10 Mar 02 MLU GUEST REGISTER READ  |  SIGN

From a standing start in 1939,Canada produced an incredible collection of unique and endurable softskin vehicles known as 'CMP', or Canadian Military Pattern. These vehicles served every Commonwealth army in every theatre of war, and in many cases, went on to provide yeoman service to dozens of nations in every corner of the globe for decades after. That so many examples have survived to this day is a testament to the engineering excellence incorporated in their design and manufacture. The CMP story really began in the middle thirties, when it looked as if Great Britain and her Commonwealth might have to once again take up arms against the rising tide of German nationalism. As early as 1935, the British government had begun to make inquiries as to Canada's potential as a manufacturing base for a wide variety of war-related goods. By 1937, Ford of Canada was working on developing a 15 cwt truck for military service, based on a very loose set of design parameters furnished through government channels by the British. A year later the program had accelerated, and General Motors of Canada was now also heavily involved. War was on the horizon, and all parties were desperate to standardize a new series of military vehicles which would be acceptable in British service, but designed for Canadian manufacturing processes. The result of these desperate (and unusual!) collaborative efforts was the Canadian Military Pattern truck. Prototypes were undergoing rigorous testing by 1939, and all-out production by 1940. By September 1st, 1945, Canada had produced almost 410,000 CMP vehicles alone, togther with 306,000 modified conventional types, over 50,000 armoured vehicles, and over 91,000 civilian vehicles modified for military service. The following few pages will attempt to document some of the surviving examples of these amazing vehicles. For further information, please see our Links page for other CMP-oriented resources on the web. In addition, we invite any CMP owner to participate in this display; we would be happy to publish photos and information relating to restored vehicles, ongoing projects, interesting finds and other such relevent data. Please feel free to email us for further info, or with your suggestions! Early CMPs A few glimpses into the early development of the Canadian Military Pattern vehicle... The C60L "Three-tonner" A photo expose of a beautifully-restored C60L lorry in standard General Service (GS) configuration. This class of vehicle was the workhorse of the Canadian Army Overseas... Field Artillery Tractor This vehicle was the cornerstone of the Field Artillery Regiment, of which there was one per brigade in Canadian service. Organized into three troops of eight each of the fabled 25pdr gun/howitzers, the Field Artillery Regiment was a critical component of the success of the Canadian Army Overseas... The 15 cwt Truck The 15cwt truck was as ubiquitous to Canadian line regiments as was the Universal Carrier. Its comparatively small size coupled with good agility and a respectable load capacity made it indispensible, and guaranteed a long life in civilian hands after the war... Heavy Utility Vehicles Coming soon... CMP Specifications Your instant online reference to CMP Truck specifications, taken from the applicable Maintenance Manuals of the time... Copyright © Geoff Winnington-Ball , 1999-2000  All Rights Reserved