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Great War truck

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The interesting thing about WW1 period trucks is the location that they turn up in. The most common location is being used as the foundation of a house. You couldnt get planning permission to build a house, but you can for a mobile home - so dig a hole put a truck chassis in it and hey presto - a mobile home. When the home eventually comes down, out comes the truck chassis, straight into the loving arms of a scrapman - unless you can get there first of course. Here is an example, although you may have to study the picture for a moment to work out what you are looking at:

 

width=640 height=480http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/IMG_0263_2.jpg[/img]

 

width=640 height=480http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/IMG_0266_2.jpg[/img]

 

Now, who would live in a house like that?

 

Tim (too)

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Tim

I take it that this chassis is now safe ??

 

Great pic's,..............sure got to hand it to who ever for thinking of ways around such rules.

Wonder if thats why there were so many railway carridges used as homes in days gone by ??

 

PS what chassis is it,..........any makers name etc ??

 

Andy

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Wow Tim,

 

You must really need to have your ear to the ground to find something like that :-) Those art nouveau spring hangers are wonderful !

 

It all looks nice and dry. Are those the original deck boards ?

 

I suppose the question is how to tow it away carefully one night without waking the sleeping inhabitants upstairs !

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I think that those are the floor boards of the house above. They look too narrow to be the original floor boards. I might be wrong though.

 

We were lucky to hear about it. A chap mentioned in a magazine that he had one under his house and was it worth restoring (ie worth money). He thought it was a Dennis. We managed to get a couple of bad photos from him and realised that all the important bits (anything other than bare rolling chassis) had been removed. Also the rear axle was not a Dennis subisdy lorry which is what we were looking for. We passed on the lead to a chap who collects Dennis fire engines and a friend of his took a look at it and these photos.

 

The chassis is of no interest to us (as we have several spare Dennis ones already), but might be of interest to the guy who took the photos. In all honesty it is probably not worth recovering due to so much being missing. However as it is in a nice dry location, not in danger of being cut up and not going anywhere it is probably best to leave it where it is for someone in future years. If we come across someone looking for one like that we can give him the address.

 

Many years ago Steve bought a Dennis Charabanc chassis that was minutes away from being cut up. We brought it back to Devon and found a chap who was restoring an identical charabanc but which had a really rotten chassis and who was thrilled to get this good one. They only ever made 6 of them so he was very lucky. We know of several others still in situ, one of which is due to be cut up this year. That reminds me, i must go and have a look at it. I will keep you updated.

 

Tim (too)

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Nice to see anyway Tim. What period of Dennis is it from ? I assume that oily orifice is where the diff was removed ?

 

Recoverable or not, I think it would be ever such a jolly jape to pull the chassis away one night :evil:

 

If you find any motorcycle frames under people's floors, do let us know, won't you ?

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Yes, that squite right. The worm would have gone in to the oily orifice (now doesnt that create a mental picture). The whole back axle is an unusual shape and i dont recognise it. It is probably from any time between 1910 and 1920.

 

It would be fun to pull it away in the night. :goodidea: Perhps we could borrow a big piece of kit to lift the front up and shake the occupants until they slide out the back. Knowing how these things work though we would probably find all the wheels locked solid.

 

I will keep my eyes open for bikes. Perhaps they might be used as foundations for garden sheds?

 

Tim (too)

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  • 4 months later...

Well, i didnt think it was possible, but he has sneaked the chassis away from under the house without disturbing it, or letting the house collapse. The photos are all here and well worth a look.

 

http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~rdavis/Chassis/

 

Really quite remarkable and a great deal of effort.

 

Tim (too)

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Looking at the photos again, i notice that a lot of them are of the house as it was. I guess that is so they have a record of what it looked like so they can try and put the house back together again after they have got the truck out. Interesting to see that there are a couple of females involved in the recovery. The innocence of youth (ie before they become jaded with the idea of messing around with old trucks)!

