Pattern 12 Gets A Body

When a friend suggested I take a look at M35 drop side cargo body the length was right for the Pattern 12 C60L 158 inch wheelbase. But the width was 10 inches to wide to fit the truck without looking wrong.

The solution was get out the plasma cutter and slice 10 inches out of the center of the truck. Once the deck was cut along its entire length. The body had to be flipped over this was done with the shop jib boom and chain fall to lift one side up and swing the body over then lower it again. Once this was done the using the Plasma Cutter to continue and cut each of the frame ribs once the entire body had been cut through the section was removed and the two sections were slid together and aligned. Once the frame ribs were all aligned and the deck was aligned the Mig Welder was used to weld the ribs. The original frame rails were now 10" to narrow to fit the frame of the Patter 12. So the frame rails then had to be cut free and moved out to match the Pattern 12's frame rails.

Once ribs were weld back together then the process of flipping was repeated, the edges of the deck were aligned and weld.

Trying to figure what body to put on the Pattern 12 C60L has been a challenge. As the original body was long gone and with no idea of even what it had been full authenticity was not a real issue. Several different types of bodies had come to mine including the following:
Office Caravan Radio Box - The CBC had used a Pattern 11 Ford as their first Mobile Recording Unit ship over to England in 1941	Portee with appropriate Antitank Gun even had a line on an 57mm AT Gun that would have made a passable 3 pounder General Cargo GS or GS Stores Drop Side Cargo- about a year ago pictures of the Australian made body used on CMPs started appearing in Maple Leaf UP. From the pictures it appeared to be a very useful cargo version of the 158"wb CMP pictures showed that this body had been installed on Pattern 11, 12 and 13 Chevrolets and Fords.
So with thanks to CMP fraternity DownUnder I began to look at fabricating or finding a suitable body. After doing some scaling and dimensioning from the various pictures I was getting ready to start fabricating a truck bed from scratch.
		When a friend suggested I take a look at M35 drop side cargo body the length was right for the Pattern 12 C60L 158 inch wheelbase. But the width was 10 inches to wide to fit the truck without looking wrong. The solution was get out the plasma cutter and slice 10 inches out of the center of the truck. Once the deck was cut along its entire length. The body had to be flipped over this was done with the shop jib boom and chain fall to lift one side up and swing the body over then lower it again. Once this was done the using the Plasma Cutter to continue and cut each of the frame ribs once the entire body had been cut through the section was removed and the two sections were slid together and aligned. Once the frame ribs were all aligned and the deck was aligned the Mig Welder was used to weld the ribs. The original frame rails were now 10" to narrow to fit the frame of the Patter 12. So the frame rails then had to be cut free and moved out to match the Pattern 12's frame rails. Once ribs were weld back together then the process of flipping was repeated, the edges of the deck were aligned and weld.







The next change after the body was mounted was to change over from 900x16 tires and rims to 1100x20 new Non Directional modern military tires. While the form of the tires is not that of WWII Canadian chevron tires they are a practical answer to a safe road tires. Fortunately I was able to find 8 brand new 2005 tires so both of my big trucks will soon be wearing new shoes. The change from 16 to 20 tires makes for a marked difference in road speed.