| Morris-Commercial light Military Trucks 1924-45 |
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On
Jan Ist 1924 William Morris ( later known as Lord Nuffield ) aquired the
assets of Wrigley and Company Ltd of Birmingham . Before WW1 Wrigley
had been supplying Morris with axles and transmissions for his
successful Oxford and Cowley cars and on Feb 4th 1924 the Wrigley works
became incorporated as Morris Commercial Cars Ltd. During WW1 The French
Hotchkiss company had established a branch factory in Coventry making
armaments and post war Morris had engines of his own design built by
Hotchkiss . By the early twenties the Hotchkiss branch company had been
taken into the growing Morris empire and renamed Morris Motors Ltd
Engines Branch . During the early 1920’s Morris established his own
radiator factory at Osberton Rd in Oxford and in 1926 he travelled to
the USA to learn about the all steel bodies being built by Budd. This
led to a short lived association with Budd in establishing a steel body
making facility in the UK between 1926-1930 . He also purchased the
ailing SU ( Skinner Union ) carburettor works and by the late 20’s had
added Wolseley to his growing list of interests.
It is
interesting to note that the MC products that were exported to Australia
during the mid to late 1920’s quickly developed a reputation for not
being robust enough for Australian road conditions . Many cases of
cracked chassis members and stub axle failure forced the Australian MC
agent ( S.A. Cheney of Adelaide ) to embark on a trip to the U.K. to
demand a audience with WR Morris himself . Cheney discovered that the
MC designers had no idea of the atrocious road conditions that the
average truck user had to deal with in Australia at the time.
Eventually a party from the UK including WR Morris himself arrived in
Australia for a publicity tour in 1928 . The party set off on a tour of
Victoria and NSW in three cars including a Morris Oxford and Cowley .
The Cowley failed to complete the tour , suffering a twisted rear axle
housing and a broken axle on one of the better roads over which the
group travelled . Morris returned to England with a better understanding
of the situation and the next generation of MC trucks had design
improvements to cope with the arduous roads.
MC began its
association with the British War Dept. during the mid 1920’s when it was
believed that the half track would be the way to the future . Various
British manufacturers including MC submitted some experimental
half-track vehicles for evaluation but the trend did not last very long
and the emphasis turned towards more conventional civilian based
designs . The WD eventually turned towards a idea with French origins ,
the 6 X 4 . Renaults 6 X 4 system had been trialled during forays into
the Sahara desert in the early 20’s and the WD became interested and
obtained a Renault to experiment with . A new and improved version of
the system was eventually patented and became known as the famous WD
articulated 6 X 4 design . A subsidy scheme was set up that encouraged
UK vehicle builders to manufacture the design and make it available
for civilian users , the idea being that in time of war the civilian
owned vehicles would be quickly impressed into military service .
MC
became involved in the 6 X 4 subsidy scheme in the form of the D
(1926-33) and CD / CDF (1933-39) models of 30cwt capacity . Also, It
was hoped that the better off road capability of the 6 X 4 would prove
to be a winner in the more remote parts of the empire such as Australia .
In reality the few MC 6 X 4’s that did make it to the antipodes were
considered to be underpowered and too expensive when compared to the
contemporary US makes available . The MC 4 cyl engines and light chassis
construction – a result of the British taxation system , were not good
incentives for a prospective new truck owner in 1930’s Australia . A few
late 1920’s outback expeditions did make use of D models and Jacksons
Transport Co. of Hobart Tasmania was another noted user of a D model 6 X
4.
In the UK, the spartan military cabwork and the high
loading height of the cargo body were always against the 6 X 4
configuration in civilian use and the subsidy scheme was never popular.
Civilian owners were permitted to build enclosed cabs for their subsidy
scheme trucks but the WD cab had to be kept in storage and be available
for remounting on the chassis at short notice . Also very few civilian
operators had need for the higher off road capability of the 6 X 4.
Between
1939-45 MC continued its association with the 30 cwt 6 X 4 with the
CDSW . Seen in both breakdown and Bofors gun tractor roles , the wartime
model adopted the familiar bonnet and grill design of the smaller 15
cwt CS8 4X2 . Fitted with a 4 ton power winch , it used a 5 speed
gearbox coupled to the 25 HP ‘O’ series engine . The CDSW’s were
actually built by the Morris owned Wolseley plant between 1939-42 (
Almost 6000 units) and also by Morris’ peacetime competitor Austin
between 1940-44 ( 6686 units ). Only a handfull of surviving CDSW’s are
known to exist today , a nice example is on display at the REME
museum. During the 1930’s MC also supplied 4 X 2 30 cwt trucks to the
WD, some effort was made to enhance their off road performance by
fitting large section tyres which would be more suitable for use in the
Middle East protectorates . Pre WW2 , military vehicles in various
forms were also supplied to the RAF, RN and colonial governments ,
notably India.
It was in the early 1930’s that MC became involved
in what was to be its most successful liason with the WD . The British
army had a need for a general purpose light truck with a carrying
capacity of 15 cwt and MC used many components from the 1933 civilian C
series truck range in a new innovative design . The new 15 cwt truck
was called the CS8 model . The first CS8 prototype ( S stood for 6 cyl
and 8 stood for the approx. 8ft wheelbase ) was delivered to the WO
Mechanisation Establishmeant at Farnborough for trials in Sept. 1934 .
