Local supply of Jeep spares

[Mike K]

Looking through the wartime Govt. gazettes I see contracts issued for Jeep spares to firms like, Canadian Cycle and Motor Co ( one is for 16 thousand pounds ) . Most of the contracts don't specify what the spares are but I did see one from 1945 for Jeep starting handles ! I do recall seeing WW2 Jeep front axle repair kits at Hughes Camberwell , these kits made by CC&M had felt seals , oil seals and paper gaskets in a little box , price was around $2 , there were hundreds of these kits there.

[Mike Cecil]

Interesting, Mike, both the data and the source.

I cover the reasons why there were many local (Aust) assembly contracts and production contracts for jeep spares in the chapter 'The 'Trucks 1/4 ton (USA)' in Australia', pages 463 to 510 of LLoyd White's 'The Evolution of the Willys-Overland MB Jeep' Volume 1.

Canada Cycle were also one of the contract assemblers, so gained work for both spares kits and in assembling and testing newly-arrived jeeps from the USA prior to delivery to the Army or RAAF. CD E5908, for example, was for Canada Cycle to assemble and test 280 jeeps. The contract was dated April 1943.

Mike

[Mike K]

Thanks Mike , I will get hold of those White books eventually .


I also spotted contracts for assembling Jeeps issued to: Ford Motor Co, and Chrysler Aust. Matthew Lombard suggested the Chrysler plants in South. Aust might have been involved in Jeep assembly but my thoughts are it may have been Chrysler's subsidiaries such as Harden & Johnson ( NSW ) .

1944: 9576 Req. 745.—Assembly of Jeeps, £1,000.—Chrysler Dodge
Dist. (Aust.) Ltd.

1944: 4118 Req. 11248.—Assembly of jeeps, £821 6p. lOd.—Ford

Motor Co. of Aust. Ltd.

[Mike K]

A possible manufacture of replacement jeep springs in Australia 1943

And, 2287 Req. 275.—Side curtains. &c., for jeeps, £2.925.— (.Yneral Motors-Holdens Ltd. 1944

[Bob Phillips]

CCM (Canada Cycle and Motorcar) was taken over in WW2 by the CDN government for production of war time materials. They had a very large factory in Weston Ontario, now a part of Toronto. While they manufactured motorcars for a few years their big products were bicycles and ice skates. I remember having an ancient CCM bike when I was a kid. Curiously enough the plant was bought out by the Levy family in 1962 and anyone in the military hobby in Canada will remember the huge Levy surplus yard ( which has been referred to on these pages over the past few months) at 1400 Weston road. It seems that the Levy approach was to squeeze every possible cent out of newly aquired businesses ( sometimes including pension funds) before selling them off again. CCM survives in name only as the original plant was torn down sometime in the 1980s. Lots of information available on line if you look!

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Bob Phillips

CCM (Canada Cycle and Motorcar) was taken over in WW2 by the CDN government for production of war time materials. They had a very large factory in Weston Ontario, now a part of Toronto. While they manufactured motorcars for a few years their big products were bicycles and ice skates. I remember having an ancient CCM bike when I was a kid. ...

I think every Canadian kid of a range of ages had either a CCM or Eaton's pedal bike. One of the most often encountered CCM marked products are the sheet metal caps and rings on Long Branch No.4 Lee Enfields. Simple stampings that could have been made on machinery that originally manufactured bicycle chain guards or headlights.

[Mike K]

In Australia, Canada Cycle was a subsidiary of Chrysler Australia . The CCM Co. in Australia was distributing Chrysler Australia products - Dodge , Plymouth vehicles and spare parts. CCM were also assembling Jeeps and supplying Jeep parts. I well remember the hundreds of the locally made Jeep front axle rebuild kits that Hughes Camberwell had , with the makers name tag on the box , "supplied by CCM "

Would be interesting to find out what the GMH made Jeep side curtains looked like and if any have survived.

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Mike,

I think you will find that the various various members of the Chrysler Distributors Network were independent companies, with each being member of the network like a franchise holder, rather than being a subsidiary of Chrysler. Hence, Canada Cycle produced a range of products under their own name, as well as being the Victoria 'area sales-point' for Chrysler's range of vehicles. Other companies held similar positions in other states. Happy to be corrected on this, but that's how the paperwork for orders, deliveries etc of Defence force vehicles and spares looks to me.

It harks back to the 1920s, when Australia was part of an Empire-wide preferential system, so 'foreign' companies (non-Empire) could not get a foothold in Australia without at least partnering with or being 'parented by' an Empire company. It is why we see GM Canada as the parent of GM-H, and Ford Canada as the parent of Ford Motor Company (and Ford Manufacturing Company) of Australia. Chrysler took the other avenue: partner with established Australian-based companies to form an Australia-wide network. Even so, Ford and GMH managed to hold something like 80% of the motor vehicle market in Australia up to the beginning of the Second World War, and is why the 'two engine policy' of Defence was established in 1938-39.

Mike

[Mike K]

Hi Mike

It's always a more complicated story than we realize , history is like that !

I believe Canada Cycle Motor Co. ( Vic.) was one of a group of distributors that jointly owned Chrysler Dodge Distributors ( Australia ) Ltd. which was formed in 1937. CDD was wholly Australian owned until 1951 when Chrysler Corporation USA bought a controlling interest

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks Mike - knew it was a distribution network and not a subsidiary, just wasn't sure of the legal structure.


Mike

[Mike K]

A very early invoice from CCM Melbourne dated 1904 . https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/234390...cle%20motor%22

And, a nice pic of early Melbourne https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entit...86&mode=browse

So I guess CCM received CKD shipments from Nth. America and assembled the cars on site ?

There was also a branch in QLD https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/153923...22&startPos=20

CCM were still trading as late as 1964 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...cle%20motor%22

[Mike K]

https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-680601814...ge/n2/mode/1up