M37/M43 - Ambulance or Comm Van?

[Wagonwheel]

I am researching the history of a 1959 M43. The delivery date on the truck is 1959. I don’t remember the month and day right now. It is on a tag on the dash. The engine is a 230 cid engine. Or so we thought. It had pistons in it that were stamped .030 over stock. But when the machinist put a caliper to the bore, it actually measured over .100 over stock. He could not find pistons large enough so he had to sleeve it down to the stock 230 cid size. So now I’m wondering if it was a 250.6 cid motor from Canada. Eh?

The vehicle appears to have been converted from an ambulance to a mobile comm vehicle. It has an covered external access panel with a plate labeled Power and Signal Entrance Box. An additional plate labeled 115 Volts Only. This access panel is over the left rear wheel. The lid panel opens to a row series of 2 telephone connector plugs labeled SEND CKT1 and REC CKT1. This is accompanied by 2 plugs labeled Spare and one labeled Telephone. There is a plate labeled Signal 1 on the panel. There is an additional plate labeled COMMUNICATIONS CENTRAL (STRIKE) 4 TON MODIFIED, FAB AT LEX SIG DEPOT. US.

Any information on history of vehicle and/or conversion would be appreciated.

Thank you

[RMS]

the canadian T249 251ci is physically larger than the 230. if you measure the heads the canadian is 2 inches longer. the canadian long blocks also do not have offset wrist pins on the connecting rods.

with the description of the access panel it sounds like you have a m152..got windows ?

[Wagonwheel]

The only windows are on the rear double doors.