Mark Ellis

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Hi I think 651 was the prototype, and 652 was the production model. Take a look at https://sites.google.com/view/alvis-stalwart-hmlc-files/alvis-fv600-wheeled-section/alvis-salamander-crash-tender But there were a number of different models in the 652 Just a matter of interest the different marks of the Mk 6 is as follows; The original Mk 6 had a suction eye, the CBM (later BCF) hoses on drums, and had a 2500 GPM monitor. Mk 6 B is the Mk 6, but converted in service to a 2500/5000 GPM monitor. Mk 6 A did not have a suction eye; the CBM (later BCF) hoses were flaked in, and had a 2500 GPM monitor. Mk 6 C same as Mk 6A but had a 2500/5000 GPM monitor. Mk 6 D is the Mk 6A, but converted in service to a 2500/5000 GPM monitor. Added by Dave Wickwar on 15 January 2012.

Hi all, I was wondering if there's a coloured ghost drawing of the FV651/652 Salamander, the same as these Saladin and Saracen drawings? I'd appreciate a copy if there is please Many thanks

Thanks. I'll have to work out my own colour scheme, once I understand what the official scheme colours are RGB is Red, Green, Blue computer code, Hex is # with 6 characters to give a colour, so #000000 is black, #FFFFFF is white, and #FAE800 is the yellow on these prop shafts

@fv1609 Hi Clive, Is there a colour code for engine, gearbox, transfer box, drive shafts, wheel stations, etc, please? And also, any RGB / Hex codes for the colours. Many thanks

I don't recall ever being asked for proof of ID, except for the phone number. But that was under the old Facebook, not the current owner - Meta. Some groups are private because we get bombarded with spam posts, and applications from spammers https://www.facebook.com/groups/110456768992136

@10FM68 You've seen this WW2 trailer group on Facebook ? https://www.facebook.com/groups/619129048119269

Any idea of how long they were in service for?

So, apart from 43ER39 - what other British Army registration numbers do we have for the Berliet-Alvis TBU15 wreckers, or were there any other versions of the TBU also offered to MOD? During the December 1963 to around July 1965 agreement between Alvis and Berliet, two Stalwarts went to France, with some TBU coming to the UK. We know from these photos that 43ER39 was one, going to Aden. Note, Alvis was moved to BL in the summer of 1965, and BL blocked l'accord as its first act. One TBU is said to have gone to BAOR. One was at the 1964 Earls Court Commercial Motor Show of 1964, on Alvis' stand with STAL 33. I know that the French MOD passed STAL 34 to Musée des Blindés in 1975. No Berliet or Alvis wrecker appears in MERLIN, so we can presume that they were cast before January 1984. It's going to be down to photos or F.V.R.D.E. reports

I'm sure that the Saracen hull at ASMT Leconfield did something. There was a battery connected to it, but I can't remember what

Apparently, this was RMCS Shrivenham. I guess they were above all that

😲 I'm intrigued. Why do you think Facebook wants a copy of your birth certificate?

@Mk3iain Beavering away, thanks https://sites.google.com/view/alvis-stalwart-hmlc-files/other-manufacturers/eager-bever-forklift?

Indeed. It was probably offered to the RLC and then dumped. But should have gone to Gaydon or Coventry This was their email

I'll look forward to that. Mean whilst, here's a different view of the Stalwart Instruction hull. It's a Mark 1 hull

I've spent 3 years wasting time with Kustartilleri officer who think the KA is a secret cult that no body knows about, with equipment that no other organisation in the world had. Still lots to be prised out of those &*&*s, who have clearly never heard of Russian and American spy planes and satellites 🙄 I now have contact with people who were involved with the Italian Stalwart in 1963, and Sri Lanka in the 80s. I'm struggling to get owners of Hydra cooking stands to give me the missing dimensions, despite some of them wanting the other dimensions so that they can make their own Hydra stands https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wdp7DGbzTXBPC3LP9MU-DObv0wXjwwPT/view?usp=sharing But most of the help has come through Facebook 😉 If you have any Eager Bever manuals, than ping them this way

Each to their own. But I'll still use every resource available to gather evidenced fact for my website, especially compared to the utter tosh that gets broadcast on websites like Wikipedia and some of the books that have been published based on thought. There is much evidence still out there which has still yet to see the public light of day, and needs coaxing out into the daylight 😉 My site (which needs updating) is here https://sites.google.com/view/alvis-stalwart-hmlc-files

@Mk3iain the images might all get on here one day, but they're certainly not at the moment. Not quite sure as to why you think a Facebook group would undermine a web forum. There's many that never get outside of Facebook, the same as there's many who would never enter into Facebook - because it's the unknown wicked world of evil and temptation 😉