Gordon_M

If you haven't already done so the same question on Maple Leaf Up should get you some answers;

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/

This is a site near my office, which has suffered from a lot of pilferage;

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Angus/article/8663/body-of-james-stewart-found-impaled-on-fence.html

I think I'll not add any further comment :-|

It's just behind that row of garages, honest.

What have the Romans ever done for us? Well they saved me from looking out at a housing estate, for a start.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Gordon

Ah well, whatever suits.

The lever above would be fine, regardless of the strength of the joint, but the spacer between the two arms is being torque loaded, which is where I would have used a weld.

Anyway, moving on ...

I do notice that you seem to make extensive use of silver soldering, even in a lot of jobs where I would have thought a MIG would be the tool for the job, particularly in stuff like the throttle linkage transfer above.

I imagine it will be fine, but I think I'd have welded it, even if the end result was marginally less neat?

I've found that the MIG is just a case of the more you practice the better you get, though I wouldn't clain to be that good at it.

Gordon

Tony in the North East Military Vehicle Club owned, or was joint owner, or one. I saw it maybe ten years back when I picked up a trailer from him.

It was relatively intact, missing just the odd trinket. That's about all I remember.

Gordon

Of course a 1942 unit would be 6 volt, but any of the major dealers would have suitable lights.

Vintage Power Wagons in the US

Dallas Autos in the UK

Jaap Rietveld in Europe

Check the MILWEB directory for dealers close to you. You can buy original standard units, modern reproductions, or French production which was 12 volt

Gordon

Can any one tell me why the Yanks insisted on putting silly little rear view mirrors on the DT's, how the hell were they expected to see what was behind them with a mirror that small.

Can't believe you asked that. Why would you actually want to look behind you at all driving something that size - it's down to everyone else to keep out of your way ... Takes us back to that M26 video on the other thread.

When you need a rear view mirror for overtaking things you don't have to do much of that on a T or a Pacific, I seem to recall. Last time I took a T any distance it was no problem to just look round and see, but then I was a fair bit younger then.

When I saw it I was instantly reminded of the Cook Bros Desert Training Vehicle from 1942, referred to as Cooks Cozy Cabin by Crismon, it even shares the same chain drive philosophy.

Looking at it hard, it looks to be an 8 x 6 without a driven front axle, and the style is more like a Christie Trackless Tank of some kind?

thanks both,

I did guess that there had to be a way of getting to most of this stuff, and it looks small enough that unbolting the body would solve most issues.

Gordon

I'll take air horns over wimpy sirens any day.

You can see whay they usually pull the rear outer duals for just moving it about though. Thin it isn't.

I've spent a while gathering original manuals for one, just in case, and there's one I have my eye on if the Lottery or ERNIE kicks in any time soon.

I suppose what I really need is for someone in Scotland with lots of pennies to buy one and need crew .. that would do for now.

Gordon

I take it this whole vehicle is a unibody construction ?

How the heck did they assemble them on the line with those sort of access conditions then? Looks like you have only feeler gauge access to most bits.

Gordon

Tim phoned tonight, and that prompted me to go and look through my files for this truck....

Lot 7510, Honeybourne, 23rd December 1946

Number "20170079" ( the USA number on the hood when cleaned back )

Brown log book from 1947, Warwick Road Garage, Wellesbourne, Warwick. ( Thorpe's Garage )

Original dash plates, D/O/D 7 11 42

Sales proposal letter from John P. Mills, 306th Bomb Group Association 19th May 1984, reflecting 40000 original miles

Photos as bought, April 1984, with THORPE sign on front.

Photos of uplift by truck, and the jeep it was exchanged for, complete with truck hire sheet and tacho disc.

Delivery paperwork for rear body section from Alan Chapman at Kettering, August 1984

MOTs from 1987/8/9 reflecting a total of a whopping 132 miles driven

It'll all be in the post to Tim as soon as he gives me his address, in return for which he has indicated he'll be willing to re-mark the original USA number and truck identity as a USAAF vehicle.

Result all round, methinks ... ?

Gordon

If you had finished the truck first, you would have pretty much cracked the interview just by turning up in it ....:-D

No problem, I entirely agree about winch trucks for airfield use, but a WC looks SO much nicer with one - I even added one to my WC 53.

I'm sure I still have the original plain front bumper, big grille, and radiator side panels here somewhere if Tim want's to put it back to be a WC 56 again.

I think I even have the original bare metal dash plate stuck somewhere, which I replaced with a repro while I had the truck. I do not want to sell them, but if Tim wants them I'd let him have them just to keep them with the truck they came on.

Gordon

Some of the history is solid Adrian, and some conjecture, as always.

I bought it from John P. Mills of Bedford area, then Chairman of the 306th Bomb Group Association. It came with original sale paperwork from Honeybourne in 1947, which is apparently not far from where the 306th were stationed at Thurleigh.

