1958 Rebuild plate

[Mike K]

A guy in NSW found this engine build tag on his ex Aust Army jeep. Seems to be dated 3rd March 1958.

The bore and crank dimensions are stamped N /K which may refer to: Not Known ?

Interestingly, in 1958 , the army were still rebuilding WW2 jeep engines when their remaining jeeps were about to be disposed and replaced with Land Rovers.

I can recall seeing the army rebuilt GMC CCKW engines in crates at Hunter Rd, Camberwell many years ago.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Workshops have funny reasons for doing things. The wartime Jeeps were obviously well known and very likely there were lots of parts on the shelf. There is an irrational logic about keeping something known vs changing to the unknown. It is possible the workshop had men to keep busy, and they knew Jeeps but weren't willing to retrain for Land Rovers. Or, there was some forgotten order to expend all parts? If there were blocks in the lineup and parts in the bins, why not use them up?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

If there were blocks in the lineup and parts in the bins, why not use them up?

Indeed it may well be a case of "keep them busy". Or a back log on the contract to rebuild the engines which was not revoked when the Army decided to phase out the Jeep...

[Mike K]

It was probably a case of keeping the workshops busy , plus, the regular army may have been envisaging a slow roll-out of the new Land Rovers over a few years. I've been told, by more than one former CMF (army reserve) members, that some of the jeeps soldiered on with the part time CMF into the early 1960s.

[Mike Cecil]

The decision to replace jeep with Land Rover came in September 1958 after the trials. Anything done before that, and for a short time after that, with the jeep was just "business as usual". The rebuild plate indicates it was done by Base Workshop Broadmeadows, so on the base just north of Melbourne. I think it was or became 3 Base Workshop - 4 Base was at Bandiana and 2 Base at Moorebank.

Although Army intended to have a rapid-roll out of the replacement, whatever the trials indicated it would be, after the decision to procure L/R was made in Sept 1958, there was always the time taken to negotiate the supply contract, the time taken to progressively supply around 1700 vehicles and the time taken to train personnel on the new equipment (logistics, driver training, tech training, etc), so it was always going to be a couple of years at least before the LR fully replaced the jeep. First line ARA units (and training establishments) were the first to receive them, then they trickled down to the rest of the ARA, then the CMF.

Mike