RattlesnakeBob

hahhaah !.. ... I just nipped out cos we had no milk and had literally the last plastic can off the shelf in our local supermarket...every size of canister had gone and the lady on the checkout said "oooh! you were lucky! that's the last of it, we won't get any tomorrow if it snows!".... also there was no bread and hardly any veg .. crazy ....some folk are absolutely crazy I reckons :-\...or .... maybe it's just plain ol' human nature that some folk gotta have somthing to panic/worry over?

about -3 ish here........light snow since about 12... sticking but not on the main roads ..... I don't mind it myself....I actually like the way the general public panics like hell and runs around like headless chickens madly buying 'supplies'.......you'd think we actually lived in the middle of Montana the way folk behave besides.like someone else said earlier...I gotta justify the running expense of a 4X4 for the rest of the year ! hahah :-D

Interesting thread I joined 614 Squadron based in Lydney Forest of Dean Gloucestershire around 1973 ish???. .....I wasn't allowed a uniform for a while as I was under age...I think you had to be 13 to get a uniform in those days ?..anyways...when I finally got one it was as a few have said it consisted of... ....an incredibly itchy pair of trousers and a battledress tunic .....a cotton shirt complete with 2 cardboard stiff collars , a black tie and a beret and a beautiful thick great coat . Everything except the great coat was very secondhand .. Mum altered the trousers cos I don't know what shape boys were back in the days the trousers were made .... although they were only something like a 26" waist you would have needed a backside the size of a rhino to fill them and legs as long as a giraffe too.. ....Mum bought me some full hobnail black leather boots from a local store that dealt in a lot of ex-army clobber and...as someone said above , they were lethal to walk in never mind run anywhere... We went on Gliding trips to RAF Locking down by Weston Super Mare (actually on the other side of the road from the main base at a grass strip with very rudimentary facilities)...Flying in those days was done at RAF Little Rissington or RAF Kemble (now all sadly long closed down) usually in Chipmunks but sometimes a more modern aircraft where you sat side by side with the pilot ...was it a Bulldog? maybe?... and summer camps and more flying was at various places but I do remember having a week or so at RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall where we also did a lot of shooting.... I always enjoyed shooting, usually on the .22 range at Cinderford TA Barracks and occasionally on .303s but I can't recall where we went to use them....I never gained much 'rank' ....I got a few badges to sew on the sleeves of the tunic...one was for shooting and a few others such as 'leading cadet' ? ..I recall having to sit various 'tests' for these but can't remember what we were actually tested for ? airframe recognition I think was one..???... ON the whole some great times but then I got seriously into music at about 15 and everything else went out the window I'm afraid...

What a cracking outfit!........really good to see some older machinery still working well and being used for what it was intended..........if you look through their recovery photos there's some right proper mess's on there

whilst applauding your pursuit of absolute perfection in all matters concerning whatever restoration you may be undertaking.............:angel: ...One has to ask......... ..the correct .........font ! ?:wow: Is this not, perhaps..... a step a little too far?... ..would not 'painted in white, nice and clear about 2" high' be sufficient?

Oh a long way from her then!...nice place to live

Hello to you:D..... .what part of California?. ..my daughter lives just outside of Oakland......... :cheesy:

Where I lived about 15 years ago I dug up a live Mills grenade (typical ex WW2 'pineapple' type ) together with a large quantity of live .303 ammunition and a similar amount of live12 gauge cartridges... ....I put it all to one side until I'd finished excavating what I was doing and then called the local Police and a patrol car came within 10 minutes or so ......the officers advice was to put the grenade and the full bucket full of ammo & shells in the middle of my meadow out the back & well away from my house.. it's gotta be said that he was more than a little jittery and didn't want to touch the stuff himself at all... I pointed out that although the grenade was live, the primer/fuse (whatever it's called) in the bottom had rusted away completely and also the pin was so rusted into the lever that there was no way it was gonna come out so, (in my humble opinion) it wasn't that dangerous....he wasn't having any of it though and called it in and said " the army will be along asap....don't touch it!" and with that he promptly cleared off!.. ..within an hour or so a LandRover arrived with a soldier who nonchalantly wandered up my garden and peered in the bucket and picked the grenade up....he had a bit of a laugh when I told him about the policemans reaction and shaking his head he said "nah no worries there mate" and with that put the whole lot in the back of the LandRover and drove off.... I followed it up a few days later and was told by the local Police that it and the ammo had been dealt with up at Hereford ... ...then the local Press got hold of the story...but I'm not telling you that bit....:blush:

