To this end, General Motors – which was already supplying modified commercial vehicles to the Army – decided to develop an evolution of the 1939 ACKWX model, originally designed for the French Army. The result was the GMC CCKW: a modern, easy-to-produce vehicle with excellent performance and simplified maintenance.
As a point of interest, in GMC’s (General Motors Truck and Coach Division) nomenclature, the acronym CCKW had a precise meaning: the first “C” indicated the model was designed in 1941; the second “C” referred to the use of a conventional cab; the “K” signified all-wheel drive; and the “W” denoted twin rear axles. In its first three years, all versions of what became popularly known as the Deuce and a Half were produced with a closed metal cab identical to that of the earlier 1939 ACKWX, now paired with a simplified front end.
Mass production of the CCKW began in earnest from 1944, now featuring an open cab with canvas roof and doors. Not only was this design cheaper and easier to manufacture, but it also facilitated air transport of the vehicles. It is worth noting that 25% of these CCKWs had a support ring mounted on the right-hand side of the cab for a .50 calibre Browning anti-aircraft machine gun. This was due to the assumption that air attack would be the only real threat to a transport vehicle not designed for frontline combat – hence the absence of any form of armour.
In addition to troop transport, following the landings in Europe, the CCKWs formed the majority of the 6,000 vehicles assigned to the Red Ball Express – the road supply network that kept Allied forces provisioned as they advanced eastward from Normandy.
The GMC exhibited here is the CCKW 353B model – the long wheelbase version of the Deuce and a Half, which was the most common and versatile. Between 1941 and the end of 1945, a total of 572,500 CCKWs were produced in various versions, used extensively by the U.S. Army and supplied in large numbers to Allied forces.
After the war, a considerable number of GMC CCKW 353s were supplied to the Portuguese Army, with many later being deployed during the Overseas War (Guerra do Ultramar).