Who like a Mystery?

[Tim Lovelock]

Thx Robert, won't be able to post pics for a few days, but I am thinking that what is now the rear spring hanger is possibly the original front, that way the helper spring bracket would have fitted where the mark is. Why though they would have gone to the trouble of replacing the rivets with bolts on that one seems a mystery.
But I will get more pics.
Thx again for your help.
Cheers Tim

[Tim Lovelock]

Thanks, Robert for your pics. Got over to my trucks today and was able to chip the paint of in the area you suggested. I thought it remarkable the condition of the steel below the paint. Fresh from the factory!!
So here is her No.38443M00678.
Next question, how do I trace her military history?
Cheers

[hrpearce]

If you can find the numbers on the nose and the plate on top of the dash you have a chance of tracing the trucks history. We need more pictures of the blitz from all angles. All the chassis no. tells you is its wheel base, that it was assembled in Melbourne and the assembly number.

[Keith Webb]

38443M00678

8443 = C60L

M = Melbourne assembled

As Robert said the important info is on the data plate, the WO number which is the code for the body type.

Common WO types were:
WO52 = Garage
WO82 Dropside tray with winch
WO83 same but without winch

The other clue is the ARN, also mentioned by Robert.

[Mike Cecil]

Tim,

The truck with the chassis number 38443M00678 equates to the Commonwealth (Army) Registration number 142001, taken on charge in Victoria (which fits with the 'M' indicating assembly at GM-H's Melbourne - Fishermans Bend - plant as mentioned by Keith).

It was a C60L 'Truck, 3 ton, GS with winch' and is noted as a 'steel body', ie a standard fixed sides steel base body as produced by GM-H at their Woodville, SA plant. The complete nomenclature would therefore be a 'Truck, 3 ton, GS with Winch (Aust) No.2'. The Census Code was 6071 and the Mechanical Vehicle Field Specification (MVFS) was 1314.

Original engine number appears to have been PR3923988, but with at least four other engine replacements while in service, the last being in 1955: PR3957377. The truck was written off and disposed of on 17 August 1961. No other info available.

As an aside, chassis number 2844300678 was a C60L configured as a 'Stores-Binned'.

Sounds like your C60L has been altered - perhaps beyond redemption?

Mike C

[hrpearce]

Wow Mike where were you when I was trying to id my blitz?
Does the 3 at the start of the chassis no. mean a 1943 build?

[Mike Cecil]

Probably sitting on my behind in the office, laboriously transcribing chassis numbers......

Yes, the '3' prefix indicates a 1943 build/assembly. Hence, the same number with a '2' prefix from the previous year, but without the location code (M), for a different vehicle.

Mike C