eddy8men

can i just call it a bren gun carrier and be done with it eddy

she's a dog alright, no tracks, knackered wheels,no engine or box,no gun and not a right lot left inside but it's viable given enough time and money, it might not even be me that gets her going again all i can guarantee is that it won't get gas axed, so another churchill will be spared. i'll start a thread on it when i get her back to manchester and when you see the pics you'll understand why i only paid scrap value for her. all the best eddy

hi fella's i'm planning on bringing my carrier, infact i have set the trip to spta as my goal but don't count me in just yet i've one or two things to sort out first optimistic eddy

thanks guys

i'd love to put it on my signature,trouble is i don't know how, can one of you boffins let me know. cheers eddy

hi fella's just to let you know the carrier towed beautifully for 250 miles and was probably under 2ton i put the centre of the carrier over the middle of the axles and it balanced really well but if you're thinking of doing the same just remember there was no engine, box or rad on mine and the tracks were in the van, it will be interesting to see if the carrier when complete will be legal to tow on a 3.5t trailer i think it will. eddy

hi alistair i paid £40 to hire mine for 2 days so that might give you an idea of the going rate, personally i thought he was cheap, unfortunately it's in manchester so no use to you i'm afraid eddy

it sounds great, that scrap yard looks like an aladins cave of ww2 armour, do us a favour don't forget to take your camera. all the best eddy

welland

hi fella's the carriers in bob grundy's yard ready for blasting and undercoat, i went this afternoon to strip a few parts before blasting and to look for the wd no. which i found but couldn't make out yet,however i did find the name of welland written on the side in yellow paint and when googled i came up with the welland regiment in canada which landed at normandy in july 44 so i'll email there regimental museum and se what i can come up with. still need an engine and rad has anyone got one. on the road in 50 days(ish). this is day 1 eddy

hi alistair glad to see you've got something in the bag and they don't get much better than a loyd carrier you won't be wasting your time with one of them. i reckon you'll be fine with a trailer as i doubt the chassis will weigh more than a ton each, i'd chance it but you might struggle with loading 2 bent chassis onto a trailer so it's more of an awkward size issue than weight and it's a very long way to go to find that it won't fit on. i'd be tempted to hire a large van to tow it, that way you would have the back of the van for stowage as well. all the best eddy

the most sought after and valuable bren is the mk 1 with the dovetail bkt on the left side in front of the drum sight but any bren is a good bren, i paid £200 for my mk1 last year so anything around that area is a fair price. go on milweb and look at the deacs and google deacs as well there's plenty to choose from. all the best eddy

hi andy good choice of vehicle if you want fun and practicality along with an easy drive the 432 can't be beat. there's also a way of making them road legal with a bit of modification:cool2: eddy

alistair watch out for these guys as they've got you over a barrel,if you drive all the way there and they say the price is now higher you'll be shafted and they know it, how you could guarantee the price you agree with them over the phone i don't know, i doubt a scrapper will give you a written invoice beforehand, you'll have to go with your gut instinct but just remember nobody else will be brave enough to buy them and scrap is only £130/ton. it might be difficult but it sounds like a great adventure,if you need a hand give me a shout. all the best eddy ps don't buy the engine you can get a good runner here for that price, i can get you a g/box for £40

hi alistair let's go and get everything we can from that yard, are you up for it ! eddy drop me a pm

hi john i passed your house about 21.30 tonight, it's been a long but productive couple of days, i'll tell you all about it tomorrow/later on today eddy

i've also fired the ak47, nice and simple but zero marks for accuracy

i liked the sa 80, the susat sight was great, shame it was a silly little round the same size a .22 air rifle

just googled it for a laugh and they're genuine, thought it was a wind up ! cruzin coolers, living the dream.

BRITISH AND PROUD job done eddy

thanks kevin i'm glad you posted the reply as a couple of the wheels have got some big chunks of rubber missing from them but i'm hoping the guys down here in the storage yard will give me a lift rolling it on the trailer with the stacker truck. it's funny but when i got to southampton this afternoon the bloke at the yard said "so you're the fella with the lump of rust" maybe he wasn't far wrong but as carriers go it's in good condition, the seller even chucked some spare engine panels in for good measure (nice to get a freebie). just looking forward to starting the restoration now, should have it going in a couple of months as long as the axles not goosed. all the best eddy

well actually they're both vw's but i do feel guilty when i'm driving them, might get a transit and a range rover next time round and fly the flag and besides my mate owns a garage so it'll help keep him busy. seriously though i was looking at the running gear today on a churchill that i bought and i was thinking why the hell did they build it like that, the wheels are on white metal bearings in a reservoir of oil, not a roller bearing in sight. insane, unreliable, over complicated, over engineered but i still love the churchill, it's part of what makes us different,very very different:D eddy

we have made some crap to be sure and when you compare our vehicles to the yanks, the difference is obvious but british vehicles have a soul and were built by blokes called albert or ted with little more than a set of whitworth spanners and a 12" bastard file. but you are right. why we chose to build stuff by hand i'll never know but that's part of being british and i think this little island off the coast of europe has done all right for it's self, so i'll stick with the british stuff. mad dogs and englishmen eddy

right then fella's i'm down here in southampton in my van not the vw toerag. the trailer is rated at 2.75t gross not the 3.5t that i wanted so i was a little worried that i might be pushing it a bit with regard to the max load but by that time i was comitted so i thought sod it. (it'll be reet) i stopped off to look at the carrier (not picking it up until tomorrow) and thankfully the seller had removed the tracks and rolled them up inside, so the carrier can free wheel but better than that i can put the tracks in the van which will bring the trailer weight down by a ton which puts my mind at ease and means i'll definately be legal. as for the carrier it looked great and the seller had chucked some freebies in as well. all in all a good day. thanks for all your advice i'll get some pics up on saturday. eddy

thanks john i'm picking up a plant trailer up from fletchers trailers in ashton this afternoon and i'm setting off for southampton in the morning, the trailer is 700kg and i reckon the carrier is 2500kg so i should be within the weight limit, i'll just have to suck it and see. incidentally the trailer guy has 2 diamond t's in his yard, both are very tatty but look to be structurally sound so i asked if they were for sale, he came back to me the next day and said he was looking for £8.5k each, he wouldn't budge so it looks like they'll sit there til he dies and then get scrapped, what a waste !!! cheers eddy