TooTallMike

I got these for my birthday last year after my father found them at the boat show.They look like the same thing. There are five A1 size maps of the beaches. They'll definitely be going with me in 2009. [attachment deleted by admin]

One of our guys claims desert sand is just undercoat for green! We're just injectin' a little colour into an olive drab world...

We're surrounded by Red Routes so it's almost inevitable, but it's alright, the hazard lights were on, so that means you're exempt from all road rules and parking regs. That's what the school mums do so it must be true... WLF problem seems to have been fuel starvation caused by a clogged up gauze in the water separator. Spartan engine diagnosis will have to wait another couple of weeks. There's another engine lined up for it if it passes a compression test.

Actually it really wasn't too bad on the steering as they are so light anyway. (I doubled the fronts on the WLF at Beltring this year and that was far worse!) Two weeks prior to this photo I had twisted the GMC steering box output shaft while on the off road course at Beltring - again with doubles fitted. I still have it in my hall of fame collection!

Broken down in Purley... [attachment deleted by admin]

The looms came from a guy who does Beltring. I have his details but he only does MUTT stuff. I bought a lot of gear at the same time so I don't know how much they were (I imagine around £25-£35). The old loom was too far gone and buying a new loom was much less hassle than making one for what will be a mostly stock vehicle. I think you said Jeep, but what model is it for? I'd be very surprised if you can't get repro or NOS looms for all models ever used by the US army.

I've got NOS front and rear looms which are going in. However I need several of the old connectors to make up adapters and mod's for indicator conversion, headlight conversion etc. I see you may have another source anyway. I'll work out what I need and you're welcome to the rest if you still need them. - Mike

Fairly unlikely as most new road traffic legislation exempts 'Historic' vehicles (eg. London LEZ). The FBHVC is working with the DoT on this and several other bits of legislation in order to make them history-friendly. That's not to say this won't be the first one which is blanket-enforced. (in which case there will be people far more unhappy than us - think veteran car & motorbike owners for a start!) This shouldn't stop people objecting to the more general principle though. - Mike

quote: "I would dearly love to put a GMC through its paces, not my one cry but if I get another one then I would like to see what they really can and can't do." I just came across this pic. of me playing in my old GMC which might give you an insight into what they can do... - Mike [attachment deleted by admin]

How many do you need? I've just stripped down the old wiring loom from the MUTT and have lots of both M & F, with varying lengths of cable already attached. You'd be more than welcome to a handful of either or both if you don't mind 2nd hand. - Mike

When I bought the WLF from Lys Tout Terrain (40 miles South of Calais), it was in a very sorry state - broken windscreens, half the lights u/s, iffy tyres, dubious registration status etc. In my infinite wisdom I had decided to drive it home regardless. We stopped for fuel about halfway to Calais. The truck wouldn't fit in the 'station service' so the guys with the accompanying landy drove in with the jerrycans and filled them up. While I was waiting I decided to do a 3-point turn in the furniture warehouse car park next door so that I'd be facing the right way to leave again. As I began to reverse, I clocked a Police Nationale Renault Clio driving round the corner. He made a beeline for me and ducked in about 6" behind the truck and stopped. I was then stuck halfway across the road so I tentatively continued to reverse to show them what my intention was. They moved and I parked up where they had been, just off the road. The Clio stopped nearby and the cops appeared to be discussing their next move. I thought "here we go" and put on my best 'ignorant englishman' expression ready for the inquisition. At this point the (UK registered) landy pulled up and began to disgorge blokes and fuel cans. My suspicion is that the cops were near the end of their shift and really didn't fancy the paperwork that I represented. They developed a sudden interest in some kids hanging out by the car wash over the road. We fuelled up and b*ggered off double quick. I'd probably still be in French nick now if they had decided to have a proper look. And what if they hadn't moved the Clio when I carried on reversing...

