Kufra Kiwi

Can't wait!!!

Just saw this great footage of the Light car patrols around Siwa in WW1. Model T Fords and RR armoured cars. https://www.facebook.com/931995000200945/videos/255969775103228/UzpfSTEwMDAwMTAyNDEwNzU0MzpWSzoxMDE1NTY1NTgwOTE1NjU2MQ/

It'll have to be a video - I want hear that throaty roar!!!

I have been watching this thread for a very long time and I am in total awe of your abilities! I cannot wait for the first start-up, which surely must be just around the corner?

H&S insanity prohibits such sharp and unyielding objects in kids playgrounds today (in my country at least). And that provided a windfall for a friend who collects old vintage tractors. He noticed council workers digging an old 1930s Fordson tractor out of its concrete base and he offered to dispose of it for them. It had been exposed to the weather for at least 25 years and was all seized up. But today it is running again and in pride of place in his collection.

Just wondering ..... are you sure the radiator overflow pipe is correctly positioned? It seems almost low enough to drain water during normal driving. I imagine that an overflow pipe would be best positioned at the highest point of the radiator tank? It certainly is in my Model A Ford.

WW1 pilots occasionally refer to the windshields of their aeroplanes (Sopwith pup, camel, etc) being made of clear material like perspex. On page 69 of "Sagittarius Rising" WW1 pilot Cecil Lewis writes: " ....there was a sharp crack, and the little windscreen a foot in front of my face showed a hole with a spider's web in the glass around it. It was Triplex: no splinters but another foot behind would have put a bullet through my head" This was in 1916.

I cannot find any of the threads that I started. What am I doing wrong?

Can you provide another photo showing the gearbox more clearly?

OK but Googling "Ford Barn" is still your best source to find out anything about Ford Model B motors, and it also has quite a bit of useful info on GAZ jeeps.

If its just an ordinary Model A Ford engine (which appears to be the case) they are still two-a-penny in USA, Australia, NZ, South Africa, South America and maybe even in UK. Its probably one of the easiest vintage motors to find, and also one of the best. I don't think the Russian ones were metric. Just Google "Ford Barn" to find out more. There is no difference between the A and AA motors.

In the first photo the spare tyre is diamond tread sand-pattern.

I have used molasses a lot and had good results with it. I use one part of molasses to 6 parts water and leave the rusty part submerged for 2 to 3 weeks, then water-blast the gunk off and leave it to dry in the sun. I have been surprised at how well it works and in my experience it has not immediately starting rusting again either, although that might vary with the type of steel. I am on a farm so storage and disposal are not a problem. Molasses is dirt cheap (30c/kg here) non-toxic, environmentally friendly and doesn't have the disadvantages of sandblasting (cost and warping) or electrolysis (explosive H2 gas). Just don't be in a hurry :-)

Some months ago I mentioned (I think it was on this thread but can't find my post) about converting tanks and bren carriers to cut boxthorn hedges in New Zealand in the 1960s. My description of watching them work when I was a boy seemed to trigger quite a response from the forum. At that time I was disappointed that I couldn't find any photos, but now I have found two quite good ones (attached). I think the tank is either a Valentine or a Stuart but someone else here will know for sure. You can imagine the impressive noise as it charged headlong into a huge boxthorn hedge! And Bren carriers were also used to sweep up the hedge-trimmings but unfortunately I cannot find a photo of a carrier. Moderator please feel free to transfer this post elsewhere if appropriate.

.......Flying in a DC3 from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, floating down the Mekong in a 100 foot river boat in a five day trip from LP to Vientiane, running out of food after day three and being given sticky rice and Plalaa (!!!) by a friendly Lao, shooting the Luang rapids where the Mekong pours through a 100-yard gorge, speaking the Lao language, eating barking-deer ("egang") shot with an old musket, watching a Lao military brass band playing "The Marsellaise" more than a decade after the French had been kicked out of the country, being introduced to American civilians and wondering if that was their real name :-X watching silver Air America planes (with no markings at all) lined up at Vientiane airport, wondering why so many luxury goods were freely available when the country's only external revenue was from the sale of its colourful postage stamps, watching stubby little T28 fighter bombers take off from LP airfield and head off north-eastwards towards the Plain of Jars. Driving past the Pathet Lao "embassy" in Vientiane and trying to photograph the guard with his AK47 and Mao hat (he kept hiding behind a palm tree as we drove past) .............. Laos was (and probably still is) a magical little country full of contradictions, intrigue and surprises.

I was in Laos in 1967-68. Brings back happy memories

I think those "forks" are more properly called "clevices". :-)

Definitely not Ford A - looks English to me.

Whats happened to the Thornycroft guys? I was really enjoying their amazing restoration, but haven't seen any sign of them for quite a while.

I have just found this photo of a Humber Snipe Photo 20th May 1942 in Beirut. Looks more like an Army car than RAF though. The guy in the photo is a New Zealander named Glen Sewell who is on leave from Libya and is standing in front of the Hotel Normandie. Humber Snipe staff car.pdf

G'Day, I am looking for a diagram or photo showing the hand-brake cable and brake-rod layout for a 1940-45 Canadian built Chevrolet 2.5 ton truck. Mine is the long nosed LRDG type of Chev with the "art-deco" grille, but it probably has the same brake layout as the flat-nosed CMP military trucks. I have been looking everywhere without any luck and am surprised to find that even the maintenance manual (which I have) does not include such a diagram. I want to see how the handbrake actuating rods connect to the armoured cable enclosing the stranded wire going back to the rear brake drums and how they are both connected to the chassis about a metre forward of the rear axle. There is apparently a small bracket attaching these cables to the chassis where they meet. A photo would be great, but a diagram would also be OK. Thanks in advance :-D KK

This is probably the first occasion since WW2 when 4 Chev LRDG trucks are shown together. They are replicas of course, as no originals are known to exist. A fifth truck is under restoration. The occasion was the Armistice Day commemorations at Karapiro, near Cambridge New Zealand in November 2012. Two replica LRDG jeeps complete the picture.

Someone is trying to send me a PM (probably about my post above) but I cannot open it, because my security settings are blocking it. Not sure what I can do about that. Cheers, KK

So many books have been written on the LRDG and so much research done that it is difficult to find anything new. However one area that interests me seems to have been barely covered at all. I would like to obtain more info about the LRDG repair and maintenance workshops at the Citadel in Cairo. Does anyone have any photos of the workshops or of LRDG trucks being repaired or perhaps even written reminiscences of the mechanics who had the responsibility of repairing the trucks? It would be really great to know a bit more about what damage occurred and how they were repaired for the next patrol etc. Can anyone help with this?

Are you happy with that degree of rust removal? :shocked: Seems like it needs a bit more work to get all of it off.