Nevada, site of an Army depot, we noticed this sign outside the town of Luning: “No Parking Explosives Laden Trucks Within City Limits”. If you have such a truck, you may be very limited where you can park.

Thanks for sharing images of various hard-working trucks from WWII. These had no power steering, no air conditioning, no air ride suspension, sometimes had twin stick transmissions. If you're not familiar with that, take a look at YouTube. This "bulldog tough" specimen has a modest electric horn on the passenger's side of the cab accompanied by a couple of fearsome air horns up on the roof.

How narrow were they? They were so narrow you could get both arms sunburned at the same time and in this case the driver's countenance would be affected after enough miles rolled by looking up a bulldog's butt.