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Thank you Mike ! I think you've got it. I suffered a burst radiator on a hired unit very early one morning just a few miles from the delivery point. Recovery hadn't yet arrived and having waited for the engine to cool down I decided to carefully drive to the customer*. Would it move ? With air built up, and handbrake off, it just sat there until, entirely by chance, fiddling with the buttons and knobs, I pressed a button and the lorry started rolling. I've never seen one before or since. *I should just explain that the load was 26 pallets of Sunday newspapers worth around £50,000 retail or, £150 in scrap paper if they didn't get to the wholesaler in time. You have to do your best to make the delivery.

I'm very pleased to hear it worked as well as you hoped it would. It sounds like time very well spent, both safeguarding your engine, and making 'Forcefull' even safer on hills, especially when towing. Thanks for showing us how we could do the same. :tup::

I'm very much looking forward to hearing the results of your road test. The modern trucks I drive, MAN or Mercedes Benz, are both fitted with an optional exhaust brake that I find so ineffectual that I never bother selecting it. Drivers of Volvo trucks tell me the exhaust brakes on that make is quite powerful compared to MAN and MB. Going back a few years, I'd sometimes come across lorries fitted with a safety system whereby if a vehicle had lost all of it's air, and then the air pressure was built up, the brakes would not release until a switch was pressed on the dashboard. This system worked independently of the handbrake. The idea was that if a lorry had, for example, lost all of it's air overnight and the engine was started and pressure built up in the braking system of an unattended vehicle, fitted with spring brakes, it wouldn't roll away even if the handbrake hadn't been applied. Can anyone remember what this system was called ?

Could these brackets be for holding a spade as can be seen in the 'photo posted by Andy ?

Thank you for the update and for this beautiful photograph that is now my screen saver. You've made a really fine job of the cab and it's already easy to see what a gorgeous Scammell you will have when it's finished. The pigeons carpet bombing your Pioneer maybe the same one's that I scared out of the barn where I keep my lorries and were causing the same mess on my Scammell. They moved out the day I installed a plastic Eagle Owl. I still get the odd bit of bird poo where some bird has flown into the barn, seen the Eagle Owl, and sh*t itself on the way out but nothing to compare with how bad it was before.

This is a really lovely lorry to be restoring. Thank you for starting what will be a very interesting blog. Are there any particular parts, that you are in need of, that we could keep a look out for ? As you may already know, Woolies can probably supply the rubber extrusions for your windscreens. http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/c-14-rubber.aspx

From what can seen, the rear end may slightly differer from the car shown on the link as well. Could this be a more basic military version of the W52 that Motherbird's dad is driving or simply cosmetic changes made to a design over it's production run ?

On this link. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7898890.stm

Welcome to the Forum Motherbird. There's nothing we like more than a quiz! Have a look at Wanderer W52 on the following link. http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.autogallery.org.ru/k/w/w11gc.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.autogallery.org.ru/pwand.htm&usg=__3dW9u40aqNS8hAzqicVjXYiPoVE=&h=384&w=800&sz=88&hl=en&start=45&sig2=rOVxfTbLuMlkQDh6nyXY7g&tbnid=tg2ZNWpdepo-_M:&tbnh=69&tbnw=143&ei=OtOdSY_rMIGy0AWK75TzBQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3DWanderer%2B%2BAuto%26start%3D42%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Thank you for posting these of photographs of vehicles at van Dam. I've heard many stories about the amount of stuff at this yard but have never got around to visiting it. Do you have any pictures of the AEC Militants that were/still are at this place ? Thanks.

Maybe we could all club together to fund 'No Signals' as a sort of full-time, roving inspirationist, visiting HMV restoration projects up and down the land. He seems the right bloke for the job.

A great story. There's such a sense of accomplishment when, having finally overcome all the obstacles, one is eventually able to drive the ****** up the road that it makes all the effort, and problem solving, really worth while. I like the idea of grafting bits on. That's a very 'Scammell' thing to do. What bits are you still in need of ? Anything we should be looking out for on your behalf?

Although, I should be patient, and wait until all is revealed, it seems to me that the final photograph, showing the DT and Explorer, was taken at a different location to the other pictures in the sequence. Whatever, a great story and pictures ! Thanks for posting them.

Thank you, very interesting. I'm sure you're right when you say that the length of the track in contact with the road would have an effect. There's a White half-track that usually attends a local show I shall be going to in a few months time. I'll make a point of having a good look at it this year.

Is this a 'restoration' that someone has, for whatever reason, given up on ? What's the story behind these pix ? Cheers.

Thank you for your replies. One would have thought that, with perseverance, AEC could have overcome any problems they encountered with this vehicle in the same way other makers had with their half-track designs. Does the White half-track need some special mechanism to allow the front wheels to overcome the effect of it's tracks and steer properly ?

I have seen other photographs of the same/similar vehicle. Were many produced ? Just a prototype or did they enter military service ? Thanks.

Well done adn deuce ! It looks as though it would be a nice day out by the seaside exploring the area featured on this link. What about the K9 ? What type is it ? http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.robinhoodsbay.org/Wrecks/fred/coombcat.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.robinhoodsbay.org/Wrecks/fred/fred.htm&usg=__uQAwZbddMMUFrX8HU5WRlfDqaGE=&h=451&w=670&sz=86&hl=en&start=3&sig2=_s84fIY_JmEPG75bmkkXPA&um=1&tbnid=9e2DHaW9aKy64M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=138&ei=MuSUSfHoM9S0jAeWnryfCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DVickers%2BVigor%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26cr%3DcountryUK%257CcountryGB%26sa%3DN

Can anyone identify the type of K9 in this photograph ? Bonio points if you can also identify the machine.

Thank you Adrian, Tony Graves and Redbulldiamondt for posting some terrific DT pix on recent posts. Very much appreciated. Cheers.

Welcome to the forum. Ken it would be very interesting to hear a bit about the HMV scene in NZ. If, at sometime in the future, you have the opportunity to visit a show, I'm sure we'd all like to see a few 'photos of the sort of vehicles that attend. Have you, for example, on your travels around your beautiful country, seen either of these two Scammells that were supplied to the NZ military. If you do spot them, could we please have them back ? Thanks.

That means you've got my doors ! And quite a few other bits a I gave to Bernie while he was restoring this lorry. Was it just the rear bogie and may be the transfer box that ended up in Bongoland ? Do you still have the cab with the two oil filters mounted on the front ?

That's what I call having the 'right attitude'.

Thank you for such an interesting post. From what can be seen from the photographs that looks to be a very promising restoration project. There are plenty of people around who have rebuilt Matador cabs and front mudguards are not a difficult shape to duplicate. There were NOS Matador fuel tanks around until fairly recently but I've no idea whether there still are. If you are interested in researching the military service life of your Matador you may find the link below of interest. Keep us up to date with the restoration as it progresses. Cheers. http://www.hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?t=7682&page=2

Yes, I do. You may well have owned one of the two Explorers, one green, one sand coloured, that were also present. I remember it being a beautiful summers day the highlight of which was when an army driver in a Bedford MK accidentally reversed into, and knocked down, quite a large tree in full view of a large crowd in the main arena area. A big cheer went up. Top stuff.