Great War truck

The owner will sell it for scrap value.

See! Its not just me! I thought i was going mad. Even jack thought i had lost it. Ha ha. I am vindicated. Another pint of cough syrup at the bar please.

Well just the usual cough syrup and brasso mixture. i think i will go and have a lay down now. Tim

You probably didnt see them then and they have now gone (deleted?). Posts extolling the virtues of Fiat cars started appearing in different threads.

Is HMVF under attack, or has Jack entered into a new sponsorship arrangement? I am reminded of the Jonny English film "British Intelligence in partnership with Toshiba". If the former it does not dispose me well to Fiat.

Thanks guys. Tim

Anybody like to have a guess at what this was: It does not have long left for this world Tim

I would have gone for the Mercedes myself.

Thanks Richard and Alan (who responded by E-mail). That is very helpful. Tim

Wartime dated, but the tools must have been very short.

Steve reported just a few days ago that we were unlucky to accidently push the Autocar into the Dennis and damaged one of the Lucas 722 Side Lamps on the Autocar. The brass rim had actually split and it rather looks as if a new rim would have to be spun up – a time consuming exercise in making the “chuck” for that although the actual spinning exercise would probably not take quite so long! Well yesterday, Tony went to an Auction and picked up a pair of 722 lamps – complete and handed – although rather dirty for just £50 – and this included a third lamp in the same Lot which is a Ford. Nobody else bid and that seems why we were so lucky in getting them so cheaply when they sell for considerably more if and when you can find them at an Autojumble. So for a short term solution and to save time for the other projects going on, we can take the front rim off one of the newly acquired pair and swap it for the damaged one! We assumed that the Ford Lamp was from a Model T but looking at those now, it seems that they are round in shape whilst the one that we have is square in shape. Has anybody any idea what it could have been used on?

Not a lot going on at the moment where we have all been diverted into other “pressing” things! However, some engine bits have been cleaned and painted ready for re-assembly!

You are quite right. I think the technical term is a "Bitsa". I understand that apart from all the replica parts everything else is original parts, just not original to each other or in fact the Thornycroft.

That looks nice. Thanks for posting that. Tim

Great photos. I certainly dont like the look of some of those tools in the urinary case.

If anybody is having difficulty seeing the movies on photo bucket let me know and i will try something else. Thanks Tim

Just around the corner the engine started popping and banging and was generally gutless. We found a useful field gate to take refuge in: This was the first time we had been out with the new magneto. it started well but the timing was not right so had a quick rethink. A journey home too get the old magneto and we switched them over being careful not to upset the timing. It took about 30 minutes to do and then started really easily. What a great sound. Then reversed out back into the road and we were off again: This time running much better. Click on the photo below: Mark had already arrived in the field to get a taste of what conditions were like: The question is how do you get a three ton lorry on solids through a very muddy field. Well, it is all about driving style. Click on the image below to show Steve's positive driving style. And this is where we came to a stop. Or more "where the mud gained an upper hand".

Hope that works for everyone. If you click on this image it should show you the Dennis running nicely. But that didnt last very long.

This might be a long thread so i will post it in little chunks in case i start losing bits of it. Anyway, as you may remember we fitted an impulse starter on the magneto which made it a little easier to start. If you click on the image it should show you.

We collected the cylinder blocks yesterday following the cutting of the recesses at the feet of the bores to take the flanges of the cylinder liners – so that the liners will lock in. A nice clean job made of it by another of our good friends, Andy who is tooled up to do it! The four sets of new piston rings for the intended reduced bores of 4 1/4” (instead of 4 1/2”) have arrived – we are now ready to order the liners. We delayed doing this as Steve who has done all the calculations over limits and fits wanted to be really sure that he had got them right but says that he is really confident now! Another job coming on is to make a pattern for the new pistons and get them cast. With the re-assembly of the engine now being thought about, it was decided that it would be a good idea to clean up and paint the rear of the flywheel at this stage as that would be difficult to get at when it is back on the engine. It was quite rusty and has been cleaned up with a fierce rotary wire brush, washed down with cellulose thinners and then given a coat of Bondaprimer. One part of the rim of the flywheel is quite pitted and presumably that part of it had been sitting in the ground for many years. It will not effect performance. The flywheel showing parts of it before and after the wire brushing. Another coat of Bondaprimer tomorrow – then we can think about Undercoats and topcoats!

Oil leak perhaps? i cant talk though. I put gallons of the stuff in my Jeep and it all comes out again quite quickly. At least mine wont rust as everything is constantly dripping in oil.

Was he very helpful? He seems to have a very impressive collection?

A very good friend sent me this marvellous link to the restoration of Peugeot and an Adler which will interest many members on here http://camion.a.bandages.free.fr/index.php?/category/3 What I found of great excitement were these three clips of a partially restored FWD pushing an Adler (WW1 German) truck. What was of interest was that the FWD sounded similar to ours which is always a good sign (although it did start a great deal more easily than ours), and apparently screaming as loudly as you can in French means stop. http://camion.a.bandages.free.fr/picture.php?/301/category/36 http://camion.a.bandages.free.fr/picture.php?/302/category/36 http://camion.a.bandages.free.fr/picture.php?/303/category/36 There is also lots of photos and a clip of the Peugoet being tow started which I always thought was a massive no-no with chain drive. Marcel will be interested in this I am sure. http://camion.a.bandages.free.fr/index.php?/category/5 There is also a clip of a Nash Quad with a load of kids (someone call the H&S executive – oh hang on, its in France so they can do whatever they want without the fear of intervention) which reiterates my observation that the Nash Quad goes like S*** of a shovel. http://camion.a.bandages.free.fr/picture.php?/296/category/33 Hours of entertainment. Tim

Yes please Tom. I would love to see them. how did they do on the run?

Thats great news Ian. Just goes to show one of the many benefits of posting your restoration projects on HMVF. Tim