I was going through the World War II Victory Museum's photo gallery, and found this:
What is it? I think it's Italian, but then again, it could also be American. Oh, and if you're ever near Northern Indiana (which I'm not, but am willing to make the 2 1/2 hour drive), check this place out! It's awesome! There are almost 150+ WWII vehicles there! Here's the website:
World War II Victory Museum Thanks for your time.

That is too cool! Is that a German flak gun I see? This would be a great model to build.

WC

The top left one is a 1.5 ton, signal corp pole digger...
(and it makes me feel like doing a conversion.... LOL)
The right one I believe is a high speed tractor...
the center one is British, and I'll let Derick or Cliff ID that one... :-) :-)

British, that was my next guess..... Thanks for your time and identification.

Is that an Oerlikon on the back?
The Righthand drive is a clear clue, the front looks like one of those gun tractor things, can't think of the name.. . Looks well cut down to accomodate the gun though.

M-4 high speed tractor on RH{not sure if it's an 18 ton-T-18}...mobile AA gun looks like a 40mm bofors gun...or do I need to go put my glasses on? The shield doesn't seem right though...

How far from sherlville is that museum?
Panoramic shot 8 shows the possible full on truck{GMC?} that's carring the AA gun in pic 6...pic 5 shows a different view of the mobil AA gun truck. The studdy 24ton weasel looks neat.

It's a 1944 (Canadian) Ford F60 444-S-Bofors-1
. This info was taken from the vehicle list that's on their website.

Chris "toadman" Hughes

Toadman's Tank Pictures

Hmm...WWII Victory Museum

I see a field trip on the horizon during Christmas Break.

Jeff

A Ford F60S with a No. 43S cab to be precise. Here's a pic of what the front of the truck looks like and some background...



"The No 43S cab was a special cab used only on the Ford F60S-BOFORS anti-aircraft truck, essentially a self-propelled medium AA gun. This cab was a widened No 43 which allowed four abreast seating of the vehicles crew, all available space on the rear of the truck being taken up with the bed mounted 40mm Bofors gun, ammunition and gun stores. The four abreast seating was unique in that the driver remained in the conventional position with a passenger outboard of him and another two passengers on the left side of the engine. No roof or doors were fitted to No 43S cabs. This cab also has a conventionally sloped windscreen. The discs attached to the front cowl on the truck pictured at left are two of the four base plates for the vehicle's levelling jacks, two of which can be seen on the front bumper and under the body just rear of the cab. The fuel tanks on these very interesting CMPs are fitted transversely in the body behind the cab."

Those are both from this page...
http://www.users.bigpond.com/ROD_DIERY/CABS.html

Here's an impressive picture which shows what's missing from the truck in the museum...


http://www.oldcmp.net/refindex.html

On it is a link to this page which has lots of pics of F60S's in varying states of disrepair...


http://www.oldcmp.net/f60s.html

While you're there, check out the main page of the site. It's dedicated to CMPs.

A bit more history. The truck is a CMP...Canadian Military Pattern. Built in Canada by Ford. Chevy also built them, sharing some interchangable parts. The right-hand drive is, as this page states...

"Curiously for a North American designed and produced vehicle, except for very early prototypes, they were all built in right hand drive, a legacy of Canada's 1930's adherence to British defence policies."

That and more history and truck specs here...
http://www.users.bigpond.com/ROD_DIERY/HISTORY.html

Here's the main page for CMPs on that site which ahs tons of info and pics...
http://www.users.bigpond.com/ROD_DIERY/cmp.html

Here's another impressive picture of a fully equipped F60S Bofors...



It's from this forum page...
http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/showthread.php?s=feec1dc9aac4fc0146f173047a4b36d8&threadid=492

Which is on this site about Canadian Military hardware. Here's their main page about CMPs...
http://www.mapleleafup.org/vehicles/softskin/index.html

It has some more great pics of the F60 Borfors. I just noticed these are F60Bs. Maybe that is what is in the museum. Hummm....the messages in the thread discuss which thy might be. Well here are the pics anyway...







All from this page...
http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/printthread.php?s=27283f22cf051fb04be9e6628422f448&threadid=2598&perpage=40&pagenumber=2

Well, maybe it is an F60B. Here's a B from the Danish Army...


http://www.armyvehicles.dk/fordf60b.htm

Oh just found a reference to the truck by someone who sounds like they would know. They say it's an F60B...

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/showthread.php?s=f66f6d0d1fc5f3cb45a45c674bfc6788&threadid=2624&highlight=f60b

Tanxheaven has some great shots of a Bofors...one which has an F60S in the background...



It and the rest are here...
http://tanxheaven.com/ljs/bofors40mm/bofors40mmljs.htm

Here's a better shot of the truck...



Which is from this page which contains more pics of it and lots of other similar vehicles...

http://tanxheaven.com/ljs/truckscanadaljs/truckscanadaljs.htm

So any models of it? Well, I only found one...a 1/76 scaler...


http://www.smallscaleafv.com/ANG/Novinky4/76_CMPBofors.html

Apparently there was a triple Oerlikon version too...



http://home.hccnet.nl/h.van.oerle/gies/gies3.htm

I even found an experimental with a triple Polsten gun mount...



It and more 20mm guns can be found here...
http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/20_mm_aa_guns.htm

If you want another scale, it looks like scratchbuilding time. Some drawings might be handy...
http://www.geocities.com/firefly1002000/1_35.htm

Here's the layout of the frame and drivetrain...



http://www.oldcmp.net/fordmanuals.html

Here's a page with a large drawing of the layout of the hardshell version of the cab...

http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/cmp_canadian_military_pattern.htm

So, what is this one?...



Warning...I don't have a clue, but thought it was interesting. Here's the reference page...
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/Venezuela/Venezuela.html

The museum is in Auburn IN off of I69 south of the MI border about an hour. I have plans to visit it during my XMas vacation with my in-laws (about 45 minutes away).

The collection was brought over from Belgium where it had been the Victory Museum there. It had closed and was bought with proceeds that the Krause family had received when it sold its very successful car auction business to eBay for a hefty profit. eBay was looking to get into the car auction market in a big way.

So we have eBay to thank for the museum being here in the USA.

BTW, eBay backtracked, and sold the car auction business back to the Krause family -- at a lesser sum than original. Everyone wins (except for maybe the eBay shareholders).

VERY nice museum! Lots of soft skin and war time personal vehicles. Armored vehicles are mainly self propelled anti tanks types with an M-18 too. Just visited this past July ... they even have a gift shop as well.


Jeff

Great Thread.
Lots of good information and the truck is screaming for a scratch build

Thanks for all the information.

this is an Australian version of the bofers carrier and is nothing like the Canadian built one. So don't be fooled into doing a Canadian model that has the rear set up like this. The one in the museum has all this stuff missing from it because it is not meant to have this stuff on it. You will probably find it is a post war Danish model due to the look of the weapon mounted on the back.

cheers
Cliff

In 1/35 this kit is made by Masters Productions....4th down.

http://www.psp-models.com/Masters_productions.htm

John,

I think that conversion is for a deuce and a half. You could use the Bofors as a good start though. Thanks for the link.

Shaun

John that conversion kit is for the Tamiya GMC kit BUT the bofers gun is the correct weapon for the CMP.

cheers
Cliff

Yes Cliff..realize that ..the kit is gun only. It could be used in any number of ways.