Great War truck

Well you are quite right about the Thorny and the Ford. The rear wheels on the Ford look like they came off a piece of garden machinery (no idea what though). The owner of the chassis, which is just the chassis, axle and wheels thinks it is worth a pile and wanted £3,000 for it. I am sure it is still there. Tim (too)

Here are some more to identify. One particularly easy one in this lot: Tim (too)

MDJ have been supplying these parts for quite a while now. I wonder if that enquiry from China was to compete against them. Interesting that they wont supply engines. Is making replacement engines a viable project? If so, how much should they cost and are there any legal implications? I understand that there was a quality issue with MDJ replacement tubs for a while. Has anybody fitted one? I bought some MDJ bumper gussets and they rusted up so quick it was quite frightening. Tim (too)

I have just been trying to identify that one and there is not really enough there to give a clue. The front scuttle looks like a Liberty B, but the springs are not big enough, so i wonder whether it is a Light Aviation? Interesting. Unlike the British, the AEF knocked down their trucks into large components, boxed them up and shipped them overseas for assembly. Most of them would have been reassembled at St Nazaire in France. At the end of the war only a few were taken back to the US and these were boxed up again and sent back. I also read that the MTC had too many trucks in the US, so dismantled some, boxed them up and packed them away for storage, taking them out again as and when they were needed. I met a Dutch man who said that he once bought a Liberty B still in its box in Colorado, assembled it and later sold it on. True or not, i dont know, but certainly the amazing Furrer collection was in Colorado for a while and he had 11 Liberty B's in his museum. You never know. Tim (too)

I was wondering what they would do to protect them. The owner is as you can imagine quite protective over them. Great photos by the way Tim (too)

An incredible story. Pleased to see that some lottery money has been put to a good cause.

The Heavy Aviation was built (much like the Liberty B) as a standard design by a number of manufacturers - Federal, Kelly Springfield, Standard, United and Velie for use by the Air Service. You will see that it has AS on the rear bottom of the cab. This was drilled into the side as opposed to having it painted on. I presume that this would prevent pilferage. It had a 4 cylinder Continental E4 engine displacing 349 cubic inches. It carrys on the back the standard B Type wooden body, which is the same as used on the Liberty B, although the Heavy Aviation is in fact a smaller truck. Interesting to see the Indian Head Divisional insignia on the side of the truck, which is quite uncommon. I know of three survivors although two of these were in California and photographed 20 years apart it is always possible that it was the same truck. One in France is being restored. It is quite likely that there are more survivors still lurking in France. I hope that helps. Tim (too)

Yes, it is a "Heavy Aviation". I will give you more info on them when i get back from work later. Tim (too)

I thought the event was next weekend. Oh B****r it! Tim (too)

Here are the newly made (well in 1992) Autocar wheels made by a local wheelwright. Luckily the spokes are a lot narrower and less challenging for him. He did rather a good job. It was a shame that we had to cover up all that fine work by painting them. Tim (too)

The owner is doing a restoration and i am fairly certain that he had the hubs and rims already. It was just a case of copying the old wheels construction and making new parts accordingly. I would think that the wood would be Ash, but Steve might have a different opinion. In the USA they would have probably used Hickory. Hang on, i think i am going to have to look something up in a book now. Tim (too)

I dont know anything other than he said he had them made. We had 4 made out of Polyurethene and they cost about £75 each. Not sure of there wearing abilities yet, but similar ones are used for fork lift trucks. There is a guy who makes them out of rubber and turns them down on a lathe, but he charges about £1,000 each for them. So about £4,000 of tires there. I understand Rick that you used rubber from tank wheels on your Albion, but isnt there a chap in Australia who makes them from rubber? What sort of price are they? Tim (too)

This is an interesting picture and worth athread in its own right. The owner is restoring an early Belsize and has been unable to get any wheelright to take on the manufacture of new wheels for him (too wide and spokes too big and numerous, apparently). So he bought a book on the subject and two weeks later on he and a friend had made these. If you set your mind to it anything can be done. Tim (too)

Churchill wanted to use gas on the Germans, but was dissauded because of retaliation. I think that he would have used the A Bomb on Germany, but only if he knew that there could be no comparable retaliation. Tim (too)

This film is on BBC1 tonight. Basically it is a modern day film where Dragons come back to life and destroy most of the world. For some very strange reason a bunch of US National Guardsmen fly to the UK to take on Dragon Central which is of course in London. The National Guardsmen arrive in the UK, with some Chieftan tanks, Humvee, Stalwarts, a Kraz and some Urals. Makes me wonder if they stopped off at a tank museum on arrival. What does make the film interesting is that Preston Issac, Tim Isaac and Alec Small were in it as drivers/mechanics. Oh yes, Matthew Mcconoughey (whoever he is) was in it as well. Alec worked out that if spoke a certain number of words he got paid extra money, so he rewrote some of the script: Mcconoughey (under attack by Dragons): "Devide, Get the tank going" Alec: "It wont start" Mcconoughey "Whats wrong with it" Alec "Well i dont really know. It could be the tappets. I mean the British Army couldnt get them to work reliably, and that was when they were new. Here we are 30 years later on in Wales, and there are no spare parts and no trained mechanics - what chance we have got" McConoughey "Run" Alec "Aaarrrrrrrgggghhhhh" Well its a rubbish film, but if you have nothing to watch it is mildly (only ever so slightly, mildly) entertaining. Tim drove the Chieftan. Alec was Chieftan crewman. Preston looked on dissaprovingly as film crew men butchered privately owned MV's. One case in point was i think a Range Rover fire appliance. At the end of the shot the vehicle was totally destroyed (blooming dragons - never work with animals or children). The Director says, "right get it fixed, i want to retake that shot tomorrow. Not a good advert for film companies wnating to hire your MV's. Tim (too)

I stumbled on this website relating to a private collection of WW1 artillery. Quite amazing. Quite fancy some of this to tow around the rally field. http://www.lovettartillery.com/index.html Tim (too)

Very good Alan. Well done. It is indeed a Dennis, but a smaller one than our three tonner. It is either a two tonner, or a fire engine, but many of the fire engine chassis were taken on by the WD and fitted with a GS body. This one interestingly has military pattern wheels, so its history is a bit uncertain. The current owner has plans to restore it, but i think he is short of a number of parts which will make the restoration problematical. I beleive that this one was once owned by a Mr Harris of Portsmouth who has restored a number of other WW1 vehicles. Tim (too)

That is very interesting. The Russians did have some from WW1, but i was not aware of them ever being put to any use in WW2. The Germans used one in the defence of Berlin against the Russians and i have seen a picture of that destroyed in the city centre. I will see if i can find it. Tim (too)

Good guess, right type of wheels. Wrong chassis though.

Yes, you are quite right Alan. And what's the other one?

Quite possible. Either that or Zebedee has been nesting there. Tim (too)

Good guess, but no. Geographically very close though. Tim (too)

Certainly looks like an early sub engine and the only one i can think of that fits the bill is Holland 1. Tim (too)

Number two might be a bit easier: Tim (too)

I thought i would post a few photos of things that have turned up in the UK. Anybody want to have a bash at identifying them? Incidentally, i dont know what some of these things are. First one: DTA does present a clue, but it wont tell you what the truck is. Tim (too)