The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1942 Canadian-built C15 Chevrolet - 5 year restore

Now for something completley different!! way back in 2003 I found a 1942 Canadian built C15 Chevrolet.
This truck was built for the British Army and was to be sent to North Africa as verified by the amount of desert coloured paint that was found when the truck was dismantled. However this vehicle was delivered to the UK and was convereted to a 20mm anti aircraft gun platform. Over approx 5 years I did a total rebuild inc swapping out the old 216 for a nice 55 235ci sourcing spare parts from all over the world there were moments when I wondered if it would ever be finished but it has 300miles on the clock now and is going well click on the link to my photos of my truck restoration

regards RR.

RR, as a fellow 'Brit' let me be the first to congratulate you on your fine restoration.
I know just how hard it can be to source parts here for a relatively 'new' Chevy,never mind one as old and rare as yours.
I see you registered in the Stovebolt in 2006,it's easy to see by your pictures why you haven't been here very often.

Once again congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Jock

Your dedication and hard work shows. Thanks for sharing. That is a neat truck.

Thanks for the encouragement guys.
It sure was a labour of love it took near 6 months to find the right motor good 216's are thin on the ground here, so after reading up on the stovebolt forum I went for the 235 option and am glad that I did as spares availability are ok for this later mill though most people would not realise that the motor is not original to this vehicle.
Luckily the old clutch bell housing married up to the block ok this was esentail as the chev was built as a right hand drive and needs a bellhousing to match, I also used a 216 flywheel and NOS 6 volt starter.Though I run it on 12v the starter works well as long as you do not over use it.
Other than fitting an adaptor plate for the older style water pump and swapping the side engine mounts to the front things went ok.
Most missing parts were found eventually but it took a long time searching the Net and epay etc, the original mirrors came from Argentina, roof hatch and rear brackets to hold tow hitch from Norway, new wireing loom and odds n sods inc master brake cylinder from Australia, generator and NOS distributor from the USA, NOS canvas seat covers from Holland and again headlamps from OZ via Canada as a swap for a ford spare part manual its long story !!
Am looking forward to its first outing next wkend.

RR.