[Javier de Luelmo - Diesel]

Hello Hanno and Bob!

Oh, yes, if "that" thing in your message is what in this forum we understand as "edge design", perfect!

If I remember well, Ford first arrived to Spain with an assembly line in Cádiz, in Andaluacia, around 1919. In the early 20s the company moved to Barcelona and years after it was decided to build a complete factory, but our civil war put an end to this project (anyway Ford soldiered under the two sides: the assembly line more or less continued to produce vehicles for the republican government, and the nationalist side got it seems huge numbers directly from the USA). I have a book about the history of the company, but have leased it to a friend (who's building a replica UNL-35 armoured car on a ZIS-5 chasis truck... UNL-35 was a nice vehicle built here in Valencia in a variety of chasis, Ford included, I will write another day about this if you like...). Well, the fact is that after the war the line in Barcelona came under state control as Motor Iberica, but even in this way the new company arrived to really build the british Thames ET6 and some other models more or less based in Ford ideas under the Ebro name (also a river like the Thames).

But talking only about CMPs, yes, we had some of them, in company of C15TAs. It seems all they came arrived as "farm equipment" under some strange treaty before the USA started to send us military material. There were Fords and Chevys, it seems only the 60 cargo type, but I was surprised years back when I saw an F30 ambulance starring in a spanish movie! The history was about an episode in the civil war (!!!), there was a conversation between some pilots walking in an airport and the F30 was continually runnning left and right in the background! I will talk to a friend I think he has the movie and maybe we can get some stills!

My own father worked with them, he remembers them quite well from his early 60s in the army ("those ugly, ugly trucks with reversed windscreen and Ford Canada at the front..." said smiling to me a day. "Ugly, dad? They are wonderful!!!")