Quote:
Originally posted by Mark W. Tonner
Anyways, the "locker" is actually a 'clip-on' kit that was produced enabling the ordinary medium passenger car to be converted to an 'ersatz' Funkkraftwagen (Kfz. 15).
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Mark,
Thanks for that picture, but I don't think it is fitted with one of those 'clip-on' kits- it looks like a much more permanent conversion. Due to the fact that it belongs to a telephone operations section it must be a "Nachr. Kw. (Kfz. 15)"
Nachrichtenkraftwagen or signal communications car, rather than a "Fu.kw. (Kfz.15)"
Funkkraftwagen or radio car.
I had another look at Bart Vanderveen's "The Wehrmacht's Umbau-Wagen" in Wheels & Tracks No.30, and surely enough the answer was there:
Quote:
In addition to captured military truck chassis, the Wehrmacht had Chevrolet four-door sedans converted (rather than rebodied) to meet the specification of their medium cars (m.Pkw.) in Kfz 12/15 form. The original Kfz.12 was a four seater Kübel with towing hook for light guns; the Kfz.15 was basically the same but equipped for signals roles, with large rear locker and special fittings for radio equipment, cable reels, etc. From the late 1930s they had been superseded by the universal m.E.Pkw. type with four-wheel drive (Auto-Union, Opel), a technical masterpiece which from 1941 was supplemented by the sturdier Mercedes and Steyr 1500A and, to a much smaller extent, by these Chevrolet conversions.
Photographic evidence shows a highly standardized conversion: folding windscreen, topless original doors, the back replaced by a large full-width equipment locker with double doors, short running boards, and cut-away mudguards. we have no idea how many were produced and where or whether any other makes were used for similar treatment.
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Pictures in W&T show converted 1936 Chevrolet FA Master sedan, 1937 Chevrolet GB Master, and 1939 Chevrolet JA Master DeLuxe sedan (below). Although Vanderveen does not show the pictures of Chevrolets with original roof and doors, I'm pretty convinced the first picture the photo above is one of these makeshift Chevrolet Kfz.15's, albeit converted to a lesser content than described by Vanderveen.
H.