Great War truck

Here is one in the UK. It is for sale if anybody is interested?

A nice looking job. i especially like the plates.

it looks loveley. The bike looks good too!

Thats the one. They drove it over from france to start the run. The four metal tins on the side were full of cheaper French petrol. They brought a spare gearbox with them as well! Tim

David This water tanker came out of a wood outside Oxford. I regret not buying it. I think it was built by SS. Would it have had any common parts to your trailer:

These three pictures show the assembly with the Fan in place. Mike Jones found the fan for us at an Autojumble some years ago - the Thornycroft project started about 22 years ago but has been very much on the back burner as we were missing so many important parts and where we decided to do other lorries first of all as we had all the major parts to complete each of those. But hopefully, we now have enough of the Thorny to make a big dent in the project! The fan fitted on the Driver Plate like a glove - I did not clean up the fan other than the bolting surface and the fit really was perfect! One blade is slightly damaged but I hope that it will not put the fan significantly out of balance - we do have another one which is a replica and is complete so we can use that one if there is a problem. The Fan after a bit of a clean up! Steve has a slotting cutter on his lathe and these Water Pump bits can go back with him to Leicester when he next comes down to Devon to be finished off.

The wet weather has driven Tony back to the workshop and he has picked up the bits of the Thorny Water Pump that he was working on a couple of weeks ago. The original shaft was damaged when the pump was taken apart and as it was of mild steel, it had badly rusted. We decided to make the replacement out of stainless steel to avoid the problem of rusting in the future. The machining operations are all quite straightforward and the pictures tell the tale. The first end was reduced to take the Fan Driver - and then further reduced and screwed 1/2" Whit for the retaining nut. The aluminium shroud sits behind the Fan Driver and the bearing in that is of the same diameter as the Fan Driver - so sufficient room has been left for that. Likely to be some time hence for that to be fitted as a pattern has yet to be made for a new one to be cast. The shaft was then reversed in the Chuck for the other end to be machined down to take the Impeller. The Drive Pulley is of the 7/8" diam as the shaft and just slides on the shaft to be eventually fitted with a key and then pinned. The threaded section with the Driver Plate behind it. These two pictures show the other end of the shaft with the Impeller in position/

This was posted on the landships site. Here is a blog of his 1,200 KM journey to Switzerland. http://parcoursdufront1917.wordpress.com/page/2/ we should do that Steve. Tim

I have seen this one. A cracking bit of film and he is not hanging around http://www.focus-wtv.tv/programma/wtv/opgeknapte-legervrachtwagen-langs-frontlijn it is a pity i dont understand what he is saying Tim

The completed tail lamp bracket - after being "cranked backwards" so that it avoids the tail board when the tailboard is in its dropped position, has been re-fitted to the Dennis. The potential problem of the tailboard "smacking" the lamp has been eliminated as the lamp is now situated completely under the lorry out of the way.

I will change the antifreeze on the Jeep this weekend. I have got a new container of blue star, but it has been sitting on the shelf for the last two years. As it says change the anti freeze every two years is it past its shelf life, or does the two years only apply to the stuff once it is in the system? Thanks Tim

A little bit more progress with the hood bows:

Well, it looks like we are going to need a big tank then. Tony had a look under the tarpaulin to remind himself of what we have waiting for us:

can anybody identify what these came off? Thanks Tim

What an exceptionally strange thing to do and incredibly thoughtless doing that on a parade. the only thing i can think they were trying to portray was the transportation of the body of Major Howie in to st Lo. This was done on a Jeep, probably in a manner not to dissimilar to the photo, and was left on the steps of the cathedral: As for the girl in the Jeep, it somewhat detracts from the recreation if that is what it was supposed to be. As for doing it in a parade, well, hmmmmm. Lets wait for the flack to start falling. I am sure the tabloids will be on to this soon.

i think most interested parties were hoping for something a bit more black and white. Tim

the most common question i am asked about WW1 vehicles is exactly what shade of green they should be. This photograph showing the mixing of paint by the US army gives i feel the definitive answer: It was a sort of greeny colour really, with perhaps a slight hint of brown.

if any of you read my recent article in Military Machines international on mobile workshops of the ASC you will have seen my reference to a chap who had one in his garden in the 1930's for his model engineering. Steve has found this picture of it. A horse drawn variant it appears. I wonder what happened to it. Could it be the one that survices at Duxford?

I have got to say that Arthur of San Lorenzo looks to be in better condition that S130. A shame that one couldnt be restored as well.

Oh i see that you have put it up for sale. A good profit for you if you can get the asking amount.

Steve has at last got around to finishing off the rear lamp bracket. Father made the bits and Steve hurriedly welded them together just before the 'Brighton'. However, we didn't have the time to finish it off properly then. We also found, very quickly, that the tailboard smacked the lamp. Steve has now dressed off the welds and also put a set in the bracket to move the lamp away from the tailboard about three inches. Finally, he took the sharpness off the edges to make it look more like a forging. This has the added benefit that the paint will stick better. It has now had two coats of the wonderful 'Bondaprime' zinc primer ready for Father to apply the final green coats. Incidentally, whilst painting out some graffiti on a wall recently, Father was complimented on the quality of his brushwork. 'I've had a lot of practice recently' he said!

I downloaded it for free off Google archive. very interesting stuff. Thanks Tim

Ok. Thanks. That is helpful. does the m39 and M46 look similar shape and size to the M45? Tim

g503 wont let me log in so i think i will put it on E Bay instead.

OK. Thanks. That is a great help. i will see if i am still signed up for G503. Thanks Tim