matchlesswdg3

There is a nice potted wartime biography of Giles with lots of his cartoons in the format of the annual Giles Cartoon softback, by Peter Tory ( Headline Press, 1994) called "Giles at War". Then there is of course the original Giles Annual No 1 (1943-46) which I think is available as a modern reprint or stump up for the original edition. You can see by the cartoons, Giles attention to detail in portraying MVs.

Strange.....my view is right way up, but I have had other posts where folk saw my pics as upside down. ???

The famous Daily Express cartoonist was one of the first postwar MV enthusiasts with his beloved Jeep. I just love his cartoon published in 1946, featuring a pioneer MV nut coming up against the perennial problem of storage!

And the plastic barrel made of recycled drainpipe lacks rifling. Design oversight?

But the Snatch was sold after the price was reduced to a pretty keen £15k and similar keen "show reductions" on several of the Witham vehicles. As we were discussing at the show, there is the ASKING price and the SELLING price and the latter is rather harder to find out, but in most cases, MUCH lower than the advertised price, which is the one, unfortunately, that gets into people's heads as the "value" of a vehicle. Bubble burst on prices? For the more common and unremarkable vehicles, I would hazard .....yes. And a good thing.

I enjoyed the Show overall and it seemed to go well. IMHO, it does not have the same feel as before, but hey, things move on. As usual, I left the site with the warm fuzzy feeling that if I heard the Kelly's Heroes theme tune just one more time, I would shove the authentic Tannoy speaker up the owner's bum! :nut: There does seem to be an issue with access to the site on Show days. Traffic was stacked up for literally miles from the Hop Farm roundabout, in all directions. I don't recall it being that bad before, but in past years, most of the public parking was in fields over the road, so less traffic converging on that roundabout? Anyhow, it all points to encouraging better use of public transport links, and considering offsite parking and more shuttle buses. But its a positive indicator that traffic congestion is an issue!

Thanks for posting these! You missed out the anti-aircraft gun (??) equipped Land Rover up for sale (I guess a one-off special produced by the Bodgit Freres of Belgium?) and of course, Rugged Robin who made another stirring appearance and negotiated the mud with ease! I was bemused by asking prices for Land Rovers......some optimistic soul had a 110 Series in well used nick up at £17,500 (rapidly reduced to £14,500), while two rows on, a superficially similar machine could be had for £2750. Then Withams had a very smart Wolf for just under £10k. Potential Landie buyers must have been bemused.

Agreed......you do not mention the carb and carbs gum up easily after only a few weeks standing. Your observation that it does run OK for a short spell indicates the timing and mag are OK which leaves fuel. A good idea would be to take the carb off and give it a good clean (check an overhaul guide for that carb to guide you in cleaning the various drillings) and maybe replace the gaskets.....replace the jet? If you can borrow a carb off another bike, this might help confirm if the carb is the culprit. Carbs also wear out of course and no amount of fiddling will fix a worn carb.....that needs expert rebuild.....or buy a new one. But my money is on a dirty carburettor.

For details and more pics of the bike, send me a PM. I am in Kent.

Neil, you should have access to a W&P account; log in and you can print your tickets.

Interestingly, there is a WW2 GPW presently listed on eBay with a below-reseve starting price set at £16k. I think this Jeep is now on its third consecutive relisting with no-one apparently willing to bid above £16.1k. The seller is clearly getting frustrated, now noting that this Jeep has a reserve below much more expensive vehicles that are not as good (presumably, he is considering asking rather than selling prices). And seller goes on to say that experts at auction houses have placed a much higher value on this Jeep than he wants. I am not sure that "value" means anything in this context, except maybe as a "come on" to have the seller spend money putting his Jeep up at a real world auction! Clearly, the present ready market value is exactly what he has established on eBay....£16.1k!

