F15a steering knuckles

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

I wonder if there were not a lot of unintended interchange of parts. The guys in a REME repair shop have a dead Ford and a pile of Chevy parts taking the attitude if it fits it works.

For example the replacement of Chevy engines with Ford engines in North Africa has often been referred to, reason the guys running the rebuild facilities were Ford guys and had Ford parts, they worked with what they knew and had.

Cheers Phil

PS Dave I was expecting somebody to comment on Chevy with an outboard Ford glad you enjoyed.

[Dave Schindel]

Commonality of parts was fairly important at the time.

yeah, couldn't resist.

[Bob Phillips]

On a more serious note.. the discussion about Ford & Chev interchangibility, and support by Ford & Chev during the war years is an interesting one. ( though I never heard of putting a Ford v8 in to replace a 216??details??)
Phil you might vaguely remember one of the participants in Bill Greggs CMP seminar was a guy named Kuno Stockelbach who travelled as the Ford rep through north Africa and the middle east during the war. There was clearly much more than simply military support re transport but I don't know to what extent. Do you have any memory of the specifics 32 years later??
AND on some other thread there was discussion about a surviving audio or audio/video tape of the CMP event. Anybody know what ever happened with respect to that effort?? ..BP

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Bob Phillips

....though I never heard of putting a Ford v8 in to replace a 216??details??)
Phil you might vaguely remember one of the participants in Bill Greggs CMP seminar was a guy named Kuno Stockelbach who travelled as the Ford rep through north Africa and the middle east during the war. There was clearly much more than simply military support re transport but I don't know to what extent. Do you have any memory of the specifics 32 years later??
.... ..BP

Hi Bob

My memory of Kuno speaking was that he mentioned they knew how to rebuild the Ford V8 and were setup to do it, so they did, if something needed and engine it was likely to get a Ford. The only print evidence that I can find is Blueprint for Victory page 153 but that is talking about a Cadillac. Memory is saying there was something in Wheels&Tracks on the topic.

Cheers Phil

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

My memory of Kuno speaking was that he mentioned they knew how to rebuild the Ford V8 and were setup to do it, so they did, if something needed and engine it was likely to get a Ford. The only print evidence that I can find is Blueprint for Victory page 153 but that is talking about a Cadillac. Memory is saying there was something in Wheels&Tracks on the topic.

This is what I wrote earlier...personally I doubt the degree of engines being replaced by a Ford V8. In some caes it may have been an easy swap, in other cases it must have needed major alterations. On the other hand, wartime brings up the best ingenuity in people ...

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Re. Canadians being the hot rodders of WW2, read the following snippet from Gregg's "Blueprint for Victory" p.151: "Kuno Stockelbach, a civilian employee of Ford Motor Company of Canada, supervised all vehicle assembly and major overhaul facilities for the British 8th, 9th and 10th Armies in North Africa and the Middle East from the Fall of 1941 until the end of the Sicilian Campaign.
Kuno attempted to keep the inventory list down by putting Canadian 95 h.p. Ford V8 engines in anything that had room under the hood. All Universal Carriers were re-engined, at the first refit, with the larger powerplant, as were English Ford products such as the W.O.T. transport series. Engines did not last long in the North African desert; Universal Carrier engines were changed every 2,000-3,000 miles and transport vehicles after 10,000 miles. The enthusiast should not despair if he finds a British-built Armoured Car equipped with a Canadian Ford V8 engine. This was the standard refitting procedure in North Africa."