[Bill Kreiner]

Here is Jim's helpful reply. It seems G8T is the true designator for the military (government) wartime truck. The others with "G" are non-government models, some of which obviously were impressed into service:

Bill,

We'll have to wait and see just what SAE does before we can close the door on the book catalog. It's also possible that you'll get the 2010 edition since I could not be sure if the 2011 is available.

With respect to the Ford truck question(s) you have I believe the problem lies with the letter "G." When a World War II era Ford model designation began with "G" it was a government-oriented product, vehicle or otherwise: GAA—Ford Tank Engine, GPA—Amphibian Jeep, GP—command reconnaisance car (jeep), G8T, the militarized civilian truck you mentioned, GPW—the Willys jeep built by Ford plus many others. There is a listing of all these codes at the Benson Ford Research Center and as I recall a "G" number/letter was even assigned to the B-24 Liberator bomber.

The "other G" is the non-government designator for the 225.9-cid L-head six-cylinder engine that Ford introduced in May 1941 and was assigned according to the company's civilian model ID system: 1GT (1941), 2GT (1942 only), 6GT (1946), and 7GT (1947) are all 134-inch-wheelbase conventional trucks. The letter "T" stood for 1 1/2-ton conventional truck while "W" was used for cab-overs, which did not use the six-cylinder engine until 1948. The addition of a number (e.g. 1G8T or 2G4T) indicated indicated a wheelbase other than the basic or most common (for 1 1/2-ton trucks it would have been 134-inch, 158-inch and 194-inch [school bus chassis] being the exceptions). This explains why the 1G8T of 1941, the 2G8T of 1942, the 6G8T of 1946 and 7G8T of 1947 were 158-inch civilian trucks. This system was even used for the Lincoln cars of that era: 16H was used for the 1941 Lincoln-Zephyr and 1941 Lincoln Continental which had the basic 125-inch wheelbase (not considered special) while the 138-inch-wheelbase 1941 Lincoln-Custom was Model 168H. "1", being 1941 model, "6" being small (292-cid) V-12 engine and "H" being the primary Zephyr-heritage Lincoln.

Ford's model designation system from the original V-8 (Model 18) through 1951 (1952 trucks) was quite logical but one does need to understand how it works. The coded model identification system (also used for part numbering) was revised in 1952 and became horrendously complicated before being abandoned after 1958.

Jim