C8 at work ?

[Mike Kelly]

This C8 has been put to work over the past two months . Earning its keep , carting branches as part of a bush fire control plan.

Mike

[cliff]

Mike it is good to see the old girl out of the shed and working. Just one question though. Is the spare wheel carrier off in this pic or is this how it was originally?

Cliff

[Mike Kelly]

hi Cliff

The spare wheel is hidden under that plastic sheet . They normally carried a chorehorse , sitting between the cab and rear on the fuel tank RH side , thats why there is a gap there . I have a chorehorse , but I'm not game enough to install it , as its rather heavy .

Mike

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

The C8 has the distinction with the F60H of being the CMP series that ended production soonest, discounting the F8A? I am working on British regos at the moment and this is the sum total of known [to me] C8 serials:

1940 MODEL YEAR:
0842000509
0842000511
0842000525
0842000542
0842000579
0842002577
0842002789
IN AUSTRALIA 08420xxxxxx: ENGINE # TRA2,802,220
08420xxxxxx ENGINE #TRA2,802,530
084205608 ENGINE # TRA2,814,228 [in Canada]

1941 MODEL YEAR:
8420x2 # 12 CAB 1842008354 ENGINE # ZR3,692,055 Z 4544183 S.M. 2029
1842008526
1842008570
8420x2 1842018573 ENGINE # ZR3,715,534 Z 4548484 S.M. 2029
[1]84[201]2042 Z 4544971 S.M. 2029
1842012403
1842012558
8420x2 1842014886 IN AUSTRALIA ENGINE # ZR3,703,271 S.M. 2029
1842016302
1842016388
1842017266
1842017323
1842017431
1842017463
1842017497
1842018573 ENGINE # ZR3,716,534
1842018649
1842018744

1942 MODEL YEAR:
2842001192 ENGINE # WR3,765,985
2842001330 ENGINE # WR3,766,091
2842001378
2842001395
2842001427
2842001497

PRODUCTION TERMINATED LATE 1941

Note that # 2842001497 and some of its predecessors were demobbed in the UK in 1946. I would have thought that these would have been 'obsolete' long before then and amongst the first CMPs to be sold off but apparently not.

I am conjecting that the C8A series started when the C8 production ended. Prototype C8A # 284450006 was 'built' officially in February 1942 although this is a misnomer as its chassis dates to late 1941 MY. The earliest known C8A chassis to date is # 2844501681. There is then a big gap of several hundred until # 2844508837. I hate 'gaps' as I always gest suspicious about errors in transcription etc. and thus the more demob serials I can find the better the picture we get as sometimes these 'gaps' get filled and sometimes it can be proven that there was an error somewhere. It's too much like a jigsaw!

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

I have just ascertained that there is an apparent enigma in the serials in the previous posting that those of you who are eagle-eyed ay have spotted! Note that the first BRITISH order for C8s was S/M 2029, and that these carried # 11 and # 12 cabs, but had 1941 MODEL YEAR serials. There were, apparently, no 1940 MY CMPs to British order excepting those acquired by the British Government from Canadian stocks/diverted from Canadian orders.

So, how come there are C8s to apparently Canadian orders in Australia? The answer is probably that these were N African deliveries of stocks acquired from Canada under British Contract BM/2V83.WS6 (D) or BM/2783.WS6(D). Known Mid-East allocated numbers on Aussie C8s are Z 4177535 and Z 4302620. In addition there was the domestic UK census number series Z 4183685 to 4183692. As before once these trucks were issued to the AIF etc. they were taken into stock and then payment settled with the British in 1941.

It is thought that these were acquired from Canadian stocks for U.K. and/or Mid-East [then issued to A.I.F.] as per FORD order BM/2V83.WS6 (D) or BM/2783.WS6(D)]: L 4183596 TO 4183621 ‘Lorry 3 ton 4 x 2 G/S’; Z 4183676 to 4183684 ‘Truck 15 cwt 4 x 2 G/S’ and Z 4183693 to 4183718 ‘Truck 8 cwt 4 x 2 G/S’.
This Contract covered both Chevrolets and Fords...not seen this type of contract reference before but it was used very rarely it seems...anyone know anything more about that style please?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by David_Hayward
Note that # 2842001497 and some of its predecessors were demobbed in the UK in 1946. I would have thought that these would have been 'obsolete' long before then and amongst the first CMPs to be sold off but apparently not.

Were any CMP's sold off during the war?
Last June I saw a pre-WW2 Morris-Commercial PU 8-cwt under restoration - it got a Class I (i.e. full stripdown) rebuild in August 1945!

H.

[Mike Kelly]

Thanks

David , for all that info . It's all mind spinning stuff . Too much for this feeble mind to take it all in .

Hanno , where and who owns this pre war Morris PU ? Have you any pics ?

We know of around 25 MCC PU's left . At least bits of 4 have been found here , plus one complete one .

Mike

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

The earliest disposals seem to have been say in July 1945, with registrations in August 1945. Sales then went on in earnest from early 1946 to 1948 by when the refurb and resale system for thousands of trucks was under way.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Mike Kelly
Hanno , where and who owns this pre war Morris PU ? Have you any pics ?

Mike, see Morris-Commercial PU 8-cwt in greyish blue colour?

Originally posted by David_Hayward
The earliest disposals seem to have been say in July 1945, with registrations in August 1945. Sales then went on in earnest from early 1946 to 1948 by when the refurb and resale system for thousands of trucks was under way.

Thanks - subject for an article in Heritage Commercials? By the way, have you ever tried to raise the standard of Classic Military Vehicles magazine?

H.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

H...not sure even I have the ability to raise standards in CMV!