Vehicle ID Request

[Bill Murray]

Hi All:

A friend from other Forums passed this one on to me a week or so ago and try as I might, I can find no information about this Ford truck.

It appears to be a factory or military installation "beauty shot" along with some sort of numerical ID numbers at the bottom of the photo.

I know that it is a 1942 Ford 1 1/2 ton truck, presumably 4 wheel drive and with LHD. I assume it is a prototype Bomb Service Truck that might have been considered as an addition to or replacement for the 1 1/2 ton 4x4 Chevrolet M6 that was already in service. Ford only had the smaller 4x2 M1 in service on an earlier chassis.

It may have also been a British Commonwealth only proposal.

Any new information would be much appreciated.

Bill

[jack neville]

It is only two wheel drive and interesting that the side lights look to be blanked off.

[Bill Murray]

Hi Jack:

Thanks for the correction on 4x2 vs. 4x4. I was not sure from the angle of the photo whether you could see the front differential or not but now I see the straight axle much better.

Regarding the blanked off side lights, this seemed to be fairly common on these wartime conversions. I found several photos on Hanno's MH site and other sites when I was looking for a 4x4 answer that had them blanked off in a similar manner.

Bill

[Bob Carriere]

The outline of the front beam axle is visible......

Look similar to all the stripped down orchard trucks used in the Niagara area...... sure could lift some heavy peaches!!!!!

[Ian Mastin]

Nice looking truck, so Jack is that our next project

[Niels V]

well Nigel watson has a good starting point for sale http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread...Ford-11T-Truck

[PaKlo]

Hi Bill, I am happy that I can help a little. But I am not 100% sure with all your conclusions. On the front photo blue US hood number is visible. So these trucks were probably somehow added to "army inventory".

[PaKlo]

I checked again the original photo and hood number is most probably USN 16014 or 18014.

[Bill Murray]

Thank you again, PaKlo for your most welcome comments and contributions.

We are now a step further I think. I found an old catalogue of Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks vehicles in my library and even though it was from 1950, it did contain a photo of the 1942 Ford G8T so they were used by both the Army and the Navy. The photo shows a vehicle supplied as chassis and cab, not chassis and cowl with windscreen that our truck was but it is still very close.

I could not find your photos on the Web yet so I could not get the good resolution of your last photo but it definitely shows a US Navy registration number. Now, I have to figure out what the 'US" California plate means.

I will continue to look for more information.

Bill

[PaKlo]

Here are the links to original photos on LIFE archive (some photos are mirrored!):

http://images.google.com/hosted/life...3d19630fb.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...54c94b7ca.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...e9188bdad.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...5a24ea579.html

Another US Navy trucks from the same base shows civil registration plate again and U.S. NAVY marking on the rear edge of body (probably the same position was used for the Bomb Service Trucks, my friend's Ford GTBC has the same solution) :
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...81cf98f36.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...d8eeba3ae.html
http://images.google.com/hosted/life...3385b45b4.html

[Niels V]

Here is another pic of one of these Fords

[motto]

Observation :- In the photo on post 23, that is a large bomb or a small truck & trailer.
Question:- The nomenclature went from Bomb Service Truck M1 to M6. What happened to M2, M3, M4 and M5 ?

Maybe there is no known answer but I wonder about such things.

David