CMP to ZA!

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

I have been sorting through nearly 200 rebuild photos recently for the new book, and almost all the CMPs released for sale had black-painted wheels. Sometimes the painters would even take the tyres off before they sprayed! Note that the tyres are new(ish).

The cab has also been gloss-painted and the near-side headlight surround is black-painted. Absolutely atypical of civvy rebuilds of the period.

One of the big Ford CMP rebuilders was Sydney Allard's garage, Adlards Limited of south London. Sidney had a M of Supply contract to rebuild during the war and then post-war was invlolved in civvy rebuilds. Another company was Pride & Clarke Ltd of Stockwell, later nicknamed "Slide & Shark"! However P & C tended to sell Chevy & Ford CMPs "as seen", ex-Ministry auction rather than offer a rebuild service which compares with in the case of the Chevs, the network established by GM Ltd to sell refurbished trucks at 20% lower than new equivalent prices.