New to me C60L's

[Keith Webb]

W/O - Written off as you suggest, or at least approved for disposal. BofS = Board of Survey which was the examining government authority.

Usually the priority was government agencies such as GPO and fire authorities first, then back to manufacturers to sell through dealer networks, then to other buyers.

You'll see a lot of sales to GMH and Ford for CMPs. Another thing you'll see is SAN with a number which is simply Sales Advice Note.

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

I paid a gentleman in Canberra to check out a lot of my ARNS and I got him to check 77821 it was demobbed 20th August 1956. In one of the columns it has this notation W/O BofS, I am thinking W/O means written off as in written off the books,do any of you know what BofS might mean? May be something of Supply .The same notation is used for my 1952 F500 that was disposed of in 1964.Earlier trucks and later trucks have entirely different notations.
All the other numbers check out and it appears to have never had an engine change.
When I put the photos up I will start using the restoration forum
Cheers Ken

[Ken Smith]

Thanks Keith I would never have worked Board of Survey out.I had wondered about SAN.
My cab 12 F60L ARN 51720 appears to have been sold back to Ford Motor Company.
Cheers Ken

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

The 38443M00001 was off a CKD chassis assembled in Melbourne Plant. The 1944 MODEL truck has a plate on it that has been mis-stamped as it should be 'X4' and not '4X'. X4 was the code for Australian delivery.

Note that there were other 00001 chassis, with each plant using their own system with a plant identifier: A, B, M, P and S.

[Ken Smith]

Thanks for the information David. I think I love the research as much as the the whole chase, doing the deal and getting the babies back into a safe home.I was only thinking the other day that at least 5 of my trucks have come from farmers that bought trucks straight after the war and used them carefully and wanted the trucks to go to someone who would look after them.I still had to pay for all of them and quite a bit for 2 of them.This sort of ties in with Keiths handing it down thread and I feel it is a big responseability keeping safe ,trucks that have served our countries in war and peace.I seem to have got off track there, but seeing the looks on the farmers faces when they see the way their old trucks are tucked up in my shed or in a parade or at a reunion makes me happy.All of the farmers have gone to great lengths to make sure I have every part they have ever taken off the truck and they have all given me photo's and the history of where and when and how they got what to some of them was their first car.
Cheers Ken

[Ganmain Tony]

Stop tormenting us Ken, it sounds like a fantastic purchase!!

Photo's man! photo's!!

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Absolutely!!!

[Ken Smith]

Good day friends,

Well after three and a half years my C60L is home. I have now had a chance to examine the truck with my glasses on and with a magnifying glass and a few things are a bit strange.

First the engine has been changed a couple of times in the army life of the truck, the engine number on the data plate is DR4014304, the engine number in the War Memorial book is DR3750990, the engine in the truck is DR4014613, and is painted deep bronze green and I guess it is a army rebuild. I am happy with all that as the engine runs very sweetly.

There are about 6 different notations about repairs and reclassification stencilled under the bonnet/hood they start in 1953 and go up to Dec 1955, all with Northern Command, Queensland.

The manufactured date is 5-5-45 IND, originally I thought it was 1ND but now I am not so sure, funny thing the dashes between the 5-5-45 are actually the number 1 lying on its side. Could this truck have been made for India ? It was supplied under SM 6404.

The truck is deep bronze green as you would expect, and the paint is polishing up reasonably well for 60 year old paint, the ARN 77821 is painted on the top of the front clip, 3 times in 3 different styles, but on the bottom layer of brownish paint is the number 4004, it is stencilled on and done very well, quite thick, it is possible that there are numbers before the first number 4 but there is no room for anything after the last number 4. Could this be a Indian registration number? I will add at this stage that the ARN 77821 and the chassis number 4-8443-71597 tally with the ledgers at the Memorial.
Mike C has said that the Australian army sometimes kept other country registration numbers, my cab 12 C60L, AIF L4710841 being one of them, but this other registration they didn't keep.

There is a Holden badge on the engine cover, but that is the only connection to the truck being built in Australia. It doesn't have a CWO plate.

When the gentleman got me the information from the War Memorial he didn't understand a lot of the stuff he wrote down for me, therefore it is a bit hit and miss, he normally researched biographical data, and it would have been nice to know if my truck was a orphan or if it was in a bigger group of similar C60L,s.

I have taken a few before photos to put in the restoration section, but I would like to get some thoughts on this information first.

I know I am to excited and reading to much into a bit of paint.

Cheers Ken