Jolly Jeeper

I remember from my schooldays that some of the vehicles on Blackpool seafront were Morris Commercials of some sort. I remember the distinctive sloping bonnets and the non-standard wooden bodies referred to in another post here. I have some slides from those days but can't put my hands at them at the moment - they're in storage somewhere but they were only snaps with an Instamatic.

The point about the desert trip that makes it different from a trip to France's unsurfaced routes or whatever is that we're offering something that can't usually be done - genuine WWII Jeeps in Egypt, several days drive from the tourist track. The killer, cost-wise, is getting the Jeeps there (and back) and sorting carnets and paperwork as well as the military escort and so on - things that are easier or not required, for example, in France. It isn't cheap but I, for one, am seeing it as the trip of a lifetime and something different because I've been on four of the last five D-Day anniversary tours. Re French hols; A mate of mine runs Land Rover hols in the Pyrenees but had to jump through a lot of French bureaucratic hoops to be able to do so legitimately (and with insurance).

Fancy a WWII Jeep trip with a difference? We're off to the desert this coming Easter. JC http://www.tobysavage.co.uk/lrdg/

Interested in the LRDG? Have a look at this http://www.tobysavage.co.uk/LRDG/ See you there? JJ

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11511574

Love it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11019795

http://hmvf.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=129:jeeps-to-bailey-bridge-by-john-carroll&catid=20:general&Itemid=30

Marty - I'm glad you liked it - it was the kind of trip I really like too. I might do something similar in Wales later this year. Jack - thanks, it's nice to be back. Things are getting back on track although I'm going to be selling that Hotchkiss that's in the feature and another WWII machine. The M201 has had the head gasket done and is about to go for an MoT. I'll update the advert thread. MMI has another military Jeeping story that I did in hand - it was a really great MV weekend in Northumberland (15 Jeeps plus Champs and Land Rovers) which they have said will be published but I'm not sure when yet. Cheers all, JC

A version of it was on here a while ago but it's never been in CMV. I know, I wrote it. JC

Does anyone who owns a soft-top Land Rover 110/Lightweight/Series II or III 88 or 109in fancy appearing in a national magazine article? The photoshoot is on Friday June 11 just outside Swindon. I can't offer any fees beyond a sandwich or two and 15 minutes of fame... PM me please if you're interested. Thanks JC

I've driven a Cuthberston 109in Land Rover - was interesting and a dream come true! Also driven a couple of Mattracks-equipped 110s - they're less rattly. JC

Looks like a great day out. I recognise a couple of the 4x4s from the weekend before. The Champ (MUT 5F) and the Jeep (130 AYC) were among a great group of MVs on Denny Thompson's Northumberland off-road weekend. It was a truly excellent weekend. JC

...but they're US Army bikers.

Been in the MVT for 19 years but had dreamed about owning an MV since schooldays. I blame Airfix - they made 1:72 scale Matadors... And Vanderveen 'cos he wrote the book about the Jeep... And my uncle 'cos he fought the Germans with a Morris Quad and a 25-pounder and told me tales about the Quad... JC

Thanks everyone - will endeavour to cram up on posts sooner than Oct! Last time I was here (before last night) I was looking at Matador porn. Still hankering after one in a big way - girlfriend said if I buy one she'll be gone. I'll miss her (a bit). Jack - yep I'm in the office today. Degsy - was sorry to miss N.Wales do. Had it in my diary and everything. JC

Well, according to the box at the top of the screen I last visited HMVF on Jan 16th and it's now July 8th. Where's the time go eh? To be honest there's been a few reasons why I've not been here but I'm glad to be back. I'm a flatfender Jeep guy - Hotchkiss, Mahindras and CJ2A - with a thing for Series I Land Rovers - '49, 53 and 57 (all civvy) - and Harleys - '42 and '05 - so Hello again. JC

