Great War truck

Mike Banfield must have found a job lot of those Old Bill mascots as they appear on most of the radiators of his ex WD commercials.

I know an old friend of his deceased Father Keith Lawler and who has some photos of them on MV tours together.

I can advise you that an engine, gearbox and other bits have all been located and it is currently being restored by a member of the forum.

What great news. Well done. I have always found it helpful if you have a dog on hand ready to bark at it.

The Garford? From about 1914 or so.

I think it is worth it. Mind you it is not my money. If it wasn't for the lottery restorations like this would either not take place or take for ever. It does help that it is 2014 and the lottery had earmarked funds for WW1 commemorations. I am sure they were looking for a landmark project such as this to spend their money on. The Royal Logistics Corps should have put in a bid to purchase and restore a WW1 military lorry for their museum. Now is the time to do it. By 2018 everybody will be sick of the Great War commemorations and the lottery money will have gone.

I mentioned a while back that the Dennis had to find a new home to make room for the Thornycroft. This is where we collected it from about 15 years ago: Now it is back, only looking a little different now:

With all of these positive waves around you are going to go on forever.

Photos from Abbey Hill. With a borrowed gun it looks great.

Sorry for the slow update. It has taken me a while to recover from the weekend’s excitement. We loaded up the Dennis to be sent up to London on Saturday lunchtime. We then travelled up to London, spent the night in a hotel and met up with the Dennis at about 6:00 on the Sunday. There were eight WW1 trucks booked into the event but unfortunately two were withdrawn at the last moment – the Maudslay and an AEC Y Type. Raf Leyland A second Hallford from 1913 with a bus body: The Grundons Pierce Arrow: As we unloaded and joined the Pierce Arrow which had made it ahead of us we were joined by the Crossley, a Hallford and another AEC Y Type. We left in convoy with the AEC in front followed by the Hallford, then us in the Dennis and then the Pierce Arrow. The Crossley left a little later then overtook us all. After we had been driving about 30 minutes we went past the Daimler Y Type coming the other direction. The view of four WW1 three tonners driving along through London was something not seen for a long time. A shame that being part of it made it difficult to photograph. On the way the Dennis was not working as it should. We stopped it and topped up with water: The problem was later identified as fuel starvation which was easy to resolve: As we drove down into Brighton we went passed a wrecked car in the road. Someone had pulled out in front of the Hallford bus cutting it up and was then rather surprised to find their car written off as the Hallford could not stop. Damage to Hallford was minimal luckily. We arrived in Brighton shortly before two having finally caught up with the Crossley and the Pierce Arrow and were then joined by the Hallford and the AEC which had stopped for some minor adjustments on the way. The Daimler was the last to join us. It was great to see so many WW1 vehicles together. Six to beat for next time.

On the previous photo I would say that it was the US Army Motor Reconstruction park probably at Verneuil. I can see US Army FWD's and other trucks with US style brush guards. The third FWD from the right which despite having a British style body has a US QMC symbol on the side. The Peerless has British markings as Alan says but the AEF used a fair few of these purchased from the British.

Crossley Tender and Leylands. Super.

Does anybody know anything about D Wickham & Co. Ltd of Ware whoy made Rail Trolleys and for a relatively brief spell in the 1950’s they made lightweight Dumpers – Mark I to Mark 5 built between 1952 & 1957. Thanks

Ah, but look at the body types on the FWD's. Both have US steel ammunition body. There seems to be a mixture of US and British trucks there.

Steve and Tony have been in Devon getting the Dennis ready for the Brighton Run next Sunday. This has gone OK and they found some time to have a look at the Thorny front axle. Steve started by cleaning up the stub axles and then putting the micrometer on them. The left hand one is 0.025” out of round which we can live with. However, the right hand one goes from 0.040” to 0.090” out of round at the inner end which definitely caused them some concern. With the right machinery, the stub could be skimmed to straighten it up but this would need a 12” centre lathe which we don’t have. They therefore decided to have a look at the trailer converted axle to see if the stub on there could be used. On that axle they found the bearing surfaces to be excellent but unfortunately, neither stub had the steering arm which is part of the original forging so no joy although the axle did yield the cover for the thrust bearing. They then proceeded to rescue the last front axle from the undergrowth. This was the one which came with the original set of parts from North Wales in 1989. Steve polished up the stubs and found that the LH one was very pitted and no better than the one we had previously removed. However, the steering arm stub polished up well and was found to be no more than 0.005” out of round and to be parallel within 0.005” as well. This is ideal so the problem is solved. The next challenge is to remove it from the beam. They started this afternoon but, as usual, it will be a fight and battle will resume tomorrow.

