I'm aware of only one Chev 8-cwt C8 4x2 officially purchased by, and imported new into, Australia. This was a under SM2029. The Australian Contract Demand for the vehicle was CD E2251, and the 'short box body' or 'GS personnel' body (both terms are used in the ordering paperwork) from Massey-Harris was purchased under CD E1466. The cost of the vehicle was $816 and the body was $159.90. I'm assuming it was the vehicle that still existed at Murrayville in the 1990s, because it had the 'SM2029' stencil still visible under the bonnet. Wonder what happened to that little gem. It was always a flat 'NFS' when I was working in that area of Victoria.
The other C8 4x2 vehicles that are in Australia are, as far as I can ascertain, invariably of British in origin and supplied to Australian forces in the Middle East, and were brought to Australia by returning units, hence the 6 Aust Div sign, for example. Upon being returned to OVP, some were then re-issued to other units, such as 1 Aust Armd Div.
The origin of these vehicles is supported by the British 'Z' prefix registration numbers. Few, if any, were transferred to the Australian registration scheme, but retained the Z number, usually pre-fixed with the letters 'AIF'. Pretty much everyone I've seen in Australia where the original registration is visible had a Z prefix registration.
The type begins to come up as write-offs on the War Usage Rate data from the end of 1942/beginning of 1943, when the Army began a cull of worn out and odd-ball, difficult to support vehicles from the inventory.
Mike
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