Chevrolet C60L ARN 89131

[Matt Austin]

Good to see that Old Junee is has joined Ganmain as the spreading Blitz zone of the Riverina! Regardless, I'm glad that it's growing in an easterly direction; at that rate it should reach me in Junee soon!

All the best with your resto, Richard.

Cheers,
Matt

[Richard Seymour]

Probably not going to be a restoration, more a "fix what is broken to get it on the road"
and not far from you now lol

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Richard,

Good that your truck has the build plate (Darrin's did/does not), which helps with the possibilities.

Your truck is possibly 89131 from the same batch of Stores (Unbinned) taken on charge in NSW. The chassis numbers have a gap - 3844361278 is one of them, but given the sequence around it, 89131 with engine PR3946239, is the best possibility. Your vehicle was disposed of in 1962. (The other is 89127).

So, the possibility is that the batch of chassis arrived in 1943 and were assembled out of their boxes from Canada and stamped in late 1943, (even early 1944), but assembly of the complete truck with its special body wasn't completed until Oct 1944, when the plate was fixed onto the dash (it's almost the last thing to happen).

Given the wind-down in requirements for CMPs from 1943 onwards, and that this is a specialist vehicle, possibly with a lower delivery priority (each different body type had a delivery priority), this might well be the case. It's a theory, anyway, that accounts for a 1943-stamped chassis with a build date well into 1944!

Mike

[Richard Seymour]

Engine PR3946239 is what is on the plate, but not sure if that is the engine in the truck now.
The 89131 you refer to... what number is that, or what does it indicate?

[Mike Cecil]

89131 is the Australian Commonwealth registration number, commonly referred to as the Army Registration Number or 'ARN'. It is the number painted in white numerals on the flats below the windscreen, either side of the bonnet, and on the rear tail gate.

Glad I picked it correctly - it was the most likely, and the engine number on the plate is the link we needed to confirm its Army identity.

Mike