The GMC CCKW, also known as "Jimmy", or the G-508 by its Ordnance Supply Catalog number, was a highly successful series of off-road capable, 2-1/2-ton, 6x6 trucks, built in large numbers to a standardized design (from 1941 to 1945) for the U.S. Army, that saw heavy service, predominantly as cargo trucks, in both World War II and the Korean War. The original "Deuce and a Half", it formed the backbone of the famed Red Ball Express that kept Allied armies supplied as they pushed eastward after the Normandy invasion.

The CCKW came in many variants, including open or closed cab, long wheelbase (LWB) CCKW-353 and short (SWB) CCKW-352, and over a score of specialized models, but the bulk were standard, general purpose, cargo models. A large minority were built with a front mounted winch, and one in four of the cabs had a machine-gun mounting ring above the co-driver's position.

Of the almost 2.4 million trucks that the U.S. Army bought between 1939 and December 1945, across all payload weight classes, some 812,000, or just over one third, were 2-1/2-ton trucks. GMC's total production of the CCKW and its variants, including the 2-1/2-ton, 6x6, amphibian DUKW, and the 6x4, 5-ton (on-road) CCW-353, amounted to some 572,500 units - almost a quarter of the total WW II U.S. truck production, and 70 percent of the total 2-1/2-ton trucks. GMC's total of 550,000 purely 6x6 models, including the DUKW, formed the overwhelming majority of the 675,000 six by six 2-1/2-ton trucks, and came in less than 100,000 shy of the almost 650,000 World War II jeeps. Additionally, GM built over 150,000 units of the CCKW's smaller brother, the 1-1/2-ton, 4x4 Chevrolet G506, at the same factory.

The GMC CCKW began to be phased out once the M35 series trucks were first deployed in the 1950s, but remained in active U.S. service until the mid-1960s. Eventually, the M35 series, originally developed by REO Motors, succeeded the CCKW as the U.S. Army's standard 2-1/2-ton, 6x6 cargo truck.

Pictured here is a 1:32 scale replica of a US 1942 production GMC CCKW 353 6x6 2-1/2 ton truck (known rather affectionately as the 'Deuce-and-a-Half'), which played a pivotal role in the Allied armies advance through northwestern Europe during 1944-'45. A Quad .50 caliber machine gun has been mounted atop the rear portion of the vehicle. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 9-inches
Width: 2-1/2-inches

Release Date: April 2012

Historical Account: "Home by Christmas" - In a desperate effort to bridge the gap between US units at the front and mounting stockpiles back at Normandy, a long distance, one-way, "loop-run" highway system - dubbed the 'Red Ball Express' - was born. Since circumstances allowed little time for advance planning or preparation, 'Red Ball' was, as one observer noted, "largely an impromptu affair." It began on August 25th, with 67 truck companies running along a restricted route from St. Lo to Chartres, just south of Paris; and reached a peak four days later with 132 companies (nearly 6,000 vehicles) assigned to the project.

Communications Zone (COMMZ) and Advance Section (ADSEC) transportation officials were responsible for overseeing Red Ball activities, but it required the support and coordination of many branches to succeed.

While the Engineers were busy maintaining roads and bridges, MPs were on hand at each of the major check points to direct traffic and record pertinent data. Colorful signs and markers along the way - not unlike the old Burma Shave signs that covered America's own countryside - kept drivers from getting lost, and at the same time publicized daily goals and achievements. Quartermasters, truck drivers, materiel handlers, and petroleum specialists were ever present both along the route and at the forward-area truck-heads. Disabled vehicles moved to the side of the road, where they were either repaired on the spot by roving Ordnance units or evacuated to rear-area depots.