julezee001

It felt like it too having to follow the fat backside for what felt like hundreds of miles, but probably less than 150. I seem to remember it being quite a warm day, not helped at all by the diesel exhaust fumes pouring out of the Explorers exhaust. The Matador had an interesting shake on the steering early on which caught me by surprise and almost threw me across the cab! It seemed to get better as the trip went on, or I learned to catch it earlier. None of this was felt by my good friend driving the Explorer. At the end of the trip: Very sore shoulders, fumey lungs, knackered, but totally satisfied!

Some recovery photos, as promised. A Diamond T run out of fuel on the A21, returning from W & P, with Rogers trailer, and Stuart tank. Didn't understand the meaning of speed until hitched to the Explorer! 1945 RAF Matador bought for 3000 francs from Lille, driven the first 7 miles, then towed to Calais. Repatriated, and towed the last 50 miles home for a midnight finish to the Bethune trip 1999. Stolly I think again trying to get home from W & P, and I think towed Guildford direction. American tank destroyer with over heating steering, helped back to the campsite in Beuvry again on a Bethune trip. Enjoy!

Fortunately Bernard I've not had to be towed in my own Scammell so far. That's not saying she hasn't had her teething problems since getting back on the road, but so far with a small toolbox, and a bit of REME ingenuity she's always arrived under her own volition! I should be able to shame a few others though. Should I post them under Scammell, or under the towed vehicle category? ie Stolly, Diamond T, Humber, Matador, and a few others....

Thanks Andy. That about all the pics I have of that one, so I've started gathering the pictures of the other two to give their histories over the last few years. I could almost post mine as a restoration blog. I should have taken more photos as I built it up, but the last thing on ones mind when in the thick of it is to take photos. The hands are covered in grease, or the sand has got to places that takes ones mind off everything other than a hot shower and a cold beer!! My brothers one mostly is pictures of the fun to be had with an Explorer, especially towing other peoples beloved, but broken machinery.

I've dug out a few more photos of the "spare Explorer" to help fill in some of the missing bits. I will try to get more on its history to explain the fall from glory. The first couple of pics are from about 8 years ago when in the hedge on the A21. Followed by one of it recovered to the resting place in the previous posted pictures (about 100 yards away!). The intention was to suspend tow it to home, but circumstances changed, and it took another 7 years to recover it to the new home/ resting place, where we re-united her with the rear body (July 07).

Nice camper, but not especially practical? As promised to 6 x 6, I've posted a few photos of my Militant as bought, by my brother James, from Withams in about 1991, along with other pictures of its slow transformation into a good size camper with a canvas roof. I think the first camping photo, with hoops but no canvas was its first trip to War and Peace in 1997. The Atlas crane was a major reason for picking it at the time, essentially to erect a new barn, a job it was never used for in the end. It has however been used for countless other uses over the years.

Hi Bernard, Fortunately I already knew bits have been swapped off it. The n/s drive gear from the rear axle diff, which is in the final drive housing, has various teeth broken or missing! The crane boom has been gone for years. Amos managed to come down and remove the gearbox and radiator, although I might need the box for PSY 974 as she's getting a bit noisy! The axles are mostly complete, and I might have to use the rear axle heat exchanger for mine as I think my outer casing is split, and it's dripping daily on the workshop floor! If you want to look at my hubs for a better seal, feel free. Jules

I guess so, but she's supplied parts to a number of other Explorers to keep them going, or supply missing parts, and there's still a lot there. The only really important part I wish was still there is the steering box as it's a bit difficult to move about the field, and would be hard to find for the re-build!

Some people don't know when they're well off! At least Daisy was a runner.... Sadly will remain spares only. An early Explorer, chassis no.7295, reg 01 BD 28. This was last year where it had resided for the last 7 years, having pulled it 100 yards from the hedge on the A21, where it had sat in equally healthy brambles for the previous ten years. With the help of a low loader a Unimog and my running Explorer it now resides in my own field, and will probably grow another crop of brambles, unless I win the lottery in which case who knows?

