C30 Wire 3 help needed

[Ollie Higgins]

Hi All,

First off, what a great forum and what a wealth of knowledge.
I am hoping some on here may be able to help me with some information on my C30 Wire 3.

SM6051 Lorry 30cwt 4x4 Wireless (House)


This is a project which i acquired from a friend who originally saved the lorry ten years ago from a near certain death in the hands of the local scrap man after its previous owner passed away. It is believed that this Chev was used by the British army and was brought over to the small Island upon which i live as part of the Liberating forces. I live on a small island (9 by 5 miles) in the English Channel called Jersey, part of the Channel Islands, the only part of the British Isles to have been occupied by the Germans and heavily fortified during WWII and hence why the British Liberating forces landed here in May 1945 to Liberate this small part of Britain!

Back to the Chev, obviously if the stories are true then this Chev is quite important on the island and deserves to be restored and put back on the road again. The House body was missing and the exterior had began to show the effects of the best part of fifty years of outdoor storage prior to being saved. The front clip, windscreen frame and roof have suffered the worse. There are a lot of original untouched parts in the cab and good paint reference under the dust and seat bases. The chassis seems straight and very solid and the engine looks to be in great shape as does the transmission and transfer box. I have began to strip this sorry looking CMP down ready for a full nut and bolt rebuild which i hope to be able to share in a restoration thread.

As a newcomer to the world of the CMP i have many questions, some may seem stupid and obvious but please bear with me.

1. Were all Chev chassis stamped with a number?

2. Were all Chev engines stamped with a number?

3. Does anyone have any photos of C30 Wire 3 lorries, i have found very little out there. I know there are two members of the forum who own one each.

4. What was the difference between the C30 Wireless and the C15 Wireless trucks, was the role the same? Were the radios/layout different?

5.Were these lorries just issued to Signals units?

6 What does the M stand for in the model number C-30444-M-WIRE-3 if it is modified, what would that mean?

7.Is there anyway to pin down this lorries cents number, i have the allocated block L5584483 - 5585063 from the Chillwell list, unfortunately the numbers do not survive on the doors anymore.

8. Paint.... I have found traces of black primer on the chassis overpainted with SCC1A and SCC2 over-sprayed on top, seems the wrong way around. With the cab in grey primer and overpainted in SCC2 with no other colour having been applied prior to being painted red at the start of its civilian life. Was the chassis painted first, separately to the cab. Would it be logical that this lorry was painted with Micky Mouse camouflage?

9. I believe that this C30 was equipped with the winterised kit as there were a few features that suggested this. What exactly did the kit consist of and were these added at the factory/plant or when they arrived in the UK?

10. Why do some Chevs have roof hatch and others don't, my C30 doesn't?

11. Are the Auxiliary spring stops original, they are clamped and bolted as opposed to being riveted to the frame, although the rivet holes are there, they seem to engage at a different height compared with other trucks, was this to do with the different weigh of this lorry?

The House body was missing and the exterior had began to feel the effects of the best part of fifty years of outdoor storage prior to being saved. What was there was a lot of original untouched parts in the cab and good paint reference under the dust and grease. The chassis seems straight and very solid and the engine looks to be in great shape as does the transmission and transfer box. I have began to strip this sorry looking CMP down ready for a full nut and bolt rebuild which i hope to be able to share in a restoration thread.

Any help answering any of these would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Ollie

[Jordan Baker]

Welcome to the forum.

Great project your u have there. It's too bad it took such a beating from the salt air.

Any chance of getting some pictures of the features you mentioned in the cab? Also any pictures of the data plates?

[Alex van de Wetering]

Ollie,

Welcome to the forum. Lovely truck!

Do you have the "Pearson of Liverpool" book (After the war was over)? A few pictures of trucks with that body in the book, even though I believe very similar bodies were also used in other roles than just wireless.

1) There is lot of info on this on the forum, but I believe Canadian Chevs didn't have an actual number on the chassis, only on the small data plate in the cab. Chev's built by Holden in Australia did have a chassis number stamped on the rails.

2) The engine number should be stamped on the right side of the engine near the Distributor. But, we have also seen some CMP's on the forum with (replacement?) engines without an engine number.

6) The "M" I believe means "Military"

9) I think this has come up on the forum a number of times, but can't seem to find it right now. There is winterisation for the cab....and winterisation for the body.

good luck!

Alex

[martineaton]

Hi Ollie,

You have been emailing my Dad, I’m sure he’s said already but we have a Chev C30 Wire 2 and and Chev C30 Wire 3.