Chevrolet 1533X2 30-cwt trucks

[Andrew H.]

G'Day Tommy, I should make it clear that I am not an expert in LRDG matters and sincerely hope someone with much more knowledge will be able to give a more definitive answer on your truck. Your truck could have been intended for use by the NZ forces in North Africa without necessarily being an "an LRDG truck" or one intended for LRDG use. I have always understood that the LRDG Chevs were shipped directly from Canada to Egypt rather than from New Zealand, but I could be wrong. There does not seem much sense in shipping LRDG trucks from Canada to NZ and then to Egypt, especially considering that the LRDG was not specifically a NZ unit.

From the photo your truck appears to have the 4-inch wider front mudguards and wider front axle, which were features of the LRDG trucks. Does it have a creeper gear? I understand that was another factory-installed feature. However, the truck in the photo does not have the Godtfreidson rear ammo body (could have been removed) or the "star" pattern front hubs that are trademark features of the "art-deco" LRDG trucks. These features should be visible in your truck if it was intended for LRDG use. I think it also has the petrol tank and filler cap in the "wrong" place for a LRDG truck.

I understand that the other special modifications were made in the LRDG workshops in Cairo and would therefore not be present in your truck, including the cut-away grille slats, cut-away hip panels, the pto compressor, aero screens and the brackets for sand mats and sand channels etc. I am not sure whether the checker-plate flooring panels were installed in Canada or later in Egypt.

[motto]

I was delighted to see the photos of the Chev posted by Tommy whatever its origins may be.
My father who died last year at the age of 93 was a vehicle enthusiast all his life and had an accurate memory for vehicles he had seen.
During the war he was stationed in the Darwin area for some time as part of 7th battalion signals. One day we were talking trucks and he told me that he had seen what he referred to as 'Desert Chevs, in the Northern Territory during his time up there. From his brief description I assumed the trucks he saw were probably Indian Army Pattern.
I had no confirmation of the presence of such vehicles although not actively searching.
The old man's been proved right.

David

[Stuart Kirkham]

Originally Posted by Andrew Honeyfield

G'Day Tommy, I should make it clear that I am not an expert in LRDG matters and sincerely hope someone with much more knowledge will be able to give a more definitive answer on your truck.

However, the truck in the photo does not have the Godtfreidson rear ammo body (could have been removed)

These features should be visible in your truck if it was intended for LRDG use.

I think it also has the petrol tank and filler cap in the "wrong" place for a LRDG truck.

Andrew

I too am not an expert on LRDG vehicles although I do take an interest in them. I can only go on the photographs I took of the truck, information I have from the owner and information I find through research.

I believe this truck may have been a 'Headquarters/Survey Section' vehicle as these had the same timber rear bodies and timber cab sides. http://lrdg.hegewisch.net/lrdgvehicles.html

Although this Chev in the photo below is an earlier model, it does display very similar modifications including the cab side fuel filler and chassis mounted side fuel tank. It also has the timber rear body. The other photo shows an officer inside a timer bodied LRDG vehicle. Photo taken from here - http://lrdg.hegewisch.net/lrdg-hq-trucks.html

Screenshot_2020-04-29 Photobucket albums q121 tommykm ef55e913c2d9ca17_large_zpsefae9bdf jpg.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...psefae9bdf.jpg

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http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...psbea81a42.jpg

To help you out with your questions about the truck, I post the following photos.

The truck still retains a few parts of it's original timber general service body including the 'headboard' and original shaped chassis 'joists' (as they still retain remains of the original kharki green paint). You can see the underbody 'joist' in the side petrol tank photo.

You will notice that the 'headboard' on this vehicle is identical in height to the one shown in the wartime photo showing the officer at his desk.

The following photo show:

The front of the 'headboard' with it's fittings still in situ.



The rear view shows that the original timber side boards have simply been sawn off at the corner junction. The farmer undertook this work as he wanted a 'sideless' tray setup to cart hay around his property. He would have also found the raised timber floor wheel arches an obstruction so they would have been removed as well. I would not be surprised if he still had the remains of the timberwork tucked away in one of his sheds as he threw nothing away. Actually, come to think about it, the floor boards on the tray look very similar in width.



As pointed out earlier in this post, the cab side fuel filler look correct and the chassis mounted fuel tank also looks correct as it has a top and bottom section to it's construction.





I hope this helps

[Stuart Kirkham]

Andrew

More food for thought

Having made the suggestion that the truck may have been a 'Headquarter/Survey Section' vehicle, I have since found this photo showing a timber bodied vehicle used by the LRDG. Note the two machine gun pedestal mounts which would indicate that it is a 'fighting vehicle'. http://www.lrdg.org/historical_photos4.htm

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http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps6afd039c.jpg

Note that the vehicle closest to the camera in the photo below appears to have the same timber body with the deep square cut wheel wells. These trucks are New Zealand patrol vehicles, 1943. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/228469...e+desert+group

Note that the spare wheel is in same position. The tire is supported through the use of a shaped timber block mounted to the running board.

