w896andy

What are you saying, you mean it might not be true, but a newspaper said it was, next you will be telling me that Father Christmas is going to be late this year. :banghead:

Wow, I stand corrected, that's a lot of work for one ad, but I guess that's show business !!

Call me cynical but just speed the film up a bit and dub the sound over it. Soft shocks and big tyres with not much pressure in them will give you a nice bounce and take a run up for the camera, it can't be doing much more than about 40 mph at most. I'm not an expert but will a V8 fit into a Ferret engine bay ? :nut:

I fear you may have some valid points there, perhaps its taking a differing direction and we should look for an alternative. As has been said by another here maybe time for back to basics, a nice big show with people, reenactors, vehicles, stalls and traders, all military and from all over Europe run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. Perhaps we should start a new one, perhaps our illustrious forum leader Jack would like to pick up the gauntlet. Jack, for example you could ‘just’ bolt it onto A&E next year, extend Broadmayne D5 field a little (ok a lot), charge the public to get in. Its near to Southampton for the European people and easy to get to from the North, I’ll organise the cake stall, what do you think, it shouldn’t be too much extra work for you, Jim & the team ?? (Grabs coat and runs for exit). :beatenup:

I've used a company called Towens in Weston Super Mare a couple of times, not exactly in Devon but if you can't get anybody closer then they are not that far away. Towens run trucks moving spoil and hardcore around but also have a 44 ton low loader for moving their own machines, they will hire it out by the mile and don't charge a fortune, they have moved an Autocar for me previously from Wiltshire so are happy to do a one off move.

It’s the overall business plan of the new company I think that needs reviewing, it’s an ideal opportunity for them to build it for the future and make changes to resolve issues not all of their own making. It seems to be geared now toward increasing costs and decreasing flexibility for people and traders attending. As I mentioned it’s always going to be a fine balance but the current approach appears to have tipped this balance meaning that already vehicle numbers, reenactor numbers, public numbers and trader’s numbers are all down some by a big margin. That’s the first thing that needs to be addressed. As you say people don’t like change and the commercialisation into other areas (as others have commented) of what started as a hobby show plus the need for the new owners to make a return on investment will be difficult enough without the other issues. As somebody who runs my own business in my humble opinion the warning signs are there in addition to the as you say normal people moaning. You are right people have always moaned but the show expanded, now people are moaning for slightly different reasons and its contracting at a large rate currently as people just stop coming. I agree with the point made by others regarding the toilets, as you say they have never been good, but now we pay £10 and they are still not good, so people will just look at it as the new owners making a return on their investment and not improving things. Regarding moving it closer to me, that’s not my point, the Hop Farm site was already not ideal for public, exhibitors and traders but it’s been moved further away again now from its core customers to the side of the M20 where Operation Stack last year stopped most of the public attending on the Saturday and the backlogs getting to Dover this year will have put people off (actual or perceived), that’s not the new peoples fault of course but it’s just not in the right place. Either move it to Northern France or further inland in the UK where people as I mentioned coming from the Midlands and the North (not Somerset!) don’t have to come around London (slow classic vehicles on the M25 are not good !!). I mentioned Newbury only in as much as it allows people to drive their vehicles on A roads avoiding motorways and the European people to still get there quickly via the M20/25/4 plus gives you a much larger public ‘pull’ for day attendance from four directions. The current location serves nobody other than the few local people and has very unreliable access. We all in this hobby have to help stop the current rot (hence us all giving feedback) or find another show that gives us an equal experience in size and attractions. The alternative is that W&P goes from being ‘our’ national show and the largest in Europe to being just another local county show, which would be a loss for us all.

