Bobcat

This is my 1943 Austin G/YG Tilly. Currently undergoing a paint scheme change to represent a mid war vehicle, as it is currently in 1944 invasion colours.

But he wants to keep it original.

Why havent you tightened the loose connection.

As a re enactor and living historian it needs to fit in with what I portray, so I want to represent it how it might have looked in service in 1942/43 At the moment it's in Nato Green with big white stars on it..

Yes I've also found traces of SCC2 under the layers of paint on my 1943 Tilly. It seems to have been bronze green originally with service brown on top of that followed by RAF blue and a couple of layers of Nato Green. The RAF colours were presumably when it was used in a Movie in the 1960s.

Reading up on the subject it seems that pre war British vehicles were painted bronze green, then by the time ww2 broke out, they were being painted Khaki Green number 3. However due to green pigment being impossible to source after late 1941, they were painted SCC2 Service Brown and stayed that way until the end of the war, except for new vehicles produced and painted after 1944 in the British version of Olive Drab, that is different from the American version for no good reason. Does this mean that almost every green British vehicle we see on the circuit is painted wrong, or are the writers of the paint schemes books mistaken. https://www.trackpadpublishing.com/tilly-colours

Whos Tilly has red door handles. I can only see mine and the Malta Tilly.

🤣

It really is a beauty and I like the period accessories. 👍

That really is lovely. Do you reenact KOMR, I know a couple of guys that would love to have a vehicle like this on their set. Yes I have all the information that the Tilly Register can find, and the only person with the extra info I want was Cyril Groombridge who is sadly no longer with us.

I'm not sure what the plate is at the moment. It has been splattered in salt and is very green and corroded, so until I clean it up a bit I wont know.

Thanks wally. The previous owners all came up with nothing, but I thought there might be more options available as time goes on, I also dont know how to find out if the M5456849 number is pure fiction or not.. The data plate is the only thing that connects it to it's past, my motorbike was traced to the RAOC by it's factory dispatch records and it's C number, but I havent dug any deeper on that yet. I'll just repaint it as a representation of any Tilly that served in North Africa and Italy.👍

My 1943 Austin Tilly left military service in 1958, and was bought by Cyril Groombridge, a well known supplier of vehicles to the film industry. Legend has it that my Austin 10 Light Utility was 1 of 2 Tilly's that featured in the 1963 Film 633 Squadron, and while rubbing down the paintwork, I have found, RAF blue/grey paint on top of green which is on top of brown which is on a thick grey primer, possibly the original paintwork, but who would really know as it was rebuilt twice by the military and has the rebuild plate on the bulkhead, the other Tilly also still survives. Contract records point to the RAF not actually being supplied with Austins, and no contemporary photographs are known to exist showing the Austins in RAF service. I have the vehicles full history stating who owned it and when, and a thick folder featuring bills for every bottle of oil, spark plug, brake shoes, clutch plates etc, going back to the 1980s, However, what I would really like to know is where the vehicle went during it's time in service and what it's war story is. Is there a source for this information now, that might not have been available to the previous owners.

Hi all. I'm looking for a usable pair of 600x16 town and country tyres. If anyone has a couple of used ones near to Chatham I would be interested. I dont want to pay over £500 for 2 new tyres which is the price they seem to be going for.

It would appear to be a ba size, but they are the same as metric, so a trip to your local garage with the headlamp shell may yield results.