Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
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MONTBREHAIN
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 121
Location: The Deep South of Ampshire
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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:47 pm Post subject: Australian Army maple leaf Chevy |
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I went to the DADS ARMY 40th anniversary celebrations in Thetford Norfolk last week. The local military vehicle club were also in attendance . This Chevy caught my eye . Its a shame it was ever allowed to leave OZ really , but all credit to the owner because shes a beaut ute . "MO"
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Rick
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22791
Location: UK
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Job-Rated
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 1010
Location: Sugarbeet County
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| Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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I think I posted a pic of that truck at last year's Worstead Festival...
It is very nice.
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Don't run your fingers over my truck & I won't run my truck over your fingers!
http://www.loosechange-band.co.uk/ |
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Rick
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22791
Location: UK
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Scotty
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 883
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:29 am Post subject: |
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Lovely vehicle - although it seems a bit too shiney and chromey for an Army vehicle, but what do I know other than I like it.  |
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Job-Rated
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 1010
Location: Sugarbeet County
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| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:54 am Post subject: |
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Ah yes, thought so...
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Don't run your fingers over my truck & I won't run my truck over your fingers!
http://www.loosechange-band.co.uk/ |
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Standard56
Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Posts: 146
Location: Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 1:16 pm Post subject: Agree |
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| Scotty wrote: | | Lovely vehicle - although it seems a bit too shiney and chromey for an Army vehicle, but what do I know other than I like it. |
Ah a good old Australian ute. Great to see that one of these is living in the U.K. These 1941-47 Chev. utes were assembled by GM-H and a good number of them have survived. I've lost count of how many of these Chevy utes I've seen over the years. The earlier 1941 built examples have a separate cab and rear ute body. Some of these utes were shipped overseas with the Aust. army to places like the Middle East and Malaya.
Yes the paint job on the pictured ute is way too shiny for a wartime army vehicle - it should be finished in matt Khaki Green #3 but it looks more like gloss light Brunswick green. Anyway Captain Mainwaring would have approved whatever the colour !
Yes Rick , the grills on the wartime examples were usually painted, not chromed. |
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Rusty
Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 281
Location: Bunbury, Western Australia
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| Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2024 2:44 am Post subject: |
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There was an interesting piece of "wreckage" at a clearing sale I went to about 15 years ago. A wartime chev ute "body only" and in extremely rough but recognisable condition. I friend of mine bought it for a minimum bid, I think about $2 and took it home. It was a "roadster" ute body ! We speculated it was probably a convertible car kit that GMH got at the start of the war and built as a utility. It did have steel rear body panels, I have heard some assembled at that time had "masonite" boxes, but not this one. It was just a body, no chassis running gear or interior. Anyway, Rob took it home and let it be known in car club circles that it "existed" and a collector went up to the farm and took it back to Perth somewhere.
Graham |
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Standard56
Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Posts: 146
Location: Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2024 6:34 am Post subject: Roadster ute |
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| Rusty wrote: | There was an interesting piece of "wreckage" at a clearing sale I went to about 15 years ago. A wartime chev ute "body only" and in extremely rough but recognisable condition. I friend of mine bought it for a minimum bid, I think about $2 and took it home. It was a "roadster" ute body ! We speculated it was probably a convertible car kit that GMH got at the start of the war and built as a utility. It did have steel rear body panels, I have heard some assembled at that time had "masonite" boxes, but not this one. It was just a body, no chassis running gear or interior. Anyway, Rob took it home and let it be known in car club circles that it "existed" and a collector went up to the farm and took it back to Perth somewhere.
Graham |
hi Graham
Very interesting.
GM-H built special roadster cab utes for tha military in 1941 , based on Pontiac and Chevrolet car chassis. I owned one of these, a Pontiac..... Yes you are corrrect, the ute body was a wooden frame with masonite panels.
The numbers built were very small .. less than 400 we think. I passed on my Pontiac to a friend who restored the car , but sadly the car was destroyed in a fire , the horse hair seats got hot from the muffler under the floor.
Some of these masonite utes were used by the (USAFIA) US Army Forces In Australia during WW2.
This is a surviving Chev. And the Pontiac , I bought it in 1981 from a old chap who ran a caravan hire business down at Geelong, he had got it in 1946 , he covered over the masonite panels with metal and that saved the body, my friend had found a couple of 41 pontiac sedans for spares , he did a brilliant job on the car. I drove the Pontiac home on Geelong road, it ran OK but the motor was tired, Colin fitted a 1951 reconditioned Pontiac engine in it. I paid $150 for the ute ! The old owner had, a few days before, handed in it's original 1946 number plates ....
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Standard56
Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Posts: 146
Location: Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2024 10:24 am Post subject: Wartime pic |
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The State Library of Queensland hosts many interesting photographs .
https://digital.slq.qld.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_func=stream&dps_pid=FL1207528
This is a 1941/42 Chev. ute with the separate cab/body. The ute bodywork was: a wooden frame with metal panels attached, these GM-H built tubs were rather flimsy and they fell apart after a few years. The one piece coupe utes had a much stronger body, these lasted out the years of work.
