Richard Farrant

Looking at the list of Humber contracts, there were batches of 4x4 Utilities that were ordered for non military organisations, Ministry od Aircraft Production and Ministry of Food, also in 1945 there was a contract for 200 of them for the Royal Navy. The JUV regos seem familiar as I seem to think I have seen demobbed military vehicles use on early post war airports for fire and emergency with these numbers.

37 minutes ago, fesm_ndt said:

A guy found me around an hour later then another hour back to Boulia and hospital....

 

 

 

I assumed you were crossing the Nullabore  when this happened............. I remember camping the night in Boulia many years ago. Glad to hear you were not seriously hurt.

Old mechanics saying "99% of fuel problems are electrical" !

21 hours ago, johnwardle said:

It has been illegal to use white on black number plates on vehicles registered after 1973! I have attached the latest number plate information from the DVSA, page 10 has the relevant information.

vehicle-registration-numbers-and-number-plates-inf104.pdf 261.25 kB · 3 downloads

John,

Read that document again, it states  "vehicles manufactured after 1st Jan 1973". I have owned a lorry since 1987 when it was registered by the dealer, it was manufactured in 1943 and stated on the registration document, it has had black plates all that time with no questioning.

7 hours ago, mtskull said:

Just seen this on Facebook Marketplace:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/251245916727960/

Posted here in case it is of interest to members of this forum. I have no connection to the seller.

That lorry was shown as under restoration by two people in Essex in the 1993 IMPS members directory. 

On 7/13/2020 at 5:20 AM, XS650 said:

So they didn't notice 6 TONS of motorcycles until well into their journey and the auctioneer missed 450 Land Rovers, every single one. The vehicles most punters went there to buy.............mmm

Hard to believe

I know this most is an old one, but it has just made me think. I bought a WDB40 from Dawsons in Nottingham in early 70's, they were big buyers of surplus bikes at Ruddington. As this one was without an engine, I had to register it and provide the government Release Note that proves that it was bought from the auction. This guy with the lorry load of bikes, he had a release note for the Bedford, so did he have them for the bikes? If not he or anyone else would struggle to register them.

Crikey that was bad luck, was it the left hand rear tyre that gave out (?), I can see it deflated. Hope you were not injured.

3 hours ago, andym said:

That's my understanding, too.   The RR K60 Workshop Manual lists a whole host of special tools that don't appear in an EMER, either. 

 

On one of my visits to the BAEE defence trade shows at Aldershot (1990's),  RR Specialist Engines had a stand, I picked up a brochure on there service support and overhauling, page shown here with a 432, and a CET steering unit. On the stand was a K60 with a turbocharger.

I have just received this link from the Swedish Tank Museum, about a fascinating armoured car built prewar;

1 hour ago, Rootes75 said:

Well, this morning we tried the Commer and she wouldn't start at all, fired a couple of brief moments but nothing more.

So, back to basics. We reset the timing, she was a fraction out. We re-checked all the HT leads were connected in the dizzy. Then we checked the plugs for a spark, it was there but not very good.

 

Could be rotor arm going to earth, did you try the test of holding the HT lead from coil over the rotor arm to see if there was a spark when you spun the engine over? If you do get a spark jumping to the rotor arm, then it is knackered (a trade term).

TRW took over Lucas Girling, so they are actually in the brake business so would think that should do the job.

49 minutes ago, 07BE16 said:

Thanks to the link to the earlier posts. This seems very similar to another trailer mentioned = 69FG52.

 

This ARN is showing up on the RLC Archive and a data card is available, so that should answer all the questions. Small fee to pay but it is an automatic service and you get the card emailed back to you.

44 minutes ago, welbike said:

Ok, fair enough, there is a difference in workshops and sales locations ofcourse.

Thanks,

Lex

Lex,

Where you see 'ASH' on the right side of the Key Card with disposal date, this would indicate that a vehicle struck off was at Ashchurch Vehicle Storage Depot. Even more confusing was that the were two REME workshops located at places named Ashford, one in Middlesex and the other in Kent.

18 minutes ago, welbike said:

Ok, the frame number is indeed listed as that in the Key Cards, it had C456435 as the C number, and the last users were the 1st Foresters, it was struck off at 26-06-1963

So if it were rebuilt, between 1944 and 1948 it would have had another C number, one that started with 14. so I personally think, the guy who wrote up the info for the Key Cards, noted down some casting number? Spare frames, came without any number.....  Wasn't ASH, Ashchurch? just going from memory here, so could be wrong.

Cheers,

Lex

Lex,

The Key Card No.2 would have had the details of the vehicle at time of change over from Census numbers, ie c1949. So anything that happened after that date would have been recorded in the vehicle's documents, ie all repairs, modifications, inspections and so on. I spent many years working in a REME vehicle workshop and aware of the procedures etc. Regarding this particular bike, the mention of 31BW and ASH indicate what I put in the previous post about Ashford Middlesex.  Ashchurch was a RAOC Vehicle Depot and not a Base Workshop.

Something else worthy of note was that 31 Base Wksp was the only army workshop rebuilding unarmoured vehicles at that time (1957) as all other work was done by contractors for Min of Supply. This indicates they may well have been building up vehicle/motorcycles from old parts and new stores to keep them busy due to the threat of closure, so a new frame and possibly engine is not unknown. I have seen this sort of thing before on other vehicles.

