Chester - It should have a chassis ID plate riveted to the curved section of the frame in front of the control box/blade lift gears .. and it should have an ID plate with the same S/N riveted to the LHS of the upper part of the block, just next to the starting engine. Often, the S/N is letter stamped into the metal of the block or the frame as well. (LHS is looking from flywheel towards front of engine).
The Cat 12 was released as an entirely new machine in July 1938, powered by the new diesel D4600, 4.25" bore engine. The first S/N prefix of the diesel Cat 12 was 9K.
A "gas" Cat 12 was produced from 1939, using the 4600G "gas" engine. This machine had a S/N prefix of 6M. These are a very rare machine, only 56 were produced before production ended in 1942.
The 9K series was produced from 1938 to 1945, when the S/N prefix ran out at 9K9999, as Cat did not use S/No's above 9999 in those days.
As a result, Cat 12's produced after 9K9999 went over to the "7T" prefix, with 9K9999 being followed by 7T0001 off the production line.
The 7T was produced until 1947, when the "new" Cat 12 appeared, powered by the "new" D318, 4.5" bore diesel engine, and wearing a new S/N prefix of 8T.
Now, here's the interesting part. In 1936, the U.S. Govt passed a law banning the export of motor graders to the S.E. Asian region, due to Japan's military aggression in the region.
The Americans saw the motor grader as a highly useful instrument for military airfield construction use, and their perceptions were correct, as it turned out.
The Australian Cat dealers were appalled at being denied a supply of Cat graders, so Waugh & Josephson, the NSW Cat dealers, approached Cat about building Cat graders in Australia.
W&J possessed major engineering construction workshop facilities.
Cat agreed to the deal, a world first, where Cat equipment was built outside the U.S., and W&J went on to build approximately 600 Caterpillar graders between 1936 and 1946.
In 1946, the agreement with W&J was rescinded, and a full "licence to build" for a wide range of Cat equipment, was given to Steelweld P/L. The Steelweld "licence to build" was the first post-War overseas "licence to build" issued by Cat. Cat later issued "licences to build" to companies in France, the U.K, South Africa and N.Z.
These W&J graders were initially called "Caterpillar Speed Patrols", to differentiate them from the U.S. built Caterpillar Auto Patrol, as the Cat grader was known, prior to 1939.
The W&J workshops built the majority of the grader frame, and the fully-completed engines and transmissions were imported from the U.S. and installed in the frame.
These W&J built graders were supplied with engines that had industrial engine S/N prefixes. The initial W&J graders were built on the Cat No 10 and No 11 design, which was the current big Cat grader in 1936.
In 1939, W&J commenced building Cat 12's under licence, and the W&J built Cat graders provided the majority of our military graders during WW2 for defence use.
The Cat 12 was initially called the No 12 Auto Patrol .. but in 1939, it was simply renamed the the Caterpillar No 12 motor grader.
Some U.S.-built Cat 12 graders with the 9K prefix were shipped in by the U.S. forces as well, to boost the numbers. These graders usually came as part of American engineer battalion plant, and I'm not sure how many were left behind when the Yanks moved on.
When the Yanks moved on to the islands further North, and eventually to Japan, they took the graders and their useable plant with them. A few of the graders may have been left behind, if they were unserviceable. A number of U.S.-built 9K series, Cat 12 graders, were possibly salvaged at the end of WW2 from islands close to Australia, and shipped in to Australia for repair/sale or for the salvagers use.
The W&J built Cat graders left in serviceable condition are few and far between. They are a unique part of Cat history. There is one restored one here, owned by a farmer in the Northern wheatbelt of W.A.
