History...

If anything, WWII put Canada firmly on the map as a major supplier of MVs of many types.  Up until September 1, 1945, no fewer than 857,970 vehicles were produced, roughly broken down as follows :

4x2 Commercial and Modified Conventional
388,299 (more than half of which were 3-ton 4x2 Modified Conventional)

4x2, 4x4, 6x4 and 6x6 Canadian Military Pattern
390,273 (including 209,004 3-ton 4x4)

Armoured Vehicles, wheeled and tracked
50,241 (including 33,992 tracked carriers) plus 9,494 rear-engined chassis for India.

Trailers, Canadian Military Pattern
19,663.

Actually, the grand total was even higher because the production of certain types was continued until late 1945.

All these vehicles were supplied to the Canadian armed services and the allies.  The British took a very large proportion, other major customers being Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa.  Many were shipped CKD for local assembly and in some countries part-manufacture took place, as well as the mounting of indigenous bodywork.
The Canadians themselves used 'foreign' vehicles as well, e.g. Jeeps and Diamond Ts from the USA, Bedfords and Leylands from Britain.  Motorcycles were all of British and US origin (Matchless, Norton, HD).  Many of the Canadian vehicles eventually served with other United Nations member countries, particularly in the late 1940s and throughout the '50s.  Surplus vehicles invariably found their way to civilian operators, all over the world, and a fair number have now been restored for preservation.

The major vehicle producers in Canada at the time were linked with the US 'Big Three': Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.  Some of the manufacturing facilities were in close proximity to the US parent plants and certain parts and components were imported from there.  The Canadian Chrysler (Dodge) and Ford factories were in fact just across the river south-east of Detroit.  General Motors' main plant was - and still is - in Oshawa, Ontario.  The fourth manufacturer was FWD in Kitchener, Ontario.  FWD chassis came from Clintonville in Wisconsin and were finished and completed or bodied in Canada.  FWD was also engaged in the boxing of other MVs for shipment overseas.  Chrysier Canada had the additional task of fitting out mobile workshops.  Numerous other firms across the nation produced trailers and bodywork of countless types and variants.  Bombardier and Farand & Delorme contributed tracked machines and the Tank Arsenal at the Montreal Locomotive Works in Quebec built tanks (Valentine, Ram, Grizzly) and SP gun carriages.
 

The Canadian Army Engineering Design Branch played a major role in the development and pre-production testing and approval of the Canadian Military Pattern (C.M.P.) range of vehicles.
Canadian Military pattern vehicles were manufactured by General Motors (Chevrolet) and Ford using many common standardised components, subassemblies and assemblies which fitted trucks whether they were small or large.  For example, there were three basic vehicle cabs which could be fitted to either 8-cwt, 15-cwt, 30-cwt or 3-ton chassis.
The chassis themselves had similar wheelbase dimensions: 101-inch for both Chevrolet and Ford 8-cwt and 15-cwt trucks; 134-inch for 30-cwt and short wheelbase 3-tonners, 158-inch long wheelbase 4x2 and 4x4 3-tonners and 160-inch for Ford 6x4 and Chevrolet 6x6 3-tonners.

With such an enormous number of vehicles to deal with, they are various points to assist in vehicle identification and to clarify the various types of cab.
In addition to these specially designed trucks, termed Canadian Military Pattern, General Motors, Ford and the Chrysler Corporation (Dodge) also produced countless numbers of 'conventional-modified' vehicles.  These utilised various pre-war civilian chassis with minor modifications to meet Service needs.

In the post-war years Canada co-operated with the US military authorities and produced 1/4-ton, 3/4-ton and 21/2-ton trucks - as well as trailers for the same to their design.  Some sub-types were peculiar to Canada but most were near identical.  In later years these Standard Military Pattern (SMP) vehicles were superseded by locally-built as well as imported types, both militarized commercial and tactical types.  The Canadian forces in Germany used many vehicles of German manufacture.

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