Richard Farrant

Hello Les, There were a very small number of 30cwt 6x4 Office trucks in the census list, the first two contracts only 10 vehicles in total, there were two more contracts, but numbers were also low. Doubt if it was a CDSW, to be precise, as the W meant it was fitted with a winch.

Some jeep owners would like to get hold of an airborne trailer like that one :-). The group of signals vehicles in one photo have RAF reg numbers, but are of a German make, and hiding at the far end is a Morris Commercial FV 3 ton office truck, if I am not mistaken.

Robin, I think I may have asked about the DROPS, having been rebuilding in-service ones not long before, I could see a few slight differences. Cannot recollect anything about the crew though. Have been looking through some old W&P programmes, but think the years you reckon it to be, are not here.

Adrian, There is a light difference in the rim aperture diameter on Butler and Lucas rims. I have never tried a sealed beam unit. The best about the tractor lamps were that they had flat glasses so apart from the fluting, did not look too out of place.

Surely the twist is governed by the barrel rifling...............not the round?

Hi Adrian, I have used reflectors and glasses from repro Butler tractor headlamps, ie MF35, Fordson Dexta, etc, on a vehicle that was going to Germany, where a modern type of bulb was required. I seem to recollect it all fitted in the original shell and rim. It was about 14 years ago, but at least it gave a headlamp pattern that worked with the MoT beam tester.

Bob, It is a Daimler Armoured Car

As a Beltring veteran, I do remember this group. I had a feeling all the demountables were designed as a field hospital, and that there was at least one Leyland DROPS. I thought this odd at the time, that one in such good condition should have been released, but think it may have been one of the trials vehicles, not a service one.

I would imagine your buses would be full air, the Bedford is air over hydraulic, so not quite the same. My recollection was that it was not thought of as a repairable fault, just one of those things that happens, bearing mind they used to stand around a lot. About 15 years since I had anything to do with them now...........much prefer the QL anyway :-)

Not at all uncommon on MK/MJ, seems worse when driving slowly or manouvering.

I thought it looked like CSU668..............checked it on DVLA and it is a Scammell, made in 1955, registered in 1987 with a 8500cc diesel engine, so that does not quite tie up with the date you say the photo was taken in, not only that but engine capacity is too small.

That is something else, brilliant :-). You could clear the snow off your drive without going outside, with one of those. Engine sound is very realistic too.

Hi Peter, I think the website has been off the air for a long time. Although they are not to far away from me, I have not heard much about them lately, apart from something I saw on the Tank Museum website recently.

Hi Pete, The name has recently changed to the Weald Foundation, and as far as I know, still working away.

Under Operation Bolero, civil contractors in Britain were assembling crated vehicles for the US, for their forces in Europe, but they were collectively only acheiving 4,000 vehicles a month, so not keeping up with shipped arrivals. The US then got their General Depot 25, at Ashchurch, Glos. to build a production line, with inspiration from a visit to Austins, to build crated jeeps. This depot at Ashchurch is the same place that is now the Britsh Army vehicle depot.

Ah, thanks, I had not heard that news. A good common sense approach, now they want to sort out H&S.

John, Is there any chance the fuel has waxed? If you have not used it much, the fuel may be from before the winter additives were added. It has been cold enough to wax, in places. Try spraying a bit of Start Pilot / Easy Start / Start Ya Bastard in the intake as you spin it over, if it catches and runs, then not waxed, but it will eliminate that possibility.

Hi Tony, The shirt will look good when you get to drive your USAAF refueller :-)

Hi, I cannot think of ever having that problem on a Bedford. Cannot think what it could be either as it is all so simple inside. Biggest problem was oil leaks. :-) Did the fitter elaborate on the problem?

Mike, the problem is when buying coils nowadays, you ask for a 12v one, but what you have to watch is whether it should be used with a ballast. I found this problem on a Dennis fire engine once, the owner had several breakdowns on the road, having to call out the AA. I had a look and found the points plastic part had deformed with heat. The owner told me it had been alright until someone serviced it and fitted new points, he showed me the old ones, which were hard fibre type, obviously unaffected by heat, so checked out the coil and it had been changed sometime in the past and was not a standard 12v type.

No worries, Mike, at least it is a simple fix :-)

Had to dig out the EMER to refresh my memory, if it is a 12v system you should have a ballast resistor mounted under the coil, is it wired in and is it working correctly? I suspect the coil is not the correct type.

Mike, Have you fitted a coil designed to use a ballast resistor? I have come across this before, where you have a 9v coil running with 12v though it and it melts the plastic heel on the points.

When they were in service, I have changed exhaust manifolds and they broke up like old fire bricks, so you can see how hot they got !

Hi Robert, That is absolutely correct ! I must just add, that at one time a lot of Army equipment was fitted with a Start Pilot device which accepted a small metal cartridge, once loaded, the plunger was pushed down this punctured it and pumped the ether into the manifold. All the Bedford MK's had it on the dashboard, never, ever had to use it. But the one that really brought it home as to how dangerous it was to an engine, was the little Petter diesels used on pumps and generators, cannot remember whether they were AA1 model, anyway, came across one in for repair with no compression. It had an empty cartridge in the pump, and found that it had stretched the cylinder barrel studs. Bet it kicked on the starting handle too !