I’ll give my two pennies worth having visited W&P every year for around 15 years, sometimes staying and sometimes as this year only going as a member of the paying public on one day. I very much want this show or another very much like it to survive, I like it, it’s great to see a lot of vehicles and reenactors and see friends all in one place. Additionally as the owner of some larger vehicles and a collector of WW2 ‘stuff’ I feel it’s very important for the European dealers to be there in one place and in large numbers, they give me far more and cheaper purchasing options than some of the very expensive English dealers who I fear are getting unrealistic in some cases. So in my view large numbers of dealers from many countries in one place is the main selling point and the reason for me visiting the show just as much as seeing other vehicles and friends. As has been said vehicle/reenactor numbers are very much down and this will mean a slow death as it feeds the public interest/attendance, revenue for the stall holders and dare I say now revenue for the show organisers. The location is not suitable, it’s near the ferry for the European people which is good but it’s just too far for many on this side of the Channel. It’s clear we all liked the Hop Farm but even that is a bit too far, it needs to be nearer to say Newbury, near enough for the European people but also much easier for vehicle owners in the Midlands/North of the UK. Many of the trade stands were very unhappy with numerous things as I heard negative comments from more than ever previously, if they keep getting more cost, less flexibility and it gets more difficult they will stop coming. The toilets have been mentioned, they were terrible last year and as bad this year. It’s simple, if I can’t wash and go to the toilet how can I stay for more than a day, £10 or no £10. Regarding the not opening on Sunday and not being able to leave when you wish, I understand why they have been bought in but they will reduce revenue through the gate and vehicles attending. It’s simple it doesn’t fit people’s lives or time available to attend to be forced into one option each (Saturday for the public and 5 days for Exhibitors) we do this for a hobby not as a commercial business. I’m working on my Autocar U8144 currently, it maybe ready for next year (or not ?) it’s rare as most will know and with its trailer should hopefully make an exhibit that I hope will be of interest. So the question is what’s going to tempt me to drive it all the way from Somerset and pay for the privilege in both fuel and entry fee and toilets, sorry currently it’s not what I saw this year, I can go to many more local shows for the cost of this one. I would really, really like to be wrong/have my view changed and see this show prosper and I will be the first person to commit to going but I can realistically only see giving it one more year as a day visitor, it’s a lot more realistic. I’m sorry but the new owner does need to rethink his business plan, the balance of trade, vehicles, reenactors and location is delicate and you will never keep everybody happy, but if you just move toward more profit then these will all fall away in turn and it will fail. Lastly to end on a high I’d like to thank Dawn at Anchor Supplies, her team and the guy who organises the 4x4 buggies. My friend I was with bought a 9x9 tent and some other bits from them, we came back to collect it later in the day loaded down with other goodies. They had promised to lend us one of their team to help us carry the tent to the car but the extras we had bought ruled that out. One call on the radio and 5 minutes later had us in a buggy being driven right to my car by a very nice guy who even helped us load and unload, it made our day so much easier, we put the tent up the following day to check it and it exceeded expectations. Thank you.

To put some context behind it, I live in the area and know the road well, it’s a very busy and fast-ish (by Somerset standards anyway) through route for the area. I’m guessing by the description it was a contracting firm who do most of the jobs locally around the area these days. The local contracting firms are I have to say a pain in the backside, they employ young (cheap!) drivers who have no road sense and drive the largest tractors and trailers available at their top speed everywhere, usually passing cars in narrow lanes and through villages without slowing. These outfits are maximum width and about 20 tons all up with trailers loaded. The firms they work for run lean businesses with very small margins so they don’t stop for anybody, time is everything to them and they don’t pull over for anything. Additionally as there are no driver’s hour’s restrictions they work around 18 hours a day in busy seasons. So 20 tons of very high and wide vehicles all driven by teenagers, working far too many hours, some of who haven’t passed their car test yet (you can drive from 16 yrs old) and all of whom appear always to be talking on their mobile phones holding them to their ears permanently. I had to wait at a junction last week for 5 tractors with trailers to pass me in convoy as I guess they moved onto their next job, 4 were talking on the phone and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to follow one where the driver has not checked his mirrors once and has been talking on the phone for mile after mile. The local police are usually reasonably good around here and I don’t doubt they would have warned the firm a couple of times before stopping them but I can easily see how they would get annoyed by one of these on a major through route for the area holding up 50 vehicles for 3 miles and then not seeing it was an issue. I don’t think any of us would allow ourselves to get into that situation as for us pulling over once in a while if its needed is just common sense and we don’t have a boss screaming at us to keep moving.

Could anybody please let me know where I would get hold of a MB Jeep Tandem Hitch or A frame as I may need to tow my Jeep with another military vehicle fitted with a standard pintle hitch. Thanks in advance Andy

We had a Journalist Geoff Moore (The Travel Trunk) in my Scout Car for the ride on Sunday, this is the video he made and published. Thanks again to wargaming.net for sponsoring the event.

