Great War truck

Good question. Without the pressure the press just drops down and forces the water out of the cylinder in to the tank. Unfortunately, the tank does not have a drain plug so that has to be syphoned out. A real cold freeze would shatter the tank so we have to be careful.

What years was he in Turkey?

We had the full team assemble at Barrys place for a tyre pressing day. Really pleased that Barry put a block and tackle on the press. A little disappointingly the first tyres just dropped on to the wheel so we had to take it off and rip up some of Barrys prized canvas to fill the gap. It was all wet so it will help rust everything together. Then it was all hands to the pumps: Once that was on we put the second tyre on top and broke for tea Then back to pumping again: With great success and merriment all round: We then unloaded it and did the second one: With the benefit of hindsight we should have dropped it straight into the trailer. Instead we parked the trailer below an earth bank and rolled the wheels across a plank and dropped them down. Now Dad just has to unload them. Another pending big task is to select the best back axle, clean it up, paint and attach to the springs. Soon be on all four wheels again...........

Actually, I don't know if this counts as a barn find as the owner knew he had it. I understand that it drove into the barn but has not been out in 25 years. Any thoughts or observations please? Located near Evesham. It might be for sale if anyone is interested.

Nice job Tim and Richard. I would be a little cautious about burning of the waste like that especially with the possibility of unexploded ordnance lying around or just beneath the surface.

Try the Landships forum. A great deal of information on trophy guns on there http://landships.activeboard.com/p/recent/

I presume that all of the rocks balanced on the tracks were there to hold down a now long rotted away tarpaulin - as opposed to either a poor attempt at camouflage or to stop the thing blowing away.

I found this link on Landships and thought it well worth reposting here. There really are not many surviving tracked prime movers from WW1, but it is amazing what still turns up (in France). http://www.maquetland.com/article-phototheque/7385-schneider-cd2-montpellier

We collected the new rear tyres for the Thorny today –these are of polyurethane being a much cheaper option rather than going for rubber which really would be preferable. We did this for the Dennis and they have been absolutely fine. No skidding or slipping. They are a little shiny before they are run on the road but they quickly become dull after just a little use. The “poly” has been bonded to the original steel bands – the old rubber on the bands was removed by the “poly” manufacturer so we did not have to do that on this occasion – they are “tooled up” to do this sort of thing and they tell me that this something that they do every day! The bands have to be sand blasted and be very clean for the new “poly” to bond. Next step, take the tyres from Devon to Bedford to get them pressed on to the wheels again!

This super Berliet CBA is up for sale on Milweb at the moment. The price of 20,000 Euros does not seem unreasonable especially with the tumbling exchange rate http://www.milweb.net/classifieds/large_image.php?ad=75753&cat=3

I thought I should copy across the photos from E bay in case it disappears: Looks to be in super condition although the tyres look a little odd. I do hope someone buys it. Dave, you are right in saying that "pig tail" type hooks were used on US trucks, but Pierce Arrow did use the swinging on the shackle pin type instead and these were certainly seen on trucks in US Army service. If it has come from Canada it would be very unlikely to be ex British, but if it is from 1919 then it is possibly not military, although of course the US army did keep buying trucks after the armistice until they negotiated their way out of their contracts. Lots of interesting WW1 trucks still in Canada, but the numbers are getting less all the time (so I am told) ; )

It would make a good location for an MV show but I cant see that happening. They hold several vehicle events each year so MV's could form part of a larger show. Here are a couple more photos from Guy. I don't know where the Dodge, Land Rover and Ferret came from: The K2 belongs to David:

Seb just brought this to my attention. From the shape of the angles to hold the rad protector it looks to be ex US Army. Quite a lot of money but less than the Banfield one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131394740309?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Some more photos from the same yard:

