Friday, January 24, 2020

Reassembling Canadian Military Pattern trucks

The North American automakers kicked their production lines into high gear to produce military trucks during WW2. The Canadian Military Pattern trucks were manufactured and then partially disassembled for shipping overseas. Most went to England where they were put back together in a number of factories spread around England. In many cases the cab and bare chassis arrived and were completed with whatever body was required before being shipped out to their ultimate destination.
 Some were shipped directly to where they were needed, and assembled by whatever skilled and unskilled help could be rounded up. There were several variations for knocking them down all with their own army-specified name. 
The Delta plan was one chassis plus cab in a crate, a second crate held two bodies.  This method was the most dense way of packing, and required the cab and body (box) assembled, axles, springs and drive shafts installed, brake lines connected and bled, it took more time and required skilled help. This method was generally used when reassembly was done in the Canadian-run reassembly plants in England.
The one pictured here is the Alpha method, used for assembly in the field. The wheels and top half of the cabs were removed and the parts shipped in one crate. (No mistaking who made these!). When they arrived at their destination- these pictures apparently taken in Egypt- wheels and steering wheels were fitted and the vehicle rolled away to have the cab finished. Quick and efficient. 
The other methods also specified more assembly due to smaller more densely packed crates. 
 Beta 1 had the chassis in a crate with wheels removed, the body (box) inverted over the chassis and two cabs arrived in a separate crate. 
Beta 2 came back to one vehicle per crate with the cab split into multiple pieces. These methods applied to the GS (general service) trucks, specialized vehicles had their own specific shipping methods.
During the war years between 1940 and 1945 Canada produced and shipped overseas more than 88,000 trucks.





5 comments:

  1. You have no idea how much I appreciate this site as a Canadian.:-)

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  2. You have no idea how much I appreciate this site as an Americano;)

    Thank God for Canada during WWII for ferrying all those aircraft to England! That's a great story!

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  3. Thanks for the kind words, guys. I gotta keep frequenting old book stores for this stuff! That's OK by me.

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  4. I don't know what used book stores you frequent, but I'd like to shop there! The only stuff I can ever find is old Danielle Steele novels or books about the British royal family!

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  5. Yeah... not much to scan from Danielle Steele....:-)

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