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Leyland Martian Gallery


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another Martian peculiarity is the front diff was higher geared than the rear so that the front wheels rotated faster in 6 wheel drive , to enable better steering eg getting out of ruts . If you used 6wd on bitumen used to tear up the surface when turning especially !! The only way to use a diesel would be to fit a overdrive x2 gear unit before the transfer box I thought about the repower idea when I had mine as 3-4 mpg when working was about average:-(

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  • 1 month later...

x2 on the Detroit idea.

We ran machines in the 80's with a supercharged 6V-92 under the bonnet, 12" dia silencer, 8" dia exhaust, and a sound you never get tired of!

 

for example.

Superb reliability, we had two machines - they ran at one speed (absolutely flat out!) fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, from April to October and over the three years I worked with them I'm not aware of one missed beat.

From what I remember a very compact unit length wise, but I suspect you could finish up with a cylinder head sticking out each side.

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Slightly off topic, the Belarus Mtz52 tractor had a higher ratio in the front axle and was permanent 4 wheel drive. The trick was that it had an overrun clutch in the front drive shaft so it automaticly drove the front wheels only when the rears started to slip! Not so clever going backwards.

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  • 1 month later...
Don't know that as a gun tractor? Poss a GS.

 

60951 is an FV 1121 10 ton cargo GS, 60967 is an FV1103 artillery tractor. Other standard wheelbase derivatives were FV 1122 tractor for 8 inch Howitzer, basically a cargo with a cab roof level tilt and FV 1119 heavy recovery.

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Supposedly 1380, circa 60 of the FV1103 artillery tractors and 280 FV1119 recoveries. Apparently some were stored as chassis cabs as no one could decide what bodies were required. Reliability was dismal with the entire fleet being withdrawn on two occasions with clutch, transfer box and power steering problems.

 

As I have said before, when my one was sold through BCA at Shepshed, the auctioneer introduced it as the biggest piece of sh*te the British Army had ever been issued with. Who was I to argue, I bought it anyway for £1800 with just 1200 miles on the clock and in almost showroom condition.

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Does anyone know how many martians were built?

Not enough for collectors but far to many for any body who had the pleasure of trying to keep them going

Still got a soft spot though for the one i had put a diesel in it an absolutely worked it to death

So much so when i killed i bought another and did the same with that.

But they both did some amazing jobs and for the price's i paid were value for money As radiomike 7 said " the biggest piece of sh*te the British Army had ever been issued with"

but if you have a job for it then it will do it

Edited by cosrec
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....As I have said before, when my one was sold through BCA at Shepshed, the auctioneer introduced it as the biggest piece of sh*te the British Army had ever been issued with. ...

 

:-D:-D

 

So - you could buy a load of sh*te, spend a load of £ and do a total restoration to concourse condition , and still be the proud owner of a load of sh*te!

 

It's a good job we're romantics isn't it? :-D

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Just to add a bit more to radiomike7 regarding numbers, I personally think there would have been at least a few hundred FV1103 type built, as loads were later cut up for modification to the FV1121, FV1122 and very likely FV1119 too. As for chassis cabs in storage, these would just have been the chassis, as Leyland did not build any bodies, they only built up to the bulkhead. I would presume they would have left the factory looking something like this, although this is a shot of a pre-production example as noted by air cleaners mounted on the bulkhead. I could be wrong but it looks like it is taken inside Olympia, most definately early 1950's.

 

 

martian 1d.jpg

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Well I have to stand up & defend the Martian heavy wrecker, it was (IMO), speaking as an early 70s Recy Mech, a superb machine & not a pile of s**t at all. (48-BM-14 where are you now).

 

She never missed a beat in the 3 years that I had the pleasure of thrashing the nuts off it. (Which I did with gusto & at every oppourtunity)

 

She started first time everytime, in the coldest of German winters. Great fun to drive & no recovery task was too much for it, winching, lifting or towing. Changing gear in the main box & the transfer box at the same time (two sticks two hands) was a trick I could perform to the amusment of younger recymechs (which in itself sounds odd being only 21 at the time).

 

Definately a nicer machine to operate for recovery purposes than the Militant Medium (IMO).

 

I once came across a yellow Martian wrecker in civilian hands at the Driffield truck show. Of course I had to have a shuftie around it. I was dismayed to see the operator had got the rear spring locks engaged for no apparent reason, when I asked him why he stared at me blankly & asked me what I was talking about. It says more about the operator than the vehicle.

 

H

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I once came across a yellow Martian wrecker in civilian hands at the Driffield truck show. Of course I had to have a shuftie around it. I was dismayed to see the operator had got the rear spring locks engaged for no apparent reason, when I asked him why he stared at me blankly & asked me what I was talking about. It says more about the operator than the vehicle.

 

Hi i guess it was the one i owned but i don't remember a conversation about the spring locks. If you read my post i have actual said i have a soft spot for the martian range of vehicles and that they were a very capable vehicle when given a task to do. But i think you will have to agree they were extremely demanding to maintain to manufacturers standards.

 

As an aside to this if memory serves me right the recovery range of vehicles used a completely different chassis to the others being much heavier from the cab backwards although sharing the same drive train

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:-D:-D

 

So - you could buy a load of sh*te, spend a load of £ and do a total restoration to concourse condition , and still be the proud owner of a load of sh*te!

 

It's a good job we're romantics isn't it? :-D

 

In my case the vehicle was fine but some of the engineering such as the compressor drive and the steering linkage could only have been designed by a certain H. Robinson. The brakes were light years ahead of anything Scammell offered but even with the twin accumulators great care had to be taken not to run out of power steering. The fairies visited most nights and glued the clutch plates together but that was easily resolved by giving it some stick with the clutch pedal down.

 

The recovery variant weighed in at 23 tons and with a 10ton class casualty on the back had to make do with a pair of bored out Champ engines nailed together. However, with mega low gearing it could pull just about anything if you had the grip and plenty of time, max net torque was 257ft/lbs for the B80 rising to 315ft/lbs for the B81.

 

The cab is very similar to some 1950s Leyland trucks so I suspect they were built as chassis cabs not chassis cowls.

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I have to rise to the defence of the Martian , I used one for recovery ( I converted from Gun Tractor ) and found it to be very reliable. Never had a prob with steering , in fact it was lighter than my RL recovery :wow: even with a second ballast front bumper and 6foot tall V plow on front

You had to watch it with the brakes if she hadnt gone out for a week or so , as the drums would rust and untill bedded in again were a bit lacking ! mind you pushing in the clutch was like braking due to trans drag etc . I used to park with stick holding down clutch pedal , and always warm up with main box in gear and transfer in neutral , couple of tips I got from a TA guy . One thing you never worried whether it was capable of dealing with whatever you went to , uprighting milk tanker , double decker in a ditch , loaded Antar , car transporter in a stream etc etc did it all , mind you not with much of a rush :-D

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