Screenshot_2020-04-29 Photobucket albums q121 tommykm Three-Long-Range-Desert-Group-30-cwt-Chevr.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps397ff2c1.jpg

Interestingly, this truck has exactly the same setup. Note also the timber tool/chain box that sits under the tray. Compare it to the wartime photo. Same position and size. Note also the steel upright corner bracket of the rear body is the same 'unusual' shape with the outward facing blade as well.

[motto]

The closest vehicle in the group of three appears to have the standard L/L Chev ten stud wheel pattern. (Presumably ten on the rear and five on the front) Not the 'star' type Blitz hubs.
This is also in line with the WA truck.
The bumper on the nearest truck is of a civilian type unlike the WA truck which has the heavy L/L type.
The furthest truck from the camera is quite different and is running on Blitz type wheels and hubs.
The side mounted fuel tank on the WA truck is the standard tank supplied with L/L Chevs though very few came with them from what I've seen. These tanks were 18 gallon capacity and Hudson Stores in Melbourne had them unassembled. The late Mike Edwards still had some of them.
David

[Andrew H.]

Tommy, that's really interesting stuff, and great to see such close detail. I know there were several different types of trucks used in the LRDG and your photos support that, but if some of them were sent from NZ it is the first I have heard of it. If so, we might be able to build ours with a wooden deck which will be cheaper and quicker than building the steel ammo body.

We have based our vehicle on the batch of 200 30cwt 1533X2 trucks that were especially manufactured for the LRDG by Chev of Canada and (I believe) shipped directly from Canada to Egypt. Those trucks had the modifications listed in my earlier post, including the fuel tank and filler cap on the RHS side, checker-plate floors, flat dash, steel ammo bodies, wide front axles, wide front mudguards, star-shaped front hubs, a pto-driven air compressor for rapid tyre inflation, a creeper gear for unsticking and the cut-away grille and hip panels etc. So the confusion seems to have arisen because we are talking about different models of truck.

There are not many completed LRDG replica trucks worldwide. When we started our project we thought we were the first people in NZ to be building one of these trucks, but since then we have discovered that no fewer than five others already exist here and two more are under construction. We will soon have enough trucks for a patrol! The other builders have researched their projects very thoroughly, and it interesting to see that theirs all have the above-listed modifications and so are significantly different from your truck. That does not mean of course that your truck was not intended for LRDG use. I wish someone more knowledgeable than me would chime in here!

[Davistine Liddle]

Originally Posted by Stuart Kirkham

I too am not an expert on LRDG vehicles although I do take an interest in them. I can only go on the photographs I took of the truck, information I have from the owner and information I find through research.

I believe this truck may have been a 'Headquarters/Survey Section' vehicle as these had the same timber rear bodies and timber cab sides. http://lrdg.hegewisch.net/lrdgvehicles.html

Although this Chev in the photo below is an earlier model, it does display very similar modifications including the cab side fuel filler and chassis mounted side fuel tank. It also has the timber rear body. The other photo shows an officer inside a timer bodied LRDG vehicle. Photo taken from here - http://lrdg.hegewisch.net/lrdg-hq-trucks.html

Dear Stuart

My name is Davis from india recently i got a chevy 1.5 ton truck which has some similar wood pattern to this truck.If you have any more info 'i am very much thankful to you.Help me to identifying this truck .i am also sharing some link you can also check them. Thank you ..

Regards Davis

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=28622

http://forums.g503.com/viewtopic.php...10207#p1710207

[Stuart Kirkham]

Hello Davis.

That looks like a very rare truck you have. Very similar to the ex New Zealand Long Range Desert Group truck in Western Australia.

I have many detailed photos of the LRDG truck here in WA so if you need any for reference just let me know and I will post them up for you.

The LRDG Chevrolets had a flat steel plate bolted to the inside of the chassis rails to add strength. Does yours have this modification? Can you post up a few photos showing underneath your truck?

It will be interesting to compare photos of both trucks.

[Davistine Liddle]

Hello Stuart

I am mentioning some of the photos and link kindly check.I dont find any data plates and any engine rebuild plates or any frame serial number,Any help where i can find its chassis serial number.

http://forums.g503.com/viewtopic.php...10207#p1710207

[Stuart Kirkham]

Davis

Yes, it looks like your truck has the same strengthening steel plate attached to the outside (sorry, I said inside ) of the chassis rails. The plate should be 25cms high as shown in the photo.

The truck shown below has a nomenclature/ID plate attached to the right hand side of the bulkhead/firewall just under the bonnet/hood.

[Philippe Jeanneau]

Are the wheels on this Australian truck 18" x 10.5 or 16" x 10.5? Does anyone have a part number for the Canadian 10 bolt hubs fitted to Australian and Indian pattern trucks? Are they shorter than the commercial 5 bolt hub?
Thank you