#2 Rehoming "Monsieur" | The restoration of Miss Drop 44's GMC CCKW

WOW, where to start.... The truck is home!

So much has begun to happen, and more and more seems to just keep cropping up!

To begin with, as mentioned previously Reuben very kindly put the body onto the truck for transport for us.

The truck body being lifted into place, it had been stored apart from the truck, as it is not it's original cargo body.

The truck body in place, awaiting the proper fixings/bolts, later installed by Reuben and his father. More on this cargo body later....

We were also massively helped by Reuben in regards to transport. I had begun the process of searching for a company willing to transport such a ridiculously sized vehicle, and had received some equally ridiculously sized quotes; so when Reuben called to tell me he could sort me out with a spot on a Low-Loader at a reasonable price, the answer was pretty easy. This came as a result of a Historia Prize Draw competition, where somebody local to me had won themselves a GMC CCKW (Lucky bugger)!!

Snug fit! The two trucks were loaded late on a Tuesday, and began their journey first thing on a Wednesday morning. After some inevitable traffic, we took delivery of

"Monsieur"!

While reversing in, we folded the back of the canvas up to be able to see behind the truck. The visibility through the mirrors has some significant room for improvement. Having folded the canvas up, this exposed the interior for a better view.

Right: We discovered inside the cab this stencil, ".D.M.I (?) ST LOUIS". This would suggest that this truck was manufactured at the Chevrolet Motor Division plant at 3809 Union Boulevard St Louis that transitioned to military vehicle production in Sept 1942.

Left: The original shipping information.

While looking over the truck we encountered a few surprises, but nothing off-putting. The most exciting of all was the 1942 dated 1 Franc coin found in a tin underneath the driver's seat. The cargo body on the truck will require A LOT of work. Every pocket has rusted through (some have been filled in with Bondo and chicken wire), the floor is pitted beyond belief and the side panels have rusted and swollen. On the contrary, the cab has survived quite well; the floor will need replacing (if it still counts as replacing if there's nothing left), but other than that, most of the important pieces appear intact.

I hope to follow this soon with some updates containing some actual progress images, but for now the following will have to suffice!