Levy Auto Parts

[Andrew Rowe]

Surprisingly, several years ago I was cataloguing several thousand NOS M41 Parts I have, and Levy's name cropped up quite a bit on the packaging, all down here in little old NZ. Pretty sure these parts had been sourced by the US for the NZ Army, back in the 60's, as we ran about 10 of them at the time , Cheers Andrew.

[Bob Phillips]

Hi Andrew, two interesting tidbits relating to M41 spares. I remember that one of the hulks in the yard at Levys was an M8A1 tractor which was a cargo hauler based on the M41 driveline. I was told that a large number were purchased as surplus from the US got and stripped for parts ultimately to supply M41 spares. Coincidentally I was inthe Napco yard back in the day and they also had a similar junker.
One of the reasons for the demise of of Levy was that they were caught running used suspension arms through their extensive workshops and supplying them to the US govt as new. A sharp eyed US inspector noticed a stamping mark on the "new" parts that was actually stamped on used parts sold for scrapping. The resulting charges and recall of a major loan shut the company down.
I never did learn what application the bogus parts were for, perhaps they were M41?

[David Dunlop]

I wonder if Levy’s had a ‘Wholesale’ side to their operations? I can recall finding 19-Set Junction and Distribution Boxes, as well as 12-Pin Wire Loomed Connector Cables of various lengths in several local surplus shops in the early 1980’s. All were packed in heavy duty clear plastic pouches with a white ID Label inside from Levy’s, giving an Inspection and Repacked Date between the late 1950’s and early 1970’s.

The clear plastic pouches always seemed at odds with the more typical reuse of original cardboard and stapled boxes one saw with repack labels glued over the original ID labels.

David