Cheers FV1620. Tried a different programme. Let's see if this works. [attachment deleted by admin]

Well that was an eventful day! We left the farm at 09:00 with a Halftrack leading, followed by the CVRT Spartan followed by the WLF. About 3 miles into our 40-mile round trip, in the centre of Purley Cross, there was a loud clattering, then a bang followed by a cloud of steam from the Spartan and it coasted to the side of the road. Lifting the engine hatches revealed steam pumping horizontally from below the exhaust manifold so I have to presume it was the head gasket blowing. 2 local cops in a hatchback pulled up and made a smart-arse comment about ‘offering us a hand’. We pulled the final drive quail shafts, hooked on the ‘A’-frame (Hollebone) and towed it back to the farm with the WLF. The driver and passenger jumped into the Halftrack and we drove down to the Grasshopper pub in Westerham. We had a very pleasant bimble down to the Plough in Hildenborough where we had our carvery lunch. On the way back along the A25, the WLF began to stutter and lose power, eventually dying completely. I used the airline to blow a ton of rust out of the electric fuel pump but there’s still a blockage somewhere that’s stopping it from lifting fuel. After half an hour investigating it was beginning to get dark so I rigged up a jerry-can and gravity-fed straight into the final filter in the system. The truck ran beautifully all the way home. So now we’re looking at building up and fitting another engine for the Spartan and me doing a strip-down of my fuel system. Photos to follow.

I'm 6'6". According to friends this is 'too tall'. I think it's normal - everyone else is just short.

I thought people might be interested to see my standard upgrade for 7" round headlamps. I object to sealed beam units because you have to replace the whole thing when changing just a bulb would be much cheaper & they are also a pain to carry as spares. As well as this, the standard ones often dip to the wrong side for the UK. 7" sealed beams are found on many vehicles, and I have so far converted a CCKW (6V), a WLF (12V) and have just obtained them for my project MUTT (24V) and for a project Rover P5. The conversion kit is available from http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk. The new lenses come with or without a 'pilot' light. This is a small bulb below the main headlamp bulb which can be used as a sidelight if you don't want to install separate sidelights. nb. If your headlamp wiring is in good condition it should be able to cope with the small extra draw of these bulbs. If not, it's probably time to replace it anyway! I have 2 photos to illustrate this but they are each 2.25MB and I can't reduce them enough to post. Any suggestions? - Mike

And this is why it's worth all the cursing & blood - having 2 tanks running and driving at the same time. Magic! (ps. Sultan is sold and Spartan is now road reg'd.) [attachment deleted by admin]

This is how we transport the CVRTs. I'm also looking at getting a trailer like MilitantGraham's to go behind the WLF. [attachment deleted by admin]

Parliament square again [attachment deleted by admin]

Parliament square, Whitehall & Trafalgar square [attachment deleted by admin]

I have a new claim to fame - my truck was on Austin Texas Channel 42, shown to the world at keyetv.com. Wow...

Not to worry Jimmy fans - I think it's actually a cut-down M211 - inferior 1950's Jimmy substitute with auto 'box. Bumper, grille & bonnet profile are giveaways. Still sad to see anything green hacked about like that though!

Good weather would certainly be appreciated - we're taking the Spartan and my WLF (with freshly-laminated HMVF windscreen badge) and I'd like to go top-down if possible. It'll be by far the longest road run for the Spartan in our ownership and I fully anticipate having to tow it home! Do come over and say hi.

We're on our 4th CVRT now, having done up and sold a Sultan, done up and decided to keep a Spartan MCT and having another Spartan and a Scorpion under restoration. For us the most important things have been: - crane for decks, turrets, engines and gearboxes. - manpower because most jobs require at least 2 people. - 'A' frame towbar carried on board (a rope or straight bar is no good as a dead engine means no gearbox oil pressure which means no steering...) - transporter because a 40-mile round trip is about the most we could face. I wouldn't go out without a firm recovery option available but it's handy to know that at only 7.5t, at a pinch a Landy or my pickup could pull a CVRT.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

There are so many things that bother me about that that I'm not even going to begin. Can you tell me who you're insured with? We've got the CVRTs with Roadsure. Of course I wouldn't mention your particular case to anyone but I'd like to find out what their company policy is on this. Next time I've got the Spartan out I'm going to park a Transit van next to it and work out the difference in directly visible area and that swept by the mirrors. It'll be interesting to compare them. Apart from not being able to check a blind spot over one's shoulder I don't envisage a big difference. (I must reiterate that I do agree that using a commander can be commonsense. I am merely interested in all this from a legal point of view since any prosecution can only result from a judge's interpretation of traffic law.)