[David_Hayward (RIP)]

As a result of a re-think over my thesis, I have been writing new texts about the re-location of Ford and GM assembly operations in the late autumn/early winter of 1940 in England.

Basically, all CANADIAN order Fords which were 1940 Models with one exception..see below...and they were assembled in Southampton or Dagenham, and then from December 1940 in Citroen Cars' plant in Slough, Buckinghamshire as it was then.

The BRITISH order Fords were sourced from the USA, as diverted ex-French orders or diverted Romanian orders [R01T] and Canada. The US trucks obviously became either E- or W- prefixed but the Canadian trucks which were imported as C-prefixed vehicles were assembled in Dagenham or Ripple Lane, Barking, and were then 'Anglicised' as they were Ministry of Supply contracts to become EC-prefixed.

The exception to British orders for 1940 Canadian trucks was a M of S contract to purchase and assemble C196T 176" wb trucks to S/M 2048, which were then issued [sold] to the Canadian Government for use by the Canadian Forestry Corps for their use in the essential timber production.

The British therefore in theory until 1942 only had 1939, 1940 and one 1941 Model. So, what about post-1940 Models to British order? The answer is I believe that these were not assembled by Ford, Dagenham, or in the Cardington airship building [Jeeps], and rather were assembled by various dealers under M of S contract as Auxiliary Workshops thus were never allocated 'E' prefixes before the Canadian C-prefixed model number. So what did Dagenham do then? I gather that they mainly concentrated on Carrier production plus engines. That may explain why there are virtually no post-1940 truck assembly photos in the archives of Dagenham assembly operations compared with piles of Carriers!