Stefano

Cubic capacity is 3485cc, and was derived from the Morris 25 Hp. As Runflat says, the "OH" type engine was used only by the CS8, PU and CD/SW. However, I would think that a fair amount of bits and pieces would be interchangebale with the "OF" engine used in the CS11 and very early CS8 Mk 1. There are others on the forum that will be far more knowledgable than me on this. All pretty academical of course, considering the lack of spares for any of them. As I said on an earlier post, the 4 cylinder C8/quad have nothing in common with the sixes, apart from the 16" wheels and, possibly, the radiator.

O.K. If you want to go down the treacherous road to Morris heaven so be it. You'll find that there are a few like minded people who will be only too happy hold your hand during the restoration process (count me in). BUT a) Figure on at least 3k to sort out the engine (white metalling - line boring - pray that nothing's missing, etc) b) Another grand plus on sorting the electrics (C.A.V. stuff is not cheap at the best of times) c) Ditto repalcing transmission and axle bearings d) There aren't any spare parts e) There aren't any spare parts When I was 11, looking through my elder brothers' Vanderveen book, I always got stuck at the CD/SW page, so I'm pathetically happy to go through with the bank balance numbing torture of this restoration (you say my engine looks like an ornament - figure that it had been lying in a field with the head off for 30 years), but it is not for the faint hearted. Have sent P.M.

My absolute highlight of Normandy '09 - The bikes were wonderful to see (first time I've felt commonplace with my 3HW) - the people involved were even better , and parking up at Arromanches on the 6th of June was a wonderful experience. I can only deeply thank Ian Wright and all those that made it possible - Brilliant!! (P.S: I'm the good looking one on the right)

B****y hell, everyhing seems alright to me, honest....

I might well be wrong, but the wheels don't look Leyland. Crossley perhaps?

Ahh... the advantages of living in England...I've got to get on a 'plane if I need to copy anything On this side of the alps that alone would make it a no-hoper I'm afraid

Crumbs.. O.K. it's pretty bad In any case, the CS8 type radiator guard and full windscreen would indicate that it was indeed a Bofors gun tractor, but that was a very long time ago I fear... of interest for spares however

I had to log in again after the upgrade but it's been ok ever since

I understand what you're saying, and I might well give it a try. If the steering becomes too heavy I suppose I could reduce the toe in a bit and maybe do the same with the sidecar wheel lead. Cheers, Stef

Cheers Actually it's a complete tip, but I love it alot. I'm still doing the engine (taking me forever...). I think you'll find that short of the wheels and possibly the radiator there's very little in common between the C8 and CD/SW. Even between a CD/SW and a CS8 only the front end is common. From the dashboard back everything changes, gearbox, frame, axles, you name it. Typical. I think that a L.A.D weighs about 3 1/2 tons, the Bofors probably more, the 25pdr maybe less. If for any reason you're not smitten with it please let me know, like I said, love 'em Here's a pic of the engine as it stands..

No, not really. Last summer I did a couple of hundred miles over a weekend with my '39 high cam Sunbeam B28 and Swallow Bedford sidecar. I've kept the lean out a little bit less than usual so the steering's a bit heavy but apart from that it's no problem. Different when the chair's empty of course, but roads nowadays are nowhere near as cambered as they used to be a couple of decades ago, at least in northern Italy. Braking with a very light sidecar could be a bit worrying but the swallow is a heavy old thing. I used to have a 1919 Scott with a fabric sidecar and it was lethal without a passenger. Still miss it though, an absolutely magical thing, it would boil away merrily to itself up mountains (and was brakeless coming down them!!) but never missed a beat

Radek, Later contract WD/CO's were fitted with check spring front forks as standard fitment. If you get the sidecar alignment spot on you should be alright even if the bike is on the wrong side of the crown but it will help if you keep the sidecar loaded..

