[David_Hayward (RIP)]

I have written about production commencement and that achieved before, based on D.N.D. papers, plus those of the Southern Railway company in respect of the C.M.D. in Southampton. However I don't have Hanno's research skills so have had to look up my papers again.

According to Dr Gregg, the C.M.D. Plant was ready and in production by 12 May 1940 . Dr. Gregg has also alleged that production of 15-cwt. 4 x 2 trucks started in April 1940, followed by 8-cwt. 4 x 2 May 1940, 30-cwt. 4 x 4 and 3-ton/60-cwt. 4 x 4 also in May, the Field Artillery Tractors in June, then the 15-cwt. 4 x 4 in September 1940 . This is disputed though fromthe following evidence. Confirmation of the actual first day of production has however been the result of considerable research. Clues have been forthcoming from a Department of National Defence file , although even that file is not conclusive. The sum total of evidence is as follows. A ‘backorder and shortages’ list provided a list of parts requested by a Memorandum of 5 April 1940, shipped from what appears to have been Ford in Windsor on 12 April: this was for ‘174 15-cwt. C.K.D.’ units, and was sent to ‘Canmilitry, C/o General Motors, Southampton’ and consisted of various Ford and possibly G.M. parts. It appears as though these may well have been the very first D.N.D.-pattern units assembled for export, namely Ford F.15 4 x 2 G.S. Trucks. There were also two Memoranda sent by Ford of Canada to London on 27 March and then a revised version on 11 April , relating to ‘Decking Military Cabs’ and ‘Assembly of Military Cabs From S.K.D. Stock’, though the parts number suggests that these were F.30S trucks. This has led to the suggestion that the first shipments were of a batch of Ford F.15 trucks followed by F.30S lorries and that 174 of the F.15 trucks were C.K.D. with the having been built up to test the overseas assembly procedures although was it also used as a trial for the S.K.D. units that followed: see below .

Ford in Windsor sent Memoranda 28 March and 2 April to Dagenham and Southampton by air mail concerning deficiencies in parts and improved items for the first 108 shipped units, revealed as one truck selected at random had been built-up from the components, which seems to confirm that the 175th shipment was indeed the first S.K.D. unit. Further, Ford had shipped the afore-mentioned ‘Service parts’ for 440 15-cwt. Trucks, which had erred on the side of the assemblers in assessing potential losses in transit and assembly. On 12 April another Memorandum was sent to various parties including Finkle and Ellis referring to items on back order for Dagenham for 440 15-cwt. [F.15] ‘Semi K.D. jobs’ and ‘1 set up’: the latter was presumably the C.K.D. truck that was re-assembled in Windsor . A list of parts that may have been sent out on 3 April [date not clear] shows that they were for Ford 3-ton 6 x 4; F.A.T; 158-inch wheelbase 3-Ton and 30-cwt. 4 x 4, 8-cwt. 4 x 2 and 15-cwt. 4 x 2 C.M.P. units. These would have been destined for Dagenham and Southampton. This is the most conclusive evidence known of the first types of Fords that could have been assembled in Southampton, and at some stage all the Chevrolet equivalents would have been handled by the C.M.D.

The next clue is a letter dated 17 April sent to ‘Mr. C.S. Finkle, Canadian Mechanization Depot, G.M. Building, Southampton, England’ by J.A. Lane, the Export Manager at G.M. of Canada, Oshawa advising that they had experienced a few assembly problems with the first run of 15-cwt. vehicles, model ‘84-21’, which was the Chevrolet C.15 4 x 2 D.N.D.-pattern truck

A further letter of 8 May by Lane confirmed that on the first 143 Chevrolet Model 84-20 8-cwt. S.K.D. trucks the holes for the Floor Plate in the Frame Side Rails were drilled one inch too far forward, and they were going to send a jig to enable the holes to be properly located. These were the very early Chevrolet C.8 8-cwt. 4 x 2 trucks which in theory went into production in May, though Conveyor Line Saddle drawings on file for the 8-cwt and 15-cwt. 4 x 2 [straight front axle and the rear axle] and the ‘Quad’ [front and rear axles] chassis were dated 4 April 1940 and marked inter alia, ‘type used final assembly Windsor’. These were to support the axles on these earliest 4 x 2 trucks, and the Field Artillery Tractor with its additional front differential, being attached to the outside edge of the chain type conveyor as used in Southampton.


