Hi Lads, I can tell the reason why there are in gaps in the dates. I was lucky to talk to an old chap a few years ago Tom Cadallader who was in charge of all CKD assembly from 1935-54. In fact there were four lots of assembly of the C8AX by GM Motors (Todd Bros, Petone)
The problem with the Petone Plant was by 1942 it was in full swing as a repair base for the U.S. Army for damaged Dodge vehicles, personnel & ammunition carriers from the Pacific. So by 1943 storage at the plant was tight and so the crates of CKD C8AX could only be assembled in small lots when room was avalible.
Ah you ask 'What about the dates on the plates?' I have you answer, At the time a lot of the CKD crates were mixed up and were hard to access due to a full yard behind the plant so they would go around and do a rough estimate of what was at hand that could be completely assembled with what time frame they had in between U.S. vehicles arriving from the Pacific, so when they found 200 or so C8AX ready for assembly the would stamp the 200 or so plates that day or the next place them in a box with the new numbers for the crates and have them pigon holed for assembly line.
I hope this has been the light at the end of the tunnel.
