Big ray

No "H" license category required, I thought that you could drive pre 1960 vehicles on your car licence ???? A couple of points that I think should be pointed out. Halftracks have poor visibility at awkward road junctions, you really do need a co-driver at all times, tracks are getting rather expensive to buy (£3000.00 plus) and they are only good for 3000 miles on mettalic roads from new, 3 miles to the gallon (Petrol) etc, etc............... and no longer cheap to buy. ( I do have a White M3 in my garage)

And a very Happy New Year to you. :yawn::yawn::yawn::dancing:

Happy New Year.

We restored my 1942 WD.CO 2 or 3 years ago, beautiful, responsive motorcycle with a fantastic slick gearbox for its day. You are going to have lots of fun. Cant help with the stand unfortunately..... as suggested try Hitchcocks.

At 20mh (the speed limit then) up to the likes of Aberdeen, multi dropping and sourcing a return load, it could quite possibly take a week............ add to that the distinct possibility that all loading and unloading would most likely have been by hand.

Happy Birthday.

I started driving trucks in July 1957, the vast majority of light trucks (3 tonnes unladen, thats all that you were allowed to drive untill you reached 21 years old, silly really when you think that during my army service there were no restrictions on weight or size. Anything from a motorcycle to a tank transporter) One of the first trucks that I drove after my test was a Bedford MW. with the squared, sloping bonnet. I thought that it was an ex-army truck, but it was one that my family had purchased and when I looked at the registration document it had never served with the forces, it seems that a few of these vehicles were sold into the civilian market The civilian designated carrying capacity was 7 tonnes, we often exceeded that weight. It was a beautiful truck to drive, in fact the engine was so sweet that the first few times that at stopped at road junctions I thought that the engine had stopped and I tried to start it again, all with a resounding clatter when the pinion hit the moving starter ring, you could not hear or feel the engine ticking over. The family dealt in all things mechanical, so by the time that I had enlisted there was not much that I had not driven......... it was a great start for a young man, and has left me with many happy memories.

I must read my posts before submitting............ feature, feature, its an age thing...... I hope!!!!!!

I started driving trucks in the mid 1950s, tyre kicking was only done on the twin wheels, just to make sure that you did not have a flat, particularly on the inside. Giving people a lift was a regular feture of the job, just good to have someone to talk with, particularly troops making their way to or from their camp. Most drivers (Trucks) were ex-army drivers anyway, no radios in the cab, even when they were introduced, some employers would not allow them in the cab, they felt that they were a distraction............. I have gone through all of the changes since the 1950s and I can tell you that I enjoyed my driving then, it gradfually all went down hill........... the experience, not my driving. The lighting was certainly not as poor as depicted on the film (unless it was 6v) thats obviously the poor quality of the camera used. The sheer volume of oncoming traffic today can be quite blinding, like I said at the outset, much more fun in the early days..... it really was a mans job.

Welcome in Zack, photographs of your collection would be good, most of us over here had fathers and grandfathers serving in WW11............. my grandfather served in WW1, my father WW11. I served in the mid 1950s (Germany) I drove all WW11 vehicles, they were still in use when I did my service. I have a GMC CCKW 353, Jeep, White M3 Halftrack, Harley Davidson, and just to fly the flag a little I have a Royal Enfield M/c WD.CO. 350cc ohv 1942.

I should sit on that for a while, its bound to increase in value!!!!............. Happy New Year.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and peaceful New Year, particularly our troops serving in the trouble spots of the world.

Twenty one months is not long enough, it almost makes the offence worthwhile, hit these people hard if you want to send the right message out.

Great bunch of photographs.......... thanks for posting........ I was interested to see some none standard footwear being used.

A Mack AC, wonderful, any photographs that you would like to share.

I spent my late teens and early twenties cutting the stuff up in our family business, anything from tanks down to bren gun carriers, if my memory serves me well we got about £7 per tonne, but then wages were about £10 per week. Every day was a pleasure to go to work, you never knew what was coming in, some trucks would come in with anything from a Jeep to motorcycles or even hand tools, everything did not go for scrap, lots of parts were sold to third parties who had a use for them. We would send drive axles down to north Devon, the farmers put the axles under their trailers and fed a propshaft from the PTO to the axle, giving than trailer drive up the steep hills of North Devon. Searchlight trailers, minus the serchlight , they went to an agricultural machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire to be converted into farm trailers and the list goes on.......... great days, great times for a young man ( My friend also worked with me, making the days work a lot of fun for us.)

Welcome in Roger, I served with REME in Germany, 1956 / 58. All of the vehicles that you mention were in regular use when I served, lots of good memories.

