A very late production F15A

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

I thought I could add nothing to the debate but Hanno has once again intrigued me. This is clearly an Australian order, and I have no information on Aussie contracts except the very few E52-448 Chevrolet ones from '44. However the Windsor serial number and the 1943 Model engine number suggest that this chassis or the components thereof were completed in 1943, and the contract may be a '43 one as well as it predates the known one[s]. So, we have prima facie a 1943 CKD chassis to 1943 contract with '47 date on it. Could the date be a rebuild date by say Ford of Australia? We know GM-Holden's rebuilt CMPs and MCPs post-war but I have no evidence yet that Ford did the same. Anyone know please?

Correction:

I have just rechecked my data file and see that I have information on a Perth-assembled C60L to E52-384; in theory the contract was placed at about the same time as the contract on the Ford's plate, and this was on a 1943 CKD chassis assembled October 7th 1944. The engine number was from a batch assembled in Windsor transmission plant around September 1943 so this chassis was shipped from Oshawa and assembled about a year later! It is thus quite possible that Ford of Australia stored 1943 components, perhaps with a view to using them as service replacements, and then built them up post-war when required for military or civilian use. Did the Australian forces use CMPs in the period from '46 to Korea?