Richard Farrant

Lauren, Beware of strange men offering you rides in their car

Hi Lee, Good to catch up earlier. Really looking forward to this one, the site is looking good. Met the mine cab Bedford and a Commer Q4 on the A20 on my way home.

The government would have been foolish to put all their eggs in one basket by going for the Bedford QL, so the Austin K5 and Fordson WOT6 supplemented supplies of 3 ton 4x4 lorries, as did the Karrier. Development costs of the Karrier would not have been great as it shared a lot of its mechanical components with the gun tractor and armoured car. The cab looks like it was knocked together one night on overtime . The production numbers might be low because the factory was concentrating on Humber Armd Car production. The government were telling the manufacturers what they required from them.

Hi Rick, Not enlarged it to look that closely, but to your point, as the track rod is behind the axle, and I have come across this a few times, a chain or rope has been passed over the axle and the track rod, by doing this it pulls the back of the wheels in giving excessive "toe out" when the vehicle is dragged out. From your closer examination it seems more like the axle is detached. Interesting picture though, of both vehicles.

As far as I know, they were the only British 3ton 4x4 GS truck with a winch. (The QLB was a gun tractor so does not count, but the QLT Tipper did have a winch). My understanding was that they often served with Royal Engineers so perhaps they were useful in bridging work.

Bernard, I reckon you are right, they have put the chain or rope around the trackrod and bent it, as that steering lock is far too excessive. :undecided:

He might get shot down if flying over the Normandy beaches on D-Day week next year as I recall it is a controlled airspace with ground to air missile batteries, fighters and choppers everywhere ... if like 2004 and 2009 :undecided:

The WA plate denotes it as a Manufacturers trials vehicle. I guess nothing came of it, but with that crane it might have had a special use intended.

I would say as it would have had a heavy grease used in it, not like the oily stuff we have today, there would be no gasket. The two halves would have been machined together to accept the bearings and screwed end plug. Any gasket would not allow the casings to pinch the bearings and also effect the screw thread. That's my thought anyway

OK, time for bed ....... I will expect to see one of the night owls come up with the answer by morning. :-D

Then what happens when you go? Never ending problem isn't it ........ we collect too much crap

It could be for releasing a drain on fuel tanks (aircraft), somehow I think that it is used to push release rather than twist as copper probes would not have terrific strength

Made of copper ............ because of its anti magnetic properties? Something to do with bomb disposal or disarming or even fuse setting? The length of it is puzzling though.

From the photo it looks like it had a vertical crease in it and has been flattened out, if so it would likely be from a civilian model which had a slight fold in it to fit the grille.

Hi John, A quick search reveals these part numbers which might be of help; Master Cylinder assy; Renault trucks part no. 0038991700 M/Cyl Repair kit: Renault trucks part no. 5430023697 Delphi brakes (Lockheed) part no. LK11413 regards, Richard

Hi Ken, There was a web site for him at one time, if you go to this address you will see the web advert on the right, click on it and contact numbers can be seen; http://whois.domaintools.com/libertyengineeringservices.com

Just goes to show you should not take those plates for granted. They were fitted after the renumbering process from census numbers to VRN.

Unless the MoS plate has been switched at sometime, the easy answer to this is that it is a Rebuild, borne out by the plate and the ARN, which is from a group of rebuilt vehicle numbers. The identities of vehicles can disappear, as the vehicles are often completely dismantled and parts go all ways for reconditioning, when they rebuild a number would be allocated which might not match the chassis. British Army jeeps were known to have the numbers ground off and new ones stamped elsewhere on the chassis which bear no relation to original numbering.

Enigma, you should be worried, looks like they are closing in on you :-D

Thanks Clive, It took a bit of thinking about .... but got there in the end ! Try and make the next one a bit harder

The shipping symbol used on Royal Engineers (Works) Stores

Could it be linked to brown jerricans and drinking water? Maybe it is a sign to denote Drinking water?

Hi Clive, You will see why I sent that suggestion, look at this badge / flash;

Is it a symbol to denote Army Emergency Reserve Resource Unit ?

Clive, Could it be a badge ? :undecided: