Post your unidintified vehicle photos here.

[Bill Murray]

Hello Jason:
Well, my own eyes have faded quite a bit these last years

But, the type of tyre would indicate an American origin vehicle. I am just off to my shop for the day and do not have time to rummage through my files but I will take a guess it may well be one of the 1 1/2 ton Chevrolet vehicles supplied on lend lease. I will return to the question this evening my time if no one else has identified it to see if I can pin it down closer.
Bill

[Bill Murray]

Hello again Jason:
Well, still no conclusive answer yet.
The only four clues I am working on are as follows:
American style non-directional tyres
The design of the tilt and what little one can see of the cargo bed structure.
What appears to be some sort of towing hitch at the rear.
What appears to be a similar vehicle in the background.

I have now had to rule out all Chevrolet, GMC, Dodge and some Ford Lend Lease vehicles as they either had the spare mounted behind the cab or under the front portion of the cargo bed. Also most British Lend Lease vehicles as their cargo bodies were made in a different way.

For now, I am searching for rear view photos of the Ford G8T which had a very similar body and a towing hitch somewhat like your photo. But.... the other possibility is a Gaz AA which had exactly that type of body, the same mounting of the spare tyre and the same type of towing hitch.

What throws me off on the Gaz is that I have never seen one equipped with US style tyres but in wartime I guess anything is possible. Both the truck and the tyres we can see do also indicate an almost new vehicle.
I will keep looking.
Bill

[jmark]

For now, I am searching for rear view photos of the Ford G8T which had a very similar body and a towing hitch somewhat like your photo. But.... the other possibility is a Gaz AA which had exactly that type of body, the same mounting of the spare tyre and the same type of towing hitch.

What throws me off on the Gaz is that I have never seen one equipped with US style tyres but in wartime I guess anything is possible. Both the truck and the tyres we can see do also indicate an almost new vehicle.
I will keep looking.
Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks so much for your hard work on this matter! The photo will be used in an upcoming book, which is why I'm trying to ascertain the correct model and make of the truck.

You suggest that it might be a Ford G8T... I did a search on the Internet and found the following on this site: http://www.o5m6.de/ford_g8t.html

Ford G8T ("Ford-6"), 1½-ton, 4x2, Cargo
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipped with a 158in. wheelbase and the common 144in. by 80 in. cargo body, the Ford G8T was by far the most numerous commercial 1.5t 4x2 truck and was delivered to Russia under the Lend-Lease Act from 1943 on.

My photo was taken in July or August 1942. If the G8T was only delivered to Russia from 1943 onwards, this would rule it out as a possibility. What do you think?

Just for everyone's interest, here's the excerpts from the Feldpost letters where this truck is mentioned:

1st July 1942: ... Yesterday, I captured a brand new lorry with two of my squads. We bumped off 4 Russians and captured 8. That was a blast!
3rd Juy 1942: ... The day before yesterday me and two squads captured a fantastic lorry. It had only driven 350km. In any case, our field-kitchen is now motorised.

Well, my own eyes have faded quite a bit these last years

Being "eagle-eyed" is more a matter of the mental database working behind the scenes than the acuity of these round things stuck in the front of our faces!

Thanks again, Bill!
Jason

[Bill Murray]

Hi Jason:
Well the brotherhood is alive and well and working. I posted your photo to a couple of other boards and got input from Alex in Holland and Cliff in Australia.

For the moment, I think the three of us agree it is very likely a Ford 2G8T of 1942 vintage which would fit your photo date and which was also supplied to the Russians. I am still looking for a very extensive report I got years ago in English of vehicles supplied under Lend Lease which gave exact dates and quantities of US supplied vehicles.

I am posting here a photo of such a vehicle supplied to the British and used in North Africa. The tyres are different, of course, but note the very good match of the slats of the body side and the relative size of the metal part of the body underneath the slats. The positioning of the spare tyre and the tow hitch also match this Ford vehicle.

Not a 100% ID, but in the 90th percentile I think and I will keep looking for evidence to either support or knock down this, the best we can offer for the moment.
Bill

[Akira Takiguchi]

What can this be?

[jmark]

Hi Jason:
Well the brotherhood is alive and well and working. I posted your photo to a couple of other boards and got input from Alex in Holland and Cliff in Australia.

For the moment, I think the three of us agree it is very likely a Ford 2G8T of 1942 vintage which would fit your photo date and which was also supplied to the Russians. I am still looking for a very extensive report I got years ago in English of vehicles supplied under Lend Lease which gave exact dates and quantities of US supplied vehicles.

