LarryH57

A Bart Vanderveen trophy nomination I think!

Fly over, drive it back as far as the end of the road from the sellers yard, walk back and ask for help and despite the twitching curtains, find that the seller appears not to be at home!

You didn't say what for. Is it an Bedford RL or have you opted for something smaller?

Personally, I think its a total waste of the civil service time at the CMA, to investigate a magazine publisher that produces magazines, that despite the pleasure of reading them (or not as the case may be for Ted) are 'non essential items' so don't need investigating in the same way as a Newspaper & TV channel owner might need investigating if he owned every paper and broadcaster, that in turn might allow him to influence politics!

Gosh all those years I spent riding around in the back of a Bedford RL on exercise in Germany or Salisbury Plain, and I never thought it was risky at all. However I do remember going down a narrow lane in one where we had to fold up the side of the tilt so that the occupants in the back, circa 20 men, could push on a fence that was leaning into the lane, and therefore allow the RL to pass this obstruction. BTW - regarding the subject of kids in the back of vehicles, there are now rules governing the age and height of young kids that must be restrained in proper seats regardless of whether the vehicle was manufactured without any seat belts. Also if there are seats with belts in the cab all of these have to be used before anyone else can come aboard. In the old days my kids could 'hang out' in the back of my Lwt while I drove, but even though they are now grown up they have to ride in the front as I have three seatbelts, while 'er in doors' can ride as cargo in the back!

There are likely to be a few more cases like this in the future, as there is (or was recently) a magazine in UK newsagents that offered realistic copies of WW2, Korean war and Vietnam era watches for a few quid.

Great work Stu - all this makes me think where were we all when these vehicles were first deposited in the scrapyard. I bet it was in the last 20 years

I remember Mike at MVCG shows in the 1980's and had a good chat with him I think at a show in Knebworth. I seem to remember one of his vehicles was a Humber Snipe FFW pick up.

I just found this site which should be of interest to anyone interested in post war British armour http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2014/06/story-fres-sixties/

Early as possible; in previous years I arrived around 10am and found the place nearly full, so aim to get there for 9-9.30am. BTW - despite the event ending at 4pm the site was nearly empty at 3pm last time I was there as it soon gets dark for those coming a long distance. One year I left too late and drove home to NW London in thick fog in the dark, which wasn't a nice experience in an MV painted matt Nato green that at night just seems to be the exact colour of 'darkness'. Lets hope for good weather. See you there.

The land warfare hall at Duxford is dreadful as it's so dark; I made my son laugh and a few others present when I said it was just as well I could identify tanks by touch as I couldn't see them. If and when they rebuild the land warfare hall could someone on here with some contacts or direct links to the IWM suggest that they study the French Tank Museum at Saumur, which has plenty of light coming in through the roof, which allows photography without a flash. Saumur is an old tobacco factory and didn't cost £40m like the redevelopment of the IWM in Lambeth. Firepower has a wonderful collection of guns and it would be a shame if got dispersed or sold off.

There is a firm that advertises in the armour section of Milweb http://www.milweb.net/

Can you add the facility to 'view own posts', as often I will post something or add to a thread and then forget about it for a week or more and later want to find it to see what everyone else thinks

So is that a yes or no Bill to buying it? And what is a restored Hippo worth?

Dare I say it but if you decide to go at the last moment the museum staff will happily let you in as they are pleased to see as many MVs as possible. Typical turn out is 70 to 80 MVs. Owners need to access the site through the side gate and not the public entrance.

Did you shout 'Woa' when she was born?

Old post revisited - I was thinking of buying a realistic imitation airsoft SLR or SA80 to go in my MV but do I have a defence under VCR, if all I want to use it for is to stick it in the rifle bracket in the vehicle. I'm an MVT member, so do I have a defence in that my vehicle when fully kitted out is in itself a 're-enactment'? Or do I need to be an Airsoft Club member with an association number or join a military re-enactment club? I presume also that even if I'm exempt I cannot buy one abroad whether I like it or not?

Ultimately the average age of MV club members whether IMPS or MVT is creeping up, so that in many 'Areas' there are fewer and fewer members attending club meeting and in some Areas the number who attend is down to single figures each month. We need to attract new blood to the hobby, as there is no guarantee our children will share the same interest as us.

Great responses folks, very much appreciated. As for his unit and base its quite a revelation as to how he met my late mother in law, as she was working at De Havilland's in NW London, but then again like all girls in their twenties the West End of London was her playground, so perhaps he was on a 48 hour pass to London. BTW - as for Ernie's appearance it was a bit more 'casual' than the RAF uniform my Dad had to wear at the same time!

I just found by accident a site called Motographs Store, which has some interesting photos of Longbridge Factory etc, which some of you may find of interest. I have just noticed that the archive goes back to pre-WW1 so scroll down through the list. I hope its of use. http://motorgraphs.motorfilms.co.uk/motor-industry.html?dir=desc&limit=all&mode=list&order=position http://motorgraphs.motorfilms.co.uk/motor-industry/longbridge-factory-austin-1940s-7630.html

I recently read on the front page of a newspaper, that the UK is in for the worst winter in 100 years, but as the weathermen are consistently wrong its likely to be the opposite, so I'll get the sunblock and stick to wearing my T shirts cos it isn't going to be anything as bad as 1962-63, which you are all too young to remember!

A replica 105mm gun would also improve the look of a few Reynolds Broughton RB44's.

Well seeing as it was a nice day I took the Lwt for a spin round South Bucks and it went well, so I feel better about driving it. So thanks for the encouragement! I have had the Lwt for 10 years and I'm not getting rid of it any time soon!

Thanks for all the replies; I must admit that in the last year I have had something like 14 breakdowns in my Lwt, as I had a fault that was hard to trace AFTER I had done much work on it to improve its reliability. It was always stalling at the lights and it refused to start after a new carb and electronic ignition was fitted. Was it the carb, the dizzy or the fuel pump? Full of dread I went out with a few friends in other MVs warning them that there would be problems and sure enough after a few miles the dizzy broke up inside the cap narrowly missing the electronic ignition when the rotor arm broke to bits after the spring in the dizzy broke free! Luckily I had a new dizzy (and friends) with me so that was fitted beside the road but after a mile or so it then cooked the coil. The dizzy then had the electronic ignition re-fitted and the coil to go with it, so that got the Lwt going. But I still stalled at junctions, so was it a fuel pump problem or the carb? Well it was the new Chinese built copy Zenith bought new from a well known LR firm that turned out to be full of swarf that caused most of the problems. But I had previously cleaned it out of all the swarf so why after it was cleaned was it playing up. During the strip down I found that the accelerating pump was sticking but once replaced by an old one from an original Zenith it worked much better but I still stalled and often failed to restart! Eventually after several road side strip down inspections it was discovered that the O ring between the upper and lower sections liked to expand letting in too much fuel. Once the O ring was replaced once again beside the road with a genuine part, it worked fine and has done ever since (fingers crossed). A new fuel pump was fitted for good measure but I have had such a time of it I naturally think something else is sure to spoil my fun!

Out of interest do any of you dread driving your MVs on the basis that something is likely to go wrong and for the same reason you delay taking them for a test run, when you know they need to be taken out every now and then.