RMS

Great pictures, thanks for sharing. have you read the book "muck shifting for King George"? very interesting read and have many of the same vehicles and equipment in, particularly the road train with the grader dragged behind the trailer, love it:-D

have managed to spare some time for the Bedford and completed 90% of the wiring loom, fitted out most of the cab and floor pans and made and fitted most of the replacement cab skirt panels.

Cab is finally back on, managed to get a large part of the wiring loom completed this morning as well

service and restore Green machines (sometimes sandy or grey couloured ones too!), also build and drive film prop vehicles from time to time. As well as the occasional trip overseas as an oil spill technician/consultant just to add a bit of spice to the mix!

give me a ring, should be able to sort somewhere for you just off Junction 11 M27. 07747466296

I need to, they have a lot of work to get done in the future!!!

well its up and running again, gave the engine a quick rebuild to do the valve seats and oil seals and done a small amount of welding on the body top hats and threw it back it all together. fitted a new Ally Radiator, hi torque starter and a new electronic distributor to help it on its way. took it for drive around the farm this morning and its drives very nicely:D

My plan is to drive it to the overlord show in may with my Morris on the trailer.

Finally finished the cab, took a lot more than expected as there were a lot of very bad repairs hidden under fiberglass and filler! so much for it being blasted and painted by the dealer that supplied it more like bodged up and blown over!! still got there in the end and lesson learnt. hopefully will get the cab back on next week

Do have a copy of the "Hills of Botley" book? may well be a picture of your grandfather in it. I am good friends with some of the Hill family today and the stories they come out with are truly amazing. The book is well worth checking out, loads of ex Military trucks and trailers. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hills-Botley-Transport-Centuries-Hampshire/dp/095219385X

get him to give me a ring, i have a friend who does a fair bit of mini restoration work and builds them for racing just outside Denmead. 07747466296

i could probably help out with parking space for the low loader about 6 miles from the ferry, give me a ring sometime.

i understand there is to be an announcement on the 4th of December about the show.... no idea what its about though.

I could not go for too long without a jeep! so i bought one from France a few weeks back that i plan to have on the road for the spring. it was a write off out of the french military some years ago i think, and was sat in a dealers shed in france until we dug it out last month. on first inspection i thought it was just a standard M201 but a closer look has revealed it to be a 1945 Willys Chassis rebuilt in the 70's to 24 volt M201 standard but it has retained many original parts like transmission, steering box, pedals. glovebox etc. it has no Hotchkiss/army serial numbers or registration numbers on the chassis but does have a MALT no. the original Willys Serial number has been stamped on the chassis rail in the same font as the M-O on the bumper gusset and it has kept the original serial number and model on the glovebox plate, Willys MB 444158 24volt. the major components are from all over the place! all over France and even Germany! so it truly is a salad of Jeeps! My Plan is to do a quick tidy up and just have a green jeep, nothing specific. i am going to modernise a few aspects of it by having 12 volts electrics with alternator, modern hi torque starter motor, brand new electronic distributor and an Aluminium radiator to start with :-)

Spotted a Sherman in Southampton docks the other day bound for the USA, anyone on here?

had to move the trailer today to its new home, it was a good excuse to try the coupling and give it a run around the farm:-D had a few little adjustments to make before it would couple up correctly but it then worked fine, so we stripped the wood off the trailer to get it ready for blasting.

Progress is being made on the bedford in between the other jobs. Have made the new Splash shields for the engine bay and fitted them, also got the air filter and breather pipes mounted. Then sorted all the throttle linkages so i can now drive it properly. Work has now started on the rear mud guards, the originals were well beyond repair so new ones are being made to the same spec, the lights on the truck must have been upgraded in the fifties from a single tail lamp to full lights and indicators with convoy light etc so were going with that set up. The convoy lamp/tail lights have a bakelite switch on the chassis for switching over and the trailer lights were upgraded to have the nato socket, its got to be better than the original brass contact strips for the trailer lights. next is to repair and fit the front end once the mud guards are finished.

its a lovely work bench. it came free with the LRC, bonus :-D

Well i sold my beloved Jeep after 13 years of fun and have bought a new toy to restore (once the bedford is done!) Picked up the Morris today, it was well and truly buried at the far end of a 60ft garage in Portsmouth with 15 years of hoarded junk piled high around it! The guy i bought it from has had about 20 years but it has not seen daylight since entering the garage. Its plate indicates that it was built in March 1945, its armour had been cut in the past probably when it was demob'd but has mostly been repaired quite well, all the hatches and doors have been made new (long time ago) and one side door is the original. lots of work to be done, the biggest job will be making the turret and the cooling fan drives. my plan is to strip the brakes out so its easier to move then start collecting parts and pictures ready to start the work next summer, unless i get to excited!

There is a possibility of some storage areas becoming available next to our workshops, each shed is roughly 20x20ft dry storage space in a secure yard with keypad access. please contact me if interested. they can be priced per unit or per vehicle depending on size etc. my landlord also has a much larger barn that he is toying with the idea of renting out for storage space if the interest is there for much larger and tracked vehicles. Give me a ring on 07747466296.

So anyone on here get a bit carried away at Goodwood? http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20145/lot/103A/

Will have to get you a box to stand on Ron!

Treated myself to a little run about, one of the bike being sold off by lys tout terrain. Good cheap fun :-)

Thanks, great pics.

I was working in Djibouti about 10 years ago for Shell oil, lots of french legion out there, and plenty of jeeps buzzing around in civvy hands, sadly i didn't get this scrap yard! we did join the legionnaires celebrating bastille day, still have a hangover!