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Hi Scott, just been looking on google earth and I can see what looks like a Mat just before A525, as you say after the services but before J16.

 

Cheers Ian

 

Hi Ian,

 

More towards the A531 rather than A525 but you are in the right area. The chassis is sheeted up right by the motorway now.

 

Scott

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Hi Scott, yes spotted it on the way north, I have driven past it loads of times in the last 6 months and not noticed it. I should have more time on Friday to stop and have a closer look.

 

Cheers

ian

 

Glad you found it Ian, look forward to your further investigations!

 

Scott

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Hi Scott, yes spotted it on the way north, I have driven past it loads of times in the last 6 months and not noticed it. I should have more time on Friday to stop and have a closer look.

 

Cheers

ian

 

Just been telling my dad about this and he said he didn't know if it might be a Douglas not a Matador.

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  • 7 months later...
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Re Southdowns other Mat.I wonder where Antarmike gets his info from,dreams I suspect.Southdowns original cabbed Matador was aquired by them in 1948 from a Norfolk farmer.Originally registered JNG 641 it was fitted with a crew cab and a gantry crane, this was later replaced by a Mann Egerton crane, NOT a Harvey Frost.The vehicle was sold in 1989 and restored as a breakdown and rallied, including the HCVS London to Brighton run.After some research, it was discovered that it was one of 450 flatbed tractors built for the RAF between 1939-1945, not postwar.As it was possibly the only surviving wartime example and fairly original, the decision was taken to return it to it's original wartime condition, in time for the 1994 D day anniversary and take it to France.

The crew cab, crane and remnants of the rear body were removed and a new rear body constructed.The cab WHICH WAS NOT BURNT was restored back to original and it was painted in 85 Group Second Tactical Airfoce RAF markings.The owner has since died of cancer and I take exception to him being branded an IDIOT and hope an appology is forthcoming.

See the picture below (if they come out!)

 

i was searching for JNG641, as i saw a model in the LT museum,

my Dad was the man in Question, in 1994, my dadtook the Matador to Normandy and drive it along the beach on 6th june,

he, and his friend rebuilt it from the southdown to the military Matador using the original cab, that was lifted off, i remember him making the new wings in the garage, and the cab was rebuilt in a barn near chelmsford,

my dad died on 1st march 1999 from cancer, as stated, and thankyou for defending my Dad......

he was a remarkable man,

si all the cab was the original parts, nothing was burnt

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The information came from the guy who claimed he owned it. I showed him pictures of it and he said he had taken the cab off to coach build a body on it. I offered to buy the cab and he said he had burnt it. I assume that if someone claiming to be the owner tells you what he has done with it, that he is telling the truth. The conversation happened at crystal palace, at the start of the London brighton commercial vehicle run, where I had taken my Mat. I certainly wasn't dreaming. Ok I may have met a hoaxer, but until proven otherwise, I tend to take things at face value. Especially when he turned up with the other Southdown Mat (the Yellow Coachbuilt one) and it's owner. I had seen JNG and the coachbuilt Southdown Mat side by side the previuos year at the AEC Rally. At Crystal Palace only the Coachbuilt Mat turned up so I asked the pair of them wehere JNG was and was told that it was being rebuilt as a coachbuilt Mat and that the cab had been burnt.

 

If the person who told me that had done what he said he had done then he would have been an idiot.

And it is that gent (who I agree may not have actually been the owner) that I refer to as an idiot.

 

But if he was the owner and he told me he had burnt the cab when he hadn't he was definitely an idiot.

 

Why should I appologise to a dead person who told me he had burnt the cab, when he hadn't?

 

Oh and I used the term "Harvey Frost" generically in much the same way all ball point pens are Biro's and sticky backed plastic is always sellotape, unless you are watching Blue Peter.

first of all, the cab was not burnt, it was the original cab rebuilt and refitted,

secondly, i assume you was told that by someone not being the owner,

thirdly.........

THAT IS MY DAD YOUR BAD MOUTHING,

he diedd in 99 after seeing his prize lorry finally finished.....

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The Mat pushing the snow plough in a 2012 post might well be in Australia. The Snowy Mountain Scheme had several Mats so this could well be one of them. The Aussie giveaway is the mechanical hand signal, in this case of the style fitted to buses at gutter level rather than the truck style which hinged out from the door window sill.

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