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Posts posted by NickAbbott
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My Matador has a dashboard switch wired into the brake light circuit - it just breaks the circuit so the brake lights don't come on when the pedal is pressed, and I'd assumed it was for convoy use. It's not on the wiring diagram though, so don't know if it was a common thing, and I don't think it's something that would have been done after it left the military!
Nick
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Thanks for the info on the motorbike - I'll pass it back to my in-laws.
Nick
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Thanks for the info on the vehicle - I'll pass it back to my in-laws.
Nick
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Can anyone tell me anything about the bike in these three pictures ? I believe it's the same bike in all three pictures, and the rider is my wifes grandfather, and I've been told that the pictures were taken in Palestine, but that's pretty much all we know, other than that he was supposedly a dispatch rider, but we have no more details on his military service.
Any information will be greatly received, or pointers as to where we might find more info.
Thanks
Nick
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Doug, I've sent you a message about one of the manuals.
Nick
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This is a picture of my 853 Matador - notice the autovac tank on the bulkhead - this is the same as would be fitted to an 854 - these were removed when they were converted to diesel later in life. Mine seems to be the only 853 that has survived without being converted. In addition to the petrol engine and autovac tanks, the 853 and 854 also had slightly different electrics to the diesel versions, different gauges on the dash, and as mentioned previously, some of the 854s had the bigger "tropical" radiator, but not all of them.
Nick
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My Matador has "AEC Southall" ground off the exhaust manifold, and I think the majority of others I have seen are also the same - the same manifold fitted to pre-war vehicles has the writing on it. Also the early Matadors had the AEC badge on the radiator, and the later ones didn't. My Matador also has the address of Weymann (the body builders) on the contract plate, but all the later ones I have seen use abbreviations for who did the bodywork. I assume it was a conscious thing to remove obvious details that might help the enemy identify where the vehicles were actually made. So removing Leyland from plates would fit with that.
Nick
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Regarding the contract number for the Matador, if you know the chassis number (should be on the passenger side of the chassis, behind the rear hanger of the front spring, or on an overhaul plate in a similar location) , it should be easy to work out what the contract number is.
Nick
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Chassis number should be stamped into the chassis just behind the front spring hanger on the passenger side. There may also be an overhaul plate with the number on above it. There are differences between the early and late ones, including air assisted hydraulic brakes on early ones (most have been converted to full air), and full air on later ones. Early ones have one or two small air tanks, and later ones have longer tanks. Really early ones have the Weymann style cab with a different roof shape, etc, etc - there made over 10000 of them over quite a period, so there were a lot of small changes over the time. Take a lot of pictures so you can compare them to others later on, and it helps when asking questions! As said in a previous post, join the Facebook AEC Matador group - it has some posts that detail lots of preserved ones, along with chassis numbers and year of manufacture.
My Matador was in theory made in 1939, but there are parts on it that have markings indicating 1940, so it's quite hard to be specific over when they were made, and a lot have been rebuilt multiple times over the years!
Nick
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Once the engine was running I was able to start assembling the cab, as I had been holding off putting the cab back on until the engine had been successfully run. The cab frame was build a couple of years ago, but as I don't have the facilities to be able to lift it on in one go, it had to be assembled on the lorry, which also presented it's own challenges. Looks a lot more like a Matador again now though.
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Not been able to do much on the Matador restoration over the last year, but recently I have managed to make some visible progress with it - this video shows the engine being started for the first time after putting it back together - seven years since it last ran!
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No, run by Matt Foster, and based in Suffolk I think. There is also a Facebook group dedicated to Matadors now - https://www.facebook.com/groups/328262898093079 which has a lot of useful stuff on, along with a lot of knowledgeable people. It's a private group so you need to join it to see any of the content.
Nick
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You could try https://aecmatador.com/ - they are producing replacement cab parts, along with other stuff Matador related.
Nick
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I still have the petrol Matador, and I'm still progressing slowly with the restoration, but family and other things seem to keep getting in the way! I've not really driven it other than at low speed, but it has the hi-ratio axles aswell as the petrol engine revving higher than the diesel engine, so will apparently do 50mph plus. I suspect the pulling power is not up to the same standard as a diesel one with the standard ratio axles. Mine was bought by someone in the past to convert for timber work, but it wasn't done due to the petrol engine, which ultimately saved it from having the back body removed.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to make a bit of progress on it this year!
Nick
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I'd be interested in a set of these transfers, but I have sent you a private message and had no response, and there is no other contact details in the info above!
Nick
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As Nick Johns mentioned, the initial 17 Matadors converted to petrol were for the Norwegian campaign, although the campaign was over very quickly, and I have never seen any evidence that any Matadors actually went to Norway. The other batch of 149 Matadors (I incorrectly said 147 earlier) must have been built for a different reason, and again I have no idea what that was - maybe a single fuel type was a factor for those ones?
Attached is a picture of the A193 petrol engine, which I'm in the process of putting back together, after a period of inactivity with the restoration. Hopefully I can get it running again in the next few months.
Nick
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From what I can work out, there were 17 Matadors from the first contract (V3501) converted to Petrol, but this was done after they were build with diesel engines in, and they were spread over the first batch in a fairly random order. And then there were a further 147 from contract T9569, which I think were originally built with petrol engines rather than being converted. And obviously there were a lot of the 854 tankers that were built with petrol engines, although I don't know how many of them there were.
I've been making progress again with my restoration over the last few months, so will post a few pictures shortly.
Nick
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Again, according to the manual, the rear track of the O854 is 6' 1" so a couple of inches wider - but the difference between the two types would be down to the semi-floating/fully floating rear axles being slightly different.
Nick
AEC Matador 853
in Blogs of MV restorations
Posted
Still making progress on the Matador, although it has been quite slow. Some visible progress over the recent months has seen the new cab roof fitted, and it also now has some paint on it. Looking much more like a Matador again!
Nick