CMP Umbau-Wagen

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Hanno Spoelstra
The article about the Wehrmacht's Umbau-Wagen (W&T 30) brought an interesting reaction from Herr Reinhard Frank in Bavaria, who sent me a picture of a line-up of the Kfz. 15 cars on CMP F15 chassis, plus some original drawings of the conversion, which was apparently executed in Athens in late 1941 by the Pi.Btl.666 (666 Engineers Battalion) for Pi.Btl.659 who took them to Russia.

I recently found out the original drawings of the conversion are featured in Reinhard Frank's book Ford im Kriege. LKW -Maultier- PKW (Waffen Arsenal, n°123, Vienne, Friedberg, 1990).
This body must have been a local conversion, only loosely modelled on the Kfz.15, contrary the body on the Bedford and Morris-Commercial Umbau-Wagen which are almost exact copies of typical German Kübel bodies. Instead of the typical steel triangular doors as found on the Stoewer, the 'Kfz. 15 (Behelf) (Ford V8 1,5 to engl.)' has square doors and bench seats, both very non-German. Interestingly, the rear body with its slanted back reminds us of the Quad Gun Tractor body.

cmpfordkfz15-1.jpg