Great War truck

A super looking US Army FWD chassis. Surprised to see so many bits on it like the gearbox, steering box, American army tow hitch and even the rear lamp bracket. You would be very hard pressed to find an engine for it though. What is going to happen to it? Saved or is it to be cut up? Thanks Tim

Progress has been noticeably slow of late because of other unavoidable obligations which have held us up – but some work has still been going on! The Headlight Brackets have now been fitted and two unrestored Miller Lamps trial fitted confirm that they are satisfactory. We found an acceptable Supplier for the 125 Radiator copper tubes and the 18,000 Gills that we require and they have been ordered – it will be about a month before they are received. We have to thread the Gills on the tubes ourselves after which they will then be sent back to their supplier for solder dipping. All part of the agreed deal. Good friend, BH has kindly offered to machine the top and bottom brass plates of the core on his CNC Mill so that they will be completely ready to accept the “Gilled tubes” for the final assembly of the core. Those brass plates must firstly be used as templates to drill the bolts holes in the flanges of the top and bottom tanks, so that everything will be ready for bolting together when they are finally offered up to each other. Tim came down to Devon for a couple of days last month with the intention of joining Tony in stripping down the Scuttle and its fittings ready for sand blasting and then painting but his visit coincided with a major storm which took a large Apple Tree down at Tony’s and the time intended to be spent on the Scuttle was used instead in “logging” and clearing the Apple Tree. Yet another diversion. The Scuttle is being given priority as we shall need that when the Radiator goes on as there is an essential supporting brace for the Radiator from the Scuttle. We hope that progress will speed up now!

I have been sent the following e-mail and spoken to Neil. I offered to post it on the forum. I have no commection with Neil or the event. If interested do please contact him directly. I am hoping you guys can help me, I am putting on a photographic display at the NEC, Birmingham between the 19th & 22nd of March and would like to include a WW2 vehicle, possibly a Jeep or a Lorry. Can you help me find such a vehicle that could be hired for the show, preferably one that is based in the Midlands to keep transport costs to a minimum? It would need to be available to be put in the Hall (Hall 5) on the afternoon of the 17th to enable it to be in place before the stand builder take over the hall to set up for the show. The show is the Photography Show and attracts many 1000's of people over the 4 days so the vehicle will be well photographed and should attract much attention. We will also be including re-enactors in our display and creating a cameo for photography. We are keen to work with the owner to ensure they also get good exposure for their vehicle as well. The security at the NEC is excellent so the owner would not need to stay with the vehicle unless they wished to, we will be on the stand all day everyday as well. We will also be looking for accessories to help dress the set, things like Camouflage Nets and Table & Chairs etc. Please contact me as soon as possible as clearly time is not on our side for this. My number is 07770 227625. Many thanks in advance. Regards Neil

Thanks. We found the engine number where you described. It has a chassis plate inside the cab but was wondering if that number is stamped on the chassis anywhere. Possibly not. We will go and have a look in the wheel arch for the painted number but I think that it might have gone. It is a fun vehicle. I was quite taken with it. Tim

Fantastic. Thank you. Tim

Lock Brothers plant hire. Thanks. The cab is in pretty good condition. In fact the whole truck is quite good, just needs a bit of a tidy up. Tim

I just went to verify a recent UK import. I was rather impressed and thought it a nice vehicle. I couldn't locate the chassis number apart from a data plate in the cab. Should it be anywhere else? Thanks Tim

A friend recently purchased this Militant: With a rather useful Atlas Hiab on the back. What does this marking on the front bumper represent please: I was searching for the engine number but could not locate it. Whereabouts should it be? Thanks Tim

I have just sent a copy of the manual to Bob and Stefan. Terry, if you would like to PM me your e-mail address I will send it to you as well. Thanks Tim

Yes, it looks like it was. Very nice item. I would like it, but a bit pricey.

Yes, I quite agree. Something about the proportions, where the cab/bonnet takes up more than half of the trucks length they somehow look more attractive to the eye, a bit like the Dizzy T.

I think it is 60 tons but we didn't use anything like that. It is indeed an up acting press. The tyres dropped off without too much trouble which makes a nice change. The next step is getting the tyres made. We are going to try polyurethane which we have used on the Dennis and Thornycroft. I need to make some phonecalls and see what can be done. Will advise on the cost later.

We all had a very good day today. We took the front two wheels of Ians Liberty B up to have the tyres pressed off. Actually one of the tyres had already dropped off but we still had to get the band of the wheel. I have covered the process before on the Thornycroft restoration and it is fairly self explanatory. It was a very successful day as you can see from the result:

I wonder what the origin of those Heavy Aviations were. Bought in the UK or from the surplus left over in Continental Europe at the wars end?

Here are the photos of Stefans FWD: The winch is unusual but I think I have seen that on another:

Hi Stefan I can post the photos that you sent me if it easier? I am scanning the manual so I will send you all a copy. It is something like 230 pages long so will take me a little while to complete.

Which museum is the trailer located at please?

I don't think that they were unique to Kissel. The last Kissel FWD had disc wheels. The wheels seemed to be interchangeable with all models. Are you aware of any other surviving Kissel FWD's? I am copying the manual chaps. It is quite a thick one so will take me a little while to complete.

I have some pictures of it with wooden wheels.

That is great news Bob. I knew it wouldn't be far away from the rest of the truck. I better start copying my manual for you then. Good luck with getting it home. Tim

I think one of New Order (or was it New Model Army?) has an Abbot.

Sorry. No. Not sarcasm. Just a very odd sense of humour. I had to look him up on the internet just to see if it was Motorhead Lemmy. Anyway, was it his own Hetzer or a borrowed one for a video?

Oh, that Lemmy Kilmister. I thought you meant the Lemmy Kilmister who runs the corner shop in Chadlington. My bad.

Lemmy Kilmister had a Hetzer?

I just had a look at Dominques website for this event and he has amassed a super collection of vehicles for this event. http://www.100ansvs.org/?page_id=82 Two (I think) owned by posters on here. Interesting to see a picture of a WW1 German Adler which has been restored. Two trucks shown as Packard, one is not, the other does not appear to be running, but maybe it was photographed a while ago. Three Peugeots! Marcel, is that your wagon?