Going by the seller's blurb, It looks like the bike has had a new frame and possibly new crankcases. To explain my thoughts, according to the MoS Rebuild plate that the seller quotes, the 'chassis' number is 31BW/24 and the plate shows it had a Class 1 rebuild in May 1957 and followed by 'ASH'. All this info points to it having be overhauled at 31 Base Workshops REME at Ashford Middlesex. This workshop was under threat of closure shortly after that date, think maybe it closed in 1958. So not a fully genuine unissued bike. But it looks very good and has many details as my own one.

Also note that someone has grafted on a Butler blackout on to the original headlamp rim.

Wakefield was the original maker of Castrol. There are lots of brake grease products about and just for example here is a link showing TRW brake grease https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-143015-trw-brake-grease-pfg110.aspx

I have a tin of Lockheed expander grease which came form a local motor factor. What ever you do, DO NOT use this in wheel cylinders. There is a special rubber grease for lubricating seal and stopping corrosion in the ends of the cylinders.

Richard

I have a copy of Equipment Regulations - Nomenclature and Coding dated 1968, the only Taskers 1/2ton trailer listed is a water tank. This lists all wartime trailers still in service at that time such as Orme Evans and SS (shown as Jaguar).

I do recollect the Post Office Telephones using these style of trailers back in late 50's onward. As these contract numbers originate from the Ministry of Supply, I have a feeling they may not be military issue at all, and actually ex-GPO.

The army FG number may be a red herring.

If it is the manifold it could be that the exhaust manifold has bowed and now holding the inlet off, these two are bolted together like Bedford and Austin. A common problem on rebuilds. If you have the exhaust manifold faced off true you need to make sure the inlet will be in line once bolted together, often takes a bit of fettling to achieve this.

27 minutes ago, seoirsed said:

Richard / Clive.

Thanks for all the info. The vehicle I have agreed to purchase has a solid Makrolon cab cover that does not allow the opening of the cupola. It also fits over the platform.there is a full Makrolon cover for the front of the cab. Both doors are fitted with Makrolon as are the section to the rear of the doors. These sections are hinged approx midway to allow access to the engine compartment. All windows are covered by the standard mesh. The "Wendy" hut is different to the one in your photos as there are no windows at the rear or front. It does have a fan fitted to the left door. When I take posession I will photograph the vehicle and post.

Seoirse .

P.S. as the vehicle is left hand drive how many mesk  was produced for these vehicles.  

 

 

 

 

 

It would appear that the last holding unit of the vehicle was 2 Mercian Regt who were based in Holywood NI. Prior to that the Bedford was originally in Germany. I would think it was unusual to have a LHD vehicle with VPK in NI. Those kits like yours are slightly different at the rear of the cab to those we fitted in the 70's.

21 minutes ago, fv1609 said:

Richard yes I don't know what a complete kit comprised of, compared with a cab kit. These are expressions used in the SITREPs. I noticed the terms VPK & GRP kits are used, I don't know whether there was a change in nomenclature or the terms used by diferent writers or whether GRP kits were just that & VPK =  GRP + XPM

What surprised me was the need for a QL kit. 

Hi Clive,

The kits were universally known in the workshops as Makrolon kits, but as we know, that was actually the trade name for the plastic window material. The 'armour' material was actually layers of woven glass fibre moulded together with a resin. Awful stuff to work with as we had to drill it and often trim to fit as some kits were new, where as other kits had been used several times before. Even found a bullet lodged in a panel once.

In your last sentence did you mean RL (not QL) ?

regards, Richard

5 minutes ago, fv1609 said:

Furthermore in 1972/73 there were 44 GRP kits fitted to Bedford MKs & 35 flameproof canopies supplied for Bedford RLs.

In that period there were 300 GRP escape hatches fitted to RLs.

In 1975/76 there were 30 GRP kits fitted to RLs.

Hi Clive,

Around 1975-76 was when I was involved in fitting these kits to Bedford MK's and all type of Land Rovers (not 1 tonne). The only RL that I recollect doing was a tipper (which is actually a RS as it is short wb). Not sure what the escape hatch was as the RS tipper did not have a cupola in the cab. We never clad the rear bodies on the MK's, I think that came a bit later.

There were 250JU's on Contract No. WV7867 in the FJ range of ARN's.

Going by a little booklet I have with all vehicles in the FJ range, here are the 250JU numbers:

Morris 250JU Minibus 13 seat  WV7867 Asset Code 1144-0233     14FJ13 to 15FJ38

Morris 250JU Left hand drive Minibus 13 seat   15FJ64 to 16FJ25

Morris 250JU Van WV7867 Asset Code 2610-0233   31FJ21 to 31FJ41

BMC 250JU Minibus 13 seat WV7867 Asset Code 1144-0233  52FJ72 to 53FJ11

Hope this might be of use to you.

It might mean something like Personnel Service History  ..... just a thought

8 hours ago, rupert condick said:

Hi Alan,

You can do a chassis no search on the Royal Logistics Corps web site,

that may bring something up I will look though what I have(very little),

what I found Humber utility 4x4 contract date 1940,

Hi Rupert,

The contract date you quote for this Humber is incorrect. Rootes received an enquiry from Ministry of Supply on 13th Feb. 1940, but the actual date  of contract was 8th Jan. 1942. This info is straight from a Rootes document of all contract over the WW2 period.

regards, Richard