1941 Fordson WOT 2H truck. After 10 years

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks, Richard - Z was not a prefix used in the Australian system. If Z is for trucks under 1 ton payload, what was 'V' for Van's parameters, please?

Mike C

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Thanks, Richard - Z was not a prefix used in the Australian system. If Z is for trucks under 1 ton payload, what was 'V' for Van's parameters, please?

Mike C

hi Mike,
The prefixes were British and also used by the Canadians but prefixed with a C, so a motorcycle would be CC and a 15cwt CMP truck CZ and so on.

Van designation was discontinued during the war I believe, but as well as conventional Vans, there were some Bedford MW and Fordson WOT2 trucks which were built and designated "Vans" (Bedford MWV for one). These had a canvas covered body, but I think it was a permanent covering not roped like a GS truck

Richard

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks, Richard, that's interesting: the WOT2's registered in Oz all had previous V prefix Brit registrations.

The Aust pre-war system and the AIF system used 'V" for any load-carrying vehicle one ton or less, with or without a canvas canopy and canopy frame, but not 'Z'. The Commonwealth system did not use type designators in the registrations on the vehicles (although the early register recordings still classed vehicles according to the pre-war descriptions).

C motorcycle, M car, V van, L Lorry, H tractor wheeled, X trailer, LX fixed tractor/semitrailer combination, B bus, T tracked vehicle - can't recall others just now.

Mike C

[Ian Mastin]

Thanks guys very much appreciated, will get some more photo's up this weekend on hood and tac signs.

Cheers for now
Ian

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Thanks, Richard, that's interesting: the WOT2's registered in Oz all had previous V prefix Brit registrations.

Hi Mike,
I am not too hot on Ford WOT2's but they had suffix letters if I recall something like WOT2H (Office body) etc, with each letter being a particular type, open back, with tilt, van, light warning, etc. There are several contracts of WOT2 Vans on the list.

[Ian Mastin]

Hi Mike,

I uncovered a bit more today, the unit sign on the gaurd looks likely to be 163xx over 4xxx have a look at photo's and see what you, also to the formation sign I uncovered had the number 7 in front of the 9 so am I right in saying that the number 79 is British.
Also mike I found the chassis No it's the same as the engine No 6182677 but what's interesting is I could not fine any ARN on the hood! just the British one Z-4643751, and one more thing on the hood number I was over Jack Nevllie place yesterday he's got hood that came off a 2H model WOT and it's No is Z-4644xxx and also what we could see on it their is no ARN.
So Mike I hope this is some more help for you I look forward to see what you come up with.


cheers for now
Ian

[Ian Mastin]

Here's a better photo of the guard with the No 79.


Ian

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

I am not too hot on Ford WOT2's but they had suffix letters if I recall something like WOT2H (Office body) etc, with each letter being a particular type, open back, with tilt, van, light warning, etc. There are several contracts of WOT2 Vans on the list.

Richard,


The suffix letters denoted the following:

• WOT2A had individual windowscreens at an angle, wooden body, no tilt and vertical radiator grill
• WOT2B had individual screens at an angle, a van body and mesh radiator grill
• WOT2C individual but horizontal screens, wood body, no tilt.
• WOT2D individual but horizontal screens, van body.
• WOT2E full width windscreen, wood with tilt
• WOT2F full width windscreen, steel body, no tilt
• WOT2H full width windscreen wood or steel body with tilt

(I glanced this off various sources on the internet, so I'm not sure if I got it all correct.)

A Van body was in some cases (like CMP trucks) nothing more than the GS body wih a canvas tilt, in other cases such as the Bedford pictured below it was a permanent canvas covered supertructure on a modified GS body (longer and with no foldable sides, for instance).

Hanno

[jack neville]

Good to see some interesting history showing up with this truck Ian.

While this thread is getting some interest I might as well throw out some lines and see what might be available re a WOT chassis.

As mentioned at the start of this thread I have a WOT 2D (front half) truck which I was initially going to pass on to ian to restore until the 2H came up and was a better prospect for him. I have enough parts to complete the 2D if I can get a complete chassis. Does anyone have any clues as to where there may be one available? The front half I have has all the good bits on it ( brake linkages etc) so if necessary I can fabricate the rear half, or adapt something to graft onto the front.

Does anyone know if Thames trucks were similar in the chassis. This will be a long term project so I will start hunting down what I need while Ian can keep this thread topical. My guess is there are about less than ten of these trucks in Australia in any condition and I don't think too any more elsewhere in the rest of the world.

Any assistance greatly appreciated

[Mike Cecil]

Ian, A few thoughts on what you have discovered.

(1) 79 would appear to be the Unit Sign and because it is 'overpainted' with the Formation sign, appears to be earlier than when it served with 1 Aust Cav/1 Aust Motor/3rd Aust Armd. Division (the greyhound/boomerang formation sign). A variety of units used this number early in the war (both Brit and Aust) , including a number of AIF units that served in the Middle East.

(2) The square and 14 'sub-unit tactical sign' is as earlier explained. It is on the door and on the front right guard.

(3) the 163XX and 4XXX MIGHT - just MIGHT -be two different unit embarkation serial codes, also known as the War Office Unit Serial. What size are the numbers? 2 inch high? IF 1.5 to 2 inches high, I would hazard a guess that the 163XX is the identity of a British Unit (the lowest numbered Aust units appear to start at 2XXXX) and possibly the 4XXX might have another figure, as 4xxxx, which would correspond with a fair number of Australian units. Are there the remains of any horizontal coloured bars of paint above or below these numbers?

It is a bit difficult to decipher what you are seeing and hence, what it actually means, so the above are possibilities only. What is evident is that this (and Johns) are some of the vehicles used by the Australian Army supplied from British stocks, (probably in the Middle East), that were never transferred to the Aust registration scheme when they arrived in Australia. There were hundreds like this, though I've not come across WOTs in any quantity.

Mike C