anyone watching this show?... ..he's just visited a grand old lady living on her own up in the backwoods of Canada.... eagle eye viewers may have spotted a derelict Jeep lurking in her meadow... ..looked to my untrained eye like a ( I think).. CJ2 or 3 ???...like a wartime jeep but with big headlights?...... ...................I'll quietly await confirmation or damnation off more Jeepy authorities on here

Oh to have been around in those days !. ah well...Like you I guess I'd have eventually sold them off anyways!... Not far from me is a fella who has spent the last 50 years or so dealing in Landrovers..before that as a young man in the 50s he told me that he once put a new clutch in a Landrover for a timber cutting fella. ..This chap had previously been operating a couple of ex-army wartime Jeeps with timber tushing jibs rigged in the back of each.......this harsh life had taken it's toll on them and they'd eventually expired and ended up dumped in the meadow at the back of his yard......A deal was agreed with my old mate.............supply and fit a new clutch (total worth of job was estimated at about 25 quid) and......... be paid with the 2 Jeeps.. ..simples!....... I was amazed that my mate had acquired 2 Jeeps for about £25 quids worth of work including a clutch plate.... but.......... he cautioned me with this continuation of his tale..... A week or so later a dealer fella came by on his usual round with his scrap lorry and offered good money for the pair of worn out Jeeps.....Dave seeing a profit and a very quick turn around made a deal which at the time he was very happy with.......... "How much did you sell them for then ?" I asked..... £40 quid each was the answer.... Days long gone by :-)

whilst generally mooching the www for Jeep related info/pictures etc... I came across this.. .....anyone on here been given 2 Jeeps?...told to "come and tow them away" ???? .... ....cripes...I wish. http://www.squidsfabshop.com/flattie/flattie.php

welcome to you

the passing of so many of them in the last few years is truly heartbreaking .... .I know we all go eventually but...their endeavour makes our lives (or at least mine anyway) seem very trivial...RIP old fella.... ...hey and all dues to you for representing a good old typical 'Tommy'!! I got absolutely nothing against anyone representing who they want to but, it often seems a little strange that seemingly 99% of 'living history/re-enactors/etc' (whatever term is acceptable these days ) want to be an American soldier of some description...

Yep that looks like the one mate....not too sure of the details but I think it may have been higher compression than the stock civilian offered 350?...anyways.the frame is more or less the same as the Victor Scrambler but probably beefed up a bit I guess???......the motor looks the same except for being 350cc instead of 441cc capacity...same casings I guess..... the same model eventually ended up as the B50 but by then it had grown to 500cc as I'm sure you know well... .....crackin bikes and great fun to ride though .....I've had a struggle with the clutch over the years on mine which I'm told was a problem with this model regardless of capacity?? dunno what your findings are?? .....the clutch slips when you kick it over or if you set it tight enough not to slip , then she is difficult if not impossible to get onto gear once she has started..so I'm midway through fitting an entirely new assembly ..watch this space! hahah! ..those 'in the know' have suggested the only total cure is to change the entire clutch assembly to a B50 one which apparently cured the problem ??....but I'd rather not do that as I've have rebuilt her as originally as possible...... there really aren't that many 'real & proper' Grand Prix Victors left ...... only about 500 were made originally from what I can find out and approx 250 of them went to the US...

