As the war progressed through the second half of 1944 and into 1945, a lot of things were winding down. BCATP bases across Canada were being closed. Production contracts were getting cancelled or reduced in amounts. If this was happening with the CMP Body Manufacturers contracts, it would not surprise me in the least, if they were going into a ‘Let’s use up what we’ve got’ mode to complete remaining contracts, even if this meant filling some orders for bodies with older wooden NOS stocks.
I’m not ruling out the possibility the wooden box on this truck might be a new build, merely pointing out a logical option.
We should also be aware that the military had boneyards all over Northwest Europe post Normandy where damaged vehicles would be taken and parts scavenged. If one needed a replacement box for an otherwise perfectly good vehicle in a hurry, and the most readily available good box happened to be wooden, would they really care?
David
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