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I have a truck that my late uncle told me years ago was a "Wartime Acquisition" in 1943. Finally getting around to checking more numbers in my boneyard, I find I actually have TWO "Early 1942 Master 1.5T"s. They both came to me with well outdated Farm plates and DMV records were purged in 1977 and 1983. I actually have a DMV records reconstruction underway, but was wondering if there is any way to check the Ag Acquistion aspect. Anyone else done this? I tried a Search, but didn't find anything.

Time has taken its toll on a lot of things - rubber, wood, upholstery - but metal seems to be all there and there is limited rust. Some neat things - hand over the left shoulder for cable operated turn signal bar on headboard and old Oil-pot flares.

Cliff

What your uncle was talking about is the War Production Board ACT (WPB) established in January of 1942. They rationed sales by auto dealers to purchasers deemed “essential drivers”. One way to tell if it is a Chevy WPB truck is to look at the VIN tag. In the month position if it’s a 9, 10, 11 and 12 it’s not a WPB. They were built in 1941. All trucks built from January 1, 1942 -1945 were governed by the WPB. The month position will tell you the year and month it was built. Ex 26= February of 1944.

OK! this is a great start! Now the numbers make more sense. I was able to do a Title records search and am ordering hard copies, but only have what little they could give me over the phone.
As stated earlier, from information By John Milliman's article (February 2006) re Barry Week's charts on deciphering VINs, and my observations, I had gathered that they were both -
Early '42, Master 1.5T, 160"WB, Duals. Is there an updated version of this article?

So, this is what I have so far:

#1 - DMV has it listed as a '42. Registered by ENGINE number BG252649 (Thanks to the poster of that possible Registration tidbit!) CHASSIS No. is 6MS12 37837. Model - Master.
Based on your info, is it ... NOT a WPB as it would be a Dec,1941? OR ... it IS likely a WPB as it would be 1942 -12? The 6 indicates built in Oakland, CA?

#2 - DMV has it listed as a '45. Again, Registered by ENGINE number BG705982, CHASSIS No. 9MS40 23748. Model - Master.
Based on your info, it IS a WPB as it would be 1945 - 40? The 9 indicates built in Norwood, OH?

Best for your day!
C

I could be wrong on the year/month numbering for the 1942-1946 trucks. Below are the codes for the year and month. This came from U.S. Army Chevrolet Trucks in World War II 1 ½ ton 4x4 By Didier Andres.
So its looks like your first truck (6MS12 37837) was built in Dec of 1941.
The second truck (9MS40 23748) is a WPB truck built in April of 1945.
I’m still learning about the Chevy and GMC civilian war time trucks

It is interesting how they used the last 5 months of 41 and then shifted everything up on subsequent years. Do you know the history on that? Military vehicles were already in production. Why wouldn't they just originally continue with the numbering system beyond 12! Did they not realize until July 1942 that we were still going to be at war for a bit?

Even though the WPB Act didn't pass until January 1942, does that indicate that they actually included some of the prior existing stock? It would be rather difficult for a farmer to get work done if he had to wait several months for his truck to be built. I can attest to this personally as I had to settle on a used part for my tractor this year after learning that a new one won't even be in country before January 2023!

Hmmm ... I just checked out the book you mentioned. It is available on Amazon for about $10 and up. The sample text provided is some pretty interesting reading. It states it is about the 1-1/2T 4x4. Does it have much more to say on the WPB beyond what you mentioned?
My trucks are only Rear axle drive - with duals. Also, they have the butterfly hood and Cascade grill and not the CCKW Square nose as shown in the book.

If the number system described is only for the Military style CCKW(4x4) or even includes CCW(4x2), I feel we may have inadvertently taken the wrong trail.
Even so, I greatly appreciate your time. Perhaps our discussion will benefit others. To paraphrase Edison, We have not failed, we have found some methods that didn't work.

C