CMP truck wrecks in the North African desert

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Further to Kuno's "Ford Wreck in the Desert" and related threads, I'm sharing another fascinating and recent find during the March 2022 expedtion to Jebel Uweinat in Libya by the Fliegel Jezerniczky company. These trucks are located somewhere in the Selima Sand Sheet in Sudan.

"We continued traversing the bad rocky country, navigating from one sandy patch to another, until we came across an old looking series of deep tracks that finally offered better going. Judging from the discarded 4 gallon petrol tins, we have stumbled upon one of the principal routes of the SDF Kufra convoys leading from Selima towards Jebel Kamil in Egypt. Rounding a bend and a low knoll, we suddenly came upon a CMP truck, clearly an abandoned convoy vehicle. Closer inspection revealed that it was a CMP Chevrolet c60L with the early Type 12 cab, the same truck that formed the bulk of the convoy shown on the photos of G. J. Mostert. It was complete with its in-line six cylinder engine, several of the dashboard switches were still in place. It appeared that the truck was mostly in the state it was in when abandoned, all the tyres (Dunlop Trak Grip 10.5-20) including the spare was still there, apparently in a brand new unworn condition. I have never seen any photos of this wreck, it appears that we have stumbled on it after 80 years without anyone else knowing about it."

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