Never seen one of this in my life. A nice piece of Canadian history.
Truck Noob......
Oh, my 1961 owners manual lists the 348 tri power as SAE 48 HP. I have no idea what measure they used back then but it's not the same as what we are used to.
Apparently, the Maple Leaf truck was marketed to Canadians as a "home town" version of the Chevrolet, to appeal to our patriotic sentiments. However, other information suggests that the Maple Leaf was a heavier-duty version of the Chevrolet.
They were also exported to Australia, just like Canadian Ponchos.
I search some other forums, here's what other guys are saying.
"GM of Canada introduced the Walkerville-built Chevrolet Heavy Duty or Extra Fort in French, as of 1st Juy 1930. They were based on the equivalent GMC and used Chevy engines but GMC trans. This continued until 1933 when Maple Leafs replaced Chevrolet HD, but again were GMC-based. Basically a Chevrolet equivalent of GMC for Chevy dealers. I think ML was dropped for 1952 in favour of GMCs, and Chevrolet-badged heavier trucks."
"The Maple Leaf trucks were basically a Chev with minor trim differences and a Maple Leaf sign on the hood. The 42 to 46 trucks still had the Chev sign on the front of the hood and the Maple Leaf signs on the back corners of the hood. Maple Leafs were sold by the dealers that sold Pontiac cars. The 41 to 45 models had painted grilles etc since chrome was needed for more important wartime stuff."
"My understanding of Maple Leaf trucks is that they are h/duty chevs and to be able to quickly tell the difference other than the name and numbers (16 or 1600) 1. They have a different diff centre , with a ratio of 7.16 ( same as 3 ton blitz ) as apposed to 6.17 of a chev. 2. The m/ leaf has 5 wheel studs front and rear , with studs being of approx 5/8 or 3/4 diam ,where as the chev has 10 studs rear and 5 or 10 studs on the front and a smaller stud .
From about 1947 onwards they went away from the 216 engine and used the 235 splash feed one."
Nice haulers.Heres a couple pics of a buddys maple leaf under construction.The cab has been widened 10 inches and the rest is hand built from aluminum.Built to be a toter home to pull his Top Alcohol Dragster.
Nice haulers.Heres a couple pics of a buddys maple leaf under construction.The cab has been widened 10 inches and the rest is hand built from aluminum.Built to be a toter home to pull his Top Alcohol Dragster.
I have a list of all Maple Leaf trucks, and probably by serial, for Walkerville, Oshawa and Regina production. It all dates back to July 1st 1930 with the introduction of 'Chevrolet Heavy Duty', which was basically a Chevrolet-clone of a GMC. This continued until in 1933, Maple Leaf became a seperate series, again cloned on GMCs, and this ran to 1953. MLs were exported to Australia, and that may just about be it..I have no evidence of any other countries receiving them. From 1939-45 MLs were also used by the Canadian forces.
I have a database of nearly every Chevrolet car and truck, Maple Leaf Truck, Chevy-based Pontiac, GMC that used Chevy engines, assembled in Canada from 1915 (Toronto) through to 1952 though car availability I just check up in my handbooks post-war! I have however some patchy information depending on years.
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Automotive Historian, Author and Journalist Deputy Editor, VINTAGE ROADSCENE Southampton, England
There are details of Olds trucks in the Olds centenary book, in addition to the 1934 Sedan Delivery. I am still not certain where the large trucks were built, and suspect not Lansing but Pontiac, Michigan. Olds trucks were built from 1935 to 1940 (the latter i think..could be 1939) and were exported everywhere and assembled in Australia. In 1937-39 possibly Pontiac Plant built COE Chevrolet, GMC and Olds trucks as well as normal control, for export. They used a mix of Chevrolet and Timken components, with Chevs using Chev engines and GMC & Olds using Olds 224 engines. Known 1938 Olds trucks had 'GMC pedals!
A Canadian built Chevy truck with a GMC tranny and motor and Maple Leaf on the hood. I love Mutts.