CMPs and others Suribaya Indonesia

[Bill Murray]

Evening all:

I spent a refreshing day going through some boxes of photos, articles etc. from my attic that I had not looked through for more than 20 years now. I sent David H one scan of Turkish taxis post war that were built on the same concept as the Chevrolet Imperials of the late 1930's.

Here is a full page scan of vehicles seen in Indonesia. The date of the magazine is 1983, I honestly do not know when the photos were taken. I also apologize for the quality, but it is a scan of a scan and I did my best.
Regards
Bill

[Keith Webb]

Thanks for sharing that one, Bill

It is indeed a pleasure going through old phootographs - there's a fun sense of discovery there!

Interesting pics too - I wonder has anyone recently been through Indonesia to see what's still there?

[Lang]

I travel fairly regularly to SE Asia and there is still a bit of WW2 equipment around but fast disappearing!

In Indonesia one often sees a CMP cab at the side of the road but very rarely a reasonably complete vehicle. It is 10 years since I have seen one moving under its own power.

Even the Russian vehicles of the 60's have gone almost completely. The occasional GAZ 69 jeep is still around. If it is not Japanese it doesn't rate any more.

In Bangladesh one can still see plenty of WW2 vehicles. CMPs are fairly common but what is really common is 1 1/2 ton Chevrolets. Nearly all of these have the front axle replaced with one from some two wheel drive truck. The rear bodies are something to behold with thousands of chrome strips, reflectors and gaily painted scenes on them - all 6 foot high wooden sides. I can only suspect that these vehicles came from the Burma Road operation.
The odd GMC 6x6 is around but many have an axle removed (cost of tyres I suppose) - doesn't make any difference the single axle can still carry 10 tons!

One sees the 6x4 Morris often in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong with a crane on the back - think this was how the military had them.

I spent a night as the guest of the Burmese (Myanmar) Army a few years back when, due to bad weather, I landed a small plane where I should not have. We were transported in a fairly well maintained C60 to our overnight incarceration. I have since seen quite a number of CMP vehicles still operated by the Burmese military and other government departments.

I am off tomorrow to do a job for the UN in Bhutan for three months and will be based on the Indian border - will post any photos of WW2 vehicles I spot.

Lang