Richard Farrant

Just seen on Antiques Roadshow, four factory models of wartime Austin trucks, a NFS K2 auxillary towing vehicle, a K5 portee, a K6 Breakdown Gantry and a K6 Signals truck. They must have been between 2 and 3 feet long. The owner had them for 15 years, bought the lot for £400 and a valuer on the programme thought the Portee would make over a £1,000.

Knowing your liking for Portsmouth, was it the Eastney Pumping Station?

Degsy, It was meant as a joke..........not sure whether to take him seriously at the moment, I want to hear the end of his first African journey :shake:

The firm was originally Salmons coachbuilders, it was changed to Tickfords Ltd, in 1942 when ownership changed. They were doing war work, making ladders, tables, etc. At the end of the war, the Ministry of Supply was giving them work refurbishing and converting vehicle bodies. I think the Contract No. you quote is a post war contract and also only refers to the bodywork. This is born out by the Mod Record plate that seemed to be introduced postwar on vehicles and their sub-assemblies. I would think the actual trailer itself was produced by another manufacturer, do you have any numbers off the chassis?

Should not be too bad once we get stuck in to it :-D :rofl:

Ian, I think the 1 ton FV2401 series of trailers were made by Sankey, Brockhouse or Rubery Owen, depending on particular Contract, there were several different body types.

Since you mentioned Africar, I looked it up, and from what I can see, the whole project was a disaster, ill thought out, etc. The originator was done for fraud apparantly. Not sure about trusting anything French made :shake:.

I am pretty sure it is.

CW, I know that MW, recognise the reg number. Speed? They are pretty nippy on the road, and if they have a high speed diff fitted, it makes a lot of difference apparantly. I changed an engine on one once and fitted the postwar version of the 28hp, a 214, it was 100 bhp instead of 72 bhp, you could hang in top gear much longer.

At least we can pick it up and carry it over the rough bits :-D

Is that a promise? :shake: You will have to fight me for the roofrack tent

Tony, It was the K5 4x4 that was nicknamed the "Screamer", due to the helical gears in the transfer box.

The tipper version was an RAF vehicle, supposedly for repairing airfields. A photo of one as in service appeared recently, not sure if it was on this forum.

No it looks like a Canadian D60, as in Nick's photo

hi CW, That is right, he had to regularly had to lift the head to do the valves. One wonders what it is like to be bobing about in mid-Atlantic, trying to get the valves out :shake:. The access to the engine was not great. The book, "Half Safe", only told some of the story, from USA to England. Once here, he reworked the vehicle, before recommencing the round the world journey, via Europe, through Turkey, then Baghdad, Delhi and Calcutta. From here it was back in the sea to Freemantle, Australia. After a break he was back in the sea to Calcutta, then to Rangoon and Bangkok, onto Hong Kong and Shanghai. Onward to Japan, then north up the Pacific to the Aleutian Islands, then Anchorage, Alaska. Then it was by land to Vancouver, Los Angeles, then East across the US to finish where he started in Montreal. This makes your Africa trip sound like a picnic :-D This second part (UK onwards) is covered in another book, which is equally entertaining. It is called "The Other Half of Half-Safe", by Ben Carlin

Adam, I think Ian can answer that for you, but I do think they were used for the version carrying the two Onan gennys, because they were generally in the lowered position with the canvas over when in transit. This leads me to think that in use, the hoops were raised and the canvas being short on the sides, allowed air to get to the gennys.

The genny is a 10kva, there were several variations. I used to repair them, and recall Morrison, Air-Log and Petbow. I am sure this one is a Petbow ( Made in Sandwich, Kent ) as it had those unique covers. Both the Morrison and Petbow, were powered by the 3-152 Perkins diesel, similar to that in the MF35 tractor.

Most of the prewar cans I have, all embossed with oil company names, Shell, Redline, etc. are made by Valor. I would not confuse the issue that they made paraffin heaters, they obviously had a good trade with oil companies for many years, producing 2-gall cans.

I agree, Nick, Dodge

Not Bedford RL........similar type, but part number is LU/9046/386

Good photos :tup:: The car at top right is a Humber Pullman. I anyone is in need of a complete front windscreen for one, I have a perfect NOS one, glass in frame and rubber surround.

I think the part number is a bit misleading, it is a Lucas prefix, but rubber has Girling on it, clue here :idea:. Lucas and Girling were one company. Girling made shock absorbers.......it looks like a bushing for s/a eye. Looking for a Bedford parts book to check.

Whats a Chevette :??? ..............a small Chevrolet ? ....I think not :rofl:

Gary, I was not positive on the model, but now you queried it, I looked up Bart Vanderveen's Bedford and Vauxhall book. The 4 cyl Wyvern and 6 cyl Velox were introduced in 1948, and to quote Bart, "outwardly the Velox differed from the Wyvern in having bumper overriders".....the car in the photo has overriders, so would appear to be a Velox. Good old Bart, don't know what we would do with out his reference books

Ah, see it now, I think. It is a process in the making of a piston, shot peening it, to toughen up the surface and also stress relieve.