Tony Graves

The Sterling HSC 330 Haine's ran two 330's. The first photo looks pretty clean. Haine's also ran a third wrecker shown in picture 3 which I believe is a Federal, perhaps not. Enjoy. Tony

Hi everybody, I have some photos of the Sterling HSC 330 heavy wrecker which a friend of mine sent me many years ago. He was a keen truck photographer and knew i was interested in WW2 vehicles. This is a very rare vehicle, probably because no one could afford the petrol. I could not find a forum for Sterlings so if anybody would like to see them I will print on this site. All the best. Tony G.

Hi Mike, Thought this maybe of interest to you. Perhaps a modification to engine, certainly to the bonnet. The Antar belonged to Sarens, the famous crane hire people. I think a Belgian outfit still going today. All the best. Tony G.

I photographed this DT about 25 years ago. It had a Scania engine and hadn't been used for a long time. The yard was at the back of the famous Circus Tavern at Purfleet. They had two DT's, the other one was bought by John Hume of Dagenham, Essex. It was a soft top with a Hurcules engine and was painted yellow. I know John did a complete strip down in his garden and I helped him with a several bits and pieces but I lost contact with him and the two Diamonds just disappeared into the ether. I think the yard is now operated by Albany Recovery. Perhaps Les Freathy might know of their whereabouts. All the best. Tony G

Pictured here is my wrecker when being used by Gatwood's Garage in Maidstone. The era is early 1970's and the location is the River Medway. The Hydrocon crane has tipped over when removing a storage tank. The empty cradles can be seen on the middle of the photo and the tank can be seen at the end of the jib in the river. A wall had to be demolished to gain access and one of Gatwood's men, Ron Baily, had to climb out on the jib to attach a recovery cable. I have about forty of these photos taken during various recoveries using the DT. I will post some more later. Hope of interest. All the best Tony G.

Hi Mike, hope all is well with the Antar. I hope to be at Dorset this year with the wrecker but at the moment we are very busy here with b&b and tours. Please see four photos of EGG 570 in Walker's yard. I can confirm to the doubters that this is EGG 570 and who would want to take this. Pickfords ran nine Diamond T's. Some went to BRS as wreckers and some ended up in yards all over the country. Hope of interest. Tony

hi tony, yes , i was working my way up the leaves with a industrial hacksaw blade using some boiler section chisels to ease the leaves, and was four from the top when i noticed a tiny crack on the edge of the next leaf up,it was only the rust that held it together. the big problem was the two u clamp rear nuts which are impossible to get at with coventional socket set, i ended up borrowing a 46mm ringed flogging spanner from a mate in england and putting a 30 degree bend in 10ft of scaffold tube, with heat they eventually came undone, i doubt if they,d ever been off before. i will post some pics next week, hope all,s well with your family, all the best tony g.

hi adrian, i spoke to mark walker a couple of years ago at dorset steam fair about egg 570, his reply was 10,000 pounds take it or leave it. can you imagine paying that before restoration. diamond t stuff now is getting harder to find especially cabs, unless you can find a donor vehicle which now will probably be as bad condition, you are looking at a huge project and i think mr walker will be keeping the old girl for several years to come. perhaps pdw 321 would be a better project. i am currently having a new leaf made for my diamond wrecker, what a job dismantling the rear spring, it is being made in england, i won,t tell you price in case my wife is listening, bear this in mind and the cost of restoring egg, it cant be worth it, all the best tony g .

Photo 1 - PDW 321 photo'd head on in 1978 in Joe Sullivan's yard near Portsmouth in a fairly derelict state.It had a Cummins engine. Behind is the sole surviving Pacific Tractor which has now been restored by Mike Lawrence of Burnham on Sea. Photo 2 - B/W picture, PDW 321 was Wynns working recovery vehicle. Pictured here with a good rear view, equipped with a heavy duty Harvey Frost crane and hand winch. Photo 3 - PDW 321 pictured just before the start of the famous Wynn's anniversary Newport drive through. Does anybody know what happened to the old girl? Hope of interest. Tony G

Dear richard, amazing what people spend their money on, a racing diamond, with all that smoke looks like they retained the hercules engine, happy new year to everyone , all the best , tony g.

dear alan, adrian is quite correct it is a jadgtiger, captured jadgtigers were very rare so it probably is the bovvy one , hope of interest, tony g

Many years ago I met a chap at a rally who drove Diamonds during the war. His T was 'HOTSPOT'. In this picture (photo 1) you can see them celebrating with Carlesberg beers ( look carefully and you can see the bottle labels ) after a Panther tank crew (photo 2) surrendered to a British unit together with a Lica camera. I have about 40 photos of this Diamond unit all taken in Italy. This chaps job was to transport the Panther the length of Italy to a rail junction, hence the celebration on arrival. Photo 3 shows another T in the unit, HOT RHYTHM, along with Italian mascot. When I met this chap, probably 25 years ago, he still had the Lica camera and said that it still took a good photo. Photo 4 is for the trailer buffs. Is this a German trailer? It shows a 70 ton King Tiger in good condition being towed by a DT. I wonder if this is the one in the Samur Museum in France which is a 'runner'. All the best. Tony G

dear antar kev ,i don,t know if this is the problem, is the choke on the metorite water cooled/. many years ago i had the same problem with my mark 11 jag, after 10 minutes driving the engine would stop, after a quarter of an hour it would fly into life, and the procedure would be the same all over again. a friend of mine had serviced it a couple of weeks previous and messed with the twin su carbs,. this was the early days of crypton tuning, i towed the jag to the garage and expected a huge bill, the answer was simple, the mixture in the carbs was weak , so when the water heated up it shut the choke off too early and the weak mixture was not enough to run the engine. so after 15 minutes of cooling down the engine started perfectly. all the garage did was to richen the carbs up on the crypton system and i never had any more problems with the engine. hope this is of some help, all the best tony g.

