Great War truck

I bought my Jeep site unseen from a small add in a magazine all the way from the USA. Fantastic Jeep when it arrived though. Might not do that again as i am very wary of fraud now. Find most of our stuff by word of mouth and just good luck. Tim (too)

My understanding is that during WW2 the Canadians objected to putting what they viewed as a "US Star" on their vehicles so they deliberately put it on up side down. I have seen several pictures of these on WW2 Jeeps. Tim (too)

Fantastic post this. Well done! The stone looks like the sort that has been taken out of a church or memorial hall. Churches are being turned into houses more often these days and you wonder what happens to all of the memorial tablets like this. I understand that the CWG have a place of storage for keeping old memorial stones which have lost their place of residence. It would be nice to find a better location for this one though. Tim (too)

In a word no! However, i do know that the Peerless was running some years ago and does not seem to have turned a wheel under its own power since the early 80's. It is chain drive and the last time i looked at it the chains were seperated and hanging from the drive sprockets on the back axle. I dont think it had broken it looked like someone had pulled out the split pins and pushed the pin through the chains causing them to come apart. The only reason i can think for doing this was that it was stalled in gear and the only way that you can get it back out of gear is to lean on the connecting shaft sticking out of the gearbox with a crow bar to haul it back into neutral. As it is an armoured car version it must have been a pain to do and i suspect that the driver was unceretain on how much pressure he should apply, so taking off the chains was the easiest option. Does anybody have a connection with the museum and who can tell me anything else about its current ability to operate or not? I spoke to a guy once who drove these in the 1930's and he stalled at a junction. Fine, just get the crow bar to take it out of gear you would think, however he was carrying a load of bricks in the back and the gearbox can only be reached through the rear bed. So he had to move all the bricks out of the way before he could even start. Not something that you want to have to do on a roundabout (must remember to make note for myself, when Peerless is restored, do not stall it - ever and also (based on first hand advice) - do not ever try to bump start it). Thanks for the post Jack Tim (too)

Constructor?

I couldnt agree more with you. He did not have enough info for a book, but little things like that are of great interest. I have driven past the Westlands factory a thousand times, but never once imagined that the car park was once full of half tracks. There are tens of if not hundreds of thousands of veterans still around and they all have an interesting story to tell. In most instances it will be passed just to family members and eventually forgotten. It is important to try and record them while we can. The IWM recorded a great deal of oral historys in the 60's and 70's of WW1 veterans, but i guess that they were just a minority of those who served. I am sure that they are doing the same with WW2 veterans. One old friend of mine who i know has lots of interesting storys to tell, but generally wont tell them has let slip a couple. One which is quite funny was how he cadged a lift in a Dakota which had been doing supply drops in Burma and didnt have a loading door fitted. Being a pilot himself he wore a parachute (habit i guess). While he was sitting in the back, the pilot did some eratic manouvering and he (along with one other) slid down along the floor and out through the open door. The moral of this story is that not all habits are bad i suppose. Tim (too)

One of the Jeeps had an extra middle light (a number plate light i presume), but no number plate. Tim (too)

Yes, but not a military one. He was offering his services to the members of that club and we paid what i presume was the going commercial rate. I guess that examining old trucks was part of his daily job. Tim (too)

Just had another thought on this subject and as it is quite relevant thought i would mention it. When we restored our first MV (1991) we had to get it inspected to get it on the road. Not being members of the MVT at that time we made use of the services of a local chap who's name featured in another club magazine. He came and looked at the truck, was very interested and we had a very pleasant time. We even gave him dinner. When he came to go he asked us for his fee of £60, which was a bit of a suprise. We paid it but it left a sour taste in the mouth. Now if we had been members of the MVT at that time we could have had it done for free - if only we had known. You live and learn (but generally spend a lot of money in the learning process). Tim (too)

Wow, how cool is that! I dont know a great deal about them other than they made 500 ambulances in WW1, but I found an interesting website at http://www.siddeley.com/company.html which gives a lot more company history. I guess a general engineers would be a good term. Take Foster Daimler for example who would have been quite similar only bigger. During WW1 they made cars, ambulances, trucks, tanks, gun tractors, shells, aeroplane engines, rifles, and numerous other things. An interesting time to be in industry. Tim (too)

