Great War truck

Nothing to do with me Jack. Speak to Mark.

Marcel has put me on to a couple of interesting items. Steel ammunition body as used on Quads and FWD's. I have been told that about 16 of these were recovered at the same time having been used as paint stores in a factory. One thing they have in common is that the back doors were all removed. Two are already in this country and here is another one up for sale: http://www.leboncoin.fr/equipement_auto/529417657.htm?ca=15_s 2,000 Euros is perhaps not too bad a price. The next thing is a pair of TBC Whites: http://www.leboncoin.fr/collection/529844358.htm?ca=15_s Both look very restorable, although I would prefer a nice set of solids as opposed to those pneumatics. A case of mix and match. 15,000 the pair. Not unreasonable. Thanks for telling me about these Marcel. Tim

Put me down for the Cranemobile and Zil. Both look to be very useful around the yard. Thanks

Bad news is that I found nothing at all. Good news is that I didn't spend any money. Much like last year really.

Was the Defence Department D^D marking only applied to vehicles still in Australia?

Yes, very interesting. Thanks Tim

you are right. All gone now though. Bill knows all about it and I am sure will come back with some more information soon.

On pages 95 and 96 of this blog, we were talking about vehicle and engine numbers stamped on the chassis and we did say that we had the front half of another chassis and that we would look for the numbers on that one. They have been found but are very badly corroded – although we can see that there is an identical layout there of the particulars in exactly the same positions as on the complete chassis and photographs of which have already been posted. When this half chassis was obtained, it came with the original scuttle – or dashboard – which originally carried two brass plates – one was the Thornycroft Makers Plate which was already missing when it came to us – but still in position was the brass plate on which had been stamped the engine and chassis numbers – and these are quite clear. With the information on the brass plate, it is easy to reconcile that the numbers on the chassis are identical. We have chassis number 5578 and engine number M4 3840

The chassis number appears to be 1791 – but I think the first number could be anybody’s guess! Could it be a “4”? There was some discussion earlier about the rear hooks on some Thorny’s – ours has the “Pig tail” variety – though one of the hooks has become “uncurled” at some time during its lifetime. Another job to do!

A Holt (a ten ton one I think) was on e-bay a few years back. There is another one at Hayes truck museum.

What an incredible collection of vehicles. lots of ex military stuff there. I think I would go for the US Army steam crane if I could get it home and had somewhere to keep it. I wonder where they got the V1 from.

Yes it is very similar. I think you are right.

We are getting to a very exciting time with the Thornycroft restoration. In a few weeks time the plan is to have a reshuffle and make room in the central bay for the J chassis to be fully dismantled. We thought it would be a good idea to get the chassis ready for the move. We put it in to its current location nearly 20 years ago and since then things have been stacked on it, under it and in front of it, so getting it out is going to be a right old job. The first thing to do was to find it: In here somewhere: After half a day of ripping out the weeds and brambles we uncovered the spare parts pile: Another half a day and we uncovered the chassis and had a massive pile of plant life to dispose of. How many axles can you see: Springs have spread more: I had forgotten about the crack. Nothing that cant be fixed though.

Thanks for the pictures. I have no idea what the mystery truck is. Certainly not a Halley or a White. I will give it some thought.

I am sorry but you do. Your Crossley tender would make a nice addition to Brighton even if the car is not eligible. The Beamish idea sounds great but it is going to be a very long journey for many WW1 truck owners which I think will put them off. Do keep us posted on the forum about that.

Yes, very nice. Are those the same trailers as the Ordnance trailer which featured on here some years ago? http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?30029-US-WW1-Ordnance-Trailer&highlight=artillery+trailer

The ball ends were dressed with a file before cutting off and silver soldering in the handles. Washers and spring cups were turned and the square holes were broached before final assembly. The four taps are now safely stored pending final assembly of the engine.