Re selling stuff on your campsite, it seems sense has prevailed and I found this clarification on another site......(pity they fid mot say this in the first place!) "Thanks for the email, this selling is for the full blown stalls in the military vehicle area, absolutely agree people selling the odd bits and pieces is fine and a great part of the show. But it is unfair on the traders for those that are excessively selling. Kind Regards Jamie Wells FRL Media Group British Shooting Show War And Peace Revival FRL Media"

I want to see video of some 7 foot tall Dutch guy being told his tent-side stall selling his cast-offs will cost him £460!

As someone who has been trying to buy a good Jeep for what I think is a fair price for the last two years, my observation is that there is for the most part a big difference between the asking price and the selling price. As others have observed, high prices mean, usually, that the vehicle does not sell, but these asking prices get into the woodwork and establish this inflationary benchmark. I am now hesitating to buy because I do see a market correction coming into play (about time). It is possibly a double whammy.......my silver haired peers with disposable income deciding that the ubiquitous Jeep is fundamentally just not worth £26k and secondly, the longterm market (again, as others have observed) is looking decidedly weak with younger generations just not interested. Us baby boomers grew up with WW2 only just ended; our Dads still had their battle blouse hanging up on the back door to do the gardening in. Ex-WD vehicles were cheap and plentiful; the love affair with cars and the internal combustion engine was in full swing, still. Boy, have times changed. I think we have now reached the high point.

Alas, due to me wearing out faster than my bikes, I am transitioning to four wheel MVs! Literally just finished the complete restoration of this fine Matchless. The guts of the work is featured in an AJS& Matchless Owners Club magazine article and was masterminded by the ex-President. I have corrected various mistakes made with fittings and tinware, and started commissioning, but it runs (it's fast) and stops and is road legal. Likely will need a bit of setting up, but otherwise ready to show and use. I want £6,500.00 which is a fair bit less than it cost to restore, as is usual! This is a genuinely rare example of the girder fork precursor to the WDG3L, as used by the BEF.

Sounds like going this way means you dispense with the re-enactors; don't forget that they want an audience (ie the Public) and there are also many groups that fall between the two stools in that they are MV people who have gone to the bother of creating a set and/or they are aiming to collect for a charity.......these people want Joe Public. If you want purely MV events, then is this not where the MV clubs and their sections come in? Organised clubs already have an admin framework to work with, local contacts, experience and PLI! "All" it needs is a few people with the drive, enthusiasm and imagination to put together an event. I understand that while it IS a publc-attended show, the highly successful IMPS Combined Ops show in Kent was set up as a sort of an antidote to the megga W&P Show; while it is geared to attract paying Public attendance and is now managed by a private concern, it still has the feel of "our" MV show, which the new version of W&P most certainly does not!

I wonder what the legal position is re imposing a charge on anyone who sells without an official stall? Sounds like shaky ground trying to impose any sort of a fine unilaterally. Surely the various unofficial stalls were never any real threat to the official stallholders? How to win friends and support.

See P215 of "The Observers Fighting Vehicles Directory" (Vanderveen). Ford F30 ambulance body.

Go on the website and see if you can retrieve your tickets. You should have had an email when you first booked and paid and this gives you your username (email) and Password to log in to your account where you will find your tickets to download or print.

When I booked online, there were directions to print off an e ticket. I think some folk were sent reminders to do this?

I would imagine you know about the replicas made in Stoke on Trent for £4750.....,,according to the ad'? http://www.welbikeuk.com/about.php

Yesbut anyone who would pay over £30k for a Jeep, is hardly likely to know or care much about Jeeps!:cool2:

My eyes are watering already at the thought of the prices these are likely to achieve at such a venue! We need a sweepstake! My guess is £32k for the '45 and £30k for the 43, cos' the latter lacks the sexy bits.

Welcome! The Forum here is "just" a forum. You need to join the Military Vehicle Trust or another club recognised by the insurer (eg IMPS). MVT has a very good magazine and is about to introduce PLI cover for members.