Unusually, the pictured ute has a chrome grill and it appears to be finished in a non-military configuration. During the war, new cars were very difficult to obtain for civilians, a special permit was required for 'essential ' users i.e. Doctors or land holders , farmers.
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Standard56
Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Posts: 146
Location: Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 4:19 am Post subject: VR Chev ute |
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Victorian Railways Chev ute. The two letter and three numeral number plates were first issued in 1939 beginning with AA 000 this series ended in 1953 with ZZ999. Wartime Victorian registrations are typically in the A to H range, my Dodge ute was JX 731 a 1946 number plate. The letter 'I' wasn't issued , they jumped from H to J . From 1953 they began a three letter three numeral number plate beginning with GAA000 , this series ended in the 1970s. Nowadays its a real mixture and there is no standard rules for number plates.
The Chev has a decal with '8' on the windscreen, this is the month of registration expiry, August.
The 1953 system was an attempt at a National number plate system with each state allocated a certain range or prefix. i.e. NSW got A to F Vic got G to L and so on , it all came to nothing with each state eventually going their own way. Little Tasmania got the letter prefix 'W' but they went to their own way with a strange two letter 4 numeral system around the late 1960s
Pre 1939, Victorian number plates were a fancy enameled all numeral affair , these are highly sought after today and the current examples are on registered cars , once the registration lapses the plates are gone forever. Number plates here must be obtained from the govt. roads dept. I was a number plate spotter and how exciting it was to see the letter 'K' released in 1968 , this was the same year when the Holden HK was released ..oh it was all too much to take in seeing the Monaro with it's full length roof stripe and the bright candy colours
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bjacko
Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 527
Location: Melbourne Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 7:48 am Post subject: Registrations |
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My Morris 8 Coupe Ute has Victorian rego BF346
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1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP |
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Standard56
Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Posts: 146
Location: Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 12:07 pm Post subject: Re: Registrations |
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| bjacko wrote: | | My Morris 8 Coupe Ute has Victorian rego BF346 |
Hi B
That would mean it was registered around 1940... your ute may have been re-registered around 1940 with new plates. If it was registered in 1938 it would have the all numeral enamel plates. These two letter prefix series number plates didn't have a white border, I see so many restored cars with incorrect looking number plates, with a white border !
I found some stuff on the Ruskin Body works in West Melbourne.
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bjacko
Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 527
Location: Melbourne Australia
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| Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2024 8:27 am Post subject: Morris 8 Ute |
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The reason it was not registered until 1940 seems to have been because no one wanted small utes but they had no choice because all the larger ones were commandeered by the armed forces. It was used around Melbourne during the war uising petrol in an under bonnet fuel tank to start the changing over to paraffin when it was warm enough. After the war it was used to sell milking machines, cream separators etc to farmers, travelling on gravel roads and farm tracks. This did not do it much good especially as it had no air filter. The engine when I bought it was shot and it had been sleeved previously and my reconditioner bored it out to +.080" which I think was maximum. the speedo showed it had only done 48,000 miles. Of course the steering, clutch, brakes etc were worn out and the front universal on the propeller shaft had one roller under the end of cup. Must have made a terrible banging noise when driven. After the years going round farms the new owner used it to drive around the various shows to show his poultry. When he died it sat in a shed for a number of years before I bought it after his best friend who he left it to blew it over with a coat of green and said it had been reconditioned! He had no battery so i could not see it running and he delivered it to my place on a trailer. It took me several years to restore it.
Now I am too old to get down and under because I struggle to get back up!!
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1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP |
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Standard56
Joined: 26 Jun 2024
Posts: 146
Location: Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2024 10:37 am Post subject: Re: Morris 8 Ute |
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| bjacko wrote: | The reason it was not registered until 1940 seems to have been because no one wanted small utes but they had no choice because all the larger ones were commandeered by the armed forces. It was used around Melbourne during the war uising petrol in an under bonnet fuel tank to start the changing over to paraffin when it was warm enough. After the war it was used to sell milking machines, cream separators etc to farmers, travelling on gravel roads and farm tracks. This did not do it much good especially as it had no air filter. The engine when I bought it was shot and it had been sleeved previously and my reconditioner bored it out to +.080" which I think was maximum. the speedo showed it had only done 48,000 miles. Of course the steering, clutch, brakes etc were worn out and the front universal on the propeller shaft had one roller under the end of cup. Must have made a terrible banging noise when driven. After the years going round farms the new owner used it to drive around the various shows to show his poultry. When he died it sat in a shed for a number of years before I bought it after his best friend who he left it to blew it over with a coat of green and said it had been reconditioned! He had no battery so i could not see it running and he delivered it to my place on a trailer. It took me several years to restore it.
Now I am too old to get down and under because I struggle to get back up!! |
That is a interesting history. Yes it makes sense that your ute was not popular because of it's small size. Looking through the TROVE newspaper archive, I found this advert. I had not seen or heard of a Morris 25 ute before seeing this advert.
And a West. Australian advert for a Department Store that sold Morris utes . here is the link https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/147653374?searchTerm=%22Morris%20utility%22
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/147728282?searchTerm=%22Morris%20utility%22
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