NuttyNick

Note the slight differences between "our" truck and the one in the photo. Ours is a soft cab and has a winch fitted. I think it still looks better with the crane on the back though!

Hopefully the picture will attach! Whilst the truck is not mine it will stay on the farm for as long as necessary. It can either be restored on the farm or taken away by its owner to be restored elsewhere. I certainly don't want it to be taken out of this country. I think that both Mike and myself have become rather attached to it and its history!

A couple more pics from yesterday. We were very fortunate that the rear axle had freed itself and so unloading went from what could have been a bit of a nightmare to a simple winch/pull off the beavertail. After taking a few photos and eventually finding the chassis number (after a while of rubbing down) we pushed the (unique!) Autocar with the tractor into her temporary home. Mike was most likely the first person to be in the cab whist it was moving for a good 30-40 years. As we went over each bump a bit more of the of the old girl fell off! Can't wait for the TM's to come from over the pond. Two of these are being specially reproduced for us! All I've got to do now is build a new shed to house it, the WLF and the other green things that I seem to have aquired and have in storage for others lying around the farm under tarps!

"After a short period of choke it had warmed up and was purring like a newly hatched kitten". Don't know what its like where you come from but I didn't know kittens hatched, chickens yes ..... but kittens!!!! Looking good though Mike. BTW, returned your e-mail

Mike, I've been looking at info as well and the handwheel is a bit different. Most tended to have the hand winch. I'm currently bidding on ebay for the TM which covers all the types of these trailers which ends tonight so hopefully will have a bit more info in a few days time. Will check that before posting on cckw - will keep you posted. The tailgate we found definately fits so that is now installed. Pulled the WLF into a slightly better position in the field today so at least I could get the half shafts back in without scrambling through the holly tree! Call me when you want to pick up your other bits and pieces.

Time......I'm still trying to find out how to fit 2 days into 24 hours just like everyone else! Now that we have finished clearing the yard I sould be able to get the Autocar off the lorry and into storage........and also get the WLF into a more favourable position in the field and under cover!

Once Matt has collected his generator (by the way Matt, the rent started on Saturday!!!! and is slowly paying for the purchase of the trailer!!!!) I'll take some photos of the floor detail. The trailer has now been covered over and is in storage. More info will be posted as it becomes available.

A few more photos taken back at the farm. As Mike has said, she is in pretty good condition. We think that is was originally used as a generator trailer as there is evidence of two angle iron "running rails" on the trailer bed, however, these have since been removed. However, from initial research, generator trailers tended to have hoops and a canvas over them but there is no-where on this trailer to fix the hoops. More research is required. In any case, we'll probably put one of our maxon turrets on it instead. A few weeks of hardwork later in the year should get her looking like new! Another piece saved from the scrapman and added to the collection!

Finally, with the Autocar loaded and strapped down we just had to travel the short distance back to her new temporary home (the farm). What a great couple of days it was. I think I can speak for everyone by saying that it was certainly a tiring day - the number of times we knocked the anchor pins into the ground and then removed them numbered hundreds of times rather than tens! All that remains is a pretty mamouth task for the owner to restore her. She is in reasonable condition and we found a few suprises on her which I'm sure Mike will fill you in with at a later date.

Paul and myself left Mike and Pete to finish off extracting the Autocar whilst we went and collected the beavertail. When we arrived back Mike had just pulled the Autocar out into the loading area. All we had to do was load it. Mike has already detailed the slightly unusual loading method!

With the rear axle not moving, Vince removed the halfshafts. After quite a few attempts to pull the Autocar out at right angles using ground anchors and snatch blocks we decided to give up and do a direct pull. With Mike winching from the rear we attached a tirfor to the front of the Autocar to pull the front end out.

Once Mike had pulled himself out of the soft ground he just had to put his foot down and get back onto the hardstanding.

Another great weekend playing with our toys! Mike has described the weekend and all I'm going to do is post a few more pics (apologies for the poor quality of some of them). Paul and myself missed out on the WLF getting stuck the first time but arrived in time to help with the second extraction.

Update follows: Whilst looking through the pics on the website recommended by martylee I came across this one. The field kitchen looks very simillar to mine, although it appears to be missing the rear platform. So far I have seen two other pics simillar to mine in WW2 museums but I've have not been able to positively ID it. The two museums were in France and it looks as if the guys in this photo are French (although I could be wrong). Trawling through copies of Wheel and Tracks magazine I saw a restored Belgium GMC pulling a field kitchen the same as mine during one of the Bastogne commemorations. Given the french markings on my trailer and the photos I've seen so far I'm assuming that mine is French and possibly pre-WW2. If anyone can still provide further info then I'd be very grateful. Cheers

Mike, Did you manage to move it out of the trees at all on Saturday? The beavertail is now fixed so we are ready to collect everything this weekend.