1944 Chevrolet C8A Heavy Utility Personnel PUTR-2

[Niek Baecke]

Seeing all the wonderful British and Canadian vehicles on 30 corps tour, and the fact that our hometown was liberated by the Canadian army, my father and I decided that we also wanted a British/Commonwealth vehicle. Since we already both own a jeep, we wanted something the size of a small truck.

Our goal was a Bedford MWR or Fordson. However after doing some research for parts, we found out parts are quite scarce for these vehicles on this side of the channel.
We changed our minds and started looking for a CMP. My father had already previously owned a Ford F15A years ago. So we started looking for a 15cwt GS truck.
While looking through ads we saw this HUP for sale in the Netherlands. We went to look at it and found out that it was in remarkable condition.

It doesn't seem to have had a civilian life since being released from the Dutch army somewhere in the late 50's (last rebuild dataplate on the engine).
The HUP seemed to have been stored dry for many years. It was found by a Dutch collector who put a new battery in, checked  the ignition and put fresh fuel and oil in the engine and then started right up! The previous owner had the drivetrain and brake system rebuild and checked. He also had the fuel tanks / system cleaned and checked. Put on a new set of tyres. He wanted to restore the vehicle as a civilian vehicle (white colour and black mudguards). 
We both were amazed about how original this HUP was. A deal was made, a transporter was found and the vehicle found it's way to Belgium.

This C8A originally was build on the 8th of June 1944 as a PUTR-2 (Short for COMPUTOR), this means it was converted to a field office for information collection, evaluation and calculating. Mostly used by the Royal Canadian Artillery. This conversion included among other things: 2 field desks (long gone unfortunately...), hooks on the side and rear of the vehicle for and a rail on the top for mounting a tent (still there), blackout curtains (also still there)... The vehicle was sand blasted by the Dutch army, so any Canadian markings are long gone unfortunately. They also added a Jeep tow hook and frame, quite a handy modification which will remain. The bodywork itself is in quite good condition, no rot or major dents.

For now we plan to keep it as a ''Rolling Restoration".
First thing that needs to be done is the wiring. We also plan to remove the engine, check out it's condition, clean and replace all the seals. It still has it's original 216 Chevrolet engine.
I'd also like to make a roof luggage rack as i think it would really suit the vehicle. Will keep you all updated on the progress of this Chevy.

Edited December 22, 2024 by Niek Baecke

[Prague1996]

Hi Niek, it's remarkable that these great finds still turn up, keep the posts coming and good luck with the rolling restoration.

[Niek Baecke]

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2025.

On the first weekend of the year, we did some minor things on the HUP.

We sourced some pieces of original headlights and managed to complete a full set. We also found an original blackout mask. Today we swapped out the Hella H4 headlights and put it back to original spec.
It looks much nicer now with the modern lights gone but it will be even better when the chrome headlight rings are sandblasted and painted.

Found a nice bridge plate and made a bracket for it. Also went through our ''stock'' and found a nice 1944 dated fire extinguisher.

We removed the engine guard because a piece of it was removed. Luckily a second one was with the truck. Both are in quite bad shape but we will manage to make one good one. This is work for next week.

While the hup was out of it's storage, we hooked up our original 10cwt "Binned" storage trailer to it. It's a very nice combo and wil look great once done. Originally a HUP doesn't have a tow hook. But since we do a lot of shows and always have a lot of kit to haul around, we decided to keep it. However it will need to be modified so the 10cwt trailer sits level.

That's it for this weeks update. Now time for a beer. Cheers! 


 

[Niek Baecke]

Today my father started work on the engine guard. One was heavily dented (green) and the other (white) was missing some pieces and was heavily cracked. He decided to repair the cracked one and get the missing pieces from the dented one. The dented one still had traces of original brown paint, but was beyond saving...
We had to remove the inspection door to straighten it. We will revit it back on once the welding is done.

We're still missing the inspection holes cover plates, this weekend a friend will bring one of his which we can use as a model to make 2 new ones. It seems a lot of trucks have these plates missing.

While my father did the welding, I removed the tow hook from the Chevy. I found a piece of steel (15mm thick) and made a plate to lower the tow hook about 20cm, it weighs 6.1kg so i don't think this will bend or break... This will make the 10cwt more level. I might also make a step to make accessing the rear door easier. 

I'm looking for some pictures of the brackets that hold the pioneer tools on the rear of the vehicle.
Ours seem  to be missing except for the lower shovel bracket...

The steel I ordered finally arrived so we might start making the roof luggage rack this weekend.
 

Edited January 7 by Niek Baecke