Great War truck

More progress. Steve has made a tap for the petrol tank. This photo shows his against a copy of the original drawing. To be correct, our scuttle required a general instruction plate on it. We had an original which was very badly damaged, but from that could copy the lettering. A friend redid the artwork on his computer and we sent the artwork to a firm that makes these enamel signs. The whole thing was not cheap, but the end result is very pleasing.

I have a friend who was with the Flying Tigers in CBI. He laughs when he hears this sort of thing as he said that several of their aerolanes were pink. They had been painted in red primer which had gotten bleached out and they never received the top coat of paint for them as everything was in such short supply. Tim (too).

So. have you ever come across the remains of any WW1 trucks on the ranges. I was told of a Thornycroft with an AA gun mount still on it surviving somewhere. I personally doubt it, but you never know. Tim (too)

What sort of licence do you need to drive a half track in the USA (illinois to be accurate). My wife, who is of US origin (part of my plan to set up a system of bringing back WW1 US truck parts to the UK on the cheap), mentioned again today that we move to the USA. The bad side is that it will be a right bogger trying to get to work. The good side is that you can buy a 4 bedroomed house and a couple of acres of land for about £60,000. Since we bought our house 10 years ago it has more than doubled in value which leaves me to think that i might have some money left over to buy an expensive toy. Possibly a half track and maybe a Liberty B as well, oh and i will be taking the Jeep with me. Thoughts anyone? Tim (too)

Hiya Bridget What a suprise seeing you post here. Now what sort of military vehicle can i tempt you with? Something with wheels or tracks, armoured or soft skin? Lots of people here ready to sell you something! Tim (too)

Good point. But due to the nature of the construction of the M1 canvas bucket, i believe it would only be possible for it to be erect if either full of liquid, or if it were dangling. The picture says it all but i have taken on board your comments. Tim (too)

After starting what must be one of the longest running, most viewed, politically incorrect topics i am pleased to say that i have the proof. Below is a picture of a WW2 M8 with a bucket dangling from the back. Not a tow hook i agree, but surely evidence enough that this practice was undertaken in the US Cavalry. I claim the prize which is a refurbished Carter Carb for a jeep (bet you all wished that you tried a little harder now). Thanks for everyones input on this, the world is now ever so slightly a less mysterious place. Tim (too)

Good question. Steve is as you say a bloody good engineer, he is the driving force behind our restorations, a visionary perhaps (no not a missionary) as he can see trucks when any normal person can just see piles of rusted metal, an altogether bloody fine bloke and my brother to boot. One of his favourite sayings is "I am an engineer, i can make anything" and you know, i think he is right.

There is a chap called Berni the Bolt who sources most things for us. We have however cleared him out of certain threads and sizes, so i shop abroad. Anyway, with a wife, two kids we have (had) a very big luggage allowance between us. The time before last i caused lots of trouble and had to remove a WW2 generator from one suitcase to a spare folding suitcase that i had with me. It was very stange but the internal security men passed it so it must have been ok. Anyway, while on the subject of posting, Steve has been working on the fuel tank. He had the steel rolled by a chap near him. He spun the ends on his lathe, and they were a perfect fit first time. Clamped the ends in place, drilled holes, secured with bolts and then rivetted the holes up. To do this he made a special jig for his vice, looking like this: The completed end looked like this, which he then soldered to make watertight: And after he had made and inserted a fuel filter the finished fuel tank looked like this As you can see it is being tested for leaks - just the one found. The end result is a new fuel tank exactly to 1918 drawing specifications. It is now sitting in red primer and once mounted under the seatbox, it will never be seen again. Shame!

We always go for the correct threads for the correct vehicle, some of which are getting a bit hard to find. We seem to have made a lot of friends though who quite regular turn up with boxes and tins of really ancient nuts and bolts. In fact we had a big delivery today from a chap who used to own a gargae and is constantly finding them. When i go to the USA i usually come back with a suitcase full of nuts (square) and bolts which you cant get over here any more. When i go and stay with the In Laws in Springfield Illinois i visit all the hardware stores and clear them out of certain sizes and threads, giving them a year to restock before my next shopping spree.

