Great War truck

We acquired some photos a while back which showed Bill Davis recovering one of the Peerless trucks which came from Middlezoy. This is the chassis number 3 which was very thin in places and the back end had been cut away. It was quite complete at some stage though with the engine being removed and going into chassis number 1. It looks like it had the remains of the original body on it but beyond salvation sadly. Steve tells me that this one is not the Middlezoy chassis but another one (possibly chassis 1 or 2) which was recovered by Andrew and Mike Simmonds. I don't know the location of it sadly. We will have to look through our papers and see if we kept a record of it.

FWD Model B chassis up for sale on E Bay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/262609728652?forcerRptr=true&item=262609728652&viewitem= Super looking chassis but shot tyres. A Little pricey at $3,300 opening bid.

No doubt the best known of the surviving Peerless is the Bovington one. These were still in service up until the start of WW2. The Austin armour does look a little ungainly on the Peerless chassis. They also have a sectioned Peerless engine. A pity. We could have used that.

How very exciting. Marvellous.

Yes that's right. Some Austin replicas were made for a movie but they were not very good. There is an original in Russia, but I cant think of any others. I found out the location of another surviving Peerless over the weekend. This is a war time one which was fitted with a Gardner Diesel in the 1920's. I lost track of it and thought it had been converted into the movie prop one which was in Michael Collins movie. Apparently it is not so there is a 7th surviving Peerless. I do not know where the A/C chassis came from and I do not have a photo of it either. It was immortalised in the movie at the infamous football match: The machine still lives in Ireland but unsurprisingly the owner does not take it to any shows.

So sorry to here this Ian. All I can say is to go down and collect the items and have a look. They might be brought back. I would also ask the owner what he plans to do about this carnage that he has caused.

I don't think that will do any good. I was a regular contributor to MMI and have submitted five articles to CMV in the last 18 Months and none of these have been published. It could be that he thinks that the readership wont like them but I thought they were interesting. I have always had plenty of positive feedback about them in the past but I wont bother writing any more. It seems that the magazine has been dumbed down and no longer gives me something new.

The Irish Army collection at the Curragh wanted a Peerless armoured car to help complete their collection. Using a very complete chassis which came from Norfolk tank museum (so I am told) they spoke to Bovington tank museum to measure up their Armoured car body. A problem was encountered when it was found that the chassis was too long. It transpired that this was actually a pre war chassis of a slightly greater length. It is a shame that the history of this particular chassis is unknown but it has now been reduced in length and is fitted with a replica armoured car body.

The final example of the Peerless trucks was Michael Banfields which moved to Eire at the dispersal sale in 2014. I have copied this post from an earlier thread: It was rebuilt in the 1960’s and they made a new radiator and bonnet for it. Both are a bit of an odd shape giving a strange appearance to the truck. Anyway, it is quite a handsome truck and very shiny. Worth a few photos. Data plate. Very low chassis number, but gives the date as 1915. Rebuild plate from Slough: Peerless plate on the rear chassis member suggesting this is an early chassis: Post war metal rear wheels: Magneto switch. Not the original one I think, it should be a K&N. Funny radiator: Oil gauge (we need one of these) Petrol tap: Front wheels:

Another example which has featured on the forum before is the one at the Sandstone Trust museum in South Africa. I don't know much about this one other than it used to operate at a brick works.

By my calculations there are six surviving Peerless trucks (other than ours), half of which are armoured cars. This one in the livery of Parkyn and Peters was restored by the father of forum member (“Cornish Maid”) Mike Roberts (I think) and resides at the Wheal Martyn museum in Cornwall. The chassis was discovered under a spoil heap but as the radiator was missing a replacement was made using a pattern made by the apprentices at English China Clay. It participated in the London to Brighton HCVS run about 1988. Here are some photos of it at Wheal Martyn which I visited a few years ago.

It is amazing what an experienced operator can do with a JCB Steve gets behind the wheel for the first time: The complete Peerless went into the car port for protection from the elements. The other parts we piled up around the Thornycroft with the valuable items going indoors. The end result was quite aesthetically pleasing said our Mother (or something a bit like that). The next task (and now quite urgent) was to build a shed to put it all in. Our recent acquisition seemed to comprise the remains of 7 Peerless trucks in all (by counting axles). We had four chassis (including two scrap), one engine, two gearboxes, two rads (one shot) and many many wheels (mostly rotten). Almost enough bits to restore two in all although we had an awful lot of parts still to find. That was nearly 25 years ago and a lot has happened since then.

