Antony

A bit more progress is being made on the Autocar, random examination of big end bearing caps and main bearings have shown the crankshaft and bearings are in very good order, The oil pump has been taken apart and cleaned, the sump replaced, as has the timing gear cover with new oil seals. A replacement compresser, a new water pump and new exhaust system have been fitted. The starter motor has had a thorough examination and bolted back in position, connected to a battery and with spark plugs removed, it spun the engine over and oil pumped up. The next step is to fit the ignition system, mount a radiator, fill it with water and try and start it!

Top marks for spotting and identifying the upside down Ram. As Adrian has said rolling it over enabled us to do the underside welds, which were on the new sponson plates.

Thanks Adrian, yes that makes sense.

I wonder if anyone can identify these brush guards, I found a possibility for the first one in Vanderveen's Directory, but have no idea about the second.

Indeed there was.

Thanks ABN for the Kokoda story, I felt very humbled watching it and it only increased my admiration of the WW2 Australian Soldiers. I visited Hellfire Pass three years ago and was very moved by the experience, to see how these brave men had hacked through solid rock with hand tools. The second picture shows how holes were driven into the rock to put explosives in. One man with a sledge hammer, another holding a steel bar, turning it with every hit and believe me the rock is very hard. It is so peacefull and quiet down there but it was a very sobering experience.

Methinks the second picture is reversed.

They might be inside the tank!!

Here is a picture of what was the largest collection of US 6 trucks in the UK in recent years, I think there had been eight at one time, but dispersed now.

Thanks Arnd, very interesting pictures, Tony

The Brothers Beke, John Claude, and Gerard, Roy Baker, Too Tall Mike, Chris Barton, on the last visit. A lot of the vehicles and parts had gone by the time this visit was made, but it was still very impressive, and I consider myself lucky to have had the chance to go and see it and come back with a small amount of goodies! Tony.

I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Mr.Beke senior started the company soon after WW2, buying war surplus American vehicles and spares, refurbishing the vehicles and selling them to the French haulage industry. I imagine this lasted quite a few years untill the French commercial vehicle production resumed, and then I assume French built trucks were bought and sold, cars were certainly broken for spares. The site, being on the outskirts of Paris was required for I think, a tram depot, and had to be cleared. There were a large number of vehicles, mainly French built, with some American WW2 vintage, most of which were cut up for scrap, but the amount of N.O.S. spares had to be seen to be believed, indeed the advert on Milweb said 400 tons unfortunately I think a lot of spares went for scrap, but Jaap Reitveld told me at Stoneleigh that he had aquired the remaining 4 Ton Diamond T, and Autocar spares.

As Adrian has started the M10 restoration thread, I have some pictures to contribute. Starting with the M10 in the field, Adrian getting the M75 out to move it into the yard, and finishing with a period car someone turned up in.

I found these pictures yesterday of the Rotating Cradle we built about ten years ago to position this Sherman Hull to replicate the original welds in the factory. Adrian designed it and had some 12x5 channel rolled into four horseshoe shapes which I welded together to form the circles. The hull is bolted to plates through the road wheel bogie positions, the cradle rotates on Sherman road wheels mounted on brackets held together by a frame. Adrians calculations were spot on for balance, we could rotate it with the forklift and lock it in any position, which is exactly what was done in the factory on the production line.

Here are a few more pictures of the Ram, although as Adrian says it will not have a turret, the base for bolting the turret ring down was damaged in several places and needed attention, so we cut out the damaged areas and welded new sections in. The last two pictures show one of the idler brackets after being riveted, the interior, and the riveting equipment.

Thanks sirhc for the identification, and yes Tugger it is at Pin Mill, and I would be interested to know why it is there. Tony.

Can anyone tell me what this is? It looks a bit like a LARC but has an inverted hull on the top which hinges down to the side.

Here is the next sequence, the new side plate on the radial drill, the new floor section going in, and then the side plate being fitted in reverse order to removing the damaged section.

Here are some pictures of the removal of the side plate. We used one of the wheels in a frame bolted to the front to support the floor, and to enable the hull to be moved. The section to be replaced was gas cut out, and lowered down using straps on the forklift.

Hi John, The clutch is free, and seems to be in good order, but an in depth examination will follow. I don't envisage much progress in the near future, untill the weather improves. Tony.

Not much progress recently, the weather is too cold and damp to spend much time in an unheated grainstore! However, a doner cab has been aquired which will give some much wanted parts and patterns.

I wondered if anyone could identify this bowser, I have no idea of its age or history.

Hi John, The Hercules RXC has not had hardened valve seats fitted, the seats were in good order apart from some rust through standing for about thirty years, which is understandable. We have heard that the RXC is prone to burning valve seats, but it will not do many miles anyway due to the expense of running it at about five miles to the gallon. We saw an RXC in Mr. Beke's yard in Paris recently with one of the heads removed, it had hardened valve seats and one of them had come loose. Thanks for your interest, Tony.

No photograph this week, but the timing gear cover has been removed to reveal the gears and shafts all in good order and new oil seals fitted. All the valves have been ground in and cylinder heads torqued down.

Thanks Andy. A.