Chevrolet 1533X2 30cwt LRDG truck mini articles

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Charlie Down

Does anyone know whether the temperature gauge would be supplied by Canada to British forces in Centigrade or Fahrenheit?

I would be extremely surprised if the temperature gauge (and speedometer) were originally anything except Imperial measure, i.e. Fahrenheit, MPH etc. but I do say this without reference to period documentation. Imperial measure when sent to the Empire unless special ordered for a particular purpose would be what I would expect.

[Paul Singleton]

The flat face cowl trucks were built for commercial body builders. Most common are school buses and armoured cars used to transport money, not the military type. I would think that during war time when local bodies were installed over seas the flat face cowl trucks were likely faster to produce than a complete truck.
I haven’t seen metric gauges in British wartime vehicles, but a friend of mine did have a 1946 Ford sedan with a metric speedometer. The car was originally sold in Argentina.

[Charlie Down]

Thanks Grant and Paul. The reproduction gauge decals were from an US retailer, not Canada, so was curious as to what would actually be seen on the temperature gauge in North African in 1942.

[Mike K]

Interesting they used the 1939 truck round instruments, I think these same round instruments were also used in earlier Chevy passenger cars 1937 ? or around there. I have a 1939 1 Ton truck wreck with these round instruments fitted , I must remove them as they are probably weathered by now or maybe beyond help.

NOS part https://www.ebay.com/itm/1936-1937-1...UAAOSwbeBdSxrA

[Tony Smith]

While we're Ebaying, here's a collection of all the gauges:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-38-OEM....c100005.m1851

Odd that the Temp gauge stops at 212 F. Don't Chevs boil in the Desert?

LRDG gauge 2.jpg LRDG gauge 1.jpg

LRDG gauge 3.jpg LRDG gauge 4.jpg

[Grant Bowker]

It sounds like the gauge was designed for a non-pressurized cooling system that used plain water as the coolant. That system woild boil at 212 or less, depending how high an altitude you are at. In such a system, if you saw the gauge approach 212 you would know that you were getting close to boil-over and should take immediate actions to avoid losing your water (in a desert where it might not be easy to replace.....)

[David Dunlop]

Aren’t most automotive gauges serving this function marked ‘TEMP’? I cannot recall ever seeing an automotive gauge set up like this before. As Grant suggests, it certainly draws ones attention to the importance of the commodity in a desert environment.

David