1941 Chevrolet Portee

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

That Census Number is in the batch L 4594498 to 4595497* which was of course to S/M 2028 which covered the Portees Now, the 'L' prefix shows that it's a 'Lorry', which would be appropriate since it was a 3-ton chassis as we know though the Portees were officialy initially at least 30-cwt). This would be the case if there had been a rebuild of an obsolete CGT chassis to a G/S lorry; the same applied to rebuilds of MCC C.8/MG 2-pdr Portees to G/S lorries by Morris Commercial Cars Ltd in late 1942/early 1943. It appears that some were also converted to 17-pdr tractors (see WHEELS & TRACKS) [Imperial War Museum PHOTO NA 19787] Census Number H 4594682 ... note the 'H' prefix added. MCC Portees were also converted to airportable 17-pdr tractors of course. I have no evidence from the Parchute Regiment archives that any Chevs were but they may have/must have tried, surely?

I can understand it was not an ex-Mid East vehicle if it was rebuilt in the UK in late 1942/early 1943 and then 'sold' to the NZ Government, being one of the 219 NZ Portee rebuilds (Morris-Comercial and Chevrolet). I was going to ask if any data was known but I see that I might have it already:

NZ23375/ L4595399 [SENT TO NZ]

GENERAL MOTORS OF CANADA
MADE IN GM CANADA
OSHAWA WALKERVILLE REGINA
MODEL 84-40x2
SERIAL 1844031615
ENGINE 3758552 BODY SERIAL __
TRIM XR PAINT F.C.98

A Gotfredson plate was used on CGTs but I have no idea who built the Portee bodies.


* Plus the direct to Mid East series L 1441XXXX. One of these days I'll get down to Bovington to check their record cards to see if they show the actual allocations.