David B.

Remember them ? Around 35 monthly magazines of this military vehicle club which incorporated the East Anglian Fighting Vehicle Group. Dated between 1982 to 1985. Available free of charge. Postage and packing costs appreciated. Call me on 07860 889524 or send PM. David Belcher.

Remember them ? Approximately 40 monthly magazines of this Midlands based military vehicle club available free of charge. Dating between 1984 and 1987. A fiver appreciated towards post and packing. Ring me please on 07860 889524 or send PM. David Belcher.

Hello Danny, I asked the same question a while back with the thread title of "Aluminium (silver) paint". I tried one or two different paints and settled for Hammerite Smooth Silver in spray cans which gave a decent finish in the Dingo engine bay. Since I saw you last I've kept an eye out for DAC stuff and I have got a virtually NOS Simms AFV Spotlight if you are looking for one - let me know. Cheers, David.

I think the clue is in the Essex title of the show. In Estuary English " Paanda", to give it its correct spelling is the Essex equivalent of the Home Counties "Pownder"

Many congratulations to the organising team after all the losses and problems along the way. Nice to see a number of old friends,all thinking of Bob.

The one near me is all together,in the UK and ready to drive/swim away.Its on Milweb at the moment.

There's one of these for sale - just up the road from me on the Oxford/Gloucestershire borders which is a bit more convenient ! Very rare piece of kit,must be the only fully working one in Europe. A whole different price but it is in fully equipped,restored and swimming condition.

Due to an several cuts which have opened up on a rear tyre I am in need of one very good/unused Dunlop Trak Grip tyre in 10.50 x16 to match the remaining rear. The preference is for an NOS or virtually unused Dunlop TG pattern tyre and your cash price will be met. Other 10.50x 16s will be considered in different patterns/condition. Please let me know on 07860 889524 or by PM. Thanks, David Belcher

.......and they can cut your fingers just like a pair of garden shears - be careful.

Left over right,under. Right over left,under. No, left under right.......or is that a slip knot ?

o No Pete, I could not have answered that. I can rememember Bernard having it but don't know where it went. Mike Hofman would be a likely new owner as he was buying all the armoured cars he could at that stage. I have to echo your sentiments though regarding this restoration - nice to see. David.

Could the markings on the front be those of another country ? Belgium or Holland perhaps.

John, Thanks for this very sad notification. Please post any news you get. Just like you and many others I have many good memories of Bob going back getting on for forty years. I was sad I couldn't get to see him at the last Stoneleigh where I gather he had taken a turn for the worse. The last time I saw him was perhaps late last year when he seemed in quite good form,still buying spares for another project and odds and sods for the camp,he often called in for tea on his way home. Bob had a great sense of humour and was always ready to have a chat and a grumble and to swap opinions on everything and everyone. The sad loss of Shirley hit him hard but he did seem to be getting on better and still threw himself into the next vehicle and the next Nissen Hut and its contents even after the onset of his illness. As I said,many good laughs,the shared struggles of running a small business and the passion for vehicles all endeared him to me. I shall always remember him on the Normandy trips,whether carting the Stuart about,the DUKW at sea at Arromanches,recovering the 969 Wrecker from a Dutch yard and driving it back through the night,the "beach" at Stoneleigh,all with the trademark fag in the corner of his mouth. My best shared experience with Bob was a film job four or five years ago,the BBC Land Girls series. I took the Ambulance and Bob his OY. Normally I would bow to Bob's experience on vehicle and mechanical matters but I thought I knew better when it came to negotiating film hire rates and extras/drivers payments and so I made the deal for both of us. It was the earliest start and latest finish,all inflicted on us by the supposedly cash strapped BBC but the twist in the tail was that instead of lounging around all day in our RAF uniforms Bob and I were cast as stretcher bearers in a scene following an air raid involving casualty evacuation. Our height discrepancy of about a foot was the first handicap for the endless take after take but our fifteen stone weight passenger made things worse. The action called for our casualty to be picked up off the floor,carried through an awkward passage, across the floor of the ward and held in mid air while he transferred from stretcher to bed. In other words very hard work indeed. Our man was a genuine single amputee supplied by a specialist agency and I am sitting here now with a tearful smile on my face remembering Bob and I going round looking liking a pantomime horse trying to find a double amputee who might just be a bit lighter. Bob,I shall miss you loads ! David Belcher.

Just found L-WD-H1-DP listed in January 1945 K2 Ambulance Parts List, Chassis no 74701 onwards. Earliest yet ?

Thanks Richard, So that's at least one vehicle parts book which specified the DP headlight mask (just) before the end of the war. I'll have look at my Austin parts books. What was the B/WD/H1/0 ? Cheers, David.

I wonder whether looking at parts lists which are often specific to a particular contract would give you a better idea of a changed or superceded item. Manuals or handbooks sometimes carried illustrations or plates which showed out of date items. Is it the QL drivers handbook which carried a picture of the larger early type headlight in quite late wartime editions ?

????????????? it is fitted with the wide section uppermost Tony,I was joking,with it possibly having to come from the Antipodes. .......and some fell on stony ground ! David.

Thank-you Richard for adding to my costs. .....and saved you from fitting it upside down !

No,my apologies Clive. I was just wondering if the mask appeared in a later edition of the VAOS. David.

No Clive - the headlight is the same but the mask is different. If you look at your picture the bottom edge of the mask shroud is horizontal but on Ian's mask is sloping upward. It is a different mask but the same headlight body. The mask is the oddity.

I've got one of these masks squirrelled away with a few other lights but can't remember it too clearly. I think it's a mask only without shell or reflector. I certainly can't remember seeing the "Butlers" stamp in what is a very unusual position. I have always thought of it as being a WD item, part of a spot or driving lamp and the pictured lens and focus fittings would confirm that. I'm sure that I've seen one fitted at bumper level on a Humber Snipe being used for filming in the late sixties or early seventies,although that confirms nothing. Whether the mask is a WD item or not I don't know although it has all the appearance of being right with the exception of a WD prefix or designation being stamped on it. It does not feature in the 1943 VAOS catalogue either but might in another edition (Clive ? ) If if the mask,lens and shell appear to have spent their life together in the factory black paint,in the absence of any conflicting documentary evidence I would consider it to be an auxiliary spot lamp possibly fitted to the faster WD vehicles such as staff cars. Does it appear in any parts lists ? David.

Could be a problem in the future. I can remember being told about a section of the Oxford Southern Bypass which was used as a WW2 vehicle park. Many of the vehicles parked partly on the verge for a long period suffered from twisted chassis.

What are the others Tim ? Everything I leave about mysteriously gravitates to my office upstairs and appears in neat piles just inside the door.

Fill with water,hang from your tow hook, put your beer cans/bottles in the water and allow them to chill. Useful bit of kit !

Have you had any luck yet Peter ?