The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Australian built chevy trucks????

I have an Australian built 1953 1/2T truck. There is the usual tags and also a General Motors Holdern's tag. The bonnet (hood) has 1420 badges, which i think is it weight. does anyone have any idea where i can find information on these trucks?
Brendon

Brendon,

You might have already seen the Wikipedia information on Holden Trucks. At the bottom of the information is a link to a Holden History site.

Tim

You might want to search the site . There are 24 responses just for a search on "Holden."

Try it.

Peg

Lets see some pictures.

Pictures are good!

Thanks Tim and Peg, there is some interesting reading on those sites. I'll have some picture to post after the truck gets out of the painters. The chasis has been galvanized and spension painted jet black. I've sandblasted the cab and panels. i'm currently buying parts to finish the project.

Hi Brendon, 1420 is the same I.D. as a Canadian 3/4ton 125.25 W.B. What body style is it a P.U. panel, what?

Hi 3B, The truck is a flat bed. The I.D. plate on the firewall reads 2 ton max 1/2 C.W.T.
Does this match a 3/4 ton or is the hood was from another truck? It had a different gearbox in the truck. There was looked to be a small compressor on the ide of the box. And the back springs look to be too heavy for a 1/2 ton truck.

don't know about the "1/2 C.W.T." [cwt is hundredweight, which is 100#], but if the "2 ton max" is the GVW, then it's a regular 1/2T w/ the regular 4000# GVW, and would have 'heavier' looking springs than modern trucks - how many leafs in the pack is a better indicator, altho that could have been changed in the last 50 years

as 3B points out, if it's 125" WB it may be a 3/4T, if less than it has to be a 1/2T as they didn't make short 3/4's - also if it's a flatbed there's no tellin what's been done

Bill
edit - back in the day, Holden's Chev trucks were made in Canada

The black & white tag on the fire wall reads,
CHASSIS CHEV 125
MAXIMUM GROSS VEHICLE
WEIGHT 2 TONS 12 CWT
The red tag on the other side of the fire wall reads,
STYLE No. 53-5211B
BODY No. 907
TRIM NO. 60-337
PAINT No. 253-16018
TOP ACC 12
There are 12 leaf springs on the rear.

some possibilities:
the chassis chev 125 = 125" or long box? you can measure that
max GVW 2tons would be a 1/2T, and maybe the 12CWT is Holden saying it'll carry 12 CWT, which may mean a 3/4T
I don't have a list of the AD series CDN VIN codes, but someone else here may
body trim and paint will be hard to find the codes for
top acc 12??

the 1/2T would have a single pack of 8 leaves on each side - heavy 3/4T would have 2 packs each side, 8+5 leaves - maybe the rear has been changed, or Holden did something different?

can't help more, but there's some Aussie truckers on the board who might know more about it

Bill

Hi again Brendon, how many bolts hold your wheels on, and what size tires does it have? I never did get into that CWT. stuff I thought that was strictly british stuff, but I guess I was wrong again!

There are 8 wheel studs. The tyres are 7.5 R17. These weren't the tyres on the the truck when i picked it up. Though, they are the same size.
As for the lenght of the chassis, unfortunately some bugger modified the end of the chassis with an oxy torch. So i've cut it square and cleaned it up before galvanizing. i don't think they removed much.

8 stud is 3/4T
WB is axle center to axle center not length of frame

Bill

The WB is 3120mm approx.

Hi Brendon, I have never been good at metric [an imperial trained lad you know] but I'm pretty sure thats as close to 125 inches as darn is to swearing. So it loks like what you have is definitly a 3/4 ton

Hi Brendon, I just had another thought, Canadian 53 trucks had full pressure lubed engines, I wonder if your truck has one also?

Hi 3B, the engine that was in it is now on a pallet in the yard. as for full pressure lubed engine? i'm sorry, i have no idea. i'm an electrician not a motor mechanic. i'm mechanically minded but still learning. The motor i believe was from something else. Gearbox mounts were welded on and they cut part off the floor out to fit it. and as RED58 stated, the diff is from somewhere else.

Okay Brendon I'll ask you a few questions and maybe we can figure out what the engine is. The valve cover is it a rectangle held on by four slotted head screws around the outside, or possibly two acorn nuts in the center of the uppermost part. There should be a serial number on a pad just behind the distributor maybe we can try to decipher that if you can find it. Hows spring going down there?