goanna

These are 1941 12 cwt Ford GS Vans or 'utes'

More scenes. pic 1 is a 1941 Chevy 15 cwt GS Van . Body/cab made by GM-H. Looks like a Middle East location.

The pics are sourced from the Western Australian Collections web site. Some of these images are in West. Aust. The on-line captions are brief . Pic 1 is a 1941 Ford 1 ton MCP truck: officially '1 ton GS Van' these were fitted with the divided 16" military wheels. Body/cab made by Ford Aust. Pic 2 is a typical 1941 30cwt or 3 Ton MCP Chevy with the 18" Aust. divided rims. 900-18 tyres. The 3 Ton model had 10.50-18 tyres.... Pic 3 some of the MCP vehicles had the conventional 20" civilian wheels fitted. A 1940 Chevy 3 ton - could be a scene in the M.E as the unit sign is 9th Div. Pic 4 another 1940 Chev MCP truck

Yes, think it's a 500cc ALCE made by Moto Guzzi , they were popular with the Aussie soldiers, they used them as a runabout.

V1008 was a 1940 Chevrolet 12cwt GS Van...... or utility . The records indicate it was probably left behind in the M.E. Looks like It was shipped on the vessel 'Arcadia' from Melbourne .

More pics

Chaplain's car is a Kubel Italian ALCE motorbike

Captured Italian tank.

A few pics depicting Australian use of British vehicles and other interesting stuff. The airfield scene: may be a Vichy French airfield in Syria. Looks like a Morris C8 Portee.

Few more pics with Australian units. From 1939-41 The Aust. army transport fleet mainly consisted of MCP vehicles i.e Ford and Chevrolet for overseas deployment plus other makes for use within Australia - International, Dodge and some 'impressed' stock that was taken from civilian owners. In 1942, Some British WD vehicles arrived in Aust. as 'refugee' cargo, these were intended for Malaya , but as Malaya fell to the Japanese, these vehicles were unloaded in Aust. ports. Some British WD vehicles were purloined from the Middle East and came back with returning AIF units to Australia. The types of refugee cargo vehicles includes: Ford WOT2s Morris CS8s and around 30 Morris C8 2 pounder Portee and other assorted vehicles.

A pic I found recently. Scene is likely to be unloading a Ford in Malaya or Singapore , these vehicles and troops all fell into Japanese hands. I found the trucks details in the AWM126 books. The Ford was shipped out on the vessel 'Orestes' 6/6 1941 Details of the Orestes https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/media/orestes.257893/

Hi Great work ! "Canadian long block engines for right hand drive trucks have a very different manifold set up compared to the Left hand drive version which is unique to D15 and D60 range of military trucks . It was pure luck that this one turned up or the project would have stalled badly." The Canadian long block engines are relatively common in Australia. I had one in a 1941 army Plymouth 12 cwt ute and another in my 1946 Dodge DD1-16 ute , both were 3 3/8" bore and 4 1/16" stroke from memory. Both Right Hand Drive of course

Hi Nick from your pal downunder.. How did the Jeep canvas bits work out ? This won't help you. Those 01T Ford trucks were widely used by the Australian Army, typically fitted with the odd ball 18 inch Aust. wheels some of them served in the Middle East and Malaya. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C207833

Pics from the West. Australia library. https://purl.slwa.wa.gov.au/download/slwa_b2513883_1.jpg https://purl.slwa.wa.gov.au/download/slwa_b2513883_2.jpg https://purl.slwa.wa.gov.au/download/slwa_b2513883_3.jpg

Pic of a SMHEA Commer Link www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13136 The only ex-military Commer I've seen in Australia over 40 + years of looking is a few of the large Q4 4x4 Trucks that came out here during the atomic bomb testing at Maralinga in the 1950s

The Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority in N.S.W. used those Commers during the early days of the SMHEA - late 1940s.

My Jeep was used in the Australian produced TV mini series 'The Dunera Boys' the show was filmed just outside of Melbourne Australia. Well known UK actors Bob Hoskins and Warren Mitchell were on the set. I got to drive a Aust. 1939 Ford Marmon-Herrington gun tractor . Most of the vehicle scenes ended up on the editing room floor . I advised the props people a Jeep was not appropriate for 1940 but the script said otherwise https://www.duneraassociation.com/dunera-boys/

Close Phil but they are actually dunnies

The post WW2 Morris MRA1 is seen in the background on Omaha beach as a German truck in 'Saving Private Ryan'

Looking very nice. Are you having a canvas cover made ?

Thank you.

Can I ask what 1/35 kit is that you are using ?

Is this the chap in your model diorama ? https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2663506 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2663508

A few AWM pics of cinema jeeps. A search of the AWM collections will reveal many pics of mobile cinema jeeps. The mobile cinema units were attached to the Aust. army amenities service. The cinema jeeps seem to have a few mods i.e. a gene set mounted behind the seats https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C67282 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C19523 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C281907 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C63312 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C67804 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C67280