How To: Ford CMP "Blitz" miscellany

[john piercey]

Jaques so did any one end up identifying the canvas?
John

[Jacques Reed]

Hi John,

No, still waiting for an ID on that one.

Forgot to mention in the post that it is 6-'6" wide by 7'-5" long with 2'-9" flaps.

Does that help a bit? Pretty sure it isn't Land Rover but too small for an ACCO. That is why I thought it was maybe a trailer tarp. What else was around in the Vietnam era in Australia?

Cheers,

[Ken Smith]

Good day,
The little AT4 114 Dodges and the AB 120 Inters were around then. I will measure the body on my AT4 when I get a chance.

Cheers Ken

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Ken,

Thanks Ken. Your reply may have pointed me in the right direction.

The attached link to the HCVC shows a IH AB 120 with a very similar top. Not Army, but part of the National Mapping Agency. Perhaps this will help bring out another photo of an Army AB 120. I could not find one during a short Google search.

Cannot say it is exactly like mine but the proportions looks very similar even if the side flaps are different.

It is rather ironic in that my family owned a 1962 IH C120 4x4 Travelall Wagon when I was a boy in the USA. A huge 4 x 4 wagon in its day compared to Jeeps and IH Scouts.

Will look forward to seeing the dimensions of your AT4.

Cheers,

https://www.hcvc.com.au/forum/truck_...-120-4x4-story

[Ken Smith]

Jacques,
I measured a Ford Canada, stamped nose/front clip, minus headlights and you would have to put a 9 inch diameter disc into the headlight aperture for the bridge plate.
I realise you aren't planning to do that but that is a lot bigger than the Australian add on plate.
Ken

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for that info. I had considered modifying the tarp to use on my F-15A but that goes against my grain for preservation of military artifacts. Let me think about it, but I may consider moving it on so it fits the appropriate vehicle without modifications. Just would like to find the nice heavy canvas used to make it without having to buy a container load of it from India.

Thanks for that info on the disk. I used my old friend Paint.net and taking measurements from the photo of the original and working out proportions I am 98% certain the disk is 7-1/2" diameter on the one under the right side headlight. As you noted, they obviously used larger diameter ones to fill the aperture where they placed the disk inside the headlight housing.

Will confirm the diameter and gauge of the steel when I receive the one Tony kindly offered me.

All the best,

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

Thanks for that info on the disk. I used my old friend Paint.net and taking measurements from the photo of the original and working out proportions I am 98% certain the disk is 7-1/2" diameter on the one under the right side headlight. As you noted, they obviously used larger diameter ones to fill the aperture where they placed the disk inside the headlight housing.

Will confirm the diameter and gauge of the steel when I receive the one Tony kindly offered me.

The Canadian bridge classification disk was the same. At the factory, it was fitted in the headlight aperture. In theatre, if a need for a second headlight arose, the disk was moved to another spot and the headlight was fitted in the aperture.

Local assembly from Completely Kocked Down (CKD) kits meant the bare minimum of parts were shipped overseas unassembled, all the other parts which could be sourced locally, were. I reckon a simple disk was not shipped from Canada but made in Australia. So the gauge and diameter may well differ. I don't even know if Australian assembled trucks only had one headlight from the assembly line or two. In case of the latter the diameter of the disk didn't matter as it did not need to fulfill the function to block off the empty headlight aperture.


HTH,
Hanno

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

Hi John,

No, still waiting for an ID on that one.

Forgot to mention in the post that it is 6-'6" wide by 7'-5" long with 2'-9" flaps.

Does that help a bit? Pretty sure it isn't Land Rover but too small for an ACCO. That is why I thought it was maybe a trailer tarp. What else was around in the Vietnam era in Australia?

Cheers,

The AT4 body is 6'-9'' wide by 7'-3 1/2'' long. I am not sure about the side flaps as my hoops have been cut and modified to make a little cattle crate by the previous owner. The original canopy had been taken off, folded up and put under a bench when the truck arrived at the farm. It had been offered to the truck wrecker who I bought the truck from, but he didn't take it as he thought nobody would want it.
But yours is close enough for me to say, if you ever want to sell yours please let me know.

Ken