The Static Feature Displays : Heritage Land Rover Weekend 60th celebrations needs some help recruiting a ex British Army 105mm howitzer to complete the 'Army trials' display for the 60th celebration at the centre on 2-3 May 2008 if you think you can help please email Peter Barrat the feature organiser on peterb110@hotmail.com ( photo attached to) or sending a photo and brief description to the HLRW , Heritage Motor Centre Banbury Road, Gaydon ,Warwickshire. CV35 0BJ . We could also use : 127 Ambulance, a "Pulse" Ambulance, a Desert Lightweight plus any ex RAF and ex Royal Navy Land Rovers. Same contact as above. Posted on behalf of Emma Rawlinson from Gaydon Heritage Motor Centre. JC

I'm with Clive on this too. The comment about him being tainted with Top Gear antics is, imho, wide of the mark too; Clarkson is a knob on Top Gear but has done other things well - something about a VC I remember? Also, again imho, Hammond came out of the jaunt to the North Pole as the least spoiled of the three of them... Not forgetting the British beaches though is bloody important too; a couple of years ago I bought a poppy of a veteran in a beret with a RA cap badge and a row of campaign medals. I asked him about the war and he told me that he was in the water for four hours before he got onto the sand... makes you think eh? JC

Been meaning to mention this book for a while - From the City, from the Plough by Alexander Baron. It's a fictional account (probably be described as faction these days) of a British Infantry Division in the run up to and aftermath of D-Day. It was originally published in 1948 I think and is clearly written by 'someone who knew'. No idea if it's still in print but it turns up in secondhand bookshops in paperback. I've collected three different paperback editions - one of them says on the cover that it's 'the finest novel about WWII' and it's hard to disagree. JC

'lets not forget the sacrifices made, by those veterans, so we can pursue our hobby.' Andy, I think that because you have the above on the bottom of your posts, it rules you out of the kind of dressers up I was referring to! JC

Yeah, people who dress up in other people's uniforms, badges of rank, decorations whatever... simple really. The point is that some people (like Adam Elsdon in this thread) have been around the block a few times and really suffered through something military while others merely regard it as a hobby or something to step in and out of like the Nazi dressers up in the beer tent at Beltring... some people don't realise that the military thing is very real for many. I'll tell you a story about my late uncle (who I have mentioned here before and who, I'm proud to say, was one of my heroes); he was a Gunner with a Field Regiment of the RA in N.Africa and Italy in WWII. He had a rough time with the 1st Army in Tunisia, a rough time on the Anzio beachhead but came home and went back to his day job as a plumber on the Wirral. He never even took his medals out of the box they came in the post in but he had his polished cap badge on the side board. After he'd retired the 1st Gulf War took place and CNN played it live into our living rooms. My uncle watched a lot of it and at first was fine but suddenly one afternoon it was all too much and he just burst into tears and had something of a nervous breakdown. He'd been bottling all kinds of stuff up for fifty odd years and what's more, my girlfriend of the time worked for the NHS in South Yorkshire and said that he wasn't the only one by a long chalk... (This tale is one of the later paragraphs in something I'm hoping Jack will use as another article for this site when it will be set in context with tales of driving a Morris Quad) Satisfied? JC

Sounds like Jack has given the okay for this to be posted again so here it is; http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2212694,00.html Take note of Tony B's caution rating A photographer friend of mine also sent me this about the same subject; The Marlboro Marine Video: Los Angeles Times photojournalist Luis Sinco's photograph of Marine Lance Corporal James Blake Miller became an icon of the Iraq War.This is the story of how Miller tries to heal the scars of war and how two lives became connected by a photograph. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1305032444/bctid1308176991 JC

Cheers Tony B - Have sent you the link by PM. Maybe we can ask the moderator to post the link in this thread again - how about it moderator man? Off to the pub, been in the office for well over 12 hours today! Christmas magazine deadlines are a nightmare. JC

Thanks Matt and Rick - when I read the newspaper story that the link went to I was immediately reminded of that song above, the end of the book Chickenhawk and so on. Posted it because I genuinely thought that people on this forum (many of whom post sensible and intelligent stuff about more than just the MVs we all play with) would be interested. The guy in question was, as someone says in the movie A Few Good Men, a 'recruiting poster Marine' who met the president... now he rides with a 1% bike club (not that I've got anything against them). JC