It was a hideous enamel green colour as bought, but on stripping the hood I uncovered the original hood number on both sides ( tailgate was gone ) of USA 20170079, (I think - it has been a while)

Stripping the front bumper uncovered -06BG on one side and 81 on the other. I couldn't make out the '3' in 306th but a little research in Roger Freeman's books showed that no other Bomb Group of that era and location ended in '06' so ... Freeman also pointed out that the ground echelons of the 306th sailed into the Clyde in August '42, and I think the Date of Delivery on the dash was early June or July '42, so it either came with the 306th or was issued to them immediately on arrival. Hood had a large white star in a circle, with yellow / orange fill between.

Some of the most interesting points about the truck are the things it DIDN'T have. It always had symmetrical headlight guards ( I added the winch and found a matching 'wire-in' front centre grille.) No blackout light so only a two-terminal headlight wiring block left front. It also did not have provision for any sort of jerry can carrier on the running boards, and no hole drilled on the passengers side of the dash for a Universal Rifle Bracket, and the only surviving seat, the front, had real leather covers. Fuel filler is early small type, though I see Tim has stuck with the British locking fuel cap.

I suspect that when it left the factory it had a plain tailgate with no provision for a Pioneer rack, but I had to buy a tailgate for it ( actually a tailgate and top rear crossmember & rear body sides ) so that's where it comes from. Chassis number is just a couple of hundred too late to have the DODGE script badge on the radiator top cover, but when I replaced it with an NOS unit the NOS one was drilled for a badge, so ...

Tim, 07973-301567 any time outside normal working, but probably not Thursday night ( boss wants to go to the pics ) I do have photos as received and being tinkered with, but they are all old format hard copy prints in the garage and will take time to dig out.

Gordon

From my Dragon Wagon books.

Standard Dragon Wagon with M15 trailer. Trailer ramps removed and bed of trailer blocked up to let the floating things sit level.

Seems to have moved the load quite readily, but the author does note on one photograph the question of whether they chained the boat to the trailer of the trailer to the boat, the difference in size being so notable.

Gordon

Well if that very happy member would care to contact me I could let them have some history on this truck, USA 20170079, which has an original Eigth Air Force History traced back to the 306th Bomb Group, and may well have arrived in Scotland with the ground echelon of that unit ...

It always ran like a bird for me, but I could never get the footbrake to stay up for more than a couple of weeks at a time.

Gordon

Sadly missed won't begin to cover it. I was privileged enough to spend one Beltring with Geoff, and he visited me at my garage later with Nigel Watson.

Gordon

I've seen a Mercedes 4 x 2 box van of this cab type which was made for / used by the US Army Corps of Engineers immediately post-WW2.

Since that back bogie is from a US half track I'd guess this unit was German, Austrian, or Swiss built maybe in the late 1940s using a variety of components. The Swiss, in particular, had a use for this sort of vehicle in the Alps.

Gordon

It's not buying the thing Mike, it's how you get a Pinz engine in that short a wheelbase ......

Well I always see Kroner as being between 9 and 11 to the £, so around £130 I think, but although the ad says tax included I wouldn't bet on you importing them without getting hit for VAT...

I think you could buy a set of 9.00 x 16 here and swap them with Peter ( on that other forum ) then you'd both be happy

Thanks for the link, I got two back from VHR today and you can see a before and after shot above with an unrestored original, the two headlight buckets ( 1939 Dodge ) and four E-Pay bulbs.

I think you must have got a special deal on the price though, as my bill was £148 for two 7.5" reflectors plus VAT and postage back - still, not like they should need doing again any time soon.

ta!

Gordon

Well, after due consideration of hoops jumped through, time spent, international travel, and aggravation factors I have formally concluded that no matter how useful they are, Pinzgauers are as much hassle as Stalwarts, though admittedly somewhat lighter.:-D

Come the weekend I'm back in the garage working on the '39 and '40 Dodges, inordinately pleased that;

1. German and British folks didn't design my Dodges, just uncomplicated American farm boys.

2. I actually understand how every bit works, how to take it apart, and put it together, and that the part count on a 1939 Dodge truck must be less than a third of the part count for a Pinz.

The jury is still out on whether it is easier / cheaper to buy parts for a 1939 Dodge, but on balance I think it probably is.

I'm full of admiration for the work you are doing here, which is nearly Dennis-like in scope

Gordon

Anyone who is into Dodges already knows of it, but there is precisely one VK62B Dodge heavy duty 3 ton left on the planet;

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/dodgerestoration.htm

I don't have a production date for Bess the crewbus, but the bodywork drawings in the UK were dated January 1941, and the 1940 grille style with the holes for the brushguard stays weren't used much after September 1940, so that sort of period.