Lend lease Chevrolet 30 cwt truck information

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David_Hayward

CKD = Completely Knocked Down; kits of components in crates that when they arrived were a major headache as crates were lost and mixed up.

SKD = Semi Knocked Down; replaced CKD in England after first few hundred CMPs. Basically, as I understand, complete vehicles but disassembled into crates.

SUP = Single Unit Packs; complete vehicles without say bodies, shipped uncrated perhaps

TUP = Twin Unit Packs; two crates. I understand that these were two vehicles in one crate, as against one vehicle in two crates.

I believe that Holden's received CKD, SKD and SUP/TUP crates. Those chasiss that were CKD were components shipped across for complete assembly with Holden-built cabs, thus acquiring Holden chassis numbers. Those shipped SKD etc. were complete vehicles requiring some form of assembly or at the least bodying and thus carried a plate from the original N American plant.

We should get this right once and for all.

CKD, Completely Knocked Down, is an really a different manufacturing system, rather than a different type of crating for shipment.

One type of manufacturing is to source all the parts required to assemble a certain type of vehicle, and assemble them into a working vehicle at an assembly plant in country A, test it, after which it is scrutinised and accepted by a goverment official. After full assembly, it can be partly dismantled and crated to be shipped to it´s destination in country B. The crating can be done at the assembly plant, or at a depot type of facility where vehicles are prepared for shipment.

Some types of vehicle can be easily (partly) dismantled and will be crated, others (like tanks) are sealed for weather influences. SKD , SUP, TUP etc. are all methods of packing complete vehicles into crates for shipping. At the destination nothing more than labour and tools are needed to uncrate the vehicle and re-attach the bits that have been removed to decrease it´s volume for efficient shipping.

Now, Completely Knocked Down means sourcing some parts required to assemble a certain type of vehicle in country A, crate these parts, and ship them to an assembly plant in country B where the shipped parts are uncrated and locally sourced parts are feeded to the assembly line after which a complete, running vehicle will emerge for the first time.

In the case of e.g. the Indian deliveries, Ford and Chevrolet both had local assembly plants or contractors, so they only had to send over chassis, engines, gearboxes, axles, cowl parts, etc. The local asembly plant(s) sourced bodywork, tyres, cab parts etc. to complete the vehicle.

I hope this sets the record straight.

I´ll get off my soapbox now