C8A chassis no. 3844516525

[Larry Hayward]

Hi Jimmy,

There are several possibilities!

The vehicle could be converted from a Chev C8A Heavy Utility such as a HUP or HUW. At first I thought it was a very rare Chev C8AX which had a GS body on a C8A type chassis, which were assembled in New Zealand but the rear body is wrong. Also in the photo of the drivers side, the running board below the fuel tank looks very much like that from a C8A and not like a normal C15 GS. Looking at the filler cap you will see it is in the centre of the tank rather than beside the rear wheel arch for a C8A or towards the front for a C15. Is there any sign that the fuel filler pipe has been moved?

As you can see the rear of the cab roof extends backwards unlike a normal No 13 Cab which made me think of a C8A. But looking at the vehicle number on the door, I noticed it began with an H - if it is original, this was used for Field Artillery Tractors such as the Chevrolet CGT, which had a cab that joined on to a wider rear body. Although the C8, C15 and CGT all had 101inch wheel bases the CGT had much bigger wheels than on this vehicle.

Is the serial number on the door original? And what about First Canadian Army marking and the Royal Canadian Artillery unit serial 79? I would say they are fake as I can't find such a low number of a RCA unit to go with a Higher Formation badge of the First Canadian Army in NW Europe

Have you any history of when it was first registered or previous owners to check out?

The body certainly does look strange but does not look particularly new. The rear lights look to be more modern replacements and may have replaced separate units judging by the holes. I suppose it could just be a truck that was put together by the Army post war but I cannot understand why they would have built a cab like you have when No 13 cabs were still around. So it could be some kind of civilian garage owner type conversion to produce a pick up / breakdown truck from a C8