Early Pattern 11 Chev 4x2 ??

[Joe Lorenzino]

One of the trucks stored in my yard is going off to a new home in a museum in Northern Alberta. Took a few pictures of it after we moved it out for them to pick it up. Looks like an Early model, as it has no vents on the front, and what looks like a Ford pattern grill. Going through the pictures, it appears that this Might have been #138 off the assembly line??

[Tony Smith]

Not so much where is it going to, but where has it come from?

[rob love]

I believe I know this truck. Was/is the owner's initials DB?
We recovered it off a farm site near Swift current back in the mid 90s. It was, indeed, the 138th off the line. The ferret tires were picked up from the Beechy surplus dealer.



As one of the early trucks, it had a key ignition. I think I still have the ignition switch out in the garage for this truck. I was going to try and make up the key.

[Joe Lorenzino]

That would be the unit. DB still owns it, but has moved to somewhere outside of Edmonton. He has donated it to their local vehicle museum. I believe they plan on putting some form of Grain Box on it to show what resourceful farmers were doing with them after the war. His brother was there to help get it out of its Long Term parking spot, and lined up for easy trailer loading. DB called to see if the tyres were flat! Both brothers were Amazed that they weren't.. until I pointed out that they are RF's, and "Flat" was Not a condition that they were capable of. I believe they said the truck originally came from around Neville, SK., and May have been part of a "field Recovery" training mission??

[rob love]

I blew the inner tube on one of those tires on my KL welding lorry back n the day. We had stopped about 20 minutes out of Winnipeg, and were towing the truck behind an MLVW to go to a DND parade. We ended up towing it the rest of the way to Winnipeg, drove it downtown and through all of the parade, back to the base, and finally replaced the tire before the trip home. The KL is one heavy CMP, yet you could not tell that tire was flat.

That was a nice truck with lots of potential. I think I would have preferred seeing it go to a private collector to have restored to original, but in the end it's his truck to do as he pleases.

[Bob Carriere]

Do you realize how rare that truck is....... if the almost prestine registration tag is correct..... it was made in the first run starting April 1940.....and although it sports a Ford grill it is a CHEV...... has no side lights installed, now air vents... and probably no device to drive with the doors open inhot weather...... probably no rear axle black our convoy light......

Would be nice if some one from the area gained access and took XXXXXXXXX number of pictures of both inside and out...... underneath etc.....

What happened to the repro wooden box that (Cletrac) had built and liquidated at his auction????? it was well made and woould be most appropriate for the early release.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Great to see such an early truck! I hope they put it back in military configuration. This is not just any old truck which farmers turned into a grain truck...

[Joe Lorenzino]

Weather has changed here to snow & 50-65K winds. Will ask them to take more detailed pictures when it is on the trailer, or at its new home before they change anything.

What is the earliest serial # from this First lot that we Know still exists as a vehicle??

Believe there is another early one in the Ponteix area, but have not seen it in years.
Private guys from Moose Jaw came down in the 80's/90's and picked up the Original 2A1 box, but the truck was Not for sale.
It has since changed hands, but believe it never left the area.

Can't remember if I got my Ferret RF tyres from Rob, or the used dealer in Medicine Hat, along with some 1100-16 Michelin XZLs.
Have them on my 54 Fargo Power Wagon winch truck.
Will allow Lifting to Max capacity with no air, but tend to shear the valve stems off if not inflated, as the powder coated civilian wheels do not allow the use of bead locks.

[Bob Carriere]

First thank you Joe for the presence of mind of documenting that cab 11. It is certainly worthwhile trying to gather as much info/pictures as possible for this vehicle and the other possible one suspected to exist out West.

Hanno......... what ever happened to the older registry that a few well guided individuals put together in the late 70s or 80s...... they were done possibly pre computers and a labour of love to say the least. Are there any digital copies still recoverable and could they become a separate thread on MLU???? I envision a special thread that would allow individual to enter their own information and the Forum system would automatically sort them out in descending numbers and sortable by date, location, current owner, etc.
....is such a thing feasible so that once created it would be self maintaining??

There are rumours of a very very early Ford in the outskirts of Ottawa. I have seen the vehicle but did not inspect closely at the time as I was disappointed with the fact it had the later version louvered air vents ........ but certainly worth a second visit which I will do a.s.a.p before it gets worst here around Ottawa.

Winter time is certainly not the best weather wise to go trampling in backroads to check out things but it could be the best time to search out existing copies of these early registry.

I tend to take pictures of every cab 13 data plates I come across......sadly usually missing along with the engine covers of earlier cab 11 and 12 and would happily share on MLU. MLU members must rememebr that only those pictures actually posted on the Forum remain in archives of MLU all other Photo site that provided posting services are very much time sensitive and will disappear eventually. Can the current format of MLU handle the extra documentation and the storage requirements????

I am sure that many of us have in our computers photos or other data that could be pulled together to further document current or even past information.

To allow us to dream ......is it time to remember our timely $$$ contribution to the up keep of the Forum?????

Cheers

[rob love]

I suspect you are talking about Peter Ford's infoex. He recorded every number he could find. This was in the pre-internet days. Once can only imagine what could be achieved now.



I have not seen an earlier Chev unless you go into the pilot and protoype vehicles. I always regarded serial 138 as the earliest production vehicle, but there were 137 earlier examples so who knows?

[Joe Lorenzino]

Just received pictures of the truck in the farmer's yard before it was recovered in the summer of 96. Appears to have gained and lost a couple of things along the way..
Were the marker lights on the roof Standard for all licensed trucks at that time??
Have found them an virtually ALL CMPs recovered so far??

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Hanno......... what ever happened to the older registry that a few well guided individuals put together in the late 70s or 80s...... they were done possibly pre computers and a labour of love to say the least. Are there any digital copies still recoverable and could they become a separate thread on MLU???? I envision a special thread that would allow individual to enter their own information and the Forum system would automatically sort them out in descending numbers and sortable by date, location, current owner, etc.
....is such a thing feasible so that once created it would be self maintaining??

Bob, if you are referring to Peter Ford's CMP-INFOEX, I have a copy thanks to Robert Morrison. I will look up the number (sometime soon).

Keith Webb used to have a CMP database on his website, but this has gone offline.

Same is true for the database compiled on The Canadian Register & CMP Owners club website, also gone offline but it can still be found in the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20160325.../database.html

I am dreaming of an online database which can be updated by MLU members themselves, rather than one or two people having to process everything that gets sent to them. Been there, done that >

[Bob Carriere]

A simple design that can be updated by individual members and can be updated only by the originating member.....nothing to add burden to the admin. or moderators.

A project for next year....... which is almost here!!!!