Good afternoon,
I’ve recently shook hands on we believe a 1941 M20
Information on the plate mounted in the toolbox
Vehicle number 15YD54
Chassis number 27732
Base overhaul 4/56
MTRS B266
Tank number C4358592 which I’m told was on the tank when restored .
I’ve tried the RLC archive but they do not have any information on her .
Hi Rob,
Thank you .The tank number is apparently the one that was under the paint when restored .
Why would the rebuild plate in the toolbox only have one entry, or do you think the other rebuild was during the war ?.
Graham
I’ve always thought that once you have got a rebuild plate it stays with the vehicle for the rest of its military career ?.
Why does the tank number change ?.
Graham .
Fuel tanks were as likely to be swapped as any other component. We don't really know about the 'rebuild' plates but there are enough inconsistencies in the key cards in terms of chassis and contract numbers to suspect that things were a little random and that the identity of a machine after a rebuild may have had more to do with the 'book-keeping' than the actual origin of any metal parts.
I’ve always thought that once you have got a rebuild plate it stays with the vehicle for the rest of its military career ?.
Why does the tank number change ?.
Graham .
Quite the opposite I suspect Graham, the latest rebuild leaves all previous ones irrelevant, a brass plate is there to give particulars of the vehicles present state, so any earlier plate would be discarded.
It was standard MT practice to rebuild all "B" vehicles which includes motorcycles every three years at which point a new serial was supposed to be issued, I have reference to it in several wartime publications. Obviously it didn't always happen, there are huge numbers of 1940, 1941 ect serials listed as the previous registration when the post war key card were created around 1948-1950, it could be that as long as a vehicle sat moth balled in a depot with regular routine checks it was outside of the three year rule, or maybe it was just impossible to keep up when so much material was needing workshop space to maintain the war effort?
