Great War truck

Some more photos of the engine dismantling.

Here are a few more photos of the engine strip down

These are great looking models. Nice job!

I went down for the day yesterday. Fairly quiet I thought. I normally come away having seen at least one MV that really caught my attention but this year nothing. Very little tracked armour in comparison to previous years. Number of stalls down. A lot of big names absent. Still enjoyed myself as I met up with lots of friends. The show is shrinking for certain. I would give it another go next year but I wonder if there is a better show that everyone is now going to. Here are a couple of photos of things that caught my eye on the day:

That is a shame about Bill. I think he had two more FWD's. Have you had any contact with a Ron Brasil who I think had six Model B's?

It is looking really nice. Do you know which company made the workshop body for it. There should have been an ordnance plate on it but that may have disappeared. There is a similar bodied FWD out in California. I cannot remember the name of the owner. Have you made contact with him?

On the Sunday we took the lorry to Haslebury Mill which is a round trip of about 40 miles. The Thorny performed wonderfully and we were very happy with it indeed. It attracted a great deal of interest at the mill.

Here are some photos of us putting up the complete canvas for the first time which we were very happy with. Jim from Allied Forces made it and it really is an excellent piece of work. Thanks Jim. We then took it out for the road test on the Saturday. Started off with a one mile run, followed by two miles, followed by a 15 mile run. All very good.

Thanks Richard. it was a very satisfying moment. Hard to think back how far we have come with this. Steve said it was like driving a new lorry. A couple of little snagging points that we still need to do, but we are nearly there now. From all the team we would like to thank the readers of HMVF for their suggestions, positive feedback and support. We really appreciate all of your comments and we really appreciate how you keep coming back to check on progress. I will add some more photos later on. Tim

We took the Thorny out for a quick test run on Saturday and as nothing dropped off or otherwise went wrong we took it to the Wessex MV club gathering at Haslebury Mill today. A 40 mile round trip. The lorry performed almost faultlessly and made no issue of some of the steep hills on the way there and back. This was marvellous as we were a little cautious as to whether sleeving the engine might have reduced its power. Here we are on the way back through Axminster:

I can see 27,582. What is the first digit in front of the 2? If it is 227,582 it was made October 1944 If it was 127,582 it was July 1943 If it is 27,582 then it is May 1942 Doesn't really help you though. Could it be a replacement chassis? Were replacement chassis shipped out during the war and would they be stamped with the original number but in a different location? Seems unlikely.

My understanding is these cans were used from before WW1 up until the 1950's. How can you tell that this is a WW1 can? Here are some photos of one of mine.

That is an interesting Adlake lamp. it has the twin prong fitting and also a single bayonet fitting in the middle. Quite unusual.

Well maybe a few years ago. We are older and wiser now.

It would make a nice shepherds hut or a load of razor blades.

Dad, always looking for new exciting things to do thought that he should start cleaning the Fly Wheel. The back of that was full of congealed crud - oil had dripped on to it over the years and that then mixed with dirt/sand/ any other rubbish and had tuned it all into what was like thick concrete. He chiselled it away all afternoon – absolutely solid and would not give up easily. It could also do with a good sand blasting later on if that is practical. If sand blasting is not possible, perhaps it will be easier to clean it properly when it has been taken out. He found that a lot of this crud had been painted grey – obviously when the lorry was last painted the then owner decided to paint everything without cleaning it! DSCN7900.JPG.c63fm8t - Copy.partial

I should have guessed. Thanks Alan. A bit more of a market for them in the UK.

Who owned this lot? Do we know?

It looks wonderful. Well done both of you.

Using the magic of modern technology this should hopefully be a clip of it starting for the first time since the rebuild.

Well that is good news Rob. I look forwards to seeing your updates. Cheers Tim

Thanks for posting that John. What a super photo and piece of history. I am pleased that you enjoyed this thread. Here is another one of NZ forces entering Cologne with Dennis

That's it. Thanks Alan. Made less than $10,000. Seems quite reasonable. Lots of other interesting stuff in the auction as well. All went for very little.

Bottom one is a Reo. Top one, mmmnnnn,

I think that it was in Berkshire. Are you seriously interested in it?