1940 Ford truck

[Glenn]

Hello again all.
1940 Ford 098T 4x2 158" wheelbase.
Are they LH drive or RH drive - or did they come as both depending on where they were manufactured?
Any information on them appreciated.
Thanks
Glenn

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Dearborn-built 098T trucks would all have been left hand drive I believe. Same with the Tipping version, the 098U

Windsor-built C098T was available with lhd or rhd, and those assembled in Dagenham, Essex by Ford to Ministry of Supply contract, C098TFS and EC098UFS were r.h.d.

[Glenn]

I should have been a little more specific - these trucks would have been shipped to Egypt/middle east in 1940-1941.

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

Right, this is exercising my brain power and research abilities!

1. Demand S/M 2004 was issued in June 1940 for:
5,742 Ford 3-ton trucks, 66 Stores, 86 Wreckers and 86 Machinery for England. By August 29 this had changed:
2004 was now for 5,742 3-Ton Ford trucks plus 86 of each of Stores, Wreckers and Machinery.
a) The G/S trucks were: STEEL FLOAT TILT AND TILT COVER
b) The B/Down trucks were: WRECKER EQUIPMENT
c) The The Workshop and Stores trucks were:
i STEEL TUBULAR TILT AND WORKSHOP EQUIPMENT ADDED
ii. WIREMESHED TILT WITH STORED RACKS AND BOXES ADDED

These were C098TFS trucks assembled as EC098TFS in Dagenham under MofS Contract 294/V/4214. Census Numbers were: L 761151 to 767110. I suggest that there was a gap in numbers in there!

None of these were delivered direct to Egypt, and all had r.h.d. As with 2. below all chassis and bodies were to be shipped seperately, duly marked so that one chassis and one body were shipped as one unit.

2. Demand S/M 2005 was issued at the same time for:
4,787 Chevrolet trucks [CC60L/X2, Model 1543] split 3,829 for Bombay and 958 for England, with 57 Stores, Wreckers and Machinery for Bombay and 14 of each for England. By August 29th this had changed: 2005 became 4,787 Chevrolet 3-Ton trucks split 3,150 for Egypt, 670 for Mombasa and 967 for England, with 71 Stores, Wreckers and Machinery split 50 for Egypt, 10 for Mombasa and 11 for England in each case. However domestic Census Numbers show that just 192 were assembled, and from photos these were at GM Limited, Bamber Bridge, Preston. The rest were allocated L 449XXXX numbers and would have been assembled by GM Near east, Alexandria and all had r.h.d. to the best of my knowledge. So, some of the excess were probably shipped to Alexandria.

Any Fords assembled by Ford in Alexandria would have been l.h.d. to local WD contract or Egyptian Government contract would have been sourced from Dearborn and paid for in Egyptian Pounds. However I am pretty certain that Dagenham-assembled EC098TFS trucks were shipped out to Alexandria at the end of 1940/begining of 1940 just as the AIF and NZEF were. Photos may show Census Numbers that may prove/disprove?

3. There was then a gap until the might Demand S/M 2037 which must have been placed in late 1940/early 1941. This was a mixed order between Ford and Chevrolet, C/F60L and Ford and Chevrolet 4x2 3-tonners. My information has it that 6,847 had been ordered for delivery, including to Egypt which was ongoing/had been completed as at June 30 1942. These may well have been l.h.d. lthough all the CMPs were r.h.d. of course.