41 morris project

[Mike K]

It is one of a batch that ended up here ..most of them found here are from contract V4152 .. the actual chassis number is stamped on the rear LH spring hanger .

They all seem to have been fitted with the late FULL cab with metal skin half doors indicating late CS8 production... the chassis numbers on them are typically near the end of production, around the 20,000 mark .

They were possibly REFUGEE cargo intented for Malaya , but diverted to aussie after Malaya fell .

They were sold off into civilian hands while the war was still on ..LANES Motors of Melbourne ( Morris dealers ) was offering them as early as mid 1945 . A few were despatched to LANES agencies throughout Victoria , places like Shepparton and other regional centres had a Morris agency and each received a few to sell . I believe the total number LANES sold was around 200.

They have all turned up in Victoria or QLD, indicating that they were disposed of in those two states ...probably via storage parks like Bandiana or Mt Gravatt or similar .

They were sold with very low mileage ...probably spent 4 years in those vehicle parks... the army here didn't like them because they were a odd ball thing and locating spares would have been a nightmare .

Having been disposed of so early, they endured years of abuse in civilian hands , unlike CMP's, some of which wern't sold off til the 1960's . Thats why , when found today, they are normally in a shocking state ..many are beyond help.

Having said all that. I have the remains of two of them from other contracts.. these are earlier production ( one is 1939 ) and these were fitted with Aero screens ...these were possibly ex Middle East as they don't fit in with the other batch V4152

mike