As there only appears to be two blokes working there I think they will have a job for life.

It is the Lebanese "Hizballah War theme park". There is a clip of film about it here http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,593331362001_2013651,00.html So, no one bears a grudge then and they can all be friends again........

I think that lot is in the Lebanon. It was more of a way of demilitarising the militias than art. If it is to be taken as art then it is a rubbish art.

Thanks for everyone's responses so far. I will dig it out this weekend and have a look for the date.

We will have to begin to think about body style for the Thornycroft soon. What do you make of this one? Sliding windows would be quite useful.

We took the opportunity of looking together at the “new” front wheels for the “Thorny” where you may recall that the hubs are badly worn and will need some work before they can be used. We have decided to use those wheels but get the hubs “skimmed” out – we reckon by about 5/32” – where there is enough “meat” to allow for that so that the bores are true again. New Bronze bearings will have to be made with an appropriate larger outside diameter to fill the larger bore. We had to have the front wheels of the Dennis similarly bored out as they were heavily rusted. Before that was done, we removed the old tyres from those wheels and had the wheels sand blasted without the tyres. That was the mistake as when we refitted the wheels with new tyres, the new tyres dropped loosely on to the wheels – and we had to pack them out with a steel shim and canvas. All of the rust on the wheels helped to keep the tyres firmly in place and the sand blasting had effectively reduced the size of the wheels. So with the “Thorny” wheels, we shall get them sand blasted now with the old tyres left on to protect the rims – prime the wheels to protect them from rusting and arrange for the hubs to be bored out– and then get the old tyres pressed off and the new ones pressed on. With sufficient man power available, we lifted the front axle out of the shed so that could also be prepared for sand blasting. The King Pins needed to be taken out and the stub axles removed – we knew from previous experience that King Pin locking bolts can be a devil to remove but were agreeably surprised when the nut on the first one easily unscrewed and the bolt just knocked out. The retaining bolt on the other side was a completely different matter. Whilst the nut came undone, there was no way that the bolt could be knocked out – heat did not do the trick and we eventually screwed the head right off the bolt – so drilling it out was the only answer. We went in half way from each side, gradually opening up the drilled holes so that there was only tiny bit of the walls of the bolt remaining in the hole. These were knocked off with hammer and chisel and the remains of the bolt eventually came out. On the side where the retaining bolt came out easily, we found that the bolt was 3/8” in diameter where it should have be 7/16” – the bolt on the other “tight” side was in fact the correct 7/16” diameter – and that is why it was so much tighter and had to be drilled out. We guess that some time during its working life, the mechanic working on it at the time had the stub axle off and possibly did not have a correct 7/16” bolt to go back in the hole and he used a 3/8”one instead – or he found it too tight to get a 7/16” one back in again and used a smaller size for his own convenience. As the bolt was undersize, the King Pin had revolved where it should not have done during its working life and that would explain the wear on the bolt which is clearly visible in the photograph. The “working party” has dispersed again – but there should be two of us here next weekend and for a few days afterwards when we plan to take the axle to a local garage where there is a big Press so that we can use that to get the King Pins out – and also move the Wheels over to the Sand Blaster to get them cleaned.

Predictive texting "naked in the wood"? What sort of texts have you been sending? Thanks. That's really helpful. I will have another look at the handles.

We all got together in Devon this weekend to recover the Dennis from long term storage where it has been for the last six Months. It had to go to make room for the Thornycroft restoration to commence. We filled her up with water and she started on the third pull: We had not seen it since September so we were pleased to find that it was still there, although the shed had been rebuilt around it and had a new door put on. We were a bit concerned that it might not fit but we had plenty of room. After a bit of shunting the next step was to get it out of the yard and on to the road. It was a very foggy day and we had to go a mile down a busy A road and then a couple of miles down a B road. We surprised a few people on the A road. I am pleased to say that my reflective jacket and aggressive arm waving slowed the traffic down for Steve and Tony to get away and I then followed behind in the Land Rover. Steve then serviced the Dennis ready for its relocation to its next new home:

Can anybody id this stretcher. I cant see any markings on it. Thanks

Super pictures. Do you have anymore?