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Old 30-10-17, 04:32
Bob Carriere Bob Carriere is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Hammond, Ontario
Posts: 5,191
Default Response to Mike's C8 and Alex's ????

In this great world of uncertainty about who did what and when to CMP during their last 75 years I will share my experience and observation on the Early C8 and Cab 11 and 12. I stand to be corrected and open to learn more.

We know that the Oshawa production/built CMP were started late March 1940 but the few made were all date early April 1940....... so Mike May 1940 would make it a very early model. I doubt that it would have any balck out light configuration but would rely on the small marker light you have discovered inside the headlight pots. By the way the full headlight. lens, bulbs and inside marker lights are available at MACs AUTO in the USA. Your C8 like all early cab 11 would have had a solid glass rear window with a window frame unique to the cab 11 and I believe early cab 12..... the frame is composed of two identical stamped sheet metal that sandwich the glass and each half is bolted, one on the inside one on the outside, roof sheet metal in between.

We also know that the very early Chev cab 11 had NO circular air intake on each side of the radiator and were added later during the production run..... so one could assume that only cab 11 models made in April / early May would not have had the air intake installed.

I have never seen the "famous" central dash lights in either C8 or C15..... were they factory installed and later deleted or installed later once in service?

Early cab 11 had a rigid windshield that did not open and all rear windows were solid glass.....with no rood hatch.
....and there are some exceptions..... there is an assembly line picture in the Ford archives showing a cab 11 nose fitted with an opening cab 12 windshield and roof hatch.............. confirming that changes were made on the assembly line as the parts became available...... and the line must not stop!!!!!

Tool box behind the cab opens length wise and there are no provision for a spare tire. The early fuel tanks had a very short vertical fuel cap set up and recessed under the indentation of the tool box. The set up is ridiculous when it comes to refueling..... not sure when in the production run the changes were made for a longer more practical spout. I restored my cab 11 using the early short fuel spout and there is NO current service station nozzle that will fit so when filling at a local station I have to use the horse cock attached to the CMP rectangular funnel to fill the tank....... and with out the automatic shutoff I usually spill a liter or 2 each time. I now use a radiator hose extension that fits the tanks opening and is much less cumbersome.

Back to the cab 11. Please remember that vehicles that staid in Canada, like mine, had far fewer field modification/updates that European models. So my C15a has no rubberlite on the front fenders and no back out light on the rear axle....... and vacant hole for the switch in the rear right frame.

The frame that supports the rear section of the engine.... that allows the bellhousing side engine mount was also modified in production. Were that cross member bolts to the frame rail ....early models were prone to cracking at the upper rivets and sometimes early they reinforced the cross member with an additional layer of sheet metal....... subsequently carried on all cab 12 and 13. So Mike you might want to look under your C8 on each side where the cross member joins the frame rail...... feel for a rivet head holding the reinforcement.

Alex..... on the cut out rear angle iron that joins the roof to the cab...... I have only seen these on cab 12...... and the holes are also drilled differently to allow for the narrow ledge left. In my experience and long legs when the cab 11 seats is fully pushed back...... and not using wooden spacer blocks between the seat bracket/tubes and the floor ( again to accommodate my long frame) the upper part of the seat back actually slips below the angle iron and your poor aching back actually hits the angle iron. I suspect that was not the only one complaining even back then so all later cab 12 models have that modification done at the factory to gain a few precious centimeters.

Cab 11 did not have the door retaining straps that were later introduced on the cab 12 and retro fitted to most cab 11 in service. There are numerous pictures of early cab 11 on parade squares that have the front doors opened and pinned back against the cargo box...... I would assume that in certain circumstances may have been tied open and driven as such....... once you realize how difficult it is to enter and leave the cab 11.... and wearing full gear you would want to do what they did on North Africa and loose the doors permanently.

Some sergeant must have been tired of having trucks with dented doors as they hit the rear cargo box and complained so straps were installed.

The famous front door hooks......... again early cab 11 did not have them installed at the factory but it soon became very obvious that the cab would get very HOT driving at slow speed during Summer months...... and since they had installed restraining straps and could not fold the door backward some wise guy decided that driving with the "door ajar" ( as my computer controlled car tells me) did allow for significant air flow in the cab. Early cab 11 were often retro fitted and they usually drilled two additional holes in the cowl to hold the long arm of the door hook. On most later cab 12 the hooks were installed at the factory and existing bolt holes were used to accommodate them without drilling more holes.

Early cba 11 did not have a fuel filter bolted to the inside of the frame under the driver's seat and the frame was not drilled at the factory for such a fitting.
Most vehicles in service were retrofitted.

I have never seen, on C15a cab 11 or 12, a reinforcement bracket fitted to the steering tube just before the steering box as seen on later cab 13 although there is a service bulletin for retro fitting....... note that my experience is limited to C15a and cannot attest to the larger C30 or C60 cab 12..... maybe Phil can chip in on this one.

As I said before the trucks found here in Canada where used locally only were not as updated as the Overseas active service vehicles. Most of the cab 11 and 12 were used for training purposes and for the most part considered obsolete once the cab 13 became readily available. Surely there are exceptions and for some parade or public appearance some trucks may have been tricked up to look more war time but the majority were used mainly for training or as a base runabout.

Other signs of early production....... the oval cover of the fuel tank went from brass to a white pot metal and then disappeared with the cab 13. We even found, sand blasting, a solid brass rear shock mount..... the one that bolts on to the rear axle cover.....why brass?

All the rear lights observed were the rubberlite. Cab 11 in Canada were usually not fitted with blackout headlight covering...... both headlights had full lens.

All early cab 11 had rigid stamped steel mirror arms that were prone to bending or breaking are they were solidly mounted to the side of the cowl over the bottom section of the windshield. Later cab 12 had a special cast fitting that allowed a mirror arm to be mounted with flexibility at its bottom point.

Brake lines on the cab 11 come through the frame rail, suspended by a small coil spring to keep them out of arms way and down to the wheel brake cylinder...... a rather vulnerable set up that was later modified but I have some cab 12 that have the same set up...... so maybe the change did not occur until the later cab 13.

Final clue to the early models are the floor plates....early had the "dot and dash" pattern the later models had the more current diamond plate "dash and dash" patterns and this will extend to the running board step on the cab 11.

Anything else that needs to be added????

PS....... rifle brackets on cab 11 and 12 are shorter than the cab 13 due to different cab height.
Cheers
__________________
Bob Carriere....B.T.B
C15a Cab 11
Hammond, Ontario
Canada

Last edited by Bob Carriere; 30-10-17 at 04:59.
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