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There has been quite a few Berliet TBU Wreckers privatley imported to the UK since the Alvis one, including this one above

Cheers, both!

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I've translated a couple of articles in the French magazine "Charge Utile". The authors seem to think the Stalwart was a commercial 6x6 modified to swim, when of course the FV600 series were punt hulls. They make comments about Alvis only selling 1000, and the orders not coming in. What they forget was that the Stalwart was £16,000 in 1963, with the mark 2 being £20,000 a piece in 66.

I have don't know the purchase price circa 1964. But I would say it appears of cheaper construction than the FV designs of the 1950's that came out of the WD design office. e.g Leyland Martian 6x6 Recovery. Looking at the general design layout, (6x6 chassis, large diesel powertrain, winches, recovery equipment) I think the Bill of Material total cost would be similar to a 1950's US M62 Wrecker. I think both vehicles shared a Austin Westin crane assy. But the M62 would be produced at a lower piece price due to the quantity of the 5 Ton base chassis variants manufactured.

A lot has changed in my life since last post. I've moved out of my parents' house, which means less time for hobbies. I've also sold my whole WD bike collection, except for the old trusty BSA and the less trusty Harley... And bought an old restoration BMW R75, which might be in a future blog. Last week was the first time in almost 5 months that I was able to work on the Cushmans. We had some luck with the weather, so me and my father decided it was time to finally paint some Navy gray. We managed to paint all parts (except for the bodywork). We also tried to de-rust the fuel tank for the Series 32. Unfortunately once the chemical product was done, there wasn't much left of the tank. We tried to solder it, but it with tin was too far gone. Luckily a friend of ours is great with metal constructing. He made a complete new tank which looks exactly like the original. So this weekend, we started reassembling the Cushman. Good to see some progress after all this time. Sidecar is now complete, and we have rolling chassis.

I'm trying to find out how much the TBU 15 and GBC 8 cost around 1964. Do you know what they were?

The 4 spring Acumen is post war…

I should have also mentioned that it has a large and impressive price tag! John

The number in the Berliet truck names is the engine litreage. The TBU 6x6 being 15 litres, and the GBC 4x4 being 8

It's the right sort of year for manufacture, but suggests it was first registered in 1999

Looks like a live ad for one in the UK. https://www.militarymart.co.uk/products/french-army-berliet-6x6-recovery-truck

Hi all, VERY long shot here, but I wonder if anyone has any prices for French Berliet trucks around 1964 / 1965. Or knows where I might find soemthing. I've joined a number of French and Berliet groups, and the French don't really appear to have saved much in the way of brochures, prices, etc. I've ready a couple of articles about the Berliet Aurochs (The French Stalwart) and they all talk about low sales figures of the Stolly. In reality of course, the mark 1 was £16,000 in 1964, an awful lot of money. The military journalists seem to think that the Stolly is like a DUKW, just another commercially available truck that's been modified to float - which of course it isn't. So I'm keen to show the price of the Berliet TBU and GBC to show the difference in value. I've tried trawling the French newspapers, but can't even find adverts or reviews after 1950 for civilian Berliet trucks. Thanks

Ruddington 103rd sale was 14 to 16th October 1969. I can add nothing further about the trials or use of the vehicles when is service. As attleej mentioned in his post, these vehicle types do have a large and impressive engine.

When was the 103rd Ruddington sale, please? There doesn't appear to be any record of the two TBUs being tested by FVRDE, just troop trials. There was at least one Berliet GCB 8 KT 4x4 submitted to FVRDE for trials.

43ER38 & 43ER39 were two Berliet TBU recovery vehicles supplied via Alvis for trials with REME. You can see the applied Alvis red triangle logo attached to 43ER39. They were part of a commercial agreement where Alvis would market Berliet trucks in some markets, and Berliet would market Alvis Stalwarts in markets which Berliet had a strong presence at the time, eg N Africa. 43ER38 was sold at the Ruddington 103rd sale Lot 1380 43ER39 was trialed in Aden 1964, returned to the UK and sold at the Ruddington 103rd sale Lot 1379 As far as I know there were only two Berliet TBU supplied.

Cooke Brothers www.cookebrothers.co.uk Gold and Walsall www.goldwassallhinges.co.uk

No, transport is a killer, I don’t think I can afford to take it anywhere!