Just got back from A&E 2016. This was my M3 Scout Cars first real big outing after a full restoration, 50 miles drive to get there, 50 miles of convoys and 50 miles back home. A great weekend that had it all, long convoys full of Armour and big trucks crewed with people in the right uniforms, about 20 Dispatch Riders keeping us all together and blocking the traffic (thanks to you all), open roads, country lanes, small villages, a very good Ford to get our feet wet in, forest tracks, Tank Museum Arena, leading a Carnival Procession, a hog roast, another convoy down to the coast and lunch by the sea. It even had a few breakdowns nothing serious thankfully but just enough to allow the breakdown trucks to get some exercise. The weather on Saturday was great, I met some new friends, caught up with some old ones and the general atmosphere was positive and relaxed. All in all a great weekend doing stuff which you just don’t get to do very often. Searching through You Tube is already showing loads of videos with no doubt more to come. So a big thank you to Jack, Jim and the others who organised it all and put all the effort into making it a great weekend and Wargaming / World of Tanks for sponsoring it . Jack is of course saying that this is the last time as his sanity is sorely tested, so I’ll book the same weekend for next year then :-D:-D:-D:-D

Yesterday I managed to get the Cummins 6BT diesel engine into my Autocar.. Mike Gillman sourced the engine, mated the engine to the original gearbox and made mountings so that it fitted the original mounting points so in theory it was a straight forward job. What we didn’t know was if anything was going to get in the way when it was fitted and the cab frame mounted. There are a number of issues but all have a fix so far, the heart stopping moment was when I found that the Air Compressor on the Cummins fouled the Clutch/Brake Pedal Bracket. A bit of head scratching later and I unbolted the pedal bracket and moved it backward a few inches as it bolts directly to the chassis rail, I’ll re-drill the holes and it solves the issue. If it had fouled the steering box which is on the same side and further forward of the pedal bracket it would have been a major issue. The only other major thing that gets in the way is the engine cover in the cab which needs to be widened on the drivers side to miss the inlet manifold and injector pipes and relocating some of the underfloor support rails a little, other than that it all fits nicely with plenty of space for the turbo, starter, alternator, etc. The cooling fan has an extended boss made by Mike so it clears the cab frame (the Cummins is shorter than the original Hercules) and there is plenty of room to mount either the original radiator or a modern one. Now it’s just a case of plumbing it all in and making any fittings needed and then taking it all out to paint it !!!!

I hope you don't mind me jumping in an asking a question whilst we are on the subject. I've got and M3 Scout Car, I've mounted a WS19 but need to get hold of a PSU, connecting lead and Variometer (Aerial) ??. I would need to mount the PSU on top of the set. Does the Normal 12 pin connecting lead allow for the PSU to go on top and where is the best place to get these parts ? Also new to radios so please correct anything I have got wrong above.

My Autocar has taken a bit of forward movement, I picked up its diesel engine today from Mike Gillman’s (TooTallMike) workshop. He has fitted a Cummins 6BT Turbo Diesel to the original gearbox and has made up a set of engine mountings so it fits on the original chassis mounting points plus made up a fan boss to extend the Cummins fan blade so It sits closer to the radiator (the Cummins engine is shorter than the Hercules petrol). This means I should be able to drop it back into the chassis, connect up the prop to the gearbox, generally plumb the engine in and it should fit under the cab floor etc. without too much cutting about of the truck itself.

I spoke to Jim a while back about bringing my M3 Scout Car, is that still OK ? Andy Norman

Rob makes a very important point here. If this is about taking dangerous firearms off of the street, making live weapons into De-Ac's is by far the most effective way of doing that. Those in this hobby who buy these De-Ac's are generating the removal of many thousands of weapons which are already out there and turning them into a harmless part of history (harmless unless of course you drop one on your foot !). Perhaps its a point which along with all of the other good points being made needs pushing home and perhaps the powers that be should be encouraging it not trying to stop it.

