Sean N

John, am I missing something? What happened to the mounts that were on it? For a K9 and RL man there's a LOT of interest in the background of the photos!

Howard (and Wally), my apologies, I think I'm going senile. My own RL has a tailboard assister on and it'd gone from my memory completely! Howard, I'll email you the full res images. Austin, if you PM me your email I'll send them to you as well.

Not to mention the British Antarctic Survey and Vivian Fuchs' Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, though some things stopped them: One of Fuchs' Sno-Cats is currently on display in the Science Museum.

Howard, 1 - I can get a photo of brackets and probably pioneer tools fitted if you give me a few days (but don't let that stop you other chaps posting any) 2 - sorry, mine hasn't got them. 3 - In my experience gravity and muscles, but that's not exhaustive by any means.

Your Humber 1 ton obsession coming out again, Clive?!

If it hasn't been run for a long time, is an unknown quantity, or people have been in there pressing buttons at a show, double, triple and quadruple check before starting / driving. Seen and heard of too many machines that have done something unexpected (and dangerous) on start up because a valve or a lever is stuck or because someone left a control in the wrong position.

Thanks Richard. All I have to do now is find someone who has three of the few remaining Commer cab Fords and needs an auxiliary gearbox shift lever gaiter and a right hand window winder for all of them!

The people on Axis History Forum are good at this sort of thing, vehicles and generals. Might be worth trying there as well?

I have a number of Ford parts marked 2E-(part number). I can't identify 2E as a Ford model, but it's probably 4x4 as one part is an auxiliary gearbox lever gaiter. My guess from the era is that they might be for Commer cab Ford, but can anyone confirm?

I was just going to say, as I read down, that 436 BGJ is probably a number reversal and it's actually 463 BGJ - that sort of number or letter substitution is quite common in data entry - but Clive's confirmed it first!

Looking at the 2005 report on the page Ruxy linked to, they refer to 40 out of a collection of 157 vehicles having been disposed of, but no details are given of what vehicles or where they went to.

Thanks Martin, that's very helpful and confirms what I'd guessed. I'll give you a shout once I've decided what I'm doing with it.

This is only a vague memory but I seem to recall these coming out through auction with a broad stripe on along the lines of what you have, but about two or three times the thickness.

That was the thing I was thinking of.

Weren't these one of those camouflage things that Maskelyne invented?

Thanks chaps, sorry it's taken a while replying. Engine changes during a major overhaul aren't a surprise, and I'd have thought were probably standard procedure. Engine changes in the event of a catastrophic failure aren't a surprise either. It's the extent to which engine changes went on in the sort of circumstances Richard mentions that I was interested in, I suppose. I could see that if parts weren't available, or where an engine change would be quicker than a repair (particularly on exercise or where the vehicle was needed quickly) then engines would be swapped. I assume it's likely that in those circumstances the engine change wouldn't be recorded, or at least the repair wouldn't be entered on the military chassis plate. The reason I ask is because I'm still niggling at this business about engine colours with particular reference to Austin K9s. I'd thought it was possible that Austin were painting K9 engines in eau-de-nil ex-factory as virtually every K9 engine I've seen was eau-de-nil, and I've seen a fair few, and often in K9s where there was no sign or record of an engine change or significant repair. The same seems to be true of many other vehicles. However, I've just found that the engine in at least one of my K9s, which has no repair on record, isn't the original one for the vehicle (or at least, isn't the one the MoD have on record as originally fitted). That suggests that perhaps engines were being changed almost as routine during the 50s and 60s at least.

I don't know about the Holmes ones, but the military type as shown for the Scammells and DTs were definitely designed to be used both ways up, one side for metalled surfaces, one side for soft surfaces - there are illustrations in the REME recovery manuals showing this.

OK, great. Cheers for letting me know, Rick.

John, I'm trying to work on this as well, but nothing yet. I'll let you know if I do get anything.

In what circumstances, apart from engine failure, would MV engines have been changed in the 1950s - 1980s?

Or is it? Signwriting is different, and the front arches. Would it have seen new signwriting etc. that late in its life? Would they have had two? Either way, great find that photo, cheers Smithy

I had a look at my vehicles today, comparing engine colour with the inside of the radio bodies on the K9s and also a colour chart. Both K9s plus engine spares are all without a shadow of a doubt (faded and oily) Eau de Nil, not sky blue. The engine in the (FJ registration) RL is also Eau-de-Nil, as is the B81 in the Stalwart.

Lauren, out of interest, here's the charger drive gearbox and the generator itself. No ID on the generator; apparently according to the manual it's a CAV G7A24-14:

Thought it looked as though it was. Thanks Mash & everyone.

If he's really anywhere near Pennsylvania, or even the USA. Phone numbers can be spoofed very easily.