I am posting here a photo of such a vehicle supplied to the British and used in North Africa. The tyres are different, of course, but note the very good match of the slats of the body side and the relative size of the metal part of the body underneath the slats. The positioning of the spare tyre and the tow hitch also match this Ford vehicle.

Not a 100% ID, but in the 90th percentile I think and I will keep looking for evidence to either support or knock down this, the best we can offer for the moment.
Bill

Hi Bill,
Thanks very much for your hard work with this. I do agree that your attached photo matches up very nicely with my photo.

All the best,
Jason

[Bill Murray]

Hi Jason:
Well, another "maybe". I cannot identify your multi axle vehicle but maybe can give some clues for others to pursue.

There were experimental 8X8 vehicles tested before the war that were based on the einheits diesel 6X6 vehicle, including one amphibious one.
Your photo very slightly resembles that vehicle but the front end is different and the axle spacing is wrong. Yours seems to show evenly spaced axles, the einheits vehicles had a large space between the front set of axles and the rears.

There were also some oddball experimental vehicles based on the early 8X8 armoured car chassis but I did not find a match to your photo. The axle spacing on those vehicles did, however, match yours.

In any case, the type of tyre on your vehicle indicates a prewar or very early war year vehicle. Hope someone with better German resources than mine can carry on from there. Oh...do not disregard a possible Austrian or even Czech vehicle. They had a lot of experimental vehicles built in the 1937-1940 time frame and used the same type of tyres.

Cheers,
Bill

[R MICHAEL]

Here is one that I haven't seen often enought to know the ID on. Can't get a clear enough scan of the maker and I don't often see a makers name in an oval....
Maybe a bussing?????

Mike

[jmehner]

Mike,

that looks like a Ph******228;nomen Granit 25H K******252;belwagen.

HTH

Jens O.

[Bill Murray]

Right you are Jens and with some Adler 3GDs in the background and some Opel 3 tonners. Nice photo.
Bill

[R MICHAEL]

Thanks Jens and BIll!

That is a French vehicle isn't it? These photos were taken in 39' I guess the wehrmacht imported some military vehicles before the war??


Mike

[Bill Murray]

Hi Mike:
If you are referring to the Phaenomen, no, it is German.
Here is another shot.
Bill

[R MICHAEL]

Danke Bill..

Hi Mike:
If you are referring to the Phaenomen, no, it is German.
Here is another shot.
Bill

[entasis]

I have no photos to add but did want to express how great the photos are and the wealth of info shared.

Not only was it shown on this thread but in just about every 3rd Reich documentary, you find the German's use of convertible and soft top vehicles, extremely common. Does anyone know if there was a reason for this? Was it just the fashionable thing for the period? I don't believe weather was a reason since it could be downright inclement and cold a good deal of the year. Any thoughts and opinions would be appreciated.

Tony

[Bill Murray]

Entasis:

Sometimes I tend to write a book when responding to this sort of a question, but I will try to be brief with my opinions which come from 50 years of research on vehicles.

You mentioned documentaries, and if you mean propaganda type photos of political parades, meetings, graduations of military schools and even victory parades, it was always better to have the riding participants in full view of the public. Waving politicians, soldiers, nurses or whatever, is a better Public Relations shot than a bunch of closed sedans or trucks.

Regarding private, civilian vehicles in general, a car was the toy of the rich in most countries in Europe prior to WWII. Granted, there were a lot of closed sedans and coupes produced but a lot of those were taxis, business cars and, of course, vehicles produced at the lower end of the price scale.

I cannot speak with authority, but I suspect that the rich wished to be seen in good weather enjoying their luxurious vehicles and in the winter, European convertibles have always had much more robust and weather-proof tops than such cars here in the US.

The use of soft top tactical vehicles was, I think, also a product of the time. The concept of Blitzkrieg with armoured vehicles breaking through all resistance perhaps made the powers of the time comfortable with providing support vehicles, cars as well as trucks, with open tops which allowed the troops to dismount quickly as they did not face serious resistance. This was true of even the later armoured half tracked vehicles that had open tops so the troops could close on an enemy infantry formation with at least a little side protection and all jump out once they had reached the objective.

As WWII was coming to an end, the use of Molotov Cocktails, early bazooka type weapons etc. began to spell the end of open unarmoured vehicles in combat areas.

If I fast forward to today, the presence of RPGs, IEDs and so on make it almost imperative that any vehicle anywhere near a combat zone had better be closed and well armoured or the results are a disaster.

Hope I did not bore you with my opinions.
Bill