There are some valuable lessons for us military vehicle people to learn from railway preservation. We have the same problems restoration wise but in the Railway world everything is much, much bigger yet they are way ahead. On the WSR at Minehead we have 3 large engines currently under heavy overhaul, all undercover and in workshops which can produce much in house, supported by specialists and suppliers that can build anything you wish and there are many other such centres around the UK including the Bluebell. One of the ones at Minehead is a King Class GWR express loco, it has just had new outside cylinders cast, these are around 3 tons each and the new ones have been made about 3 inches narrower than the originals whilst retaining the same power output. GWR locos were always a bit wider than everybody else’s and because this loco is going to be mainline run it needs to take a little diet width and height wise to be able to run on a modern Network Rail. These cylinders are as complex as say a Jeep engine block but 4 times the size, yet we haven’t yet managed to make new Jeep blocks as it’s ‘too difficult’. In the railway world its now common for new boilers, wheels, cylinders right up to complete new engines like Tornado (an express engine,4-6-2, 75ft long and around 150 tons) with around 5 other new build projects underway to fill ‘missing links’. Like us in the Military vehicle world it all started with keen nutcases….. sorry volunteers with no money and is now a whole industry part commercial, part volunteer. To put it into context regarding some of the new builds imagine building from scratch a Mighty Antar plus Trailer plus a Centurion to go on the back. Equip it with modern braking and drivers aids so it can keep up with modern traffic and then hide these inside so it all looks original and you would still be about 50 tons short. Never say never when you are stuck for an engineering fix, the answers are out there somewhere.

"For the last time you are supposed to be shunting wagons around the yard so stop pretending to be a Spitfire and come down from there at once" :-D

Of course, sorry didn’t make the connection with your Grasshopper handle, I remember our conversation at W&P. Yes I have had Mr Wright as my driver on training turns, great engine man, agree with you re the jokes !! So now the HMVF has its own Steam Engine crew we just need to pop over to Europe and drive that Polish Nazi Gold train back once they have dug it out, I’m sure it just needs a warming fire and some fresh coal and it will be fine, now must go and feed those flying pigs.:rotfl:

I’ve just passed out as a Fireman (Passed Cleaner) on the West Somerset Railway in the last couple of weeks so know the joy of being on the footplate. I’ve just got the rules and regs exam to go in the next few days but have spent many turns over the line this summer getting ready. It sounds as if you have it easy firing in stations and sitting watching the world go by !! We have all big engines mostly GWR stuff, Odney Manor, Kinlet Hall, Ravingham Hall, 3850 and 4160 this summer running 6-8 coaches over 20 miles of some tough gradients with virtually nothing flat including 6 miles of constant 1 in 80/100. For us we don’t fire in stations, always on the move and spend the rest of the time calling signals and the 20 odd crossings on the line for the driver as being Western engines the Fireman is on the wrong side (or the right side as most of the GWR boys say). Still the Western engines are better than the 7F 53808 and 4F 44422 both due back in traffic with us next year, I’ve already heard many, many tales of steam pressure and water levels on the hills. I have fired Standards in the past so I know what you mean when you say they are nice and easy with everything easily to hand and comfortable to work on, unlike a GWR Hall working backward over 20 miles in the rain with 8 heavily loaded coaches on, so come and try some real engines on a tough line with us one day !! In all seriousness well done for passing, I know it’s a difficult and tough thing to get to that level and be let loose with a million quid’s worth of train. As MV collectors we all think we are mad, committed, bonkers and unusual but trust me working on these things takes all of that to another level. For those out there who have never been on the footplate of a working steam engine (and I mean working hard on a service train, not chugging up and down a siding) make it a life goal to do it at least once, there is nothing quite like it, it makes riding in a Sherman seem very tame (sorry to all Sherman owners) and for me it meant riding in the coaches now just doesn’t do it. :-D:-D:-D

If you don't get any joy with the above try Nigel Lowe on 07788 554692, he has a firm WB Recovery based in Pontefract, he has recently moved a M3 Scout Car from Scotland to Somerset for me, his core business is farm machinery movement so he found an existing trip with a space on his artic, very cost effective and experienced. Very happy to take military vehicles up to 26 ton.

From one DT owner to another, fit a diesel you maybe able to live with the fuel consumption more easily !!! Its nearly as easy to fit a Cummins or similar if the engine has to come out anyway. Or get a NOS engine from the US they are around apparently, somebody on here will have contacts.

