C8AX production

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by David_Hayward (RIP)

Thanks for the input and correction. Somewhere out there must be #1!!!

David, we can tell you that the search has continued, despite you not being here to give your input.

Still have not located 001, but have not found any vehicle higher than 900, either. Did anyone ever find the original purchase demand or contract details that listed how many C8AX went to NZ?

I have been considering the conundrum of the build dates. I wonder if we have automatically assumed the the "5" in the date field is actually meant to represent the day of the month? All of the stampings show the 5 well over to the left side of the box, while the month and year are on the far right hand side. I wonder if the 5 means something altogether different and the build date just records the Mth/Yr?

5 Mar 43 was a Friday.
5 Apr 43 was a Monday.
5 May 43 was a Wednesday.
5 June 43 was a Saturday.

What administrative, clerical or production milestone was recorded on the 5th of the month, when they were such diverse days? Maybe 5 instead represents an assembly section or production department at Petone, in the same way a batch or lot number might be shown for other defence products?

[David Dunlop]

Tony.

It does seem odd the ‘5’ is a constant on all data plates, and is always to the extreme left of the Date Box on the data plates. You might be correct in that it has nothing to do at all with the build date.

I know nothing about the CKD production process, but suspect the vehicles were never fully assembled by GM at their Oshawa plant. Assembly likely went only so far and then everything else was packed in the crates for shipment. It would make no sense to fully assembly the vehicles, test them and then strip them all down for crating.

So, if the CKD vehicle reaches the end point at the production line, technically for the GM plant in Oshawa, the assembly/build is not complete on a particular date, but all the pieces would be ready to go at some point in any given month and year. The ‘5’ might, therefore, be a reference code used internally by GM to denote a ‘Complete, but not assembled vehicle’ that is ready for shipping.

I think the work at GM’s Oshawa plant for GM would have only been the Cab and Chassis part of the CKD. The CKD body would have been shipped knocked down from its separate builder and/or sourced locally at a foreign Assembly Plant.

I have only ever seen one CKD complete vehicle. It was a Ford Cab 13 15-cwt GS. The cab data plates did not have ‘CKD’ on them anywhere as I recall, but the body data plate on the rear of the box did have ‘CKD stamped into it. The box came from a plant in Tillsonberg, Ontario as I recall.

Maybe it might be worth checking other CMP weight classes for surviving CKD vehicles from GM and see what their cab data plates have to say. The same ‘5’ stamp might show up on them as well as these cute little trucks.

Just my 2.5 cents worth.

David

[Lynn Eades]

David, I believe all the rear bodies were built here, none being supplied from Canada.

[Ken Smith]

Good day,
Question for the experts, did the C8AX have a spare tyre? The only one that is shown with a spare, that I can see on this forum is the one in post 117 at Coonamble. I am asking that question because the wheels are hard to find and if they didn't carry a spare that is one thing less to find.

Are the fuel tanks normal C15/15A/60L tanks or are the fillers a little bit different?
Cheers Ken.

[Mike K]

Yes the spare wheel bolted onto a crude bracket inside the tub , forward end . will look for the drawings. The tyres were 9.25 x16 low profile from memory

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Nice line-up of C8AX's, and other CMP trucks:

chevrolet_cmp_2.jpg

[Lynn Eades]

Nice image Hanno. I wonder if NZ24990 is a survivor?
Is the 4th one a radio shack?