Great War truck

Once the blocks have been taken down to their final finished overall dimensions, the following machining operations remain to be done. A curved bevel of 2 1/16" radius has to be machined on the top surface to allow for any movement when in use. The centre of the bronze has to be bored out to 7/8" diameter to take the Coupling Shaft Pins and the oil passage ways have to drilled. Steve will machine the 2 1/16" radius in Leicester - he has our Rotary Table with him up there - but I have drilled and tapped the blocks 3/8" BSF through the centre of the blocks just where the 7/8" holes will eventually go, so that he has the means through that to bolt the thing down whilst machining the radius. Boring them out to 7/8" after that operation will just take that threaded hole away. We need a piece of 7/8" diameter Silver Steel for the Coupling Shaft Pins - and uncannily, I have this in stock already. Many years ago, there was a firm called "Whistons", who have long disappeared from the scene, who dealt mainly in Surplus Stock and I think that it is as long ago as 1975 - or even before that I bought a box of "mixed Silver Steel" from them. It was mainly in small diameters of up to about 3/8" maximum - but included was one 13" length of 7/8" which I thought that I would never use......................

Four other parts of the Coupling need to be made and these are the Coupling Shaft Bronze Blocks. The Coupling Shaft Pins are located within these and they are designed to tilt slightly in use as needs be to compensate for any movement within the Coupling Tubes. The finished overall dimensions for these "bronzes" is 1 3/8" x 1 3/8" x 1". Some years ago, we saw an off-cut of a Bronze Bar for sale on an Auto Jumble stand at the Great Dorset Steam Fair - it measured 3" in diameter and was about 10" long and cost £25. We had no specific use for it at the time, but bought it as we thought that it might come in useful one day! And several years later, it has! Two slices of 1 3/8" length have been taken off it with the band saw with a small allowance for final machining. The two slices have to be split longitudinally but these were turned in the lathe to exact finished length before splitting them to save machining them in that direction when they were in halves. They were then cut again longitudinally with the band saw after that turning to final length. . The four halves then have to be roughly taken to the finished sizes but with final machining allowances included by either milling or with the band saw. Whilst the band saw was in use, a further slice was taken off the bronze bar for the nut on the Water Pump which will be required shortly.

What a great question. Had to get my calculator out for this one, but averaging 42 a day equates to one every 34 minutes. But the 15 different manufacturers had their own production rates with Gramm-Bernstein and Pierce Arrow averaging out 4.4 a day each while Kelly Springfield were doing just 1.3 a day. You are quite right as to the design technique. The Army got a group of truck manufacturers together and told them to design a truck for the Army. The Liberty is what they came up with and what a cracking truck it is.

Hi Roger I have just got back from two weeks in Springfield IL to see the family. A bit fresh this time of year. My plans to go to various museums were all scuppered by the ice and snow. Good luck with your restorations Tim

Tony has made these eight screwed rods to hold the two "tubed " sections of the Universal Coupling together - four in each. The drawing should make it clear.

Indeed. By a remarkable stroke of luck i have all the US truck production figures for the US Army in WW1. 9,452 Liberty B's were completed by 11/11/18. The total number of US trucks built is staggering. Little wonder why many of these firms went under following the wars end.

Fairly certain that it is not Rouen as that is where the British vehicles went. Almost certainly to be Le Mans.

There was an article all about it in Classic Commercial last year. What were the colour schemes of the trucks? Dark green and yellow writing? Wish i had bought the magazine now. Loads of famous stars. Interesting to see Sid James playing a thug.

Hell drivers. One of my favourite films. next Jeep i get i will mark up as the Hawletts run about.

The Pierce Arrow one is similar but there are a number of differences. Wooden wheels would suggest that it is either an early European built one, or a US built one up to the end of the war. I have compared it to the war time US built ones that were so common in the UK from 1919 by Riker, Packard, Pierce Arrow and Liberty and it is different to those, so i think it is something a bit more exotic. But i am no further forwards.

Can anyone identify what truck this axle came off please. Thanks

And then there were two:

Here are some more pictures of the coupling being made: Or is it Tony just manufacturing swarf?

I have been away for a while, but now i am back i have a massive pile of photos to add which i thought i should start on. Here is the clutch being fitted:

Well i went out this morning. Dug the car out of the snow. An hour later and after having travelled 30 yards, i dug the car out of the ditch we had just slid into and then drove home to more Disney. It does not seem to have affected me yet, but i am getting a bit worried about it all.

While i have spent the last week snowed in doors with my daughters and neices, unable to do anything MV related, with only limited computer access and my grip on sanity becoming rather tenuous, i couldnt help but notice that the Disney character Princess Jasmine really is quite a hotty. However, although i find Jasmine very attractive, i would certainly lean towards forming a long term relationship with Princess Belle. I feel that her interest in books and her Fathers inventiveness would certainly allow for a happy relationship with us and a large collection of military vehicles. Please let me know if you think i am being ridiculous. It has crossed my mind that Belle would never leave her current man. Him being fabulously wealthy, owning his own castle and all that stuff. Tim

Very good. Probably the best WW2 movie that was filmed in Southern California. Here is another one (assuming anybody can still drag themselves off the sofa). "Shuddup Kirby"

As Steve says we went to see it last year when we copied the Dennis water pump. sadly it was in a dark shed and not very photogenic. I have just submitted an article on Locomobile trucks for MMI, which may appear in print about March/April time. Tim

It is a lovely clear image Jim. if it was you who won this on E Bay i apologise for bidding the price up so high. Tim

No one has had a guess at this one yet. It is one of my favourite WW2 films and this was said by Driscoll who was played by Bob Newhart. As a bit more of a clue. Driscoll (if i remember correctly) had got lost in his Jeep and ended up on the front line. The Seargant took the exhaust off the Jeep and made him drive up and down out of view of the Germans to give the impression that they had a tank with them. Tim

So, has it arrived yet? Tim

Great stuff. I look forward to seeing it out and about.

A friend went to see it and was seriously looking at buying it. He came to the same conclusion as all of us, that it was too much money. There are still many more tucked away in France i am sure.

Yes, thats right. Try this one "Reinforcements! No we dont need anymore reinforcements. We have no room for them"