GMC DATE OF MANUFACTURE

[JOURNEYMAN]

Hi all,
I have a GMC 353 with the chassis number CCKW 353 435876 A2 . Is it possible to establish it,s actual date of manufacture,
it,s hood ( serial ? ) number and perhaps the unit(s) that it was assigned to ? I have the original bill of sale from the auction
in France when it was sold, but the only information I have is that the truck was possibly given to the French army in 1954
as part of the Marshall aid plan. I know the truck received a new steel cargo body in Bremen,Germany in 1950 and was
apparently completely re-built by the French in 1963 and disposed of by them around 1977.
When the truck was first registered in the UK in 2001, it was declared as having been manufactured in the USA in 1945.
Any information about the truck would be welcome.
Thank you,
Steve.

[pfarber]

Without the data plate, no. Registration numbers were somewhat sequential, but throughout production blocks of registration numbers have jumped out of sequence. If you had an early truck that used the TM10's they DID have registration numbers by contract and frame SN, but that stopped in April, 1943 with the first TM9. Your truck, in the mid 400,000 range would be, at the earliest, a very late 43 truck, 1944 is more likely.

There is even less hope for finding what unit it was assigned to. Those records would have been lost/destroyed long ago.

Your best best is to look for CCKW photos... that can get you close to a registration number once you get close on the date of delivery. You can also try and remove the paint in layers with sandpaper on the bumpers and hood to see if anything shows up... this seems to work well with jeeps.

Its been discussed that you can somewhat guess the production month/year by assuming 12,000-15,000 trucks were produced, per month, and divide your frame SN by 12,000 or 15,000 to get the month starting from Jan 1942. Others have claimed to have the actual worksheets that show exact production per month, but never posted it.

[JOURNEYMAN]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the reply.The truck is due for a re-paint later this year,with a bit of luck I might find some markings on the hood,bumpers etc... if I do i will let you know. It has been painted by the previous owner but I don,t think it was done from bare metal. I have a vague recollection that the chassis number put the truck,s date of manufacture as between
November 1944 and May 1945 , but unfortunately I cannot remember where I read it.
When I get a chance,I will try and post some pictures of my Ben Hur trailer ( I originally posted about it in October 2012,
my apologies for the late reply ) . I have now cleaned the trailer data plate and sadly there appears to be no stamping on it at all.
I will let you know what I find out. Thanks once again,
Steve.

PS Still looking for a hand throttle bracket for the carb.....

[pfarber]

There is a list of CCKW parts vendors in the General forum. Email them... most likely they have a take off carb with the linkages. E-bay is another source of junk carb that still have the linkages...just keep an eye out for 28AV Zenith carbs.... they show up.

I have a wood cargo trailer also.. Queen City 42. I need to make a tailgate, but I have most of dimensions for the parts (and the hinges! That took 2 years.)

I really like the look of the wooden vs the steel trailers. This summer I am tearing down my shed (where the trailer is) to build another and when it comes out I'll take photos. Its still in original military paint But no tail gate