It was purely a military truck from its beginning as it had little use
in the civilian transport field . The CS8 was short stubby truck with a
semi-forward control position for the driver, the short wheelbase gave
the little MC truck good ground clearance and the cab position allowed
maximum use of the cargo area . It could be claimed that MC set the
standard for a whole new genera of military vehicles with its inovative
design . In the years that followed on from 1934 , other companies such
as Guy Motors Ltd, Vauxhall Motors Ltd ( Bedford ) and Ford ( UK )
adopted the basic MC design and a whole new class of military trucks
was eventually produced in large numbers . The successful WW2 Canadian
built CMP range had its roots in the pre – war 15 cwt class of British
origin . The MC CS8 was eventually built in three marks with over 21,000
being produced . It was fitted with various bodies including anti-tank
portee, compressor, wireless house body , office and water tanker to
name a few. Mechanically the design was conventional , the
contemporary Morris side valve ‘O’ series 6 cyl 25 HP engine was
fitted , but it used a special military dustproof updraft carburetor
which was governed to 2650 rpm by a built in velocity governor. A four
speed crash box drove the spiral beval diff ( 6.57 to 1 ) in a split
housing . Around 1942 a 4 cyl variant was released that replaced the CS8
in production , this was identical to the CS8 except for being fitted
with a 4 cyl engine of similar capacity . A few MC CS8 ‘s have been
found in Australia and NZ but as yet, none have been restored . The
1960’s TV series “Hogans Heroes” featured a MC CS8 in many episodes .
The
CS8’s smaller brother, the PU 8 cwt ( Personnel Utility ), appears to
have been developed around 1936 . The PU may have been designed
specifically to cope with the desert conditions encountered in the
British Middle East protectorates such as Egypt and Palestine . The
chassis is very similar to the 1935 Morris-Commercial Junior taxi
chassis and it is very likely the MC designers used the taxi chassis as a
basis of the PU because it was already in production . Again , the 25
HP 6 cyl series 2 engine from the Morris 25 saloon was used . Because
the vehicle was only two wheel drive , wide section 9.00 - 13” balloon
tyres were fitted , this was possibly an attempt to improve its off road
performance in sand and mud . The PU evolved over a three year period
from the Mk 1 version into the main production Mk 2 model . The Mk 1
featured hub caps and the early style rounded bonnet . The 8 cwt MC PU
seems to have been intended for use in the signals role from its
beginning . Approx. half of the vehicles built were the FFW ( Fitted for
Wireless) version , these had elaborate fittings including a table for
the wireless set and floor mounted wireless batteries .The PU was
produced in two Mk’s from 1936 to 1941 and research done in UK archives
reveals that approx. 11500 were built. The MC PU served in the early
campaigns of WW2 including Nth Africa , during the BEF retreat from
France in 1940 many MC PU’s and CS8’s were left behind and subsequently
used by the Germans . Because of a need to rationalise the many
different makes and sizes of the British army‘s transport fleet, the MCC
PU along with other makes in the 8 cwt class ceased production in 1941.
The MC PU shared some components with its bigger brother , the 15 cwt
CS8 - the engine , gearbox, steering box , autovac petrol pump and
smaller parts like instuments etc. Rubber cushioned LEYRUB universal
joints were employed on both the CS8 and PU models . A Vokes concertina
air filter was fitted . A feature of the PU FFW vehicles was a gearbox
driven PTO generator for charging the wireless batteries .
During
1940/41 a small batch of the PU 8/4 4X4 vehicles were built . The 4X4
PU vehicles have flat angular front wings and 16” wheels fitted . The
PU 8/4 used the same series 2 25 HP Morris engine but it was a
modified slightly by re -profiling the cams to give an extra 12 BHP .
Only two complete examples of the PU 4X4 model are known to exist today
, one in the UK and another in mainland Europe . The 8 cwt 4X2 PU was
also built by two other British companies , Humber and Fordson during
1939 / 40 The Humber was based on the Snipe saloon chassis while the
Fordson WOC1 was based on the 1939/40 Ford light commercial chassis .
These vehicles used the same rear body design of the MC PU and many
were fitted out as wireless trucks. A Humber Snipe PU survives in NZ and
a few more in the UK . A Fordson WOC1 survivor is known of in the UK
. Most surviving examples of the MC PU model seem to be located in the
UK and France where they were employed as garage breakdown trucks in
civvy street after WW2. A few MC PU trucks have been located in
Australia where they were converted into super phosphate spreaders for
farm use .
During 1940-42 , Australian army AIF units posted to
the Middle East were issued with vehicles of British origin and among
them were MC products . Archive photos reveal PU , CS8 and CDF Morris’
being used by the 6th Aust. division in Palestine and Egypt circa 1940 ,
some of these Middle East AIF units returned to Australia with a few MC
vehicles tucked away in the cargo holds of their ships . Another source
of surviving MC ex WD trucks in Australia would have been vehicles on
route to the the Dutch East indies and Malaya , these were diverted to
avoid capture during the Japanese advance in early 1942. Eventually in
Australia, these odd bod British trucks were classed as non - standard
vehicles as , by 1944 , the army had standardized on the Canadian CMP
range and most of the odd ball makes were relegated to vehicle parks
where they waited for disposal . These little known MC military
vehicles have become lost and mostly forgotten about among the mass
produced standard types we often seen at Military Vehicle shows today .
During those desperate early days of WW2, MC trucks were involved in the
thick of the fighting , trying to halt the advancing ememy forces ,
very few of these trucks survived those battles , hence their rarity
today .
Mike Kelly
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