RattlesnakeBob

...found a little news item on Mr brad Pitt and some rather good pictures of him tearing about the English countryside in a very nice Sherman HVSS ........ does anyone on here own it ? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2411476/Brad-Pitt-hide-excitement-takes-tank-driving-lesson-peaceful-English-countryside.html

certainly looks like a Centurion to me ....a right interesting little nicknack either way !

great stuff .

Don't know if anyone buys 'Military Machines International' magazine????.... .......but there's quite a good article in it this month on the Sherman tank .......the article covers generally the development of the armour on the various Mk's and also mentions a survey that was conducted after WW2 by both us and the Americans into tanks that were destroyed / damaged / hit on various battlefields in Europe and further afield... .the survey looked at many wrecked tanks and came to a number of conclusions (some surprising) such as the 'ratio of danger' regarding the various crew positions in various tanks ..... ..having read the article ...i can only say my conclusion is.......... ..I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in a Stuart

Yes I have to agree with that judgement.. .....Were Snapper and I the only ones who thought Warhorse dreadful???? I know we don't have to 'justify' the reasons given on this thread but....briefly... ....I thought it was an awful Disney type ickly sickly "aw so cute!" couldn't make it's mind up if it was a kiddy film or not kind of effort ........with some pretty duff 'Military' gaffs thrown in for good measure (such as ....the First World War actually being held in a meadow behind the peaceful farmhouse where the farmer and his family were apparently not even aware the war was happening !!!! .... PLUS!!!..... the sets of the film , particularly in the 'English village / town' bits , were proper sick inducing Hollywood tripe of the " this is what we kinda think cute little ol' England must look like !" variety..... (but of course... we won't bother to do a simple bit of research to check because we're from Hollywood and whatever we think it's like they'll believe us !..) In particular .....cottages that looked like they were built in Yorkshire but were supposed to be in the west country where they all spoke with the standard Hollywood interpretation of a 'West Country' accent....... yep Warhorse....... awful , awful tripe

I'm guessing Trico Vacuum Wiper Motors were probably fitted to a number of Military vehicles throughout the 1940s ???? ....... There's one on my Hudson that is refusing all of my efforts to make it do anything other than 'hiss'....... .........and.... ....I've found a fella in the US that will rebuild/ renovate it and also guarantee it for 3 years afterwards all for what I think is a well reasonable price too.... ...but........before I box it up and send it off... ....does anyone on here know of anyone offering a similar service here in the UK ?...many thanks!

ah..I once towed one of a very similar size and weight in to a scrapyard with my Series One Landrover ..... now....she did have a V8 in her........and it was only 2 or 3 miles....but.....it does have to be said that... .. I wouldn't recommend it .. ...think you need something like a friendly Matador or Diamond T

I came across this a few years ago with a project that I was involved in.....and you'll be entering a minefield with the average insurance company mate.. .. I was going to fit the sort of seats that I've seen in the back of modern army wagons and African 'safari' vehicles ...almost like car rally seats complete with a safety harness's etc .. You could very easily make up some seating perhaps taken out of an old bus or something similar and rig some lap belts etc?.. but ...if you were to have a claim against you ?. ....Knowing what insurance companies are like though, unless they were 'type approved / tested / installed etc to manufacturers standards blah de blah etc ' ?... I could imagine one of those opportunity grabbing 'no win no fee / anybodies fault except the person making the claim etc' companies putting you through some sorta stress :-(

hello fellow Landrover fan !

so basically .....(I don't want to sound thick but I am haing some difficulty getting my head around this .........) lets get this straight and completely understood ..... if I decided I did not want to pay an astonomical sum for a deactivated or replica of say ...a Sten or a Thompson or maybe a .30 cal Browning...and ... ..I spent a few nights in my workshop working with my lathe / pillar drill and welding set and a few tins of black paint ..... (well within the capabilities of just about anyone on this website I would have thought ?) . ...........and .... .......subsequently turned out a reasonable representation of one of the afore mentioned weapons ......with the sole intention of carrying it at a few military shows etc... then...I would have broken the law and would be quite liable to prosecution ????

I just had an admittedly very quick look at that Act on the web and ... .would I be right in seeing /reading that its pretty much illegal to buy or sell any 'realistic imitation or deactivated firearm' unless you are a registered dealer ????? ..and also to 'cause one to be imported into the UK'? .... ...seems pretty draconian ????? and if that's so ???.... ...well it does rather play the ball straight into a proper dealers hands to up his prices as ever he see's fit???? one bit of it says something along the lines of you are guilty of an offence if you... '.......alter or modify an imitation firearm to be realistic'.. .so if you bought say, a bright pink plastic toy M16.... and painted it black.......are you breaking the law???? Seems utterly daft to me........ and .if you were to buy a deactivated Garand or something similar in France at a show... ..how would you bring it home ?? I have to say, IMHO.... that absolutely none of this Act would seem to prevent the average chavvy drug thug getting hold of a real live firing weapon if he chose to do so ..........

well.....Lauren.... you can have my 9x9 if you make me the right offer ...........

