[Mike Cecil]

Hanno,

It is a nice looking and well finished vehicle, but with due respect to the efforts of the restorer, I have to question the claims made in the advert, and hope prospective buyers do their own investigations into the authenticity of this vehicle.

At a glance, there are a number of problems with the vehicle and the claims made for it, particularly the finish and markings:

'Forest green being the home service colour of 1944' is not correct for an Australian vehicle, and neither is a gloss finish for the purported period (1944). The Australian Army did not commence to finish vehicles in Deep Bronze Green gloss finish until 1945, and then only for rear areas and where a vehicle actually needed to be repainted.'Forest Green' has never, to my knowledge, been an Australian Military colour.

The Army registration number '78342' was not issued until 1952, being part of a block of numbers unused until that date, and was never issued to a wartime Chevrolet ute. It was issued to an International 3/4 ton CL cargo vehicle, 4x2, of 1952 manufacture, which was written off by Tasmania Central Ordnance Depot in 1959.

The Formation marking is indeed the 9th Australian Infantry Division, which was initially raised in the Middle East from a nucleus of AIF troops from the UK. I've never seen the 9th referred to as the 'Western Australian' division, nor any of the other 4 AIF Divisions raised during the Second World War (6th, 7th, 8th and 1st Armd). By 1944, 9th Aust Inf Div was equipped as a Jungle Division, with everything that entails for transport and equipment.

The Unit sign is that of the 2/7th Australian Field Artillery Regiment, the design of the sign dating from mid-1944 (unit designation as the numerator over unit type as the denominator). By that stage, the Unit was equipped with Trucks, 1/4 ton and trailers, Tractors Artillery - both full tracked and Tractors, Artillery Aust No.8 & 9, and for logistics support, Trucks, 2 1/2 ton GMC. The unit was not equipped with modified conventional 4x2 utilities, nor had it been since converting to Jungle War Equipment Tables (WET(J)) around the beginning of 1943. Indeed, even in the latter stages of service in the Middle East, the unit had been re-equipped with CMP tractors and support vehicles, and had returned their earlier Modified Conventional vehicles to Ordnance Vehicle Parks.

By 1944 when it is purported that this vehicle was taken on charge by the Australian Army, the Army were disposing of 4x2 vehicles, having in stock more modified conventional vehicles than they wanted or needed. Many languished in Ordnance Vehicle Parks, unissued. The Army's shortage was in tactical all wheel drive trucks of all sizes, and that was what was being purchased - not modified conventional 15 cwt Chev utes (correctly and officially, 'Van, 15 cwt, GS, (Aust)').

In fact, the 1944 Army vehicle list shows only three production years of 15cwt Chevrolets in service: the Model 13/39 (1939), 13/40 (1940) and 13/41 (1941), any other Chevrolet models in that size class having been declared obsolete. The '13' of course indicates a Canadian manufactured vehicle of 115 inch wheel base.

I think I may have seen this ute featured in CMV magazine, and wondered at the claims made for it then.

Mike C