 

Tim (too)

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Tim, was it a Fire engine then ? Are chassis of this age numbered ?

 

I'm intrigued as to what they had to do to support the chalet floor. Presumably the chassis had some load-bearing function when the structure was built (or was it just pushed between the supporting pillars under the floor out of the way after they'd used the (presumably hardwood ?) coachwork frame ?

 

I still think it would've been more fun just to attach a chain to a large tractor one dark night ! :evil:

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We still know nothing concrete about the chassis. It has gone to a Dennis enthusiast who is looking at it as a long term project (but it is missing so much and as we no one knows exactly what it is it will be very long term - but these things can be brought back). Hopefully he will be able to find the chassis number and from that we should be able to work out what it is.

 

Looking at the photos, i got the impression that the chassis had been built into the chalet and that he had built new supports for the house as they took out the chassis. It is quite a remarkable exercise.

 

Tim (too)

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If you want a replica, the best thing that you can do is buy an original Model T from these people http://www.tuckettbrothers.co.uk/modeltfordsforsale.htm (or import one from the USA via E Bay) and build a replica body. They are cheap, easy to maintain and you can get all the spare parts.

 

I understand that at the Household Cavalry event this year there were some replica WW1 trucks using converted Bedford RL's. I have only seen a distant picture of them, but i suspect that it will only be a matter of time before they come on the market.

 

Tim (too)

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:schocked: :shocking: And thats why you should not make replica WW1 trucks. :nono:

 

 

 

 

Tim (Two)

 

 

To my (admitidly, untrained) eyes, the truck pictured doesn't look at all bad;

I'm guessingit would fool quite a few folk, me included.

 

What makes it no good, in your eyes ??

 

Andy

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Tim (Two)

 

 

To my (admitidly, untrained) eyes, the truck pictured doesn't look at all bad;

I'm guessingit would fool quite a few folk, me included.

 

What makes it no good, in your eyes ??

 

Andy

 

I think the answer is along the lines of 'Have you got the rest of the week? starting with it existsd :-D
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well, Ok, Tony; taking its a representation of something that served in WW1, (admitidly based on something a lot newer), Does that make it a bad thing.

OK, I take on board Tim (too)'s remarks re them unfortunatly not using a real WWI truck, but how many of those are about,...............yes, I'm aware Tim's got one, (two ??)

 

In many respects, and without wishing to be seen to be casting aspertions,...the 'dressing up', of vehicles into something their not is still going on today,............ :whistle:, isn't it. ;-)

 

I'm thinking of re-creating a vehicle that is VERY under represented in the preserved 'MV' field, when I get room, etc..............OK, It will be a copy, as near to the origional, in looks, anyways, as I can get it................to the public, hopfully it will present a realistic example of said vehicle that folk may well have served with.

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I have been giving this one a lot of thought and would firstly say that i have no right to say that people should or should not do such things. I do believe that it is ok to make replicas of MV's if it is in fact a replica. Take the A7V which is superb and all of the LRDG stuff which i think is fabulous. But these WW1 trucks are not replicas, because they do not look a bit like anything that ever existed. If they were to say that it was a Locomobile or a Packard and then do a passable representation of it that would be fine, but these are replica generic WW1 trucks and replicate nothing.

 

I was flicking through a magazine (Old Glory or something similar) in Smiths a few Months ago and came a cross a WW1 military Thornycroft. I did not recognise the truck or the name of the owner and was quite suprised to see it as i thought i knew all the survivors. I then realised that it was in fact a 1920's Thorny that had been militarised for a TV WW1 drama (no idea which one) and they had in fact done a good job, with the only thing standing out as incorrect being the shape of the radiator. What i am saying is that if the BBC can do it for a cheap TV drama, why can't Hollywood for a multi million $ block buster.

 

The moral of the story is if you are going to do it, well do the best job that you can. But if you cant, well dont worry about it as all you will get are grumblings from people like me while watching it on TV and maybe odd postings on MV forums.

 

Tim (too)

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