Tony Graves

hi all, its many years ago now but i found this old girl laying in a field i believe somewhere near the borders, i think it was an ex dump truck, the engine transplant i think was leyland 680 with harvey frost 6 ton recovery gear, i do not know if it was ever saved but would have been a brave man to take it on, hope of interest, tony g.

hi all, a few photos i took last october of a lovely old mw bedford looking for a new home, apparently all up and running but in need of restoration, i believe it is an early type with the separate windscreens, it is in the yard of bob lammas at salfords on the a23 between coulsdon and crawley, bob is a good man and keen to see it sold for preservation, the asking price is £2500 , hope of some interest, tony g.

hi, in response to the breatherlyser kits in france, the law now will come into effect in march 2013, it is highly assumed that this law will not take place, typical of france. these kits were made by a friend of the last president mr sarkozy who it is rumoured to have 60 million euros from this farce, all the best tony g.

hi, i believe the farmers lancaster was ex french weather research air craft which ended up in australia and flew the 12000 miles back to england and landed at biggin hill, it was there for many months and i remember it being painted white and on one visit we climbed in the rear exit and four greased 50 calibre machine guns were laying on the floor on the left, i think there was a problem with an engine, after that we were told that the lanc ended up at squires gate near blackpool, the lanc that was at scampton on the gates ended up at hendon and the farmers lanc was going to replace it. i had a complete dorsel turret for a lanc and this was donated for the project but i did not hear any more, it was long ago, all the best tony g.

we wish rex and the team all the best for the new venue, we have known rex and his brother rod for over thirty years and to put 0n a show of this magnitude takes a whole year of organising all for our pleasure, you are never going to please everyone so give the guy a chance, pat and tony graves.

Further photos of the Diamind T outfit being recovered from the bottom of a ravine in Tunisia. The 5 Diamonds are coupled together with the rear two doing the winching. The 50 ton Dyson trailer has been dragged up and lies on the road. The Centurion Tank is upside down in the ravine before being righted by winching. I will post some more of the operation later. All the best. Tony G.

Hi All, I had a bit of a mishap at the beach today. John do you want to sell the cab?!!! Seriously, this Diamond ended up at the bottom of a ravene in Tunisia together with a 50 ton Dyson trailer and Centurion. I have the full set of the recovery operation with 5 T's winching up the outfit. Will post some more later. All the best. Tony G.

hi maccdt, i sold a soft top cab to rex cadman about 20 years ago and this year on one of my visits to the uk i popped down to have a pint with rex and low and behold he still had the scuttle in his workshop, it did,nt look in bad nick, if you give rex a call he can only say no, hope of some help, all the best, tony g.

hi radiomike7, all the years i have had that book and never noticed the two pictures, not written off then! all the best , tony g.

hi, radiomike, thanks for replying, i have never seen any photos of constructors towing 3443 the abortion, perhaps if you have some you maybe able to post them on the constructor thread, thanks again for the interest, the 85 tonner and the 200 tonner survive at dorset, the abortion was rated at 120 tons and has disappeared into the ether and after exhaustive searches many years ago we can only assume that it was cut up, thanks again tony g.

hi all,i was given these photos many years ago by the scott family who lived quite close to me in westerham in kent, mr walter scott senior is on the left standing beside his knox tractor when working for pickfords in the early 1930s, his son wally junior is driving the rear diamond t of this outfit in its way to littlebrook power station near dartford in kent, this picture was taken in the mid fifties, it shows that even pickfords could fiddle number plates, the rear tractor was number fyv741 which was completely written off in the famous boroughbridge incident in 1945, the front diamond t is glu654 and the diamond in the picture is fyv740 which was the lead tractor at boroughbridge and escaped any damage. fyv740 and fyv741 were the first diamond ts used in england in 1943 by a civilian enterprise, the trailer was called the abortion and also ended in the river at boroughbridge but was pulled out undamaged. i have video of this move and the whole outfit became bogged down in the road up to the power station, hope of interest, tony g.

hi all, 100 per cent correct, it is not adiamond t unless the man beside the truck is 2ft tall, it is a dart a beautiful looking vehicle alas the m26 pacific got the vote the rest is history, wonder if there are any out there? all the best tony g.

hi tony, yes the standard equipment for the t,s was the long and the short hollebone a frames for pulling or pushing the tanks onto the trailers also the straight bar you can see in the picture, as an aside how,s my old chaseside? , all the best tony g.

