Lend lease Chevrolet 30 cwt truck information

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David_Hayward

CKD = Completely Knocked Down; kits of components in crates that when they arrived were a major headache as crates were lost and mixed up.

SKD = Semi Knocked Down; replaced CKD in England after first few hundred CMPs. Basically, as I understand, complete vehicles but disassembled into crates.

SUP = Single Unit Packs; complete vehicles without say bodies, shipped uncrated perhaps

TUP = Twin Unit Packs; two crates. I understand that these were two vehicles in one crate, as against one vehicle in two crates.

I believe that Holden's received CKD, SKD and SUP/TUP crates. Those chasiss that were CKD were components shipped across for complete assembly with Holden-built cabs, thus acquiring Holden chassis numbers. Those shipped SKD etc. were complete vehicles requiring some form of assembly or at the least bodying and thus carried a plate from the original N American plant.

We should get this right once and for all.

CKD, Completely Knocked Down, is an really a different manufacturing system, rather than a different type of crating for shipment.

One type of manufacturing is to source all the parts required to assemble a certain type of vehicle, and assemble them into a working vehicle at an assembly plant in country A, test it, after which it is scrutinised and accepted by a goverment official. After full assembly, it can be partly dismantled and crated to be shipped to it´s destination in country B. The crating can be done at the assembly plant, or at a depot type of facility where vehicles are prepared for shipment.

Some types of vehicle can be easily (partly) dismantled and will be crated, others (like tanks) are sealed for weather influences. SKD , SUP, TUP etc. are all methods of packing complete vehicles into crates for shipping. At the destination nothing more than labour and tools are needed to uncrate the vehicle and re-attach the bits that have been removed to decrease it´s volume for efficient shipping.

Now, Completely Knocked Down means sourcing some parts required to assemble a certain type of vehicle in country A, crate these parts, and ship them to an assembly plant in country B where the shipped parts are uncrated and locally sourced parts are feeded to the assembly line after which a complete, running vehicle will emerge for the first time.

In the case of e.g. the Indian deliveries, Ford and Chevrolet both had local assembly plants or contractors, so they only had to send over chassis, engines, gearboxes, axles, cowl parts, etc. The local asembly plant(s) sourced bodywork, tyres, cab parts etc. to complete the vehicle.

I hope this sets the record straight.

I´ll get off my soapbox now

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

There is enough evidence to suggest that General Motors invented the term ''Completely Knocked Down' or CKD', and this started with the Tarrytown, New York plant and also Oshawa, Ontario (the latter late 1922 to November 1923). In fact it was probably specifically James D Mooney, then head (President) of General Motors Export Company as was. Tarrytown phased out CKD production in June-July 1925 in favour of Bloomfield Boxing Plant, whioch started on 21st May 1925 with crates leaving for GM International, Copenhagen. These were crates of components for local assembly, with local assembly plants adding their own cabs, tyres, etc. sourced locally if possible and of course4 bodies. GM India, Bombay, GM Near East, Alexandria, GM South African, Port Elizabeth, GM-Holden's (as would become from 1931), were all local assembly plants that received Bloomfield shipments, supplemented by chassis only from Oshawa to Holden's in/from 1935. Studies of magazines shows that chassis were shipped as components from 1925 for local welding -up and assembly. By 1936 Bloomfield announced the degree to which they had reduced crating size for their component-shipping. This expertise was later used during the war as the 1944 GM Overseas Operations was at pains to broadcast ( they blew their own trumpets!).

CKD shipments were attempted for CMPs in spring 1940 for British assembly in Southampton (and Dagenham) but the system was found wanting, and SKD replaced it rapidly.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David_Hayward

There is enough evidence to suggest that General Motors invented the term ''Completely Knocked Down' or CKD',
*snip*
This expertise was later used during the war as the 1944 GM Overseas Operations was at pains to broadcast ( they blew their own trumpets!).

This is endorsed by the differences in CKD content (what was shipped from Canada) between Chevrolet and Ford, as listed by Mike Cecil in the thread "Antipodean Ford CMPs" on the Old MLU Forum:

• Chevrolet: all chassis and mechanicals, wheels. Rest manufactured locally: complete cabs, complete bodies, spare tyre rack and tool box.
  
• Ford: all chassis, mechanicals, cab floor/lower cab frame, upper (windscreen) cab frame, doors, windscreen frames, front shell, wheels. Rest manufactured locally in Aust: cab floor, engine cover, cab back, roof, guards, spare wheel carrier & tool box, body.

H.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

That makes sense to me...thanks for that! Dagenham of course sent out knocked-down vehicles but nowhere near that sent out by GM boxing plants. That said, Tarrytown and Oshawa also exported as required chassis only or chassis with front end.