Thought I'd better add a couple more pictures of the Toad during restoration. It had just been collected from the sandblasters, and was dragged off the low loader and pushed in the workshop using the Berliet wrecker. The tracks then removed for blasting.

I've offered my better half a Scammell upgrade ( from 61 IIa Landrover), several times over the years, to no avail ! Sadly some are just immune to the Scammell virus....

Whilst getting my H cat thro the T.A, we used a 432. The only limit was to keep to 30 mph or below to be mechanically friendly to the old machinery. I think I managed to wring 33 out of it once? The flashing light was always used but did not prevent a very hairy moment with a van on a duel carriageway. He was clearly going 60+ and only noticed us at about 30 feet! This resulted in a clouds of smoke from his tyres, a squeely evasion up the hard shoulder, followed closely by the Volvo Estate tailgating him. For the 2 of us in the back a great deal of hilarity, all missed by our commander/instructor and lady driver!

I apologise that I failed to express myself clearly in my short post. Whilst I am aware roller brake testers were available in District workshops, (and have used the ones at ABRO Catterick to test an accident damaged vehicle) as far as I am aware they were used generally to check faulty vehicles. There was not until relatively recently a requirement for British military vehicles to have such a brake test. In a TA unit of any size now, it is now an extra drain on resources and permanent staff time running vehicles for their annual brake and smoke tests. As I said before, I would be interested as to whether this has made any difference to the Armys accident statistics?

My friend at VOSA who knows his stuff, believes all armoured vehicles over 3.5 tonnes are exempt on the grounds that they aren't goods vehicles. A bit like mobile cranes, recovery vehicles and special purpose vehicles which are all exempt on the same grounds. I have to agree with the fact that test centres are non-plussed when you turn up with a classic truck. My Militant Mk1 is 1964, hence needs a test. For the last 8 years it has been tested as class 4 as it is set up as a camper. This year I tried to book a class 4 test, but neither Purfleet nor Hastings have a class 4 tester at the moment, so in the end it had an HGV test at Hastings. It certainly turned a few heads, and I think the testers drew straws to avoid it! Personally I think the large majority of CMV owners know their vehicles better than any tester, and even when something isn't perfect, will drive their vehicle accordingly, as with many car drivers whose car is no longer driving as it came out of the factory? Army vehicles have only been subject to proper brake testing in the last five years or so, previously relying on a quick road test. I would suspect the change has had little effect on safety, as the vast majority of accidents are driver error and not vehicle faults?

The closest I've been to squashing one of those, was in the Militant when it tried, unsuccessfully to overtake me on a roundabout. Fortunately he thought better of it and had to follow me another 4 miles or so up the A21. It could have been interesting had he been squashed, as his efforts to pass were filmed and are briefly on U tube! On the colour front, when my brother bought the Militant from Withams about 15 years ago,there were probably over sixty Mk1's there. As far as I remember all were Nato green and black. As far as I know all were supplied as Bronze green, even ours one of the last built in 1964. At the end of the day it's personal preferance. When I joined the TA in 1985 they were all Nato green, so I'm happy to stick with that. I also far prefer wearing wooly pully and lightweights to battle dress. No contest!!

Sorry couldn't resist!

Excellent! One of the "Atlas" cranes 101 uses. O/s tyre took an hour to take off, change tyre and re-fit, this nearside one took all day at my workshop. Despite cleaning and painting the rims, it took 3 hours to sort it again on Saturday! Fortunately seem to have sorted the problem, and it drove home without another hitch!

Nice to see pictures of the trucks on the site so quickly. Our first time at the Air Fair, nice show for the planes, only spoilt by being right next to the Funfair which played a loop of poor music flat out all day. We should have left our earplugs out for the journey up to the show then we'd only have heard that special ringing sound, associated with being in a Militant cab with an 11.3 litre engine, or an Explorer cab above the straight cut gears with the Eagle 220 driving it! The only technical hitch was a puncture on 158 UXL, which being ex-REME we fixed on site!