CMP versus 48-215 Holden

[Mike Cecil]

"The Holden is a mystery. C61125 was apparently the registration for a Chev C60L, with no indication of when the reg was transferred to the Holden."

And C-61748 visible in another image was previously issued to an Army C15A Battery Staff Personnel.

You will find that there was a lot of 'duplication' during the 1950s (before the Commonwealth Z-plate scheme was introduced) of numbers previously issued to the Army by the Dept of the Interior (which originally ran the C plate scheme) and the Dept of Supply and Development (S&D). Both the Holdens were S&D vehicles.

Some plates, such as those used by S&D at Monegeetta for test vehicles, were transferred from vehicle to vehicle as tests were completed and new ones started, for example: C-74819 was used on the CJ3B (RHD) tested in the late 1950s, then the Freighter-Lawton Imp. The Land Rover Series 2 SWB plate was C-67999, which was then used on the Toyota Land Cruiser. All the S&D plates seem to be in the C-6xxxx and C-7xxxx range, though I have not made a study of them, so there may be more blocks.

There were also duplications within Army: the Studebaker US6 fleet, registrations for which were issued in 1945, shares an overlap with Centurion tanks that arrived in 1951-52, for example.

Wish I'd seen those Land Rover images taken at Woomera before I completed writing 'Tough Truck'.

Mike