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NickAbbott

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Everything posted by NickAbbott

  1. Once we moved it, we were able to start to assess the overall condition. Mechanically it is very good, and we were able to get it running after it sat in that garden for 18 years, which would probably have been fairly easy for a 7.7 diesel engine, but petrol engines of the same vintage are slightly more tempermetal! It was driven half a mile to the low loader, very slowly, as the brakes were binding badly! But made it onto the lorry under it's own steam. The bodywork is another story, with the majority of the wood being fairly rotten, but at least most is still there, enabling it to be used as patterns. Looks quite small on the back of a fairly modern low loader! Chassis plate, showing the chassis stamped with 0853145 (below the plate), but the plate showing 853145 - indicating that the chassis was built for a diesel engine, but ended up fitted with a petrol one. Some of the missing woodwork on the cab roof The roof from above - the missing panels were in place when we first looked at the lorry, but subsequently fell off due to the lack of any supporting woodwork. It still has it's original canvas seats, and the rifle rack next to the passenger seat, although the bottom piece has been broken off, and will have to be remade. More to follow...
  2. As you may have noticed from the first picture, it's fitted with the early style cab, which along with the rest of the bodywork, was built by Weymann. Unlike the normal later cab, there are lots of curved panels, mainly in the roof and wings, and the roof it double skinned, meaning there are twice as many curved panels that need to be reproduced :-(. Because the cab wasn't covered, the roof has suffered quite badly, with most of the inner panels having fallen off, and the woodwork in certain places has disappeared. When it was spruced up in the 1980's, a fair amout of fibreglass was used in the cab roof, which didn't help keep the rain out. Anyway, below are few more differences. Nick The roof, from the inside: Vokes air filter, fitted to the front panel, and hiding all the pipework for the autovac. Dashboard, featuring a different selection of gauges and controls - the mileometer shows only 13203 miles, which I could quite well believe. Main electrical panel - made up from individual components, instead of the standard SIMMS or CAV control boxes Along with the slow running control, there is also an advance/retard control. There is also a switch which requires the engine to be fully retarded before it will start.
  3. After a few people expressed some interest in seeing some progress on the restoration of my Matador, I thought I would at least put up a few pictures and a bit of info on the restoration. Having owned the vehicle for the last 4 years (with a friend), some good progress has been made on returning it to it's former glory, but there is still a long way to go. The Matador in question is a very early one, from the first contract, delivered in 1940, and was one of the 17 converted to petrol engine by AEC, supposedly before being put into service, and for use in Norway, although there don't appear to be any records of Matadors making it to Norway in 1940. So instead of the normal 7.7 litre diesel engine, it has a 7.4 litre A193 overhead cam petrol engine, complete with autovac on the front panel. In addition to the petrol mods, it is also completely 12v, rather than the normal split system on a standard Matador. It was released from the army in 1960 and disposed of from Bicester, to Cousens of Bexhill on sea, who specialise in recovery and crane hire, and are still trading. They had it between 12-14 years before disposing of it. The previous owner to me, purchased it around 1980 from someone who intended to convert it to a timber tractor, but didn't due to the petrol engine. He had it restored/repainted and registered for the first time. It got little use, and was laid up in 1991 in someones garden, from where we bought it. Here are a few pictures when I first saw it. Unfortunately, had it been covered up, it would have survived in a much better state. Despite all that, it is suprisingly original, and has had very little messing with, other than the crane on the back - more on that later. Nick
  4. The forced storage move has actually been quite good - it's cheaper, and in a better building. It's also meant that some things have been completed quicker than they would otherwise. I have thought about doing a restoration blog, but progress is pretty slow, so updates would be quite infrequent. But I suppose there aren't any other matador restorations documented in much detail, unless there are some I have missed! Nick
  5. My Matador ventured outside for the first time in nearly 4 years, due to loss of storage, so it was a good time to get some pictures of it. Not been run in all that time either, but once it had warmed up, it ran pretty nicely. Nick
  6. Does anyone know of any undercover storage for a Matador, in the Berkshire or Surrey area, as I will be losing my storage shortly, and I'm part way through the restoration of the Matador - so it's in pieces and not currently drivable. :-( Thanks Nick
  7. Any chance you could post more details on the reproduced air filter element. I need to try to reproduce one, but don't currently have an old filter element to copy. Thanks Nick
