Great War truck

There more popular/successful publications have been saved and a trimmed down version of H&C survives. Thankfully that includes Charge Utile and GBM. http://www.histoireetcollections.com/en/41-magazines Some of the more obscure titles have been dropped, but I guess that is understandable

Great news. Hope to see it reunited with the chassis. Tim

Here is the story. Hard times, local opposition and a planned early retirement: https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2016/08/01/a-collection-nearly-40-years-in-the-making-the-contents-of-the-normandy-tank-museum-head-to-auction/ With the exchange rate what it is I do not see much of this coming to the UK.

That is the Normandy tank museum at Carentan. Is it closing or just having a clear out?

I was asked an interesting question (well, interesting to me, but to everyone else please replace the word interesting with obscure), as to who made the brush guards fitted to US Army trucks in WW1. As you will have seen Ian Morgan is restoring a Liberty b truck which came with a brush guard which has the name “Cambria steel company” on it. However, I think this was just the name of the steel manufacturer. I have had a look at some of the different brush guards used by the US Army and note that they are generally all quite different so I suspect they were supplied by the manufacturer as opposed to a brush guard contractor. Any thoughts or observations please. Thanks Pierce Arrow: White: Packard: Liberty B Gramm Bernstein: Heavy Aviation: Locomobile: GMC: Interestingly, the two trucks used by the US Army which appeared to need a brush guard the most (FWD and Quad) were not fitted with them outside the USA. Quad: FWD:

Now that is very interesting. Do you have any photos of it? Thanks Tim

Nothing quite like that. The more usual place is the front hub like this Stewart Warner:

Now it will all make sense: This was the house that was demolished to reveal the Dennis chassis (with diff) which features in one of the first Dennis posts. I received a super e-mail from HMVF member Phil B who knows the owner and over the last 40 years frequently sat above the chassis drinking cups of tea with him, little knowing what lay beneath. He corrected me on some of the facts. The Dennis was at Porthtowan (not Hayle) and it was saved by Laurence Fleming who contacted Nigel White of Winchester who recovered it and delivered it to us. It is a fantastic story and a very small world. Thanks to everyone for reading this thread over the years. With the restoration complete and the thread not having many new posts I am still amazed at the number of hits it gets on a daily basis. Anyway, this post brings us almost full circle. Until the next time……….

Actually, you are not too far wrong with that. Here is another photo showing where the magic happened:

Now here is an interesting development: Oh my. Look at the time. I have an early start tomorrow. Good night chaps.

Going through the photos there seem to have been at least three slightly different designs of footstep. This is what Steves would have looked like or something similar.

Incredible project. Good luck.

It appears that the original Plate had a raised “boss” under the Drain Tap and we have tried to replicate this on the new plate. A piece of steel bar in the chuck was turned down and threaded to match the thread in the plate – the plate was screwed on to this with a lock nut also put on to further secure it – and the face was turned down to leave the small centre boss.

The Plate was cut from a piece of aluminium plate – the plate was not quite as thick as the sketch specified but it was deemed thick enough to serve the purpose. It was marked out with a compass – sawed roughly to shape and finished off with a file. The Plate was set up under the Drill – drilled 15mm and tapped 3/8” BSP. The Tap to thread the hole was held squarely in position by using a centre in the Drill with the point of the centre in the end of the Tap. The Tap was then advanced by hand to cut the thread, with the centre slowly wound down to match the progress of the Tap, ensuring that the thread would remain square. A suitable Brass Drain Tap was found at an Auto Jumble some time ago and was ear marked for this purpose.

Just another silly little part made up and placed to one side until it is required – which hopefully will be very shortly! The Parts Book describes this as the “Blank Flange Plate” which is attached to the inner face of the bottom Radiator Tank and covers a large hole left in the Tank – presumably for wash out purposes, but in this Plate, there is a threaded hole for a Drain Tap. Steve has sketched out the part for the Axminster Division to make – the photo shows the same fitting on the Carlton Colville Thorny

The Filing Buttons were then put back in and the end attacked with a big file to get nicely rounded ends. The retaining cord in the slot then removed with hacksaw and file. Trial assembly then done – looks to be OK. The Core has gone for soldering – we look forward to its return so that the final assembly of the Radiator can take place and we can give the lorry a proper face!

The work piece was then set up in the four-jaw so that the neck could be machined on the outside and threaded 3/8” Whit on the inside. I await a long-series Tap so that I can go all the way through with the thread as it has only been threaded 1 1/2” deep so far.

A suitable piece of steel bar was found for the Jaw end and marked out for machining – two main holes were drilled at this first stage – one for the pivot pin which will hold it to the Eye Bolt and the other one at the end of the slot to leave a nice smooth curve there. Other smaller holes were drilled to remove surplus metal before milling. The slot was not fully machined out at this stage as the end will spring open when cut through and the resultant cord is left in situ until nearer the end of manufacture to hold it together. Filing Buttons are used to obtain the radius at the end.

We showed some pictures of the rear end of the “Radiator to Scuttle tie bar” last month and in particular the bracket which attaches it to the Scuttle. In his posting (No. 2145) dated the 8th May, Gordon asked if the front bracket assembly at the Radiator end was identical – and it is not! The Rear Bracket bolts to the scuttle but the front one is actually a special Eye Bolt which screws into the Radiator Top Tank. We did not have one, or the remains of one to copy and some photographs of the one attached to the very original Thorny at Carlton Colville were of assistance to us together with the picture of it in the original Parts Book, This special Eye Bolt screws directly in to the aluminium of the top tank and is designed to receive the front Jaw End piece on the Tie Bar. We had a piece of bronze of suitable size for the Eye Bolt and deemed in sensible to make it out of bronze rather than steel, bearing in mind its location to delicate aluminium and the hot water surrounding the threaded end it when it is assembled.

That's nice to see. I didn't see the Knox box in the auction. Steve and I have been looking at the W&T photo of this vehicle when it was complete and we can see that the Maudlsay radiator is not the one that was fitted at the time. Because the Knox box (in Sox - apologies to Dr Seuss) is in the chassis I presume that was the one that was used when it was last operational. If that is the case did the Maudslay engine, rad and gearbox come from another Maudslay chassis? These appear to be the same as the subsidy pattern, so if anybody has a WD Maudslay chassis they could be used for bringing that back. The truck has always been referred to as a Knox Maudslay, but is the front chassis really a 1920 overtype Maudslay bus chassis, or might it be something else? Just a thought. Tim

Sorry. The book Ships without names gives the history of LST's not LCT's.

Here is some more information that I found on another website. I cant get my head around this rear spring arrangement. Not seen anything quite like this before:

Here are some photos of the Maudslay/Knox at the sale. It had been dismantled and partially restored. The front of the chassis has been replaced with the Maudslay as you can see here. The Knox chassis is surprisingly short and narrow: Interesting adaption to make them fit together: The rad, engine and gearbox were all Maudslay: There seemed to be a big pile of bits, but were the wheels in a different lot as they did not seem to be with the lorry.

Have a look in Wheels and Tracks number 25. Quite a good amount of information there. Don't bother with the ATHS or JOT. They have nothing. The odds are stacked against you.

Is it the one which sold at the Keeley auction?