I have seen several other PE-197 contract trucks with 16" rims and the corresponding smaller axle ends on the front axle. I don't have documentary proof, but the proportion of that contract that I've seen with 16" wheels is high enough that I put it outside coincidence and into a probable defined feature. I can only speculate as to why 60 cwt should have 16" rims.
On other contracts, some 60 cwt ambulances were so equipped. Other possibilities - perhaps to conserve rubber, perhaps to make a common size tire for a particular group of trucks, perhaps to get a lower loading height, perhaps to allow a flat floor body when the 20" would have needed wheelhouses.
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