yes I do agree with the idea that some dealers 'exploit' situations.. .as Tony pointed out , in the 80s and into the early 90s you could buy Ex army Series 3's very cheaply .....then ...around about 92/93 ish .... a few dealers from up country sort of way (I could name the ones I hold responsible but there's no point) ........realised there was more money to be squeezed out of the secondhand Landrover game if they all stuck together and pushed prices up ....now .......this may be harsh to accuse them off but......well ... anyways !...what happened was ! ... ..over the next 6 months that I was still bothering to go to the ex army sales at RAF Aston Down , these certain dealers started paying way more on the hammer just to make sure they got more or less every vehicle that came through the sale...myself and other 'small time operators' that had been buying regularly over the years were very steadily edged out..we simply couldn't make money on a truck if we paid what they were paying ..and anyways ....most of us couldn't afford to buy anymore than 2 or 3 vehicles at a time .these companies were coming to the sales with huge artic car transporters and going home with them full of Landrovers....... .. consequently.... prices went up ridiculously..... and they were all being bought by more or less by the same 2 or 3 dealers .... these companies adverts were regularly (in those days) in the 4x4 glossy magazine marketplace and their prices , (not only for complete vehicles but also for spares) were astronomical and .. .seeing as they advertised every month?.....you can only come to the conclusion that their 'joint' policy was working well for them ......

I don't know that prices have gone up by that much in real terms????... In 2004 at the massive indoor market in St Mere Eglise a dozen or more traders were asking £450 to £600 for large piles of very tatty folding stock M1 Carbines..... ...given ... they had quite probably 'loaded' their prices for the market but..... people were buying. .. and Stephano is absolutely right..... we all paid a lot less for any kind of house 30 years ago than we would do for the same house today so....be it guns /cars/ houses or whatever......prices will go up....what else do you expect? ........ It is hard to think these days though that an absolutely normal boring as hell run of the mill modern car will be worth anything in 40 years time but...it will be.....also due to the fact that so many people will not think of ever preserving one simply because they are so numerous and well...dull...... On a slightly different tact.... .........did anyone see the programme t'other night on TV 'The Plane that saved Britain' ????? It was all about the Mosquito and was incredibly good ....but anyways....my point is this....... I remember years ago reading / seeing a lot of photographs in a magazine article about the making of '633 Squadron' .... ...even at that time in the 1960s , Mossies were so numerous a couple of dozen were bought up for the film and literally hacked about with axes to display 'battle damage' for certain scenes.... and as I recall , these were unceremoniously burnt /scrapped when the filming was finished.... when they came to make the follow up film 'Mosquito Squadron' only a few years later ......the situation had changed to such an extent that the film company had to resort to using many 'recut' scenes out of the first film because there were hardly any Mossies left ......... what price for a Mosquito now? .and if you could afford it ....would you say that was 'over priced' ???

caught a bit of John Wyanes classic 'the Green Berets' last night....now that has got to be a contender for certainly one of the worst war films ever..... no wonder that when it was shown to the troops in Vietnam they howled with derisive laughter

crikey that would seem like a fair old bargain ?....a whole lot of truck for your money there !

on a related note....... can anyone recommend a good supplier for 6 volt batteries?... I have a need for one and have browsed all over the web but..seeing as a lot of vintage WW2 vehicles are 6 volt I wondered if any of you have a preferred supplier price/quality wise etc The one on my old Hudson is a 225 AH which seems a heck of a lot ???....nothing I've been offered so far is near that whack.....suggestions anyone ?... I have thought about going down the route of having a pair of modern 6 volt batteries in parallel to boost the cranking amperage .....any thoughts on that ?? thanks in advance and apologies for going off thread a bit !

Hey up . ..the poles are 20mm diameter X 515mm to the shoulder X 580mm overall including the 'pin' at the top and they have a rubber / plastic 'foot' to stop them sinking into the ground. hope that helps

no problem mate will do tomorrow....having seen the excellent pictures I can see where the 3 small poles go now...when I first looked at them I did think they couldn't be part if it but they obviously are.. I'll measure them tomorrow for you and Timbo!!! yes you are quite correct .....I really do need a tank! ...it'd be daft to now own a lovely tank crew tent and not have a tank to go with it ....

........and you're partial to a bit of Roast Pig too by the looks of that ! Good to have you in ! !

oh haha ! ..wondered if anyone had noticed ! ....I'll start a new thread and put a few pictures up ! similar cars were in use as US Staff cars and she is almost WW2 vintage ..very nice she is mate ! ...

well that settles it then I won't be selling it ...I'll find some use for it somewhere down the line hey many thanks to you all for the pictures ! excellent stuff !

[ATTACH=CONFIG]79512[/ATTACH] What a gorgeous and really seriously useful bit of kit . I had a Coles Crane in my yard for many years ..I think it was an 'Argus' ?....but anyways..it was supposed to be a 6 ton lift and would easily lift 8 or 9 tonne and the crane on the back of this truck looks exactly the same....

Hope the link will work ..a rather sad looking M5 Stuart /Honey Tank based redneck pick up truck ! Apparently, happily now back on the crazy 'monster truck' circuit having been rebuilt from the state she was in this picture " rel="external nofollow">

fantastic! yep thats what I got then !