Last week I wrote about how I am visited Swedish car company Koenigsegg after bathing in the fragrant Kattegat Strait. You might think that if you see such virgin and immaculate machinery I would find it hard to appreciate the rusty junkers, but then you would be wrong. Because the next day I fell in love with the Canadian Pattern Pattern truck.
He hadn’t even heard of trucks from Canadian military bosses; in fact, when I put my eyes on the machine above, I thought it might have been some kind of homemade Swedish workhorse. But after spending a lot of Google and scrolling Volvo C303s, Volvo L3314 Laplander, i Volvo TP21s (They’re all amazing in themselves), I finally identified the stubborn nose truck whose body is made up almost entirely of flat sheet metal.
Canadian military pattern trucks (CMPs) began to develop in the 1930s, as conflict in Europe — specifically for the British — began to emerge. A non-profit Canadian named Maple leaf up, which is dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the Canadian army to all volunteers abroad during World War II, discusses the first history of the CMPs in its website, writing:
As early as 1935, the British government had begun research into the potential of Canada as a manufacturing base for a wide variety of war-related products. In 1937, Ford of Canada was working on the development of a 15 cwt truck for military service, based on a very loose set of design parameters provided by government channels by the British. A year later, the program had accelerated and General Motors of Canada was also heavily involved. War was on the horizon and all parties were desperate to standardize a new series of military vehicles that would be acceptable in British service but designed for Canadian manufacturing processes.
The result of these desperate (and unusual) collaborative efforts was the Canadian truck of military skippers. The prototypes were subjected to rigorous testing in 1939 and full production in 1940. By September 1, 1945, Canada had produced nearly 410,000 CMP vehicles, along with 306,000 modified conventional types, more than 50,000 armored vehicles, and more than 91,000 civilian vehicles. modified for military service.
The Canadian automobile industry had a huge manufacturing capacity in the 1930s, so its potential to support the war effort was enormous. While Ford rolled the ball (you can see a Ford CMP truck in the picture above, probably equipped with a 3.9-liter flat-head V8), the Canadian division of Chevrolet also went into action, using mostly engines six-liter in-line 3.5-liter. Here’s a look at a Chevrolet C-15. (The name means 15 CWT, or fifteen heavy weights, approximately an equivalent of three-quarters of a ton.):
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These trucks and their derivatives are called Ford and Chevrolet “Blitz” in Australia, one of many countries in the world that used Canadian military vehicles during and / or after World War II.
Chrysler of Canada also built CMP under the Dodges brand. Here is a 1943 photo showing the 500,000th CMP coming out of the line. Take a look at the three “Big Three” represented on the grid:
It’s a little embarrassing that I didn’t know the CMPs until now, because they were one huge deal for Canada. The Globe and Mail, a newsletter from the northern neighbors of the United States, analyzes the importance of the country’s truck production, framing it in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis, writing:
The current battlefield is in hospitals, rather than the field, but the same production of material is required at the industrial level. Factories made a difference, so it’s worth taking a look at how Canadian carmakers helped win World War II.
Canada built trucks. Lots of trucks. Almost a million in total. Beginning in 1940, Canadian factories began their largest contribution to the war effort, individually surpassing the production of heavy trucks from Germany, Italy, and Japan combined.. We put the Allies on wheels.
The story goes on, describing how important Canada’s truck manufacturing efforts were during the war:
Throughout the volumes of The history of World War II, According to Britain’s official account of the struggle, Canada’s truck production is called our most important contribution to the war effort. Of course, there were many, from the D-Day landings on Juno Beach and the liberation of the Netherlands to the massive training of the air crew at Canadian airfields.
Beginning in 1940, General Motors of Canada and Ford Motor Co. of Canada began producing a heavy vehicle called the Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) truck. When asked to think of a vehicle they associate with World War II, most people would probably call it the American Jeep. But if the Jeep was a faithful little mule, the CMP was a bull moose with suitcases.
“It was a very competent vehicle and was available in so many permutations, from transportation to the fuel truck to the mobile welding workshop, everything you can imagine,” says retired Colonel Ian Newby, owner of six CMPs, including a prototype . “We still used them until the sixties, when I was a young soldier.”
They’re simple, they look quirky, and they’re incredibly capable. No wonder I, a Jeep fan, is in love now.
Anyway, watch the rest of the video above to see the continuation of my European road trip in my 1994 250,000 mile Chrysler Voyager diesel manual, christened “Krassler Project. as amazing as the CMP.