Steve then wanted to drill the cross-hole for the tap which he was keen to get in the middle. To do this, he used an ‘edge finder’. This is a marvellous device in the shape of a small cylinder of known diameter, held on the end of a spindle with an internal spring. The cylinder can float sideways slightly. The spindle is placed in the drill chuck and, with the chuck turning, slowly brought into contact with the job. When rotating, the cylinder will be seen to be off centre but as it comes into contact with the job, it will come more closely into line until it suddenly jumps sideways. At this point, the outside diameter of the cylinder is exactly touching the job. It remains only to remove the edge finder and wind the job across by half of the diameter of the cylinder and half of the diameter of the job to leave the chuck exactly over the centre. In the photo, you can see that the cylinder has just jumped across. This is a wonderful gadget and I don’t know how we ever managed without it. Steve drilled the hole through and then used a home-made reamer to cut the taper. This was repeated for both before he turned up the actual plugs themselves. Again, the square and cross-holes were cut in the dividing head and the hole for the handle was held in the machine vice.

Like many early engines, this one should have a priming cock mounted over each cylinder in order to be able to add fuel directly to the bores to ease starting. Ours were all missing or broken off. However, we were fortunate that one had been used as a drain tap in the bottom of the sump. Although leaving the engine on the ground had knocked it around a bit, it was still usable and provided a pattern for the replacements. A good hunt at Beaulieu Autojumble turned up another, with a smaller thread and the remains of the knob. Father tracked down some knobs on Ebay and Steve proceeded to make up two replacements. The main thread was cut first on two blanks. Then a piece of hex was drilled and tapped and left in the chuck. The blanks were screwed in and the profiles machined and filed by eye. The cup was cut using a ball-ended end mill and then the chuck was unscrewed from the lathe and mounted on the dividing head in the mill for the flat to be cut.

We have been invited to dozens and dozens of small events, all of which would be nice but we just cant do. I was expecting an invite for something big in London, but no sign of that yet. Most WW1 trucks owners are not military vehicle people but commercial vehicle people and are therefore more inclined to do the HCVS London to Brighton run. Saying that we are contemplating having a gathering of WW1 trucks at Duxford next year, but that is just an idea that is being mulled around.

That's nice. Don't think I have seen one like that before. Have you got a chassis number for the Packard. We should be able to date it from that. Good luck Tim

Thanks. Those are very interesting. Not sure what the third one down is. Not a Thornycroft. The chassis rails have the channel facing outwards so could be a White or a Halley or something else altogether. Anyway. Thanks for posting and PM sent. Tim

Thanks. PM replied to.

Steve is very much in contact with the team at the Coventry Transport Museum who are restoring a Maudslay WW1 Army Lorry – they are pushing on very well with it and hope to get it finished for next year. They visited us here in Devon earlier this year and took the Dennis on the road so that they could sample the delights of WW1 Army motoring and so that they could see what was in store for them when they have completed their project. Like us with the Thorny, they are short of a steering wheel and one of the pictures shows the state of our original Thorny one that we have which we think everybody would agree has passed its “sell-by” date! The Maudslay steering wheel is very similar to that of the Thorny and Steve has offered to make the pattern for our steering wheel now, which is really very much a long way down the road for our project, so that they can have a casting taken off the pattern for the Maudslay. The second picture shows the original Carlton Colville Thorny steering wheel – though we imagine that it was not originally bound with plastic tape! We made a steering wheel for the Dennis – that one was a five spoke wheel whilst the Thorny and the Maudslay both have four spoke wheels – so a fresh pattern has to be made, So far only the metal frame for the pattern has been made – again laser cut with the spokes cut where they join the hub so that they can be “dished”. The pattern will again be completed with MDF with that steel frame and the process was explained on page 104 of the Dennis thread.

Yes indeed. Taking just the one is bad enough. I think the plan will be to take just the Dennis, but the WD Autocar is an alternative as that always runs sweetly. Our FWD is a big no. It just does not like getting hot. Getting it there once was hard enough but I am pleased we did it.