We then returned to Bicester, but passed lots of classic cars going the other way. I think the cold weather had put them off. Strange really as almost all of them were wearing Irvine jackets. Many of the buildings are undergoing restorations and we thought they were doing a really nice job. The ultimate aim is to give these buildings a real purpose which will ultimately save them. The owners appeared to be really throwing a great deal of money at the site. It made for some great photo opportunities, but sadly I was so cold I couldn’t hold the camera firm and did not take many photos: Buildings under refurbishment: Had no idea what this building was. Had very thick blast walls: Just post WW1 “Fire party hut” (sounds fun)

Each year Julian of the NOC MVT organises a frost bite run to blow away the cobwebs so to speak. This year it coincided with the Bicester Heritage open day (brunch). Bicester is a remarkably complete RAF airfield which is now being turned sympathetically into a historic vehicle restoration park. More of that later though. I usually miss the road run as I am away but this time it worked out quite well and promised to attend. However, this morning when I got up it was minus 4 degrees, the roads were covered with ice and everything with thick frost. With a little trepidation John and I set off in the Jeep for the 10 mile journey to Bicester, but had to stop every mile or so to wipe the windscreen clear of ice. I had some diluted antifreeze which we put on the windscreen which fended off the ice for a while but we then resorted to driving with the windscreen open which was invigorating! The ice was not too much of a problem but I did manage to spin the back of the Jeep right out as I made a sharp right turn. All very exciting. We arrived at Bicester Homebase right on time and met up with a further 18 vehicles for the start. Spot who came in the most weather appropriate vehicle! Setting off went well for the first hundred yards and then I took a wrong turn following two others which took a little while to sort out. Someone nearly pulled out into me, beeped at me and then chased me down the road overtaking me then blocking the road, getting out and shouting at me. Unfortunately he thought my passenger was driving instead of me so seemed a little confused when I apologised for nearly crashing into him. As John and I walked towards him in a friendly manner and he then noticed another Jeep with three passengers was parked alongside him he hurried back to his yellow Volvo and drove off. After about 10 miles of frosty lanes we stopped for some photos:

it looks like a lubrication trailer has been mated to another chassis, possibly a searchlight trailer. Can anybody id these please? Will be for sale if anybody is interested.

I went out to have a look at a yard which is slowly being cleared. Amongst the contents was this eagle trailer. Actually I don't think it is an Eagle trailer although it has Eagle trailer wheels. if anybody is interested contact me and I will pass on the owners details: Tim

The second was treated in similar fashion and was eventually extracted A quick run through the hole with a reamer and two stub axles are ready to fit. The steel is currently on order to make up some new ball ends after which it will be time to start looking at the track rod and wheel bearings.

The lower bush was pressed in using a steel bar and a bit of plate from above as, rather surprisingly, the bush is flanged on the upper surface. A little bit of hand scraping to ease them and the pin was fitted. As you can see, the ball joints are pretty bad so Steve cut them off with the angle grinder. He managed to loosen the nut but the ball still required drilling before it would move.

Our target each Christmas is to reassemble something significant and this year is no exception. We want to get the engine sealed up and ready to go in and also fit the front axle and stub axles. To that end, Father has been pressing on with the stub axles and has turned up some new bushes to match the skimmed king-pins. The original top thrust bearings were part of these bushes but, unfortunately, are rather beyond salvage. Not surprisingly, they proved unobtainable to replace so Father has turned up plain bushes with a shoulder to suit a modern thrust race as well as the more conventional plain bushes for the bottom. Steve pressed these in using his 10T press in a remarkably small space on the garage floor.

The little device mentioned in the previous note has been partially cleaned and this has revealed some engraved or stamped writing on it. Unfortunately, an interesting part of the writing has been worn away. The Manufacturer’s name appears to be “Hulco” but the interesting part after that is not readable. Anybody got any ideas? And has anybody identified what it is for?

A rather unusual arrangement of studding to hold the bits together where the studs are not in line and where they overlap. A later “modification” perhaps?

This little device was inserted between the manifold and the “short pipe”. It was not connected to anything and some further research required here to identify it!