A deal was done and the whole lot was transported down to Devon. The first to arrive was the half complete chassis. The metal was really in a bad way being paper thin in places and the end of the chassis was missing altogether. It did however have a good gearbox and plenty of useful parts. As we also had another good chassis it was decided to use that one for a second restoration and cut up this one. A difficult decision: Dedication! Working out in the snow to remove parts. Here the gearbox has just been dropped: We also had a 3rd chassis which a previous owner had rather usefully(?) cut up into 6 foot lengths. The completish Peerless was then delivered with the fourth chassis underneath: At times like this you realise how lucky you are to have friendly neighbours with the right tools for the job: The man in the background was “Skip” a nautical chap who represented England in the international gate post leaning championships. You will see more of him.

Outside was a second chassis: Some spare parts. You might just be able to make out an original toolbox lid behind the Springs: An original fuel tank needing some attention: Rear tyre which had had it: A third chassis with gearbox: But which was otherwise a bit past it:

As I was not inclined to pay Photobucket the $1,000 a year ransom for my photos they have blurred and watermarked them all. I do have backups and will try to replace them but this will take me an awful long time to complete. I will start with the Peerless ones. A downside is that it is now impossible to get the captions to match up, but I am sure that you will all work this out. If you need to see any photo specifically please let me know and I will treat that one as a priority. Thanks As the Thornycroft restoration is coming to fruition (well, maybe in another two years or so) I thought that it would be useful to start a thread on our next planned restoration, which is an American built Peerless TC4 from 1914-18. I think it was in 1992 that Tony saw an interesting advert in Old Glory and as he was looking for a retirement project it warranted further investigation. At this stage the Thornycroft had been purchased and Steve was hunting for bits. The 1st Autocar had been completed and we also had a 1944 Willys Jeep restoration in progress. We did not have the big shed and space was at a premium. The advert was for a partially restored Peerless and with additional chassis and some spares which was all located in Shipston on Stour. For those who do not know what a Peerless looks like here is an example: A trip was made up to Shipston to see the Peerless. It was in a shed with not much room so it was difficult to see all of it. First thoughts were that it was mostly there. The radiator had WD and Peerless on the top tank: The water pump had Peerless Trading: Front wheels looked good: As did the rear wheels and sprockets:

Harley Model J I think One of two Thornycroft J’s brought by John: Rowleys GMC ambulance repair truck with body under construction: Gigantic: Foden: Pauls Nash Quad with gearbox receiving attention: Halley: Saurer: GS wagon:

Had a great time at the GDSF and was very impressed with the WW1 display. Had difficulty taking photos though. Too many distractions, poor light, dust and lots of MOPS getting in the way, but here are a few photos. The Garrison brought this T: I really enjoyed driving Sebs AEC Y Type. Very trusting of him to let me have a go with my reputation of damaging other peoples vehicles. Very fast and powerful machine. Interesting to see Les Warrens old Dennis which is now in WD green. Looks a lot nicer than before. Duncans super Daimler CB Ian’s Model T looked the part:

It is owned by Ron Harris and driven by Sam. It is up for sale if you would like to buy it? Over £100,000 I think. Tim

Does anybody know anything about these. A recent find near RAF Enstone. Thanks Tim

Super photos Ian. Never seen 8 QL's together.

Thanks. You are a good chap Ian. I will put the kettle on.

I took the Jeep out for a drive yesterday, I had not taken it out for a while. Topped up the rad as per usual and headed off. After about a mile and while going up a steep hill I quickly lost power until it stalled and had plenty of steam coming out from under the bonnet. Under the bonnet everything was drenched. All the spark plugs were sitting in water and water was sprayed everywhere. Now it appeared that the rad cap had failed, water had come out and then been blown over everything by the fan. I let everything cool down. Wiped up the water, cleaned the plugs and dried everything off. The Jeep started up easily enough I took it the mile home and after it had cooled down put another litre of water in. I have ordered a new rad cap today to replace the original which has always leaked water a bit. So my questions is what might have caused this? Head gasket? Any thoughts anybody? Thanks Tim

I went to the South Cerney Vintage Show yesterday and snapped a few things which caught my eye. A nice day out and several MV's which I had not seen around the area before.

Fantastic to have you join. I would love to see photos of any surviving WW1 trucks in Oz. Speak soon Tim

Thanks for adding these photos. I had never seen these before but it is just as I imagined it from the description. I wonder how they got it up there in the first place.