Well, the other CD/SW variant is of course the Light Aid Detachment model, which is probably the most numerous. I know of at least five survivors but there are without doubt more. The the list of the CD chassis codes is:- CD 4 cylinder engine, normal control CD/F 4 cylinder engine, forward control CD/FW 4 cylinder engine, forward control, winch CD/SW 6 cylinder engine, normal control, winch The one that looks a bit worse for wear is mine, as you will have imagined

Richard, The easiest way to find out whether your D1 was originally supplied to the military is to give the BSA Owners Club a go, seeing as they have the dispatch records going back to 1930. You might get lucky and even find the original contract number. After that you could ask the Royal Logistic Corps Museum to do a search of the B vehicle history cards to find it's original registration number. Hope this helps, Stefano

This is going to be long winded but nonetheless.. As I understand it the changeover from S.C.C. 2 to S.C.C. 15 began in April 1944. Vehicles painted overall olive drab were kept in storage for the second front, the rationale being that any vehicle near the front line not painted green and covered in stars was going to be shot up by "friendly" fire. Bear in mind that the Italian theatre was consuming vast quantites of men and machines at the time, and seeing as S.C.C.2 was the accepted camouflage scheme for British and Commonwealth vehicles, it's not too difficult to imagine that the bulk of reserve category A vehicles in this colour scheme were sent to this theatre. Softskins were treated differently of course, the need for them to be in a unified camouflage scheme being less important, although everything got its allocation of stars. Of course there were exceptions to the rule, as there always will be, and there is evidence of brown painted tanks being operative during the invasion period, but on balance I would expect any armoured vehicle that served on the western front built after April '44 to have been painted S.C.C. 15 olive drab at source. Another point to remember is that as far as I've been able to ascertain, the only British tanks used in Italy were the Churchill and Valentine (especially the Bridgelayer), so any Cromwells, Cavaliers, Centaurs or even Challengers that were painted brown would have had nowhere else to go except France. Humbers were used on both fronts, therefore making it easier to decide what went where. All pure conjecture of course, but seems logical

...or this...

Should be something like this....

In no particular order:- Panzer IV Ausf G (long 75mm) Comet Crusader

Heritage motor works Ltd. ( http://www.heritage-gb.org.uk ) do the folding kickstart, as well as a few other bits that you might find useful. As for the air filter, the genuine WW2 villiers ones are pretty rare, but the slightly later ones used to be available from Villiers Services. Hope this is of assistance, Stefano

The accepted wisdom is that the vehicles bound for the second front were to be as far as possible in the new (green) colour scheme, class A vehicles obviously having priority. If your Humber dates from 1944 I would say that the chances are that the British olive drab (S.C.C. 15) is pretty much on the money unless you can find positive traces of brown somewhere a sandblaster has "feared to tread". Luckily, our Humber is a late '43 and was destined for Italy so no problems there. As regards the interior, it's not that easy to say what it could have been, unless you can find that the majority of your parts were painted a certain colour originally. If in doubt I would go with white, late war Humbers were generally painted that way, and it's a damn sight easier to keep clean than silver, but remember to do the interior "eggshell" (semi gloss), because that was the way it was originally. It was a special type of paint, with a floury sort of structure, so that it didn't break off in shards if the hull received a glancing blow (standard gloss would have been as good as shrapnel in that sort of situation)

Wishing everyone on the forum a Very Happy Christmas, and a big thank you to eveyone for making a British MV collector in Italy not feel so totally alone....

Fourteen inches yesterday, minus 10°C tonight, more on the way tommorrow, welcome to global warming Italian style........

The "great escape" Triumphs (there were indeed two) were 1961 TR6 Trophybirds modified to look a bit more the part with a bathtub front mudguard, a '54 T100/T110 "wavy rim" front wheel and fork sliders, a solo saddle (probably a bates), and an Ariel W/NG rear carrier.

but it does handle better though

Oh yes, and when I turned down a pristine Lancia Aurelia Spyder for six grand back in '83, and a Lamborghini Miura S for 15K in the mid eighties, and then there was a Mercedes Benz 380K that my mother refused to countenance..... Oh dear, I'm feeling a bit sick