Nice to see my old Diamond, on page 39, still looking good. Trawwling through some of my old photos I came across a photo of it taken in 1975 in Sullivan's Yard at Bedhampton after coming from Ruddington on a crane trailer. The second photo I took on the day I picked it up in 1978. I still have somewhere, the original release note for it. Hope of interest. All the best. Tony G.

Thanks chaps for the info. There is no way I can get to the underside of the leaf and to remove the spring means removing both axles. I'll try NOS's idea of grinding the rivet sides and will keep you up to date on my progress. All the best, Tony G.

At last, I have eventuallly got my "T" back home here in France which makes it much easier for me to work on the old girl. I have a problem, which having worked on DT's for thirty years, I have never come across before. On one side at the rear springs there are two spring clamps which have had rust build up inside and have broken the 7/16 bolts. The brackets have to come off to staighten them. On top of the clamp there is a rivet. I was wondering whether to cut the rivet head off, remove the the clamp to straighten it and make a new fixing on top after. Can anyone help me with any info or ideas to solve this problem. Thanks Tony G

dear mike, i wonder what engine is inside, normally the front bumper tow hook conversion was coupled with the rolls c6 engine, also of note is the diamond was used as a wrecker is the bent rear winch roller, this happened when winching with a snatch block over the back of the crane , hope of interest, tony graves.

hi adrian, the restoration of the diamond will include all the normal things, cab, bonnet, and wings, if you notice, the offside windscreen has been made by someone and stuck in, i have two new windscreens which i shall fit on my next visit to england in the middle of july. it is still a little bother to start but none of the injectors were working before, i had all new nozzles fitted and set up along with the pump ,so i guess it might be glazed bores, also it has not been on the road for nearly twenty years, will keep you informed on the progress, all the best tony g.

hi, nos, the machine in the background is a hardy, based on a sixties fordson eia, it was used by a company called conways, a paper haulier from chatham kent. it can lift 30 cwt and apparently is the only one left. all the best tony g.

Hi NOS. I have just returned from the UK where I met up with the original owners of forty seven years ago of my T. Jeff Gatwood bought it from a yard in Southampton immediately after it's conversion from the army to a wrecker. I have always said that the conversion had been done extremely nicely. Mr Gatwood said that there were two DT'S exactly the same in the yard of which he had the choice and it had been converted by Bill Jackson of Chaseside Engineering. The T had the word chaseside written in the diamond pattern on the side. I wonder where the second DT is now!!! He also gave me about twenty photos of the DT in recovery mode around the Kent area. Also with Mr Gatwood was Ron Baily who is now nearly eighty years old and was the regular driver of this truck. I have some great pictures of Ron with my T. The two pictures here show the T nearly ready for the Dorset Steam Show and the restoration will hopefully start this winter. I hope this is of interest. All the best. Tony G.

hi eka wrecker, just a quickie, the crane on clydds wrecker was built in the workshops of morants motors of dunton green near sevenoaks, about three miles from our village, morants also ran a canadian chev with hand wind gear on it, hope of interest, tony g

hi, adrian the diamond is indeed egg 570 and is in mark walkers yard famous for their rotinoffs at dorset steam fair, a huge restoration project, i wonder if anybody will take it on, i hope so cheers tony g.

Just a couple more shots of the DT at Cherbourg, prior to catching the ferry to Poole for the Dorset Steam Fair in 2008.

Hi Les, forgot about that gathering, memory probably going. Two years ago I went through the old girl, cab, wings, bonnet, no filler, she deserved a tart up. As you know she spent nearly eighteen years in Des's barn in Lyminge, Kent and now with a new coat of paint she looks the dogs. Hope to take Bishops wrecker to Dorset and the Scammell run.All the best. Tony G.

Many years ago I visited Severn Beach Garage and had some bits and pieces off one of their scrap Diamonds hence my tool box pictured on the fuel tank. Alongside was the rolling chassis soon to be cut up. The one with the cab on was used at shows, turned over and righted as part of the recovery display - sacrilige!!!! These two vehicles belonged to the famous Glasgow heavy haulier John Young who used to give Pickfords and Wynns a run for their money. It's a shame they had to end up like this. Severn Beach also had a sand coloured Diamond in their yard - see the reg. plate, it is original John Youngs. I wonder if the relics remain there? I have heard the sand Diamond is still around. Hope this is of interest, regards, Tony G.