matchlesswdg3

Current Sales advert on the MVT website:

Joining a club is a good start. MVT, IMPS, or.......? There will be a section of MVT that covers your area.....maybe IMPS. They both organise tours, formal or informal. 2019 tours are already probably booked out already! But 2018 will be easier and once "in" I am sure you will get squeezed in for 2019. Club membership gets you discounted insurance and accreditation to buy de-ac weapons, advice, support, contacts, PLI, etc etc.

Thanks for that, Chris. I am looking at restoring a Dodge WC54 as an SCU/SLU radio truck as deployed in the American sectors of the W European theatre. It seems that there was little outward change to the Dodge which was received by the British in standard US ambulance livery and fittings. I think the red crosses were painted out but the US serial numbers retained. I think an SLU/SCU number was applied to the bumpers. The inside was stripped of stretchers and radio table fitted but it seems that only a free standing aerial was deployed.....unlike the US WC54 radio trucks.

I am doing a bit of research into what equipment was carried by mobile Special Liaison Units in '44/45. In particular, what radio aerial equipment. I have a description of what they used from a Dodge or Guy 15cwt as follows: "a bag with a sectional mast, aerial wire, guy ropes and mast base". But what exactly would that comprise, so I can try and find this equipment? Thanks!

Cant help you with the plate, but Axholme Signs do all the MV stencils and are very good......see the "Trader Classifieds" in the Community Section of thIS fForum.

CMV has an article under its "Military Vehicle Market" column ("Be Careful What You Spray") that presents some conclusions that raised my eyebrows! I quote:

"We are now seeing specialist restorers like BAIV in Holland taking large stands to proudly show off their restorations............the whole dynamics of the restoration and rebuild sector has changed dramatically in recent years and there are now more armour restoration specialists than any other type of military vehicles"

Really? How do they know? Maybe this assertion is based on advertising revenue? Its not what I see. For every BAIV, I see dozens of small workshops, artisans, one-man bands, doing all kinds of fabrication in all kinds of MV.

The article goes on to say:

"We have seen more and more 'super collectors' amassing fleets of armoured projects and pumping good money into investment restorations............Now the standard is to recreate [armour] how it came out of the factory. And owners will pay the price to achieve that level. Without a doubt, the military vehicle hobby is no longer the poor relation of the collectors' vehicle world."

Hmmmm. As well as finding this outlook profoundly depressing ( is this REALLY THE MV scene we want?), if true, it is no wonder fewer folk are able to afford to join in. But I will stick with my feeling that such stuff is merely good journalistic fare to keep those advertisers happy! Pretty much in line with another assertion in the article that "we are seeing very few Series Land Rovers up for dale now." REALLY? [The writer must get out more!]

Many thanks, guys!

Tony, its hard to make out but the Dodge in the photo nearest the camera is marked as "USA". Would any in the SLUs have British Army markings? Am looking for a reason to paint a WC54 as British!

Well I ALWAYS state my price, qualifying that with ONO or "firm" to let folk know how I stand. Lets face it, after the basic description of what the thing is, asking price is what you want to know next......then you can check out the detail to see whether its worth even phoning let alone viewing. For all the stuff most of us buy, there is no retail price......maybe a rather vague and ill-established market value, but other than that, price tends to be what a seller thinks he might get and some sellers are realistic and genuine people who want to secure a sale to someone really interested in their stuff, while others just want as much loot as possible.........and I tend to assume "no price" means the latter.

Thanks for all the responses.....much appreciated. Regards the SLU application, Tony, do you know how the vehicle would be marked up?

Also love the loudspeaker car photo......would make a great vehicle for War & Peace show to combat thise pesky Russians!

Oher than as an ambulance for US and (more rarely) British armies, what else was the WC54 used for? Was radio truck application confined to the Korean War theatre? I understand the WC51/52 was used by the Brits and Aussies in Burma.

Agreed and also behind "no price" there are also some hopeful folk who think they will get all their money back on a restoration and dont want their partner to know how much it cost!

SoF not got any?

I was disappointed. It seemed to be an action film just tagging on to the coat tails of the Dunkirk story. It seemed to get wrong very many quite important technical details (such as Spitfires [wrong] deployed at sea level, apparently with limitless ammo and an ability to glide for 10 miles, from 500 feet up.....silly) the scene dressing was thin ....... Lack of CGI was a boast, but boy did it need and deserve it. A bit of a mess. But my wife quite liked it, so there you go. Not the fault of the film, but why do they have to gave the sound at cinemas screwed up SO LOUD! Becomes a painful execs to watch and distracting. 3/10.

Am looking for a Dodge WC54 or WC51/52 in good original condition. Possible p/x from one of my vehicles listed below, if desired.

Nice one! Off to Goodwood Revival with it? Alas, I cannot make that again this year.

......and its great poo tension that bothers us! :nut:

Blimey, Ron, if you are going to be carrying French girls, you will need a new big end, mate!

These numbers are painted on. Try Axholme Signs for a range of stencils to do this neatly........although many were painted on freehand......badly!

Al, you said....".... end of the day if it was not for our willingness to bring vehicles and displays they would not have a show." It is my understanding from various reported conversations with the new owner that he is totally at odds with this viewpoint. You and other MV owners are paying public and you can attend or not, take it or leave it. Forget the way it was......and is, with other MV shows. I stress, this is from reported conversations, but it tallies with what I found. If it was "our" show in the past, it aint now! Fair enough.......we did not put up the money.

You might consider longevity of the paint and its substrate as well. I was advised that the full matt finish paints are pretty porous and have poor wearing qualities (which was solved in the Army by slapping on another coat, as owners of ex-mil L/Rs will fondly attest!). You can get better protective qualities by going for an eggshell paint, which looks a bit too shiny when newly applied but weathers nicely. Depends also on whether you want a factory fresh or in-service look.......which may lead you to apply paint with either a spray gun, a sponge pad or a 6" brush! Then keep scrupulously clean........or never wash and throw some more mud at it every weekend. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

I met up with quite a few folk over the weekend who had attended W&P. Probably overall favourable feelings mainly due to a return to the old venue with a scattering of people who said they are not going to bother again. But pretty much everyone agreed the toilets and shower situation was unacceptable and rankled a LOT due to the imposed surcharge. Indeed quite a few said they left early due to this......to get back home and get cleaned up. And especially for families, this was not pleasant......I would not have stayed there with school age children. If you are staying even 5 days, the facilities need to be decent.

It looks like a 4 ton Diamond T 968 Cargo, which raises a question, were The British Army equipped with Diamond T 968's, I know they had 980's and 969 Wreckers, but I cannot recall seeing any pictures of DT Cargo Trucks. Did The US Army have these Trucks in England, or were they delivered direct to Normandy after D Day from The US.

 

Tony.

I suspect some artistic licence was applied here to make the cartoon work.......a Bedford would look far too sensible!

IMHO, if we MV owners are charged for the privilege of attending, then it is entirely up to us how long we stay! We have been made customers and the customers are ALWAYS right!

I think minimising intervention by Marshalls in allocating space is a good thing for both the Marshalls and exhibitors. Maybe it needs more awareness to be created to self-police the areas staked out and request everyone to create some space as they set up and make room for later-comers. The more that can be accomplished by willing cooperation rather than regulation, the better. I was very grateful that Richard Farrant made room for me or I would have joined the unhappy band touring the site. In the past, the big Medway field was available for the overflow......this time round I think that was not an option?