Great War truck

Anybody go to Beaulieu this weekend? Just got back and i feel kna - sorry quite tired. Bought a fix bale helmet shell which i am pleased with. Came across a 1914 WD marked magento (a G4 i think). Couldnt work out what it was off. I phoned Greatest War truck and he had no idea, so as it was £85 i left it. Probably kick myself later on. Saw but did not buy (mostly because there was no price on them and the guy running the stall did not know what to charge) a 1912 dated WD marked boot scraper. An 18pdr leather tool box. Didnt buy (because at £50 it was too expensive) an empty WD tool box, an empty and badly painted officers mess box for £40 and a badly mauled EE8 telephone for £25. On another stall (French) there was a pile of US jerrycans. Quite nice but price between €45 and €65 each. A Jeep first aid tin €60. I quite liked some NSDAP enamel signs but dreaded to ask the price. Did see and umhed and ahed over was a Universal Carrier parts book. Didnt need it and knew no one who did so left it there at £25. Not a lot of other military stuff, but a fun day out. Tim (too)

Excellent. I note that their is a town called Becket near Newdiwood (and no i didnt make that up) Tim (too)

Thats just because he wanted to go to the annual Folk dancing festival. Tim (too)

Instow?

Sidmouth? No its rubbish. Mind you when i used to work there i used to enjoy my lunch break. Go to the offy for some Scrumpy Jack, then the bakery for a pasty and sausage roll, then down to the beach and watch the Scandanavian language students go swimming and sun bathing. Happy daze. Mind you, the town is rubbish. Is it in the South Hams at all, or are we on the wrong track altogether? Tim (too)

Nice job.

Sidmouth? Have you ever been there? Fowey? Tim (too)

A Corsair? And if it is no to that i will work my way down the list of Yeoviltons other artifacts. Tim (too)

Alan kindly pointed out to me, that as the owner now knows what it is (as we told him) he has put it up for sale. The asking price, well a bit on the steep side €15,000. One of the more expensive unrestored GWT's that i have seen come up for sale. Sadly i did not win the lottery on Friday, so i will have to give it a miss (but there is always next week). Tim (too)

You are not the first person to ask us that. The answer is that in all probability no. We are certain that ours is an ex WD truck used for carrying water, however other running/rolling chassis do turn up in the USA without any bodywork on ocasion. I think it would be ok to armour up a civilian chassis with a replica armoured body as long as it is stated that it is a replica. We have too much to do to take on such a project, although the more i think about it the more fun it sounds. Ideally, i would like to find one of the missing original armoured versions. Examples of which dissapeared in the UK, France, Germany and Canada. Who knows. It would be great if a second one could be found. Tim (too)

You might well be right. Those are very interesting photographs. Which book is that from? With a bit of luck i will see the dealer on Saturday and find out some more info. Will keep you updated. Tim

Interesting photo that. A head on collision between the two. Strange that the wrecks have been made a monument to the graves. Never seen anything like that before. Tim (too)

Many thanks Cat. here are a few more pictures. The headlamps are made by Rushmore and look like this: A close up of the engine, which we had to remove to replace a broken piston ring: And a couple photos of it in its natural habitat:

Yes the wheels do look nice unpainted. This restoration is long finished now, but i have been asked about it so thought i would do a brief summary of what happened. Here is the chassis after dismantling, sand balsting and repainting. Then the thing started coming back together. The seat box is resting on the back for convenience. it would sit over the engine normally. The steering wheel got broken during removal, but a friend made a new one on the original spider. The rad needed quite a lot of work and Steve built a new top tank for it. The engine with two cylinders horizontally opposed site nicely under the seat. This photo gives a clearer view of how the seat is raised. It is on springs and rises without too much effort.

After we got it home, Steve did a bit of tinkering with it and soon got it running. It had obviously been well cared for but well used. Every bit of it was worn out. On the side of the truck was a metal plate indicating it had been in service with a French coal merchant. We think that it was in daily use up until the 1950's, before eventually making its way to the hands of a French collector. The body on the back had been raised with the addition of a second chassis and a wooden wagon body perched on top. It also came with a spare engine fixed to the body. After getting it registered we ran it around for a little while, then Steve started the restoration. The first major problem was the wheels. We had new ones made to the correct pattern by a local wheel right. This made travelling in it much more enjoyable.

The Canadian military Autocars were best known, but the UK was also a user with 454 being purchased. 265 of these were used on the Western Front as water carriers and 189 used in East Africa as GS trucks. This is we are certain the sole survivor of those used on the Western Front. As a water tanker truck is of little use and as the original body was missing we set about restoring it as a GS wagon, like this one:

The Autocar is our favourite truck in the collection. It was very well designed and engineered and is never any problem. This August we started it up for the first time in 12 months. The second revolution of the handle it fired up just like that. It seems however the Autocar is not just our favourite as i have now had requests from three different chaps asking for photographs so they can make a model of it. It is not ours that they wish to replicate, but one of the Canadian armoured versions that looked like this: They all had the same chassis and running gear, just a different body. I asked Tony to look in the manual for schematics and he came up with these. I hope the modellers find them of use and those who like full size models find them of interest. Perhaps they will post pictures of their completed model once finished. Tim (too)

I would certainly steer clear of Belgium if i were you. I understand that there is long running legal dispute over true ownership. Last thing you want is to take it on and then find that someone else has legal title to it. Tim (too)

There is a similar building as part of the tank museum there. Is it the same one that survives? Tim (too)

Sorry. That is the only info that i have at the moment. I hope to find out more in due course, so will keep you updated. Tim

This will answer your question

This add was at Great Dorset steam fair. No price though. I hope you can make out the picture as it is a photo of a photo. It seems to be mostly complete except bodywork.

Here is a picture (thanks Nathan) of Akerman Street airfield. All that remains is the peri track and a few buildings. It had a grass airstrip so i suppose that remains. Here is an aerial photo of the US Field Hospital. Planting trees over the top did a good job of camouflaging it. However, woodsmen have now strted clearing the site. Whether for a cash crop or for redevelopment i dont know. Basically it is everything on the left of the photo under the coniferous trees. The water tower and ward photos were taken at the top of the wood beside the road. It looks like there are many other things to see, so i hope to go back in the Winter when all the undergrowth has died down. Tim (too)

I look forward to seeing the photos of how you get on. As it came from the USA and then went to Iceland was its re-entry into the USA prohibited, as i understand that you cant take US armour into the US anymore? Good luck with it. I will enjoy seeing the updates. Tim (too)