Richard Farrant

Stephane, There is a WW2 Scammell Pioneer breakdown truck in a French military vehicle club, the Univem Paris Ile de France. Their headquarters is in Versailles, I think. It could be worth you going to see them. Just found their website, www.univem-paris.com

A little bit can go a very long way :-D

A Land Rover series 3 lwb is 15.25 metres max A Bedford MK / MJ is 17.88 metres

There is always someone spoiling your fun ...........glad to hear it though

That brings back memories! Rebuilding Ferret wheel stations and lapping in the spherical seatings, then shimming for correct fit.

Not much good if there is not enough in the batteries to make a spark .........good exercise though :-D

Mark, Robert has been having telephone line problems, so may not be able to reply for a bit. Have you any photos from those early years? I think the total entry was around 200 in those days.

Neil, Sounds like your batteries are severely discharged, swapping one battery would be no good as you found out. You need to put a good charge in them both. Normally, just jumpstart with another 24v vehicle in the normal way. Just hope that the batteries have not suffered being discharged over the winter. A boost starter / charger with 24v facility is a useful item.

Tim, At least you covered the distance and can now see where the problems lie. An acheivement you can be proud of, to get to Brighton.

Well done Radek Serge sent me some photos of you guys getting her out yesterday. I am glad to see it came out without any dismantling. Hope you got it home safely, the truck looked a little small :shake:

In those days the whole show was on the area now used for stalls. That included the arena.........and there was still space !

A chap called Barry, from Liverpool bought the Nordian stock, used to sell on Ebay as "Flathead V8"........he has now sold the stock on again, but I do not have the new owners details. Past Parts Ltd, advertise w/pump reconditioning.

The cab looks like it might have come off a Leyland Martian.

Just to let you know, I have not experienced any problems lately, no complaints on speed, etc. :thumbsup:

That would John Butcher's MW, with Paul Chapman's Austin K3 alongside. Who won "Best Military" ?

Hi Simon, Glad to hear that the advice was useful to you. Don't worry about adding 2/3rd of a litre to the flywheel, so long as you are aware, and moniter it, you should be OK.

Graham, I used to be involved in the annual testing of winches on military equipment, ( recovery vehicles, trucks, plant, ARV, etc) while working for REME, also mobile cranes and other lifting equipment. The safety factor for winching tackle is 2:1, hence the difference in size of shackles, pulley blocks, etc. as you pointed out. From memory, last involved about 13 years ago now, was that shackles, pulley blocks, snatch blocks, and ropes are tested on manufacture and certificates issued, after that, the periodic inspections are carried out, in the Army it was annual and on the items I mentioned, are visual only, but if the original test certificate is missing, lost, etc. then the item has to be scrapped as it has no history. There would be identifying numbers on item and certificate. We had to test the winches on full load pull to check cut outs and warnings, also correct functioning, ropes were inspected before and after this test.

The multifuel Austins were based on the civilian Austin WF cab which had a longer bonnet than the K9 (or civilian Loadstar) to accomdate the larger BMC diesel engine. They were introduced in the early 1960's, and I do recollect seeing an ambulance in service around then. The collection is part of the REME Museum, I believe viewing is only by arrangement with them. Well worth viewing if you can, a wealth of interesting vehicles.

That looks like it the REME Historic Vehicle Collection at SEME Bordon. The ambulance is one of the multifuel Austin FV16013 models. There are a few trucks about, but the ambulance is a rarity. They were to supercede the K9, but apparantly the engine was so noisy in the ambulance that they were removed..........this came from some of the old hands at REME workshops, who remembered them........have not verified this.

Actually, in the early 70's the BSA B40 350cc would have been in service( into service c.1967 on ), a nice docile bike, good on and off road. Then came its replacement, the Canam Bombardier 250cc two stroke, the Armstrong then replaced the Canam. I would not say an Armstrong was particularly heavy, you want to ride a BSA M20, especially off road :shake:. I did some of the tracks around Normandy once and had to keep lifting it out of the ruts!

A Royal Fleet Auxilliary ship on a foggy day, displaying Port lights :confused:

Madeira www.fishmadeira.com/about-captain-bristow.html :coffee:

Well put CW, I agree with all that .

Graham, The Army had foulweather waterproofs as well, not sure if they are the same. These were jacket and trousers, I had a set issued to me, the problem was that they did not breathe and you got wet inside from perspiration, this might be what has happened to you, only as it has been rain cats and dogs today, it might seem like it is leaking.

Lee, The list of recipients you quoted ( not sure where the quote came from) is incorrect for 2003. The award went to "The War & Peace Show" itself, and was recieved jointly by John Burford for the Invicta Military Vehicle Preservation Society and Rex Cadman for War & Peace Ltd. Full information was in the attached link on your post.