Then after a lot of trial and error we managed to get the finished bonnet into place, which now looks like this: This picture does not really show the size of the thing, but the top of my head almost comes up to the base of the radiator cap. It is a big old thing and nice to see it coming along

We had one original bonnet catch from which Steve made three copies, looking like this:

It is been a while since i have updated the restoration on this one, so here are some more photos of what we have been up to on the Dennis. We have an original bonnet for the Dennis, which was kept with the Dennis engine in its previous incarnation as a water pump. It was very twisted, rusty and bent and looked like this:

Quite right. It is also intereting to see that the black troops were terribly mistreated by black MP's. However the black MP's were allegedly picked by white officers who did not rate high intelligence as of great importance.

Back again. See i told you, but it seems that this only applied to the British Army. I was watching the "Colour of War" on Sky a couple of days ago and it showed an M8 with a canvas bucket dangling (in the extended position) from the back. Just having gotten a cavalry book for Christmas ("through these sights") i had a look in there and there was another M8 with an erect canvas bucket dangling from the back. Maybe it is just the cavalry, but i think that this shows that such a concern did not worry the US Army in WW2. Will get you a picture later on. Tim (too)

I totally agree with that. A superb book. Tim (too)

Berni I was given this recently and it is utter rubbish. Incorrect in so many areas and the story revolves around the murder of a rear canvas bucket dangler while a conchi Police Officer trys to work out who did it. Just a load of rubbish. Avoid at all costs.

Damn right John. At our meetings, if we have a new member i usually go and sit with them that evening and try to introduce them to everyone and make them feel part of the group and appreciated. It's just rudeness and ignorance to ignore them. I dont think this is an MVT problem as a whole, but i think a lot of people do not know how to behave in a polite way (ignorant bar stewards). Tim (too)

About £10,000 would be tops for that judging by the description. Tim (too)

Peaks and troughs just happen and it is very difficult to find a reason for it. When i joined the Devon MVT i think we had just peaked and then things started going wrong and the club split (hopefully nothing to do with me). After a rough patch they seem to be doing well again. I think to be really succesful you do have to put in a great deal of hard work and have a lot of luck. In N Oxon and Cotswolds we are certainly on the up. From humble beginnings 12 Months ago we had nearly 50 attend our last meeting. We have had plenty to attract people including great talks, a quiz, film, guided tours, road runs, barbecues or maybe it is just meeting in the Hook Norton brewery that does it for everybody. It is hard work to keep it all going, and to keep people coming. So Area Secretarys and Chairman really do deserve any praise that they might get. AGM next week. Will anybody else stand for election. I certainly do not expect them to, but i dont mind being Area Secretary for the time being. But some day i will want to pack it all in, so time to start preparing my successor. Tim (too)

Thanks Lloyd. There were a couple of other pictures, but for some reason or another they have dissapeared. "Expired Account" it says. Tim (too)

The G certainly gives the impression that the MVPA are in a bad way, and do you know what, after reading all the posts i still could not work out why everyone was so upset. My thoughts are that any organisation such as these that can produce so many rules, regulations, by laws etc are doomed to failure. I must say that i can see no relationship between the MVPA's problems and the MVT. The MVT certainly does not keep a $900,000 bank balance and we argue over much more important things "My jeep is older than your Champ - therfore dont park next to it" as opposed to "as soon as me and my buddies gain control of the MVPA think of all the things we can buy on our expenses account". Weird world. It would seem that no one in the MVT wants a position of responsibility while the MVPA members love it. Tim (too)

I didn't go. I had bigger fish to fry. Here are a couple of the things that i was looking at with Steve. I must add that this was in total darkness with only a tiny torch and my camera flash for illumination. And before you say "what a load of old rubbish" say to yourself "He who is without something rusty in your shed, cast the first stone". By the way, these photos were not taken in my shed. Tim too. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/DSCN3815.jpg[/img] http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/DSCN3822.jpg[/img]

I can say that when setting up our new area that we received a £50 grant from the MVT to cover the setting up costs. Very generous of them and i did not expect to receive it. They also covered 50% of the area banner, which is also very good of them, but i guess it advertises the MVT as much as the area. Tim (too) Incidentally Berni (very nice to meet you too by the way - such flattery, what can i say, healthy living, diet, exercise, crisps and cider all keep my skin youthful looking - i am actually 53!), do we have a date for Kemble next year as i have just been invited to Tankfest 2007 and dont want to clash.

Yes, a very good idea. We should set some ground rules, give it a while longer to get everyones story in and then do a vote? Tim (too)