British Chevrolet trucks

[Mike K]

I came across a newspaper advert for my 1940 Chevrolet utility. The advertising states " British Empire Chevrolet "

I found many more adverts for ' British Chevrolet ' trucks. These 'British' trucks and cars were actually manufactured in Canada, then were shipped to Australia where some Australian made parts were fitted, mainly bodywork.

So the Aust CMP connection has some preceding history.

[Mike K]

The bonnet badge reads: BRITISH CHEVROLET

West. Australia collection photo.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

The bonnet badge reads: BRITISH CHEVROLET

Never seen this! David Hayward would have been chuffed...

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I came across a newspaper advert for my 1940 Chevrolet utility. The advertising states " British Empire Chevrolet "

I found many more adverts for ' British Chevrolet ' trucks. These 'British' trucks and cars were actually manufactured in Canada, then were shipped to Australia where some Australian made parts were fitted, mainly bodywork.

So the Aust CMP connection has some preceding history.

That was due to the "principle of Imperial Preference", see this section from my article on the Chevrolet 1311X3 in TRACKS magazine issue 2023:

General Motors exports and overseas assembly

Due to the principle of Imperial Preference and other factors, Ford Motor Company of Canada and General Motors of Canada were important suppliers to British Commonwealth countries since the 1920s. By the time WW2 broke out, the Canadian automobile manufacturers were heavily gearing up for wartime production. As a result, most of the British Eighth Army’s vehicles in North Africa were of Canadian manufacture.

The Canadian manufacturers supplied both Modified Conventional Pattern (MCP) and Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) vehicles. While MCP vehicles were standard civilian models with modifications to meet military requirements, CMP vehicles were devised and developed in Canada to comply with British War Office classifications and design features. These vehicles were shipped across the globe, either fully built up or partially disassembled for shipping by removing wheels or body components and then boxed up. More advanced overseas assembly plants were supplied with Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits containing mostly chassis, drivetrain components and cab parts to be assembled locally and completed with bodies, tilts, and other locally manufactured parts.

GM Canada used model number suffixes which indicated their vehicles’ destinations, being the client state. They were allocated at the factory in Oshawa, Ontario, and denoted small changes in specifications as required by the client state. The letter X stood for Export, X2 denoted destination “United Kingdom (built up)” and X3 denoted destination “India (CKD)”.

The Chevrolet trucks used by the LRDG epitomise the global General Motors supply chain serving the British Commonwealth: the WA was assembled in Egypt, the 1311X3 in India and the 1533X2 was made to spec in Canada, and all were supplied to the British Army in North Africa.