ghasp!

Hi Remp Welcome aboard. Being in Bavaria do you ever get to go to the Museum in Munich? I believe they have some rare WWII vehicles there. :schocked: Do you have any photos too share? :whistle:

I saw a program a long time ago where Michael Bentine expounded the theory that ghosts were replayed events from the past. Under certain conditions what is happening gets imprinted on the fabric of the surroundings a bit like recording on a VCR. Then later some other condition occurs which allows the image to be replayed. That's why Roman soldiers are seen to walk on the original road surface, or walk through walls that weren't originally there. He couldn't explain how or why it works, but then if you'd shown someone from the 17th century a camcorder, TV and a VCR they would have probably freaked too.

Done. I used to work close by, in a small tower block just to the east end of the flightpath. It was a bit scary on foggy days! :shake:

My GMC 353 is called 'Thumper', I guess because it's a thumping big truck.

Don't think so. I was told this story a long time ago, but I think he said more than one chieftan went over the wreckage before they managed to halt the convoy.

If you want to sell some of those to make space, I'd be happy to help you out :angel: :whistle:

Unless I'm mistaken, this is a Sherman BARV. :schocked: Aren't they incredibly rare? :tongue: :drool:

Thanks chaps, if nothing else the stories made me smile. :-D I thought I'd found somewhere to park the gmc off road this week, in a fenced off area just round the corner. The owners of the land were quite happy, but they were concerned as they sometimes get teenagers climbing in at night. I didn't want to come back one day and find a burnt out wreck. :cry: So the search is on again.

Operation Neptune was the seaborne element of Operation Overlord, which was the overarching name for all elements of the operation. If you're interested in PLUTO, there's still a piece of the original pipe in situ, running down Shaklin Chine on the Isle or Wight.

Why can't they park a caravan in the drive? :dunno:

Do any of you have problems with your neighbours about parking your MVs in your driveway? Ian2b's impressive Bedford springs to mind! :schocked: I've been talking to one of my neighbours about my CCKW for a while and he's been all sweetness and light, saying other people might object but he doesn't mind what I park in my own driveway. Now it turns out that he's had a quiet word with the wife and is threating to build a 6 foot high brick wall along the boundary to obscure the 'eyesore' :argh:

Having spoken to Customs and Excise I think I have found the cause of the problem. The documents passed to them by the DVLA include the details that my CCKW was purchased in France, but orginiated in the USA. They wanted to be sure that the correct duty had been paid when the vehicle was imported into the EU. I explained that as the vehicle was in all likelyhood brought to Europe by the US army as part of the liberation of Europe, it was quite unlikely any import duty or VAT was paid, mostly because there was a war on and the EU didn't exist then. Now they just want to see some copies of the sale documents and I think the whole thing will be quietly forgotten. :deal:

Just wanted to ask the opinion of all you Ferret owners out there, where's the best place for getting spares for your vehicle? I'm looking for a steering wheel, upper bevel box and steering column shaft, if anyone has the bits lying around? :thankyou:

When I spoke to the DVLA many months ago, they said that there shouldn't be anything to pay and that VAT form 414 shold be filled out to that effect.

Can I ask those of you who have imported your MV from abroad, did you have to pay any customs duty or VAT for bringing it into the country? :dunno: I understand that there might be a 5% VAT bill at the very least. Why does that apply to a purchase I made within the EU? :? Aren't we supposed to be one big happy family now? :whistle:

Hi Mike Glad to see there's another armour-fiend in Surrey. If you need any help give me a shout. I've only had my GMC since November, but I'm already finding out how expensive these vehicles are to transport / run / fix up. :schocked: I'm getting mine back from R&R services next week, so I've got that magic moment to look forward to when the wife sees it backing into the driveway. :shocking:

While repairing a crash landed Harrier from the Falkland Islands conflict the boys at Dunsfold found the air intakes full of small dark brown lumps. This turned out to be sheep poo. So they bagged it up and sold it as Falkland War momentos. :schocked: It all went. :dunno:

I've been to the wrecks museum, that was very interesting. I seem to remember that they'd a DD sherman on display. I probably have a guidebook or leaflet in the house somewhere...If you want to borrow some just let me know. What I found interesting about Caen were the before and after photos. The pictures of the cathedral and town after the bombing had flattened them and turned them into piles of rubble ten or twenty feet high in places. Then post war, the French built it all back up again to look like it did before the war (the cathedral at least). :angel: It wouldn't happen over here, they'd have just plonked down a concrete box and called it modern architecture. :schocked:

I'll try and get ther if the project is running by then, Epsom is just across the road (M25).

I was in Normandy a few years back and they have tour routes all over the place marked with regular sign posts. If you're driving it's well worth the time to follow one or more of these routes. You can buy a book that guides you from site to site and explains what went on. There's often a bit of armour parked up as a memorial to what happened right there. I found that more 'real' than a lot of the museums.

Hi Grumpy Is the engine in the Tatra the postwar version of the aircooled diesel developed for the Puma armoured car?

I thought the comet restoration and the Isle of Wight in general museum was interesting, mostly because it all appears to have been set up on a shoe string budget. I guess it's because I know where they're coming from, having saved for years to do my little project. How about a HMVF roadtrip in the summer down to one of their open days?

No worries 8-) I'm just glad to have that part of the DVLA hurdle behind me! :angel:

They didn't say a jeep was MOT exempt, I was talking to them about my CCKW. It was the guy in the DVLA who brought the jeep up, by way of explaination that old didn't mean exempt.

Just a quick update on my vehicle registration. I had my second trip to Wimbledon DVLA yesterday, having received my vehicle verification document from the MVT. I must say they did a magnificent job, really quick and for free too. The letter that came back gave me a full set of instructions on what I needed to do, for which I had reason to thank them again in the DVLA office! :bow: I turned up, told them I wanted to register a classic military vehicle, that I had the verification document that they'd requested, and that I wanted to register it as exempt from the MOT on form V112G. "No problem," said the guy, "I know exactly the form you need." :banana: Unfortunately when the V112 form arrived, it had a long list of reasons for exemption to pick from, such as being an invalid carriage or being confined to company premises, none of which looked relevant. Nowhere was there anything that mentioned age of the vehicle as being a valid reason for exception. "Er, you don't know which one I should put do you?" I ventured sheepishly. :blush: A quick chat to his supervisor and he's back. "We can't tell you, you have to decide." :adminpwr: With another trip back to Wimbledon looming I start clutching at straws. "Can we just do the registration and I'll let you know about the MOT status?" :whistle: "No" "But I've definitely been told to register it as MOT exempt, by VOSA, the DVLA and MVT." "All different departments," I'm told, "they all have different rules. We had a 1945 Willy's jeep in here yesterday and that wasn't MOT exempt." Head literally in my hands at this point I mutter, "this is really frustrating you know." "You should try working here!" he replies. Then everything is passed back to me and I begin to shuffle it all back into various envelopes. It's at that point I notice that the form I've been given is a V112, when I'd asked for a V112G. This was my last throw of the dice. "Does form V112G differ from V112?" I asked. :dunno: He picks up the form, looks at it, then goes off and asks the supervisor. The comes back with the V112G (which incidentally just has a space to sign to say that it's MOT exempt). "I've worked here for five years, he says and I've never heard of that one." :eek2: