1937 Chevy ute, Aust. army

[Mike Cecil]

Originally Posted by Lang

Mike,

I think a lot of people get the idea the government just knocked on your door, took the keys and drove off in your impressed vehicle. Impressed vehicles were paid for at above the average market price. Some vehicles (and other impressed items and property) which were useable were offered back to the owners when the government had finished with them.

They of course had a list of owners and took vehicles in priority (devised by bureacrats) of those least able to prove their use was in the wider national interest, hence impressed vehicles were allocated to government departments, farmers and manufacturers engaged in essential services to fill gaps in supply, not just the military. It would have p...d you off to see the bloke down the road using your truck because he had a contract with the government.

Yes, that's essentially correct as I understand it.The Dept appointed Purchasing Officers with wide-ranging authority to purchase anything required (not just vehicles) at 'fair market value', and there was no right of refusal, but there was an appeals process regarding the value. The purchase price had to take into account the average fair market value, tempered by the vehicle condition and location. Better-kept vehicles attracted above, poorer but still deemed serviceable vehicles received less that the average.

The 'hit list' of vehicles to be acquired took no account of the current use, but Purchasing Officers were able to deem a vehicle as 'R' (rejected as unsuitable) or 'E': Exempt due to special circumstances (such as doctors, etc). Such vehicles received a yellow label with 'R' (for reject) or a green label with 'E' (for exempt)on it, to show they had been examined.

The process for general impressment was (1) advertise in the local papers to notify that impressment was to occur in that area (2) issue the Purchasing Officers with a list of vehicles in their geographic area, along with the names and addresses of owners, and a pad of impressment forms (3) visit the owner, and impress the vehicle. This last step could be accomplished in several ways, either visiting the garage address, or notify the owner to present the vehicle at a predetermined time and place for inspection. The former was the more usual. It was pretty much always the owners responsibility to deliver the vehicle to the address of the Receiving Depot (just to rub salt in the wound!). It was an offence for an owner to falsify information, prevent entry to premises, not deliver the vehicle when instructed, and so on.

Conversely, the Purchasing Officer did not have to actually discuss the impressment with the owner, and had power of entry to premises for the purposes of impressment: he could just leave the completed paperwork and move on to the next address! Fancy arriving home from work and finding a set of impressment instructions under the wiper blade of your car, telling you when and where to deliver it, and how much you were going to be paid. Not quite taking the keys and driving off in your car, but not far from it.

In 1939,The Dept of the Army considered that the majority of vehicles required at initial national mobilisation would be acquired by impressment from private owners.

Mike C