ah ha!....The Ribena connection is a dead giveaway mate .!! .......you must have run into what was known in those days as Carters at Coleford...........they 'invented' the stuff...not sure if they still make it but they must have made a couple of hundred million gallons over the years ....that and Lucozade were their main brands..........they were bought out years ago and are now Smith Kline Beechams ..still a massive employer in the Forest mate

Hello GVINRAD welcome aboard ! I own a BSA !......she's not an ex army model but is a damn good 'un never the less! I've got a BSA 1965 Grand Prix Victor 441 Scrambler... ...it's got a slight army connection in that apparantly a very short run of this model (albeit a fair bit altered from the scrambles one) was made for the Army so I am told around 66/67 ish

Hey Ray I stopped by and had a look at that Sherman a couple of years ago and she's not in too bad a condition all things considered......I guess whatever they sprayed her with is working at holding the rust back.....but.... having said that she would be a phenomenal restoration job.......

anyone want one of these?........ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhh......... that'll be a "no" from me.

yeah that's us Ray! ..very few folk know that the Forest of Dean used to be a big bonafide coalfield........up until 1961 there were still 6 major collieries in the Dean, 2 of which employed almost a 1000 men .....only 20 years before that, there was double that number of big collieries working and countless numbers of smaller pits that employed 100 or so miners.. ..back in the early 60s there would still have been a couple of the big collieries left too but alas not for long....the last proper 'deep' pit Northern United closed at Xmas 1965..there are however still a few drift mines left, ( known as 'freemines' round these here parts)... but nowhere near as many as in years gone by..... ....'coal and the getting of it' has always held a fascination for me and the woods are full of the remains of past endeavours mate....well worth a good walk if you're ever in the area..... PS: where did you used to collect/deliver from & to ?

yep.....thats a proper wrecker for sure.....engine and gearbox probably ok...maybe the axles and steering box too..... she'll break easy enough but the money doesn't wanna go much higher though cos they're ain't a lot left that's re-sellable for sure... but.......... you never know what folk will pay!............ I remember being at Aston Down many years ago and a 110 was on offer that caused many a head to be scratched as to just how it had become so damaged....if you can imagine... it looked just like it had driven under a bridge no more than 4' high and 4' wide between the abutments...and at least 50 mph.... ........ to say it was a wreck didn't go anywhere near describing it, even the axles were damaged with the front one completely bent beyond use.......... ................but ...........it still made 1500 quid all those years ago.. so it's worth watching this one just to see the final figure......:-D

I have it on good authority that Brig General Young looked out of the window 30 seconds later and said "bugger! I left my fags on the dash!"

mmmmmhhh..soooooo.....:cool2:. ....ask a few foreign countries for a tank or two...tell 'em your setting up a museum and bobs yer uncle !.......I'm compiling a few emails right now...........:cool2: .....and first on the list is Israel ..... Dear Sirs.. ..regarding that big park of Super Shermans you got lying about doing nothing....:-D

hello there !

hello to you mate....like the sound of your 'old crap' ..nowt wrong with a proper good collection of dozers and steam rollers

Just wondered if anyone caught McIntyres Toughest Towns show last night??? .... He was in Odessa and if any of you out there want WW2 era firearms ....deact or live . ..thats the place to head to .. ...one 'shop' even offered to ahem... 'deliver' a weapon into the EEC for a small extra sum..... Apparantly when the Soviet Union collapsed and withdrew from the Ukraine they left behind literally hundreds of thousands of tons of ordnance and weapons in storage all over the country.. .this incredible stockpile of weaponry has been feeding the 'market' across the world for the last few years and shows no sign of running out any time soon.... ..a dozen brand new AK47s complete with a crate of ammo?.. .yes sir.... would you like us to deliver them ? London? no Problem ..... very worrying how absolutely easy it appeared to be to get hold of something if you really want it and you've got the money........