There’s a new vehicle on display at the Base Borden Military Museum—and chances are you’ve never seen anything like it.
The wartime Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) Ford F60S 3-ton truck was donated to the Friends of the Borden Memorial Museum and Archives by military vehicle collector and historian, John Marchant of Milton Keynes, England. Now in his nineties, Marchant originally purchased the vehicle in 1947 to use as a work truck on his farm and with his contracting business. He later restored the vehicle to its original appearance and functionality, regularly taking it to Europe for various parades and commemorations.
Over 800,000 trucks and light-wheeled vehicles were manufactured by Ford, General Motors and Chrysler of Canada during the Second World War. So what makes this one special? It’s known history.
“What makes this one special is we actually know where it was in Europe,” said museum director, Dr. Andrew Gregory.
The donated truck can be traced back to service in North-West Europe in a Royal Canadian Army Service Corps 2nd Canadian Infantry Division Transport company. Thanks to the donor, they even still have the documents from the war assets sale it was purchased at after the Second World War.
“The post-war disposal programme makes surviving wartime vehicles attributed to an actual Canadian unit exceedingly rare,” said a Friends of the Borden Memorial Museum and Archives press release issued about the donation.
To have a vehicle in such pristine condition as this one along with the known history is almost like winning the lottery.
The excitement was palpable when the vehicle was delivered to the Borden Museum in early October, from museum staff and volunteers to the delivery driver.
Murray Carter of Fredericton, New Brunswick has been a driver for 35 years, and transported all manner of cargo. He made the trip to Toronto specifically to help Pheonix Building Components transport this rare piece of history to Borden.
“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever had on my truck,” he said, beaming as he watched the vehicle come off the truck. “Everything about that little truck is amazing.”
Base Borden Military Museum is open to the public Monday to Friday from 0900-1500 hrs, and Saturday and Sunday from 1000-1600 hrs. One of Canada’s largest military museums, it holds a significant collection of First and Second World War and post-war armoured vehicles, trucks and aircraft, and artifacts that tell the story of Camp Borden and the various schools, corps and branches that have a history at CFB Borden as early as 1916. For more information, contact the museum at 705-423-3531.
By: Emily Nakeff, Editor
