Another of my stupid questions

[Phil Waterman]

Originally posted by Bob Potter
Gentlemen,

I have been working on an old Italeri model of a 15cwt truck when it occurred to me that the steering wheel was on the "wrong" side. Then I wondered when did you Canadians start driving on "our" side of the road? Or were you all being kind on my 2002 visit and staying out of the way of the red Honda on the "wrong" side of the road?

This may be a more complex question than it first appears.

Bob

Well Bob

First the steering wheel is the RIGHT side of truck, or at least this is what I tell people who see the truck in parades and shout out "hey your on the wrong side" straight faced reply "no I'm the right side".

But now to a more traditional explanation as CMPs were built to British Army Specification (loosely) which called for right hand drive and among other special specifications that from the center line of the front axle to the center of the steering wheel (fore and aft) was to be not more than 13 inches. It also assumed that as all forces using them would be using these trucks would be under British command and as such would follow the British practice of driving on the "Left".

Now we need our Commonwealth brethren to let us know which bits of the British Empire was driving on the right and which on the left in the late `30s.

There is a lot more to this story so it will be interesting to see what bits of information come out.