Re-fitted the refurbished carb, tried to start the motor, battery down somewhat. decided to remove the spark plugs and the front two just disintegrated, leaving the threaded base still in the cylinder head. Fortunately we managed to extracate the bases with an extraction tool and a little shock treatment. Quite worrying at first, started to look like we might have to remove the head, a job that we can do without at the moment......... we have fitted a new set of spark plugs, we will try again later this week, not got much free time at the moment.

When my grandfather used to invite the U.S. troops into our home for refreshments I always remember one particular guy who was something of a regular visitor, his name was Joe, he was a New York taxi driver before joining the army. I have often wondered if he survived the war, its one of those imponderables that I will never know. Its a shame that we did not have his address, at least we could have written to him after the war. We had so many brief encounters during the war that would have no satisfactory conclusions, I suppose thats why so many people lived life for the moment, without worrying about the future.

I should say that the air corps officer that I have just refered to in my previous post joined the air corps from college in the spring/summer of 1943, he had every intention of being a pilot. he applied for pilot training on his induction, but failed to meet the required height, he was infact one half inch short. His buddies told him that the human body is at its longest (highest) first thing in the morning when you awake from your slumber. I dont know if there is any truth in that statement, but he was so desperate to become a pilot that he was prepared to listen to anything that might get him through the height requirement. His buddies decided, and convinced him, that what they needed to do was carry him from his bed to the medical centre for a re-check of his height. They did carry him over to the medical centre, but unfortunately he still failed to reach the required height for pilot training......... so a navigator he would be.

I have to say that I am inclined to agree with you. Where do they get this idea that its a cheap week-end, did someone give them their vehicle(s) and fuel....... I think not. Try running a business on the same footing and see how far you get. Now having said that, if the show is to raise funds for a worthy cause, then I will jump in with both feet (and vehicle) and am happy to subscribe by way of a charge.............

The town of Stone, Staffordshire, was only a village in the 1940s. Its situated some 5 miles from the County town of Stafford. It as expanded considerably over the last 60 years. During WW2 Stone was the processing centre for all U.S. 8th Army Air Corps airmen, they would spend a few days / weeks there whilst awaiting their permanent posting in the U.K. One such airman was a young officer who arrived into a very cold and damp Stone a week or so before Christmas 1943. On Christmas day, after dinner, he and another officer decided that they should take a walk into the village, rather than just stand around kicking their heels. Whilst walking through the village they were approached by two young children, the children told the two officers that their father had told them to go out into the street, and if they could find a couple of U.S. troops, to invite them into their family home for a Christmas drink. (Imagine sending two children out into the street to talk with two strangers now??) The two officers accepted the invite and followed the two children to their nearby home. On entering the house they were greeted by the father, and a couple of other adults, and made to feel at home. The father reached into the cupboard to access the bottle of whisky that he had been saving for just such an occassion. The two Americans were quick to notice that the bottle contained only enough whisky to provide one drink for each of the adults. They went on to have a very pleasant afternoon in the warmth of that family home. He was a navigator and was soon posted to his operational station, flying on B17s. However that officer never forgot the kindness shown to him and his fellow officer on that cold day in December 1943. A few years ago he returned, accompanied by his son, to a civic reception in the now expanded town of Stone. Myself and many of my friends attended that reception, the ex airman made a speech, he went on to say how much that he had been impressed by the generosity of that family back in 1943, so much so that he had vowed to return and express his gratitude, and he did just that. He now lives in retirement in Carthage,Texas.

Yes, thank you, we have John to thank of course, the Nissen Hut is fantastic. We have some very good, hard working members who do a lot of work for the area.

I bumped into an old school friend of mine from the 1940s, we had quite a long conversation about what life had been like for us in those early days. He then chuckled, and reminded me that when we used to build trolley`s in them days (A trolley was constructed by useing a plank of wood for the main body, we then used old pram wheels (4) and axles, the axles were secured onto matching lengths of wood and fixed across the plank). The front axle was secured with a centre bolt, enableing the axle to be swivelled for steering, the steering was done by useing your feet whilst sitting on the plank. We had no brakes, and depending on the length and severity of any descent that we used, you could achieve some very hair raising speeds. He reminded me that I had fixed a sail onto my trolley in order to achieve wind power, and how all my friends had a good laugh at my expense, thinking that I was completely nuts......... I was very quick to point out to him that I was obviously years ahead of my time, today all kinds of things have sails fixed, on water, on ice, on snow and on TROLLEYS, that took the smile off his face. In the winter months we used to devote our efforts to building sleds. Its an absolute fact that we had considerably more snow in those days, the weather has definitely changed and become much milder over recent decades. As an adult I went on to develop and manufacture many tools and implements.