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1939 Vintage Allis Chalmers Model M Crawler Tractor, petrol paraffin


Morris C8

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Interesting, I don't believe they were used by the military, larger All is maybe but not the M

Have never been able to find a military one in a book

There is at least one in preservation painted in military colours but really not sure of its provenance

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They were, however, provided under lend-lease  and were allocated by the Ministry of Supply. As such they are often assumed to be "military". In fact they were used both in agriculture and more generally in the war effort. The lend lease M's had (I think) a front towing pintle and a hole in the bulkhead so that the driver could swap from petrol to TVO without stopping/leaving his/her seat.

I think I may have owned/sold the one in the post by Jamie Meachin......

 

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  • 5 months later...

 The Model M was for sure used by the US military during the 2nd world war ,as I own a military WM version which has a factory 3 speed forward transmission in it , the only one fitted with that-gearbox I have seen . It was built in 1942 the last yr of production and was not delivered to Perthshire Scotland as new ,until 1947 . The farmer was told it had seen active service during the war and then repainted in Allis colours after being decommissioned, this was the 2nd M to them and they wanted it way sooner but none were available until after the war .I have a very detailed manual which came with the tractor and in there it mentions that military spec machines were fitted with special transmissions, also mentions optional fittings such as winches and baker blades etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

Found a WM in the War Department Technical Bulletin: TB 5-9720-11

Technical data for tractors and other attachments 10th July 1944.

The TB mentions that  it was used for towing and general construction.

I would imagine that if you did find a Allis WM that was definitely used by the US army during WW2 that it would have US stamped on the tractor serial number. As seen on ex army Caterpillars, and Cletracs.

(It is quite possible that the OD Allis M is original as the hood number has the correct prefix (9) which is correct for a tractor, although it is possible that the owner just painted it on there knowing this fact.)

Allis WM.png

Edited by Josh_Markham
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