International K5 - WW2 Aussie use...

G'day folks,

Long-time lurker, posting for the first time here. I'd be interested in gathering information about the International K5 truck, with particular reference to its Australian military use during WW2.

I've found one, and I'm trying to establish what variant it is. It has what appears to be a setup for a canvas roof, although the roof is long-gone. The doors look unoriginal, even home made. They're quite plain, without the pressed curves typical of the type.

If anyone had info as to use of the K5 in general, or this type in particular, I'd be fascinated. I've seen a few pics of them coming from an Australian factory, but not much else.

Here are a couple of rushed pics, featuring my deft use of fingers to keep the sun away!

I'm also very interested in the Dodge WD21, but that's another story!

Cheers,
Matt

...g'day Jolly .. welcome to the forum from someone who lurks on your bit of turf on the warbirdz forum

...i can't help much with your request, although there will be an abundance of knowledge here that i'm sure will come your way.....cheers

welcome JGS wonder if it had any doors at all when it belonged to army ?
Paul

This one was at Penrith. Doors very basic & never had windows.




Going on the colour, I'm only guessing the second one is army, It's a bit more flash.
Just looking at the wheel differences too.

Thanks for the welcome, the advice and the pics. I find that there's usually a bit of crossover when it comes to these discussion forums. A quick search on 'jollygreenslugg' would show that I have quite a few areas of interest. I annoy people on many boards!

I'm trying to find the difference between the K5 and the KS5, without much luck.

Good point on the doors. I've found a couple of pictures of vehicles that have similar doors, and wonder if it was a military thing, or a post-service feature. Perhaps the doors were added after military service, and the preserved vehicles in military trim have retained these doors for registration purposes.

The canvas roof and the opening windscreens seem to indicate a vehicle built for use in a hot climate. A lack of factory doors seems to confirm this. I wonder if we made them this way for use in North Africa during the war? Wishful thinking maybe?

So many possibilities. I couldn't locate the location of the data plate to get further details.

Thanks for your input, folks.

Cheers,
Matt

Hey, Jolly, you picked a good one to restore, the old K5 played a big part in Aussie transport after the war, got a lot of guy's started in all kinds of transport;
The man I worked for, Len Tuit in Alice Spring, after getting the mail contract started with an ex-army troop transporter with a tropical cab, no doors, the old green diamond side valve, last one made by IHI.

After getting soaked often enough during the wet season he built in the cab sealing if the windscreen, not a good picture but gives you the idea.

They were used a lot by the military in Darwin for unloading ships.

Even during the 1950's they were used on the Alice/Darwin run with light loads.

Tom Humphries who owned the Daly Waters hotel used one to cart his beer from Alice, got caught on the Big Dipper out side of Alice. We had a K3 with a small semi on it, tough little engine