If you are keen on an electric pump try one from Facet, an American company, recommended to me by TooTallMike. I googled it and found a fuel pump supplier in Bristol who have loads of options, mail order a couple of days. They do a low PSI one specifically for classic vehicles. Its a cube shaped pump which is all electronic. I ordered one in a kit with a screw in filter and rubber mountings and fitted it to my GMC (12 Volt), I bypassed the mechanical pump and fitted the electric pump near the tank with a feed to the ignition and a separate switch to act as a security device. The results were well worth the effort, no more pumping the fuel up after its not been started for a few weeks, no vapour lock (I've tried hard in over 25 degree heat and a very hot engine). Of course its not original but its hidden, the modern fuels today are not good for old vehicles rotting diaphragms away so it won't fill my sump full of fuel when the pump fails !! :cheesy:

I'm just finishing the restoration of my GMC 353 winch fitted open cab, can anybody give me any ideas on hood numbers and what number sequence they used. I've found an Engineers unit who were stationed near me in Somerset in the run up to D-Day so I'm ok with that but can't seem to find a definitive list of hood numbers, can anybody help please.

It’s an interesting question you ask, I’ve restored and owned Military vehicles now for 20 years and in that time have bought, sold, restored and kept any number of vehicles and I do buy vehicles (I’m lucky to have lots of undercover space) when the mood takes me and I think the price is right (I currently have around 8 or 9 in various states and am focusing on WW2 stuff). I have also been in the motor industry all of my life so have lots of experience selling vehicles both from dealerships and online (my previous role involved selling 1,400 cars a month online) so I would say I know something about how to market vehicles and how much they sell for. I always follow the military vehicle market and prices closely so have an opinion. I can’t talk about your vehicles as I don’t know the prices and I’m sure you will have them reasonably priced so I maybe being very unfair to you. So talking generally I do think the general market has over priced itself. It’s due to the limited numbers of vehicles available for sale at any one time and no ‘book’ price to go by. For example say a Dodge WC (any in the range currently) which I think is a prime candidate (I could give you specifics of many others but I won’t as some are currently on the market so it wouldn’t be fair of me) somebody puts one up for sale for £10k because its newly restored and great and the seller wants as much back as they can, its likely to be the only one on the market in any given week so sets a bench mark. The next seller puts theirs up for £12k on the guess that the last one must have sold so they want more, however the £12k one is average. Then the next one for sale is £14k but is worst condition than the £12k one. Therefore you have gone from a perfect, great one at £10k to a rough one at £14k in a few months and the buyers say ‘that’s what it’s worth’, maybe somebody pays the money, maybe they don’t but I guess most actually sell for a lot less. Ultimately the market won’t bear higher prices and they don’t sell but people think the price is what they are worth. As has been commented then mix in an ageing buyer base, people unfortunately passing away which results in vehicles on the market and many, many more restorations taking place now than in previous years (I have 3 on the go currently which may have been scraped years ago as too far gone) and you have a confused market where nobody knows the true value. The next complexity is size, your Saladin and DROPs are like my Autocar, GMC & Diamond T, large, so it restricts the number of buyers to a handful so you maybe lucky and buyers are in the market or if not the phone doesn’t ring at any price and you are left wondering. Unusual vehicles also struggle to sell unless there is one buyer in the market as they scare the average buyer. I have a Land Rover, Series 3, Stage 1 V8, 6 x 6 Sandringham 6, factory built and one of only 6 or so genuine ones left. Its fully restored by me and just needs some finishing off which amounts to about a week’s work. Its defied selling at any price to the point that I’ve put in in the corner under a sheet for another day. I have had many, many people interested even to the point of Land Rover magazines wanting to do articles but only because it’s very rare and they want photos or the chassis number to put in a register, but no buyers. Jeeps are of course the easiest thing to price, there are lots of them as benchmarks, there are lots of buyers, they fit in an average garage and are cheap to own. But even these have dropped around £3,000 from late last summer as the price race happened here as well and slightly over cooked the market, however they will bounce back over time and more in line with inflation. The same could be said of Land Rovers currently. In my mind it’s a falling market mainly because it has raced ahead too quickly (don’t even start me on WW2 Armour prices !!!) and I think it’s likely to continue slowing further as the limited number of buyers are ‘full’ and not many new buyers come to market. Anything much over £10k moves into a specialist market and out of many buyers pockets. I think the days of quick profits are gone and I won’t like to be a business having overheads and labour costs to cover unless you can buy restoration jobs really cheaply. What I would say is if your vehicles are in good condition (nobody likes to do work), you think they are reasonably priced and the ads are detailed and reflect the vehicles well (very important) maybe it’s just that today there are no buyers around and you can’t change that, it’s just a waiting game. I hope that’s been of some help and not confused you too much.