There are plenty of them still about. One of them just sent my Father an e-mail with some of his reminiscences. Quite interesting. Houndstone. A little History. Before the War it was an army camp for the new draftees. It was an anti aircraft training camp. Many of the recruits came from the London area and quite a few played in the big bands of that Era. They soon formed a band called the "Searchlight Swingers." Played often at the Westland sports club." Some songs had words very not BBC. Made the girls Giggle. When the US came into the War. They took over Houndstone. Lo and behold they too had a great band. They played at the camp though, and imported bus loads of Girls and any men in uniform from the UK Army. Hence I went often. One night, a raid developed. Really not on Yeovil but the stream used to pass over Yeovil on the way North. The guns really opened up. The US army was also an antiaircraft training camp. The noise was terrific. The building swayed, very few went to the air raid shelters. The band played on, With the concussion and banging the girls clutched tighter. The men were grateful. Looking back how mad it was. The lights swaying and flickering, and for all we knew some of the noise was actual bombing. We at Westland's HG were sort of mixed up with the GIs. I was in charge of a small group on one exercise morning. The enemy, Regular British infantry had already moved on so I got the Confused GIs to sit still in the sunny side of a hedge and wait it out. We shared a firing range with the US army. They let us have ammo which would fit the guns of those with US arms. This were done without paper work, Westlands one time had lines of half tracks, US ones, pour into the yards where lines of welders attached some brackets to each one. Quite a sight. I did not see any paper work enacted. We were all one. Tim (too)

First thoughts. Quite a good coverage on a part of the history of Belsen that I know little about. However, the constant waving around of the camera is really iritating and the constant fast waving of the searchlights in the air is a bit odd. Maybe they should have employed more people with steady hands to hold the damn things still . Not too sure why they would need to keep running the searchlights at high speed over the Kommandanteur? Tim

Jules You have not bought another one have you? I think i might have a book on the subject of british markings. I will have a look. Have you still got my mine book? Tim

Whoops. Just spotted this one. Yes you are quite right, Sidddeley-Deasy for certain. Tim (too)

Thanks for that guys. I will try the ST90 first. This forum is a marvellous way of passing on knowledge like this. Everyone has helped me a great deal. Thanks again Tim (too)

Thats right, 35p a mile. £35 for a 10 mile journey makes it sound like the inspector got his decimal point in the wrong place. I have done one vehicle inspection. A 300 mile round trip and did not charge a penny for it. But i wanted to see the vehicle and was stopping off at the parents place near by anyway. Tim 9too)

Thanks guys, thats a great help. Now the manual suggests an SAE 80 oil. Which one of the following would be the closest choice? Castrol ST90 Monograde SAE90 gear oil for gearboxes and differentials where a non EP gear oil is specified Castrol SAF-XJ Fully synthetic SAE 75W-140 hypoid gear oil, formulated for use in both conventional and limited slip differentials Castrol TAF-X Fully synthetic SAE 75W-90 multi-grade transaxle oil. Designed to help improve cold weather gear selection and keep transmission noise levels to a minimum at high operating temperatures. Recommended where an API GL4 lubricant is specified Many thanks Tim (too)

I have been trying to get some SAE 80 oil. I asked for it at a local shop and was given EP80. In Halfords the EP 80 was marked on the back as a substitute for SAE 80. Now i might be being stupid, but although SAE and EP 80 are basically the same, i thought that EP 80 was acidic and would react badly to the bronze and hence i should use SAE80. Could someone please enlighten me? Many thanks Tim (too)

No on line, or postal bids. You can do telephone bids. Send me a PM if you want more info. Tim

Now dont leave us hanging in the lurch, tell us more. Where abouts and how much? Tim (too)

Yes, it makes you wonder if they are understating the values to pull in the punters. Tim (too)

Just gone through the catalogue again. The highest estimates are on the Kettenkrad and Schimwagen at €50,000 each. Lots of other intersting things too. A great big pile of wirecutters estimated at €20 would be bargian. A lot look to my eye as being ex military and would clean up well to sell on at a profit. Interestingly, some vehicle seen in the background were not in the auction so i suspect that it will be added to or a new catalogue for the next day will be issued shortly. Tim (too)

The auction catalogue is now available on line at: http://www.interencheres.com/ventes_aux_encheres/description_vente_aux_encheres_1clic.php?clef_vente=200711100016&clef_etude=27003&num_art=0&nbr_photos=20&vue=liste#nav If you can wade past all the early bicycles and motorcycles you will find some real gems. Interesting to see a Muzzle brake off of a panther (that will appeal to someone we know) and lots of German tank parts. Piles of German MV's (very nice Kettenkrad) and artillery parts and some Jeeps as well. There are hundreds of lots to look through and i keep spotting something interesting and unusual. If you click on the thumb nail it will give you a full size picture which is of very good quality. Lets get Jack to take a group of us in his GMC to do some shopping and we can fill up the spare space with the duty free on the way back. Tim (too)

Thanks for all that info. Your responses have been most illuminating. I will now sit down and reread it all until it all sinks in. I had noticed the name Herschel which seemed familiar but i could not think where i had seen it before, but that would make sense. Thanks again Tim (too)

Actually, I think that i might have asked this question before. So lets change it a little. What have been the most significant changes to the operation of dynamometers from WW1 to the present day, and how do they work? Discuss? http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/dyn.jpg[/img] Tim (too)