RMS

The trailer is coming back together, fingers crossed the truck will be at the overlord show in a couple of weeks, hopefully!

Went back to dvla, queued for an hour! Then told by the assistant "this vehicle does not need a nova"!!!!!!!!! No s#%t Sherlock!!!! All done now :-) I hope!

Update Phone nova helpline- eventually get through! "Ah yes we're having a lot of trouble with dvla about this procedure, you need to speak to the vat national helpline" Phone national helpline - press 1 for bla bla .......................... And so on! Eventually get through to a very helpful guy. Who basically said that any vehicle made in the uk or imported before 1973 does not need a nova. Apparently they have told dvla this a lot since starting the process but it has not got through yet! He gave me a reference number for our little chat and advised to go back in to dvla and tell them what he told me and that I'd they need confirmation to call them up and quote the reference number. So back to dvla for attempt no.2!

I left the dvla office with the impression it was all done and dusted! The guy behind the counter even told me that it would not need the nova check! WRONG!!!!!! I will keep you up to date with the battle

Anybody had dealings with the new dvla/hmrc "nova" check? Came in to force last month apparently. I have been to dvla to register my Bedford, all went well but I received the paperwork back yesterday with a letter stating I need to do a "nova" (notification of vehicle arrival). Seems a bit odd as it was built in the uk and has never left! So I go on line to complete the process but can't as the program does not cater for vehicles that are from the uk! It's specifically for imports!! You also need to be registered on the hmrc gateway system to use the program. I feel a long phone call on hold will be today's task, probably eventually getting through to a Computer!

The allies landed at Salerno in September 43 as part of operation avalanche.

Hi Tobin, i recently priced up a 40ft container with 3 vehicles inside to go to Palermo Sicily, our plan was then to drive back to UK. The price for a container from UK to Sicily was about £1500 inc VAT but excluding local handling fees in Sicily. the company was VM Liner, they were very helpful. I also had quotes from Seakargo for RORO vessels from UK to Southern Italy, that worked out at about £600 per vehicle. Hope that helps Barry

Splashed some paint on the bonnet :-)

Its May!!! have managed to do some work on the truck, not as much as i would have liked to though, work gets in the way al the time! SO i cracked on with the wings and bonnet and completed all the wiring of the rear lights and trailer socket. i have wired it the same way as i found it i.e 1960's style lights etc, i managed to find some Lucas bakelite switchovers for the convoy light and FV style number plate/ convoy light. The rear light mounts are possible from a 432? they have a FV part number on them we found after blasting the parts. I found a pair of front indicators that are the same as the remains of what were fitted to the bedford, bloomin ugly looking that they are! Repaired both front wings and made the new bonnet today. hopefully will be picking up some bonnet sides very soon from Devon. Off to DVLA on Monday to register it :-) hopefully!

Seen a few ferrets with Iveco 4cyl turbo diesel engines in them, running original gearboxes very tidy conversion, might have some pictures somewhere, will have a look.

I bought some repro ones recently that had quite long tubes on them, will measure one tomorrow.

DUKW's had a longer one. I'm sure some other vehicles did as well, the trouble is finding one. How long does it need to be?

I sent mine off to Speedograph richfield and had a longer tube fitted for the GTB,good price and a very quick turn around.

Just read your post about the valves, i had the same problem with my OXC engine, we found all the exhaust valves were a different angle to the seats! cant remember exactly what they were now as it was a few years ago. so i had them recut to suit the valves. my engine was rebuilt in 1954 by vauxhall motors. It most definitely had not been apart since leaving the army in 1966 as the previous owner had bought it from Ruddington and never used it.

Make sure the gauge itself is well earthed. i usually solder a short piece of wire to the back of the gauge and fix that wire to a good earth point.

i believe it was the original gearbox, the Steyr engine can rev higher than the cummins.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing some really nice vehicles there. I was working at the Golden Lion Pub in Southwick for the 50th Anniversary, its the pub Monty and Eisenhower would visit prior to D-Day, We had hundreds of people coming through everyday for about 2 weeks, lots of American Veterans, it was a really great time chatting with them.

Steve has at least a couple of them www.plusfilm.com

Nice work. Not wanting to get off topic but it might be of interest to some, here is the Diesel conversions to Jordanians are doing at the moment, its a Steyr 3.3 6 cylinder (basically the same as BMW 3L diesels, in 3/5 series and td6 range rover etc), they came in a complete kit form for installation to replace the Jag engines. Made for a nice conversion, smaller and lighter than the Cummins engine, quieter too!

bought this picture on Ebay the other day, taken just down the road from me at Hills yard in Botley, Hampshire.

The number of teeth on the M201 starter are the same as MB/GPW. The M38 had a bigger ring gear if i remember correctly. I just fitted a modern denso starter to my Hotchkiss/Willys salad jeep, it was cheaper than a repro original style and a much better quality, provided your not worried about the original look they are a great alternative. i will be getting another made it a couple of weeks if your interested i could get an extra one done at the same time.

Looking good Tony, cant wait to see it the flesh all done up. Keep up the god work Baz

the Picnic table was a optional extra for the commanders vehicle! also a BBQ on the tow hook:cool2:

I recently bought one to restore:-D

I am in Sr Lanka for a couple of weeks and the first place i called into today i spotted this in the car park:wow:, complete with Bedford Scammel badge! Turns out it was this companies first truck and by the looks of it they got their monies worth out of it, now it take pride of place outside the offices.