Morris PU: BEF Dunkirk? Unit, registration?

[Ian McCallum]

Originally Posted by chalky

Whats the story with the WOC1 . They were built in Britain but why did Ford UK use the American front end .

Hi Chalky, You are quite correct re the front end and hopefully this will explain why. Late in 1939 Ford at Dagenham submitted a prototype to the War Office for evaluation, which due to the urgency was approved within two weeks! The design was based on a modified American commercial Model 01C chassis that was already being imported and bodied in the UK for our commercial needs. The 'cobbled' submission was designated WOC1 (WO for War Office, C for Commercial and 1 for first type). This incorporated the imported chassis and as far forward as the bulkhead was largely identical to the standard commercial model. It had the American lockhead hydraulic braking system, not to be seen on many lighter UK Ford models until post war and was fitted with the British 21 stud V8 engine. This was fitted with an open cab manufactured by Briggs Motor Bodies and the only stipulation was that the chassis had to accept a standard War Office pattern 8 cwt. well type body, (as also fitted to a Humber and Morris) variant. The first order was placed in October 1939 under contract V3615 for 1000 vehicles, followed by contract V3730 for a further 1000 vehicles on 17th. November. Due to America 'going neutral' during this period some components initally came through Ford Canada although quantity production of the chassis commenced at Dagenham on 20th. December 1939 with all vehicles being delivered by 24th. July 1940 and no further orders being placed. My vehicle retains its original number of Z4128683 which was the 489'th vehicle off the line within the first contract of 1000.

Ian

[Rich Payne]

I've never seen evidence of WOC1s captured in france being used by the Wehrmacht but a current ebay auction shows that they must have had at least two. The pictures are captioned on the reverse as 'Concarneau' (Brittany)

Presumably converted to FFW ?

[Alex van de Wetering]

Interesting pictures Ron, especially with that Wireless frame. There is another pic of a WOC in Wehrmacht service in Jochen Vollerts book "Britische LKW im Dienste der Whrmacht" as well. Will try to scan the picture in the next few days.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Scanned from: "Britische LKW im Dienst der Wehrmacht" Jochen Vollert, Tankograd

[Rich Payne]

This looks to be close to the church of St. Eloi in Dunkirk, near to where I photographed Ian's truck. In fact, I think that he drove along here.



I can't see a formation sign but there appears to be an unreadable AoS plate. I wonder if the lack of formation sign on all these WOC1s is because they were used by GHQ and there was never a BEF GHQ formation sign, the only clue being the bar on the usually missing AoS plate ?

[Ian McCallum]

Rich,

Where do you manage to find all these great shots, certainly recognise the church, just can't quite figure ourt the orientation without checking a street plan.

Are my eyes playing tricks or is there another vehicle behind the WOC? You can quite easily define the cab and rear tilt frame devoid of any canvas but there also appears to be another 'tilted' vehicle beyond it. Also interesting as this is the first photo I have seen of the bridge plate painted in this position.

Ian

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ian McCallum

Where do you manage to find all these great shots

Ian,

Check other forums like Axis History Forum > Beute- and Umbauwagen. Here's the latest crop.

Regards,
Hanno

[Rich Payne]

Originally Posted by Ian McCallum

Rich,

Where do you manage to find all these great shots, certainly recognise the church, just can't quite figure ourt the orientation without checking a street plan.

Are my eyes playing tricks or is there another vehicle behind the WOC? You can quite easily define the cab and rear tilt frame devoid of any canvas but there also appears to be another 'tilted' vehicle beyond it. Also interesting as this is the first photo I have seen of the bridge plate painted in this position.

Ian

Ian, eBay Germany is the treasure trove but it rather takes the place of a social life and uses up valuable workshop time. 'Axis History' of course likes vehicles in German service but my preference (oh, alright, obsession then) is for them to still show their BEF markings.

I'm pretty sure that there are two vehicles there and thought that there was another WOC1 front mudguard low down.

Reading through BEF marking instructions, they do tend to be a bit vague and open to interpretation so I'm not surprised that there are variations.