I was directed to Phil of PMtransportphotos, who assures me this photo belongs to Ken Porter. I wonder if this was taken at FVRDE, due to the Scammell next to it. 43 ER 38, to go with 43 ER 39

Made some bonnet fittings today I have no idea what the original fixings were as the only bit left was the flange on the bulkhead and the bonnet support on the radiator . The bonnet and sides were made years ago so this is my take on what it might have been like It looks ok and is the best way I can think holding the sides in place

Bit more on the catching up. One of the features that helps confirm the identity of the donor cab is this split in the radiator cowling. Paint colour may have changed, and someone has tried fixing it with a screw, but pretty certain that is the same split. I'd rather it wasn't there. No chance of getting a new rubber, so repairing is the only option. Fortunately there are plenty of rubber repair kits available on line. A sticky, messy job, and loads of tape to hold it in place. Instructions said fully cured in 24 hors, mine got left for a week before I pulled the tape off, so well cured by then. Repair result doesn't look bad. Sets well solid, but flexible like the original. Sand it back to somewhere near the correct shape, then add a second lot to fill the odd blemish. Final trimming and sanding finishes the job With the rubber done, moved onto the rest of the radiator. Washout and repaint the fins, clean and paint the out side On the bottom half of the rad there should be a shroud, which attaches to the grille This one is off my Timber tractor. Flat aluminium sheet but with a raised ridge in the middle. Sheet is easy to get hold of, but how to replicate the ridge Then a light bulb moment. Some models of Optare bus have side panels with a very similar swage line. Get hold of a panel and simply cut to size Drill the appropriate holes and you're in business Add a coat of paint and a couple of badges to finish off

We seem to be slowing down a bit. It is getting harder and harder to motivate oneself to go out in the shed of an evening after work. Getting old I think! We did do a bit over Easter although it was a family weekend really. Dad has been painting endlessly and had finished the kerb rails and the underside of the floor planks. We set up the kerb rails and bolted them down, using bolts from stock. It did take a bit of a rummage to find them but we had just enough in the end. Then I started laying out the planks. They had been cut to length and width by our chippy, Mark, who was impressively accurate. Not a gap anywhere by the end! The planks are all grooved with loose tongues. We had to slacken off a kerb rail and use a sash clamp to pull them up but the final fit was perfect. Then it was a case of screwing them down. Exactly 100 screws, again taken from stock. It is lovely now that we have got to this stage and have everything around us. I had a trial fit of my new brake rods. Rather strangely there was insufficient room for the joint as I had taken it apart. I took out the 90° link and all was well. I have since found a photo of it done like this so that is OK. The rods are now out again for painting. Tim gave me exactly the right magneto switch for Christmas a couple of years ago so I made a start on cleaning it up. It wasn't bad and I didn't want to be too aggressive with it so I used a fibreglass scratch brush to move the tarnish. It came out quite well although the nickle is a bit tired. That is fine as there is no reason that it should not look old. I picked up some steel over the break and have made up the remaining shovel brackets using my nice new bending tool. That is proving to be a worthwhile investment. Riveting can be very satisfying. Heads polished off with the flap wheel. And back in the paint shop. Mine this time! Dad is still painting, the headboard planks and the body brackets, ready for our next get-together. We really are very close now. If only it wasn't so far away! Steve 🙂

Military tread w.t.f. Goodyear Extra-Grips are a mud tyre and double-up over rocks, XM&S type all season is what you need. Same rolling dia. as 6.50 , launch the boat with new 5.50 rims and the best 205 going (the treadway should be just at body-line). A ex-works Mich. family fit for Classic RR, some Disco and OK for Defender 90" + if you anticipate hard packed snow/ice - you can always fit studs. They will see you out on mileage. https://4x4tyres.co.uk/product/205-80-16-michelin-x-ms-244-104t-tyre/

Thanks to more people providing random manuals of military vehicles and equipment, and non military commercial vehicles, including the generous Iain @Mk3iain, I've changed this page to be a Vehicle Manuals Library. https://sites.google.com/view/alvis-stalwart-hmlc-files/vehicle-manuals-library I've got more manuals promised to me, and some that I could do with being offered to help others. But the free Library, to help others is growing. Thanks to those that have sent someone. And for those with paper copies, I'm happy to scan them in and return, or send them on to the relevant County archive. Mark

Will be flying back to the UK with my lovely wife in July for about 10 days to see her family, go to the Royal Military Tattoo, and see some friends. Anyone have any local parts guys for Soviet stuff? Will be around Lincolnshire.