Hi All Interesting photo of Diamond T and 50 ton trailer with Centurion Tank. This particular Diamond has the civilian cab with the two extra rear windows and no cab ventilators. There was no vent in the front of the windscreen and the scuttle was a different shape. The bonnet was made of thinner material and went straight across the front of the cab. The two windscreens had wind out handles and only opened about three inches. The reg. no. is 57 BN 30. Hope of interest. Tony G.

Hi All Out and about today, now that the undergrowth has started to abate, about 20 minutes from my house I noticed a familiar shape, an M26 in good shape and complete. The correct trailer is there but needs a sort out although is also complete and has agood set of boots. The motor is original Hall Scott and runs well. Started first time albeit five gallons of petrol. Hope of interest. Tony G.

hi dave, torque settings for the dfxe heads are 210 foot pounds and i always give just a tadge more, also recommended is a plastic gasket solution both sides of the gasket, hylama is what i use. my number in france is 0033231101198, i am back in england for a week from 16th october, all the best, tony g.

hi adrian, hope alls well, i have just had a french friend visit me on his way back from belgium, jaap rietfeld has bought a huge amount of spares from beek of paris, it has taken a long time to sort out but there is a lot of diamond 980/981 spares, perhaps it maybe worth giving jaap a buzz for your valves. the number is oo3255420245 or the shop 00320498549289, hope of some help, tony g.

hi , in response to the last article it did not show any spitfires being buried, the israeli air force and egyptian forces used spits and piston engined fighters were still used during the vietnam war including mustang p51ds, my father flew with spifire xiv,s in burma until 1945, i understand about the 21,s and 24,s but these were very few on the ground, being involved with mainly battle of britain types for over 50 years these rumours will always exsist, i just hope that for the people involved it is not a waste of time and money, hope of interest, tony g.

hi, i cannot believe these stories about crated spitfires being buried. first of all they were state of the art fighters and many countries at the end of the war were equipping their air forces, secondly they must have arrived in crates why not take them back out in crates, they would be worth a fortune in 1945 and would just be like dumping new euro fighters, thirdly imagine the size of the hole to bury them, tony g.

hi all, in response to mr carters request about the ex wynns wrecker number 201, it belonged to a good friend of mine in bristol geoff brown, he owned 16 wlfs, he bought the wrecker two months before wynns became part of united transport and had abrand new gardner 150 engine. geoff used it full time for recovery and winching but it suffered a lot with transmission problems and the fact that it had 1200x20 and 1100x20 tyres. geoff sold the ward in 1985 for 350 pounds and he thinks it went up north.the ward is pictured in geoffs colours and he recalls the the front winch was missing due to the fact of the extra lenth of the gardner engine.i think we can assume that the old girl has been cut up , hope of interest tony g.

hi remy, a lot of electrical stuff is 6volt including the two horns, they just sound louder, the electric stop will be fine but you can also use the manual stop which i prefer, hope of some help, tony g.

hi remy, the earth lead for the hercules and the rolls conversion is from starter direct to the chassis, the hercules was designed as positive earth and the rolls c6 was negative earth. what is the problem with your earthing? , hope of some help, all the best tony g.

Hi cosrec, I am sorry for the confusion. My wrecker was modified after military service by Bill Jackson of Chaseside Engineering along with several other 980,981 50 ton tractors. It was purchased by Geoff Gatwood and served as Gatwood's heavy recovery wrecker. Arthur Carter has restored his own machine and has never had anthing to do with Chaseside's. I hope this clears things up for you. All the bst Tony G.

Hi All Nearly finished the 'ole girl'. Have just put new through shaft seals in and weather permitting will go for a drive along the beach tomorrow. Hope to see some old friends at Beltring after thirty years where the 'Diamond' will be up for sale. All the best, Tony G.

Hi All Two photos I have found from the past. John Wynn informs me it was fifteen years ago!! I met up with John at a gathering in Kent organised by Roger Mortimer. John Wynn had not driven a 'Diamond' for thirty years and he had thirty in his fleet. The photos show myself and John and John in my 'T'. He startred the old girl up and off he went for about half an hour. I thought I'd lost my 'T'. John said he'll never forget how to drive one. Hope of interest . Tony G.