The Ford Model 51 was a type of truck manufactured on Earth by the American Ford Motor Company during the mid-20th century for both civilian use as well as for Germany's military. They were powered by an internal combustion engine.
In an alternate timeline, a German military Ford Model 51 truck, carrying the license plate "NA 22475", transported Captain Jonathan Archer of Enterprise NX-01 in 1944 from a field hospital for questioning. The truck was escorted by Volkswagen Kübelwagen belonging to the Wehrmacht (as indicated by its license plate "WH-52552", but driven by an SS soldier nevertheless), as well as a BMW R75 motorcycle. All vehicles were damaged when American Resistance fighters ambushed the small convoy, and killed their German occupants.
A short time thereafter, a second Ford Model 51 truck (with a license plate that partially read "NA 1257") was seen parked in a Brooklyn, New York City street, just outside Alicia Travers' apartment where the escaped Archer was hiding, being loaded with civilians, the SS were indiscriminately rounding up, in response to the ambush. (ENT: "Storm Front")
Background information[]
The truck prepared for its interior scenes on the Sable Ranch grounds
The entire ambush scene was filmed on Thursday 29 July 2004 on the Sable Ranch grounds in Canyon Country, north of Los Angeles. The New York City street scene, obviously utilizing the same Ford truck (this time covered with a tarp and endowed with a different rear license plate), was shot later that day on the Paramount Pictures "New York Street" backlot standing set. [1] [2](X)
The Star Trek depiction of this vehicle is accurate to its historical use. Originally an American 2.5-ton truck produced during 1935 and 1936, the Ford Model 51 was also produced by Ford's German branch, Ford Motor Company AG, as the "Ford Modell V8/51" from 1937 to 1939. Most German-produced Model 51s ended up in the service of the Wehrmacht as the "MLkw 3t Ford V8/51" ("Mittler Lastkraftwagen [medium truck] 3.0 ton Ford V8/51"). The truck seen in the episode is outfitted with a Notek blackout headlight on the front left mudguard, as were these trucks during their service with the Wehrmacht in World War II. The white Balkenkreuz emblem on the side of the truck is not of the standard layout, however variations on the design were known to occur in real life, especially among second-rate units, such as logistics units.
The license plate, "NA 22475", does not conform to real life German license plates. During the time of Nazi Germany, civilian vehicle license plates began with a code that indicated the region where the vehicle was registered. Additionally, vehicles registered to the Heer [Army] had the prefix "WH", and those registered to the SS had the prefix "SS".[3](X) "NA" was never used as a license plate prefix in real life, yet several German vehicles in Star Trek appear with license plates having the prefix "NA". Conceivably, this fictional code could be intended to stand for "Nord Amerika", as the vehicles seen in Star Trek were stationed in a fictional, Nazi-occupied United States.
German military vehicles in the streets of Sainte Claire
A heavier Ford truck type possibly made an appearance in another Star Trek production. In the opening scenes of the Star Trek: Voyager season four episode "The Killing Game, Part II", a Hirogen hunter and Ensign Harry Kim are watching overhead bridge monitor station viewscreens, witnessing a World War II holographic simulation gone wrong aboard the USS Voyager in 2374, after the Hirogen had gained control over the ship and utilized its holodeck for the creation of their hunting simulations. Ostentatiously a scene in the French World War II-era village of German occupied Sainte Claire was shown. However, the scene was obviously not filmed on the "Little Europe" standing backlot set of Universal Studios, where the rest of the Sainte Claire simulation took place, but rather on the "New York Street" backlot set of either Universal or Paramount. Yet, it is highly unlikely that the scene was actually shot for the episode, as the costs of renting lot and vehicles for what was essentially a throw-away shot, would constitute a flippant use of the strictly regulated television budget. Considering that the comments of the watching Hirogen and Kim did not correspond with what was actually seen on the screens either, indicated that this clipping stemmed from an as of yet unidentified other movie, or television production.
Shown in the clipping are German military vehicles in a city street, and whereas the Kübelwagen is clearly identifiable, the three trucks are less so, even if a fairly good look is afforded on the one in the foreground. That one is possibly the 3.0 ton carrying "Ford V3000S (G188TS)". Unfortunately, the frame of the viewscreen just cuts off the front of the engine bonnet, making a definitive positive identification unfeasible, as the Ford truck shared a remarkably similar side profile with its far more ubiquitous 3.0 ton carrying rival, the "Opel Blitz".
