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Austin twin shaft


Great War truck

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Does anybody know anything about this Austin twin shaft which was photographed by our friend Adrian up in Lincolnshire.

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As you can see it has shaft drive, with two shafts running to the rear wheels. Used by the British (mostly Royal Navy), Americans and Russians. Overly complicated and with reliability issues. Still, it looks nice.

I know of one owned by a Paul Englemann and have seen photographs of an unrestored chassis. I have also seen an advert at Beaulieu some years ago looking for bits of one. Anybody know the story behind this one? Anybody who says it is currently owned by TG Pine will get a slap.

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There was a Austin chassis at a small museum to the east of Coningsby about 10 years ago which was sold to an engineer to be rebuilt. I think he is 5 to 10 miles north of Boston near the A16.

peter

 

Tim,

I know you wrote this on your opening post "Anybody who says it is currently owned by TG Pine will get a slap" BUT, there is a motor engineer at Stickney, just north of Boston with that very name .... and this might tie up with Peter75's post.

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If it is the same truck which i think it is. The last time i saw it, it was a chassis and axles that had been used as a trailer although the rear axle was complete.

I would like to see what was under the bonnet.

Peter

 

Father had a partial chassis many years ago, I'll have to ask him where it went.

 

I also recall reading about a gearbox that survived but was missing its lid and was consequwently pretty rusty. I do not recall where I read it however

 

A very interesting vehicle.

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Father had a partial chassis many years ago, I'll have to ask him where it went.

 

I also recall reading about a gearbox that survived but was missing its lid and was consequwently pretty rusty. I do not recall where I read it however

 

A very interesting vehicle.

 

Father reports the chassis he had went to a forum member.

 

He also reminded me where I had read of the gearbox, in Old Motor!. There was a report of three chassis, and at least one gearbox and one engine. Obviously quite some time ago!

 

Perhaps this is the result?

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Quite a jig-saw of parts. I actually bought all of these various chassis frames and parts back in the 1970s. The first and most complete came from a farm at Four Marks , Hants missing engine and radiator, another chassis (early type) came from Bordon,. Hants. Another gearbox ( the one mentioned in Old Motor ) came from Kent, other various chassis frames ,wheels etc. turned up. The stumbling block was no engine until one turned up in a Leeds scrapyard which I eventually bought. Other than a radiator there was now a complete set of parts. I sold this in the early 1990s to a friend in Essex who has subsequently restored the vehicle and still owns it . That is the only complete one with all correct engine etc. , I believe he supplied some of the parts for the NZ one which I think has a later Austin engine fitted. The one featured in this thread, I was told has a Sherpa engine ? I stand to be corrected on this. Also of interest I recently acquired a copy of a brochure issued by Austins, possibly in 1918, of one fitted with a forward mounted radiator ( not to be confused with the chassis produced soon after of more conventional design). Austin also retained one of the twin shaft lorries which made a public appearance at the launch of the new truck range in the late 1930s, sadly no doubt it was later broken up during WW2.

Richard Peskett.

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Sherpa engine or not, good to see this machine out and about.

I guess the engine will be the least interesting part of this particular design of vehicle anyway.

Hope to see it sometime in the future.

 

Agreed, a very interesting machine indeed.

 

I wonder if the engines in the 20's Austin tractors were based on the unit originally in these.

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Herewith illustrations of the Austin 'twin shaft' engine, somewhat antiquated insofar as it had individual 'T' head cylinders,

dry sump with external oil tank etc. With the radiator at the back the fan was driven from the rear end of one of the two camshafts. The other illustration shows the radiator, controls and gearbox. Early models had dual ignition with coil and magneto with distributor., later magneto only as illustrated but the other picture shows the coil upper right on dash panel. An 'Autovac' is fitted as the tank was under slung at the rear of the chassis.Early models I believe had a pressure system fitted and easily identified by the large circular disc to centre of front wheels. I only ever had one of these chassis.

 

Austin twin shaft306.jpg

 

The Automobile Engineer for November 1917 has much more info. on these very interesting vehicles.

 

Richard Peskett.

Austin twin shaft309.jpg

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  • 2 years later...
Tim,

I know you wrote this on your opening post "Anybody who says it is currently owned by TG Pine will get a slap" BUT, there is a motor engineer at Stickney, just north of Boston with that very name .... and this might tie up with Peter75's post.

 

Who's that then... Mr Tongue & Groove...?

Edited by flandersflyer
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  • 8 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Just had an interesting conversation with a old gent. He had a T head, aluminium crankcase, 4 cylinder Austin engine, which had been made into a stationary engine. Apparently never fitted to a vehicle but supplied by Austins as a stationary engine to a furniture maker in Balsall Common. The dimentions he indicated to me may be about the right size for a twinshaft engine and he seemed to think it matched the photos on this thread.  Anyone heard of this as a fate for surplus Austin lorry engines?. This one is still about

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