  8. From the K2 manual, dated 1944: "RINGS. Two compression, one oil control, all above gudgeon pin. Ring gap ·008/·012-in. Groove widths: Compression ·1265/·1270-in. Oil Control ·1577/·1582-ins. Groove clearance, ·002-in. to ·0025-in." Nick
  9. Does anyone know who owns this Matador, as I'm interested in speaking to them. Thanks Nick
  10. I have something similar on the underside of my Matador bonnet and a friend has something similar on the underside of the bonnet on his K2 ambulance. Can't remember off hand what they say, but I think they both start with WNR, like the first example. Nick
  11. I also need a new felt bellows for my filter, but have not found an easy route to get new ones. I've not really looked at a modern solution to fit within the casing yet. Nick
  12. Look at this thread, as I asked about the crane previously - http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?16296-What-was-this-crane-used-for We concluded where the jib of the crane originated (Series 4 Ward laFrance), but not when it would have been fitted, or what it was actually for. Nick
  13. I have the details from deepcut, which basically gives the disposal date and registration number and not really anything else - even if it just said "AEC Matador with crane, reg number 95YY47", that would give me enough info to know that the crane was fitted during military service! Thanks Nick
  14. Having never seen a Ruddington auction catalog, I was wondering how much info was provided on each of the vehicles that were disposed of in the 1960s? I'm trying to research the history of my Matador, but have hit a brick wall, other than that it was disposed of in early 1960, and I was wondering if there would be any info on it in any of the auction catalogs from around that date? It's been fitted with a crane, and I'm trying to establish if it was done by the military or afterwards, as the crane seems to have been made up from military components, with a fairly special (but unknown use), rather than being either a timber or recovery crane. If anyone has access to catalogs from that period, and could take a look, it's reg is 95YY47 if that helps? Any help/info appreciated Nick
  15. Howard, yes it had an overhaul recorded in 1953, but I don't know how thorough it was as it still has lots of original features, including volkes felt bellows air filter and the petrol engine that was fitted shortly after it was finished. It is also still fitted with the early Weymann cab, and more curved wings, etc. Removing things like the drivers seat, and dashboard, there is a single coat of green paint under all these items. It has had the brakes converted to air, but that seems about it, everything else seems as original. Nick
  16. My matador has only ever had one coat of paint on most of the cab interior, and it's gloss bronze green, the same as the body, chassis, etc - it seems pretty much everything was the same colour when they were built. Mine is from the first contract, so 1939/40 build. Not investigated the original colour of the engine yet. Nick
  17. The Kool Mat material looks interesting, is there a UK based supplier of it do you know? I want to replace the heat shields on my Matador with something new. Nick
  18. It's me selling the CDs on ebay - I do have other scanned Matador manuals that aren't on the CD, if there are any others that people are interested in. I originally scanned them for my own use, and as mentioned above, it's really useful to be able to print out a section of the manual to use while working on something specific, which doesn't matter if it gets damaged. The money from selling them is being used in the restoration of my Matador. Nick
  19. Does anyone know of a source for the felt bellows that go in the vokes air filter (or have a spare one), as I need to get hold of one for my Matador, which is fitted with the same air filter? Thanks Nick
  20. Mine has the chassis number stamped into the chassis frame, just underneath the brass plate - it only showed up when the paint was cleaned off the chassis in that area. A fair number of AECs have the number stamped in the same place - just behind the front near side spring mount. Nick
  21. Which cab options is the model going to have? The curved wooden blocks attached to the tailgate on mine are what was fitted to early Matadors (mine has a Weymann cab), all the later ones I've seen have been fitted with metal brackets of a similar shape, instead of the wooden blocks. Nick
  22. Is this the detail you are after? This is from the back of my Matador. Nick
  23. It's an ex London General AEC K type - the chassis number is clearly visible on the nearside chassis rail (I have a picture of it somewhere), but I can't remember the number, but it is easily identifiable. It came from a field in Wales a few months ago, apparently. I'm told it had part of a body on it when it was found, but it was removed before the chassis arrived at the new London Bus Museum/Brooklands. Nick
  24. I'm planning to buy all the paint required to paint my Matador shortly - it has the atrilliary body, and obviously the chassis is the same colour - so has anyone fully painted a Matador, and remember how much paint they used, or does anyone else know how much it will take? I will be brush painting, and would like to buy all the top coat in one go, so it's all the same colour - anyone any ideas on the quantity I'll need? Thanks Nick
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