Compliments on the Post Season to you, and Very Merry Pre-Annuals.
Graham, hi there.
In general jeeps arrived in Australia ex SUP (single unit pack). New
with US numbers attached. They were assembled at various local
providors, not just Ford or GMH. They were resprayed & renumbered just
as you see in the calendar. Especially the 100 odd jeeps in the February
photo.
As an example the photo in January 97. This jeep was from the second
group of new SUP jeeps that landed in Australia. There were two main
contractors at the time, the first International Harvester, the second
Chrysler International (the current Jeep owner). But they sub contracted
out too. One sub contract went to a Piano Factory in Melbourne. In fact
jeeps from the first group that were built in NSW,I can tell which jeep
had a defective horn, bad battery or damaged clutch on delivery!
As I say in my usual paperwork, what I have is not just one data base
it's quite a few that pull together to complete the big picture. Hence
the extensive captions that I have created.
By late 1944 and up to mid 1945 we began to get a lot of ex-US scrap.
They came either partially knocked down, or on their own wheels. I can
identify these units by their rebuild numbers through paperwork I have
uncovered from our Archive system.
The Army record system cannot identify when a jeep landed or was
assembled in Australia. But only by combining it's Army number, rebuild
contract order, or other associated records can we pin point it's
origins.
Your jeep was assembled here for sure and if the body work was not sand
blasted prior to restoration the original US numbers would still be
there.
regards,
John E.