Big ray

I must agree, without a doubt the most versitile, practical and reliable truck from the WW11 stable.......... I dont have one myself yet ( I do have a lot of other vehicles) but I am working on it !!!! I have driven several of my friends, including the command car........ very impressed.

Absolutely correct, good sound advice.

Welcome in Mark

The show was very good, it might be a good idea to nominate a responsible military vehicle exhibitor to get the word and time of the arena show to the vehicle owners, in my experience we could not hear any of the commentary from the show ring. Most of these military vehicles have kit scattered around the vehicles making it very difficult to just up stakes at a moments notice and go to the show area on the other side of the field without making arrangements for someone to babysit the display gear left otherwise unattended......... so maybe a little forward planning please. This is not a gripe, just an attempt to improve matters for the next show.............. for anyone who did not attend here are a few of the vehicles that were in attendance today (Sunday.)

What a wonderful forum this is........... if you have a problem, it seems that the answer is but a few clicks away......... fantastic.

This is what you will see if you follow our son in his truck..............

We are basically all club members, this new ruling should have no bearing on the condition of our vehicles they need to be in a roadworthy condition at all times. The vast majority of owners take their responsibilities very seriously indeed, and realize that any possible lowering of standards is not only dangerous to other road users, but in the long run very costly to the individual owners. We all love our machines, we treat them like babies and would not want so much as a scratch on the paintwork. However I do believe that the club areas should appoint people ( and we certainly have plenty of qualified vehicle mechanics within our ranks) to oversee and check that mainenance is maintained to the high standards that we have already set for ourselves. Its also perhaps worth remembering that most of these vehicles will not go much faster (and in many cases not as fast ) as a modern agricultural tractor............. which has never been subjected to annual testing.............

I agree totally, thanks for taking the time to type it all up......... much appreciated

PLUS. Never, never, ever point a loaded weapon - even with blanks at anyone or anything. Some people presume a blank is harmless - not so - seen many serious injuries with blanks. They do fire projectiles and can give a serious burn. Not saying you would and don't want to teach people to suck eggs - but some people are very blase about blank weapons. Markheliops We had a guy blinded in Germany in the 1950s from a blank firing 303, all very dangerous in the wrong hands, as they say.... if it can happen, it will happen.

One of our members used filtered cooking oil in his Reo, it completely fouled up the filters. The engine was designed to run on diesel, and I think that thats what I would put in there........... it could work out rather expensive in the long run. I should point out that our member did put the cooking oil in with diesel, maybe the oil congealed through not mixing with the diesel ?????

I took my army bike test in 1956, Hamm, Germany. Bit of a joke really, whilst on our after dinner parade prior to go back to workshops the Sergeant taking the parade asked if anyone could ride a motorcycle. I stepped forward and said that I could, I had motorcycles before call-up, he pointed to an old BSA parked a short distance away and said, take that machine down to the workshops. The workshops were really only a very short distance, so I proceded to push the bike, he shouted, I wanted someone to ride the thing, I can get any fool to push it. So I turned on the fuel, primed the carb and kicked the bike into life, I rode it down to the workshops, only to be followed by the MT Sergeant, he said go and get two helmets from the MT office. He climbed onto the pillion and instructed me to ride around the workshops ( I got the helmets in the wrong order, he instructed me to get the helmets after our little ride around the workshops.) He then instructed me to ride down into town and back......... that was my test. It transpired that we did not have a D.R. in the workshops and they needed one, it all worked out very well in the end, I have made several referencies in my previous posts............. my favourite bike was the Matchless G3L. I always said that I would buy one, maybe one day, the right bike at the right time and I will be tempted.

Hi, we will be based in St. Mere Eglise ( I know thats the American sector) but we will be doing quite a bit of travelling, in fact a large-ish number of our guys are going on to the Maginot Line. Three of us will, if all goes to plan, be in a Dodge Command Car, unless our intrepid leader decides that it makes more sense to take a Jeep........... I will endeavour to take suitable photographs, glad that you ordered the book, you will be very pleased with it.

The picture that I posted of "Bob" shows this man who if you walked out of the main gate and turned right he lived only a short distance down the road, he must have past the main gate many times when you were in residence. I can imagine him walking past full of nostalgia for the old workshops, pity that you never got to know him, he really was a lovely man.

We could not afford it

The book is called ............. D. Day and the battle for Normandy. By Carl Shilleto & Mike Tolhurst.

When you go to the Merville Battery look at the very large field gun in the corner of the site, opposite the batteries / museums. That gun was restored by one of our guys in the North Staffs Area MVT, I believe that it was then taken over to Merville by the British army.

Have fun, our paths will probably cross at some point......... I invested in a travel book showing Normandy 1944 and the same areas today, I cant put my hand on the book at the moment, but its well worth investing in one before going over. The book covers loads of points of interest that you would simply pass without realising it was there, full of photographs illustrating the differencies.......... dont forget your breathilizer kit before you go, I believe that its now compulsory.

Welcome in........... you are in the right place.

Thats a nice little water truck that you have, brings back many memories of my army service.

There are not really a lot of advantages in getting older, in fact the only one that springs to mind is the lack of peer pressure. I seem to be losing my friends at an alarming rate. You do spend a lot of time reflecting on past happenings. I am thinking about some of the people who have played a pivotal role in my lifetime, one such person was my brother-in-law, he has now departed this life, I was convinced that he would survive myself, but it was not to be. He and I were very good buddies in our early days, he was a very funny guy, he saw humour in every day living and it was always a pleasure to be ion his company. Like all people he had to have a flaw in his armour, he had deep pockets and short arms. In the 1960s and 70s we male members of the family kept in touch by meeting occasionally on a Sunday lunchtime and go for a drive into the country visiting country pubs. Because at that time I did not partake of alcohol I was always the nominated driver. On one of these Sunday meetings my older" brother " Jack asked me if our brother-in-law had ever bought me a drink, I thought for a moment and then said, no, I dont believe that he has. Jack said that he had not had the pleasure either, so he suggested that at the next pub we would let our brother-in-law go into the pub first, that way he would have to buy the round of drinks. We hung back at the next pub and allowed him to go into the pub first.............. when he reached the door he held it open for the rest of us to walk through, Jack just looked at me and said, shall we give up now......... However I do still miss his smiling face and great sense of humour.

Welcome in, its a very impressive collection that you have had..... pic`s if possible lease.

Oh boy, one of my friends laughs his butt off when he see`s me struggle on the floor, I just tell him to lift me up with the forklift............ when he`s finished laughing the realization that he`s got it all coming to him sinks in............. I was once asked if I minded getting old, I said that I thought that the alternative was terrible.

Did he mention the one in the attic ?????

Diaphram perished in the lift pump, so we fitted an old rotovator fuel tank to the top of the Halftrack "Sun Visor" .......... it holds about 1.5 gallons, so we have plenty to back it out of the workshop and back in again, obviously a temporary measure whilst we do all of the other bits of work...... we have taken the opportunity to clear the fuel tanks out thoroughly and replace them.

I agree, my paint also looked the same, and o.k. when applied.