Troop Transport
The GMC CCKW was 2½-ton 6x6 U.S. Army cargo truck that saw heavy service 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 wheel base (LWB 353) and short (SWB 352), and over a score of specialized models. It began to be phased out with the deployment of the 6×6 M35 in 1950, but remained in active U.S. service until the mid-1960s.
It is related to the Chevrolet G506, built at the same factory.
In 1939-1940 the US Army Ordnance Corps was developing 2 1⁄2-ton (2,268 kg) load-rated 6×6 tactical trucks that could operate off-road in all weather.
General Motors, already supplying modified commercial trucks to the Army, modified the 1939 ACKWX–built for the French Army–into the CCKW.
The General Motors design was chosen by the Army and went into production at GM'S Yellow Truck and Coach division's Pontiac, Michigan plant alongside 6×4 CCWs. Later they were also manufactured at GM's St. Louis, Missouri Chevrolet plant.
The name CCKW comes from GMC model nomenclature:
"C", designed in 1941
"C", conventional cab
"K", all-wheel drive
"W", dual rear axles
By the end of production in 1945, 562,750 CCKWs in all variants had been built, a total second only to the “Jeep”.
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