A Telegram sent from C.M.H.Q. London to National Defence H.Q. [DEFENSOR] in Ottawa on 4 June 1940 addressed to Colonel Carr referred to various Ford military assembly items, and stated that there were shortages of certain items. Certain crated items had not arrived, and this had caused problems; had they been sent or not? The request was to discontinue short shipping to adjust errors or over shipments as had been done with speedometers, wheel wrenches and steering drag links. Distribution assembly operations to other plants necessitated complete groups of components. They were by then assembling, they said, 8-, 15- and 30-cwt. trucks and Ford 6 x 4s

10 June 1940 telegram: Interestingly, 149 Ford 8-cwt. front axles were sent 18 May and 58 to Southampton, which gives some idea of the number of this type assembled. There was also evidence of 100 [?] reworked floor plates sent Southampton 18 May for ‘Quad units’, i.e. Ford F.-G.T. Gun Tractors though Chevrolet units would have used the same parts.

In a letter of 31 July 1940 from Colonel the Brigadier N.O. Carr to the D.M.S. ‘the British’ had made a further enquiry regarding the possible production of 39,200 additional vehicles. Consequently Carr queried as to whether the tooling contemplated for 200 vehicles per day was sufficient and the motor industry should review the situation to see whether bottlenecks at that production rate could be relieved with advantage, though they might not be able to do so until tooling for 100 units/day had advanced beyond the state at that time. Carr thought that the aim was 100 units/day but under pressure 125 could be achieved. However, spare parts demand for large orders shortly beforehand was such that the 100 units/day completed vehicles could only be maintained if the outside limit of 125 sets of components could also be maintained As this would preclude elasticity or buffer in production, he suggested that the companies decide whether they could create some reserve capacity greater than then contemplated. Before the increase had been mooted, Colonel Butler had had a discussion with a Mr. C.E. Doheney, Mechanical Transport Section, of the D.M.S. on 12 July, with presumably H.J. Stevenson of the D.M.A.’s department in attendance. 7,000 4 x 2 15-cwt. trucks and 3,000 4 x 4 30-cwt. 4 x 4 trucks had been ordered, equipped with run flat tyres. All trucks were to be provided with equipment as listed, and service and instructions books, etc. were to be supplied by each Company in addition. The next day Stevenson wrote to each company giving them advance information on the British orders which were subject to confirmation by the D.M.S. : this afforded them little time to prepare for this addition to Canadian demands. However, the order which was ostensibly for U.K. delivery was changed days later so that just 12,000 vehicles were to be shipped to the U.K., with 1,970 to Egypt [probably Alexandria], and the balance to be delivered to India

24 August 1940: Letter: Transport Controller to Colonel D.E. Dewar: Ford of Canada started production of their British orders on 26 August, and G.M. of Canada on 3 September, and comprised 21,000 units and of those initially 12,000 were to be delivered to the U.K. and 1,970 for Egypt, though this rapidly changed. One of the first shipments consisted of 70 15-cwt. Chevrolets and 25 Ford 3-Ton trucks, which was a tiny portion of the overall demand. These first British orders had been booked as 150,000 cu. ft. of space on the S.S. St Malo, loading at Halifax, Nova Scotia for the U.K. on 6-8 September 1940 , and then 50,000 cu. ft. had been booked on the S.S. Andalusian, loading St. John, New Brunswick, 14-17 September.

4 September 1940: the M.G.O, wrote to the Secretary, D.M.S. stating that he understood that instructions had been given to Ford and G.M. to tool up to the point of being capable of producing 100 C.M.P. units per day. The companies should initiate production at that level as soon as possible, he requested. It was also suggested that the companies create banks of components in finished, semi-finished and raw states sufficient to permit either company entering production of finished units at the 100-per-day level in not more than 15 days from receipt of instruction to do so. If this suggestion was adopted maximum production could be realised at least 60 days earlier than by other methods.

My vague suggestion was based on trying to assess Chevrolet CMP (or DND-pattern as it was then called) trucks per day then adding in the demand for export to Southampton & Dagenham, and when Chevrolet production actually started, which was later than Ford's start-up. Then of course we have to consider when the domestic Census Number was actually applied to the trucks.
My understanding, and this is under correction, that maximum assembly at Oshawa and Windsor was until ramping-up in September say 100 units per day to include M.C.P. I should also add that I have the Walkerville Plant Chevrolet engine production figures by month for the period, which show that between 5000 and 6000 or so units were produced each month. That includes of course domestic and export civilian car & truck production. GM of Canada show a total of 26,270 Chevrolets produced in 1940. I also have the C.K.D. production by Oshawa each month, showing 324 units in April, which makes sense, and then 1308 in May. 15,665 C.K.D. vehicles were built in 1940 in total, but nearly 3,000 of those could not be military vehicles.