My Truck

[Rod Salter]

On the front are civvies

front Civies.jpg

On the rear are blitz

rear blitz.jpg

And it used to go fast

Speeding.jpg

Cheers rod

[Mike Cecil]

1941 Chevrolet Series 15.

The chassis number should be 'findable' in AWM126:

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/AWM126/

Good luck. There are only 120,000 vehicles listed, but yours should be in the earlier AMF registers (probably a five digit registration).

Mike

[Mike K]

If is is a 30 cwt chassis the original tyre size would be 900-18 . The firewall stencil looks like 41 = 1941 not M or W .

Good luck finding 18" tyres . Back in 1998 I was offered one of these trucks for next to nothing , located on a farm near Kilmore.

[jack neville]

11.00 x18” tyres are available now from Coker Tyres in the States.
I have 5 en route by sea now for my Ford/ Marmon Herrington.
They are not cheap but I found bringing them in myself was cheaper than buying them through Antique Tyres in Melbourne.

[Mike Cecil]

Rod,

Your truck was originally configured as a 'Lorry, 30cwt, GS' (tray body with fixed sides and front, with tailgate). Registration number C-23442. It still has the original engine.

Taken on charge in 2nd Military District (ie NSW) which figures as it was built in GMH's Sydney plant (the 'S' in the chassis number).

Disposal to GMH.

Regards

Mike

[Lang]

Would the strange engine number indicate the engine was either built for or replaced in Africa?

Lang

[Mike Cecil]

What do you find strange about the number, Lang?

There are many Aust military Chevs listed with the AFR prefixed number as the original engine number.

Mike

[Ken Smith]

Good day Mike,
What do you think the stamp, 2520 UNIT US ORDER on the opposite page to the ARN means. I see at the top of the page on some of the listings it has a hand written notation U/S 2520 UNIT. Do they mean a Canadian order for 2520 chassis?
I noticed some of the preceding ARN,s are for cab 12 DND Fords that are shown as US vehicles on English order No 886 War Dept. I am guessing that in the mind of the people entering the information that Canada was another U.S. State.

Cheers Ken

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Ken,

I take the reference to 'US' order to mean an order through/on the British Purchasing Commission based in New York, which body was controlling the 'bids' for items by Commonwealth countries, and the allocation of items to Commonwealth countries from each months actual production. The BPC looked at what was available, who wanted what, the urgency of the requirement, and allocated accordingly. This certainly applies to the Cab 12 order, but I'm not sure of the date when Australia ceased ordering direct from US suppliers and when the BPC took over all allocations from North American production, so the '2520 US Order' is possibly one of the direct to US supplier orders common in 1940-41.

Mike

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Rod,

Your truck was originally configured as a 'Lorry, 30cwt, GS' (tray body with fixed sides and front, with tailgate). Registration number C-23442. It still has the original engine.

Taken on charge in 2nd Military District (ie NSW) which figures as it was built in GMH's Sydney plant (the 'S' in the chassis number).

Disposal to GMH.

Regards

Mike

Mike, where do I find the "C" prefix ARN's. I have sleuthed through the AWM 126 books but have not found any "C" prefixed numbers. I have seen plenty of "C" numbers in photos but don't know where to look them up.

Thanks Rick.

[Mike Cecil]

Rod,

Go to the bottom of this page:

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2143574?image=104


Rick: re 'C' prefix: see my latest post under 'NT Pics'. For a more detailed explanation of the AMF and AIF registration schemes and prefixes, see pages 6 & 7 of my AMEP Volume 2: LP Carriers.

Mike

[Ken Smith]

Good day Rod,
Welcome to the forum, you have a lovely truck.
I researched my Australian cabbed Chevrolet truck earlier this year using the AWM registration books to find out a tiny bit of history. It took a lot of hours to find the chassis number but I was able to find that my truck had been to the Middle East on the ship Tricolor spelt Tricolour in the AWM books.
The other thing I found was the trucks with the small wheel stud, 18 inch rims like yours are 30 cwt (1-1/2 ton) and the trucks with the bigger stud, 5 stud 18 inch rims are 3 tonners.
The rims are not blitz they are uniquely Australian Chevrolet and are stamped GMH.
My truck was fortunate enough to survive the Middle East return to Australia and was sold to GMH after the war.
As more of these Chev cabs are being turned into rat rods or garden art a good complete truck is becoming a rarity.
Ken