Chevrolet Truck 'Lend Lease' etc

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by mlombard

Hi Mike, Lionel et al

So I understand the MCP designation is the military 'catch all' to cover these types of vehicle and differentiate them from the 'Blitz' or CMP vehicles.

Matt

The CMP Ford and Chev vehicles were a specific truck "Family" made to a UK War Department specification by the Canadians. Although they share many standard mechanical parts, they are a distinctly different group of military vehicles.

The Modified Commercial Pattern (MCP) trucks were also a Canadian design change by Ford, Chev and Dodge to (it's sounds obvious when I write this) modify their Standard Commercial trucks to adapt them for Military service. The adaptations included things like larger, wider tyres, better air and oil filtration, and military lighting.

So MCP is the manufacturer's distinction of the vehicle's design to differentiate them from the standard commercial trucks. While on the whole the MCP changes originated from Canadian designs, in common with the standard commercial trucks assembled by GM/H, the Aust Chev MCPs had some unique Aust design features stemming from local manufacture content. Some were instigated by the Army, some by GM/H, but they also appeared in the standard trucks. By contrast, the Ford MCPs were more "true" to the Canadian design as they has less local content.