Topic: Solved: Big Belly/Burma Bus CDN CMP

[Bill Murray]

Time to get going again.
ID the base vehicle and country of use please for one point.
Bill

[Bill Murray]

Moving this one up to give the Experts a Sunday shot.
Bill

[ropat53]

It's either a WWII Chevrolet C15 or a Ford F15, both made in Canada. I'd guess the country where the photo was taken is Pakistan and it's missing the front wheel drive.

[Bill Murray]

You have the first part right!!
Almost impossible to tell a Ford from a Chev after all the mods and yes, the front wheel drive has been replaced with a non-driven front axle.

This is a very specific breed of vehicle, so keep thinking about where it is/was from.

BTW, I believe the Argentinian Armed Forces got some of those CMPs after the war also.

Bill

[ropat53]

It was made in Canada

[ropat53]

Yes not only the Argentine Army had many of these truck, also many came here from the battlefields of Europe, manly Normandy, and were sold for civilian use, still find quite a few around, same as Jeeps and Dodge trucks.

[Bill Murray]

Argentina Si!, I had forgotten I have some files on MAP vehicles in your country post WWII. I will post some later.

Off subject more or less, but when I lived in Peru 1976/1978 I found large storage yards of ex US WWII vehicles that were created when the Velasco Government got into bed with the Soviet Union and converted to almost all Soviet equipment.  My office window overlooked the Carrera PanAmerica and I could see them almost daily and almost daily they broke down.  The Army Officers would tell me they would rather use the ex US vehicles rather than the Soviet ones but they had no choice.

Anyway, you need to discover the specific country where that bus was being used and you will have both the country and the "name" of the bus.

Bill

[ropat53]

OK it's Myanmar (Burma) and they are called "Big Belly". I can't see the number on the puzzle bus, but if it's 61 it's a Chevrolet C15 and when it was going to be scrapped in November 2012 the driver for the last 35 years was U Ming Kyi.
That was fun

[Bill Murray]

Bien Hecho!!!!

Yes, also known as the "Burma Bus" which was another well known name for these vehicles.

Based on war surplus Canadian CMP F-15 and C-15 4X4 chassis (C=Chevrolet, F=Ford), hundreds if not thousands were converted into busses after 1945 and formed the backbone of public transportation in Burma for decades.

As mentioned earlier, the driven front axles were converted to non driven to save fuel and the engines were replaced with a variety of diesel motors. I suspect that over time, virtually all other parts such as brakes/springs etc. were also replaced.

Following the recent transition of the Burmese/Myanmar Government from a military dictatorship to a democracy, the new government decreed late last year that these vehicles were to be taken out of service as they wish to open up the country to tourism to draw in foreign currency and the decrepit old busses did not fit that business model.

Another chapter of automotive history more or less closed, but an opportunity for collectors to perhaps pick up some interesting historical vehicles.

A well deserved point for you.

Bill