Posted by Gordon on Monday, January 01, 2007 at 06:40:57 :
The curved ball about Command Cars is that Weapons carrier production continued right to the end of the war, and since Command Car and Weapons Carrier chassis were identical right down to the part numbers (things like battery trays were bolt-ons) so many Command Cars were subsequently rebuilt using later Weapons Carrier chassis.
There is even a rather ugly term for these things here in Europe " Command Carriers "
Doesn't apply to Carryalls, of course, because of the Carryall-specific chassis length.
So, my guesses would be as follows;
Command and Carryall units built till maybe late 1943 (Carryall) into early 1944 (Command), conventional ambulance kept going till the end of 1944 and replaced by knockdown ambulance.
One other point that might give us some info is when the first 12 volt Weapons Carriers were made, since the 12 volt Weapons Carrier was introduced to be able to take the radio kits which were really the only vehicle-specific tasks for the 12 volt Command and Carryall. Fred Crismon has an image of a Weapons Carrier with modified body to function as a Command Car (page 241 of USMWV) dated in 1943, and the trees in the background have bare braches which might indicate very late in the year, which backs up the late 43 / early 44 end for both Command and Carryall.
Anyone have a WC53 Carryall with a very late delivery date then, much after late 1943? or a Command Car after early 1944 backed up by dash plate?
Gordon, in Scotland
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