Runflat

For amusement, from Sept 1914:

...and a variation on a theme:

...and having been awarded a certificate they then milked it for all it was worth, such as here: http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Image:Im19131124CyCar-Dorman3.jpg

Hillman Tilly - nice! And a Ford WOA2 in the background as well.

The Pagefield subsidy type was also written up in Motor Traction for September 9th, 1914. Interestingly, the engine illustrated is their own type, as reproduced here: http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Image:Im1913Eing-WalkerBros2.jpg The article, in typical glowing terms of the time, says: Many of our readers will doubtless recollect that the Pagefield subsidy type 3 ton chassis first made its public appearance at the Olympia Heavy Motor Show last year, and there received no small amount of attention, as was only expected in view of the excellence of its design and general construction. A careful examination of its chassis leaves no doubt in one's mind that every part is the result of a special study with a view to obtaining that degree of efficiency, reliability, and accessibility which is absolutely essential in a transport machine employed in time of war. The engine dimensions are 4 3/4 in. bore and 5 1/2 in. stroke, and, although the R.A.C. rating is 36.1 h.p., over 40 h.p. is developed at 1,000 r.p.m. The drawing we reproduce... gives a very good idea of the general design of the 40 h.p. Pagefield power unit, but certain features require special mention. Exceptional accessibility has apparently been one of the objects of the designer, and to this characteristic the four large inspection covers on the side of the crank case and the arrangement of the water pump and magneto... largely contribute. Lubrication is forced through the crankshaft to the main and big end bearings by a spur gear pump driven from the lower end of the vertical spindle, upon which a centrifugal governor is also mounted; this spindle is driven from the rear end of the single camshaft. In addition, the big ends are provided with collectors which dip into seperate oil troughs in the bottom half of the crank chamber, so that thoroughly effective lubrication is obtained for the bearings even should the forced system fail. The cross-shaft which drives the water pump and magneto is placed transversely at the front of the engine, and is driven by skew gearing from the camshaft, and its inclined position makes the face of the magneto exceptionally accessible. If required, a second magneto or a lighting dynamo can be easily fitted. One assumes its excellence was ultimately surpassed by the Dorman!

There's an article on Pagefield in Classic Military Vehicle magazine, February 2003, p.59. Made by Walker Brothers of Page's Field Ironworks, Wigan. They are said to have, "performed well after early problems with frames cracking or rivets working loose and 'inadequate' wheel nuts were solved."

The dumb irons and wing profile is reminiscent of Pagefield.

Sgt Ritchie does his bit here:

At the risk of repeating information, LAATs appear in these films: http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=12321 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=25616 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=25623 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=52393 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=75281

Irish armoured cars converted for railway patrol use: http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=19719 According to Karl Martin's excellent Irish Army Vehicles they were converted by the Great Southern & Western Railway workshops for use by the Railway Protection, Repair and Maintenance Corps - established by the National Army from Jan to Sept 1923 to counter attacks on the railway system. Only two Lancias had turrets.

A couple of pictures from my collection (not for reproduction). The first is captioned: The driver wearing goggles was the man who's (sic) car I was towing, hence his good coat of dust, which was much worse than it appears. Clog[h]er Palace is the repair depot for the Tyrone cars. They, of course, show a Lancia a/c and a Crossley. NB The Crossley is registered NC1828. Various other Crossleys from the "NC" sequence can be seen in Armoured and heavy vehicles of the RUC 1922-2001 by David Dunne namely NC1785, NC1803, NC1822, NC1827 and NC1879.

Some lovely footage of the VCL tractor in action: http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=6970

Some more remains were mentioned at post 16 here: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?15424-bit-of-a-mixture-pre-WW2/page2

Ah, yes, Lancias! I should have guessed that. I hadn't realised they were used as artillery tractors / towing vehicles.

Actually, looking at the films again, a diff withh tie rods can clearly be seen, as can a front wing. So it's clearly an armoured car. But the body looks to be too short to be the vehicle at the top of this page?

This is slightly off-subject, but some footage showing an interesting looking towed pillbox at the 'Four Courts' battle (similar footage in all of them): http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=4641 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=18691 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=18693 http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=18705

I've not seen WD pattern charas on Dennis chassis, although Dennis charas were commandered and converted for use as lorries! (In many cases this would have been straightforward as chara bodies were often designed to be removed easily so as to allow the owner to use his vehicle as a goods vehicle during the week and as a chara for day trippers at weekends.) They did appear on Peerless chassis though! :cool2:

I don't know about a colour reference (other than khaki) but your local regimental museum may be able to show you the real thing.

Bloody well done. Time for petrol-heads the world over to celebrate. (You'll recognise the photo.)

According to an article in Vintage Roadscene issue 89 (May/June 2006), two pilot examples were acquired under contract V.2729, numbers Z 35414/5 (presumably this should read Z 351414/5?); and a production run under contract V.2781, numbers Z 351435-351835. There's a picture of DMC75 at post 7. Some more pictures appear in Vintage Roadscene magazine Vol 6, No.23 (June-August 1990). It's almost certain, as you say, that most if not all the production models were registered in the MG series. Bart's WW2 FV Directory shows "MG8404". Have any more examples appeared in print? I'm sure I've seen at least one other article on these Commers, but can't remember where. For some reason there's not even a mention of them in Geoff Carverhill's history of the marque "The Commer Story".

Having made a note of some of the registration numbers in earlier posts, I couldn't help but wonder what other registration numbers I can find - only 400 or so of these trucks were made. As a quick (non)start, I've this in my collection, but somewhat annoyingly a couple of lads are standing in the way!

Thanks for that Duncan - I'd completely forgotten about that photo. The article is from Classic Military Vehicle magazine, November 2001 and shows "MG8323".

Perhaps these will help. The last is on a preserved vehicle, so may be inaccuarte.

Goggle translate converts from/to arabic. War Department comes out as لحرب الدائرة

Here are a couple of well know photographs of Morris trucks with arabic plates - an 8cwt PU and a CS8. (There's a man up the ladder on the CS8.)