M Walters

Please can anyone advise why these two lorries are lettered with “4th Bn K.O.Y.L.I.” on the headboard. The vehicles are civilian, owned by Percy Marsh of Wakefield, and the Overland dates from about 1926.

Does anyone have any more information on this sale please? Also is there any history of Willys Overland Crossley “Manchester”s having been used for military purposes?

David,

I attach an extract from a 1922 Brown Bros. catalogue. You will see that there is a Dependence lamp designated the 564WD which was produced for military vehicles in the first war. The differentiating feature was that the lamps could be fitted on fork mounts or flat tongued brackets. It is also the lamp that was fitted to many Garrett overtype wagons after the war.

The lamps you have do not have a ruby lens because the reflector is a glass concave mirror. Sentinel issued these lamps as standard and had a brass plate with the Sentinel emblem riveted onto the flat section at the rear where a ruby glass would have been fitted. Incidentally, the lamps with a ruby glass are the same reference number 443. 

Michael

Thank you for allowing me to join the forum. I have an interest in all old commercial vehicles, particularly those on solid rubber tyres and have been watching posts on the pre WW11 section of the site from the sidelines. I do not own any military vehicles but have been fortunate enough to own a 1926 Garrett undertype steam wagon for the past 44 years and have run it for the past 23. I also inherited my father's 1930 Willys Overland Crossley, Manchester B1 30/35cwt truck. I was prompted to join the site to respond to a thread about oil lamps.