trevor pitman

Many thanks for the replies....slowly the jig saw is begining to take shape as they say!!

Anyone with an ideal? Even just to confirm the fencing looks like it may be Budges yard!!

Sounds like the Leyland Martian....slowly returning to nature.......did hear the asking price.....which is why it is still there!

I hope someone on here may remember this vehicle. Working on the principle of a 1989 sierra estate in this picture, im saying this was taken late 89 onwards!!!! The markings of red/blue square with a dove in hand suggest HQ Royal Artillery markings, but I can not find dove in hand in any reference to suggest which unit. The other marking on the front also is a blank to me.

I am informed the photo was taken at Budge`s yard. A friend owns the chassis, appears now to be fitted with a AEC diesel engine

SDW948J was fleet number 112. Aquired by Wynns Nov 1970. So it appears to be the real deal

If all else fails, couldn't you settle for a Q plate then get a classic registration? I wonder how an engine can be dated. However, there is allowance on classics for use of a modern replacement by the same manufacturer if the old part is not repairable, available.

My understanding of the Q plate is once it is on/allocated you can not take it off/re-register

As has been pointed out elsewhere, the easiest way to do this is get the vehicle registered with the original engine in place then swap engines later ...

Sadly the original engine is now in the Netherlands with a collector......hindsight is a wonderful thing. However we shall persevere..

Need some general guidance please. A friend is restoring a vehicle which served during WW 2. Despite alot of effort over the past 3 years we have not been able to locate/discover any civilian registration details. It is possible that the vehicle was never civilian registered, but this seems unlikely.

To make the truck more user friendly the restorer has removed the large petrol engine and fitted a more modern diesel. In an ideal world my friend would like a reg to be allocated in keeping with the trucks age (1942-1944). He has been informed fitting a modern diesel may mean a reg in keeping with the engines age, which will be alot younger. Apart from the engine the truck is all original, apart from the rust being removed and new metal put in....

Chassis numbers and SM numbers are on the truck.

This business of age related registration linked to the age of the engine is a new one on me..........Is it correct?

Any pointers gratefully received

Is that `Billy Smarts Orange` I can see on the cab panels?

A few more pictures.......do these help with confirming this is a Unipower trailer......the new read paint is just the owner trying out different shades....

These are the only 3 pictures that I took. We realise the drawbar currently fitted is a later addition. Something that is not clear in the photos is the the pole is box section before becoming pole section. I will return and take some more detailed pictures if any particular areas are suggested

Thanks for the replies, it is a pole trailer. Will try to get some pictures posted up

Have you seen the book ` AEC Matador - taking the rough with the smooth` by Steve Richards? Some good photos in the book

Abit of a very long shot.......my friend is about to restore a timber trailer to accompany his restored timber tractor. I would age the trailer around the late 40s/early 50s. It did serve with Wynns heavy haulage and does have their faded markings. What I am trying to find out is why the hubs have unipower stamped on them. John Wynn does not know too much about his families involvement in the timber industry. A possible is that the hubs are fitted with caps from a unipower timber tractor.

Does anyone know of a `expert` on the unipower breed. Fully aware that there may be no military connection here at all......but there is alot of knowledge on this forum.....

Manston was the place were airfield fire crews were trained. Certainly when I served RAF firemen were trained there. I would suggest these are training aids although I can see some purpose steel made rigs which tend to last longer

Can anyone id this please?

Not sure if it has a military connection. Taken this summer in Somerset

There is a chap in the area who uses one for his business - moving Raeburns,, etc.

He may still have an elderly unimog. I will try and track him down

The one on the right looks like a Saurer C type, some of the pictures of the C type I have show wit with a straight edge to the top of windscreen

Wow,I had no idea the BAOR used these machines.... Very impressive...

Equipment for the forces in Berlin came from a seemingly never ending source of funds, The Berlin Budget. I spent 4 years in Berlin and never quite got to the bottom of how much there was in `the budget` and who actually controlled it.....I served in the Royal Air Force and almost all of the MT fleet was of German makes........

So in answer to your comment BAOR did not use these machines...

been reading the fascinating thread and had to add mine, not a ww1 FWD admitedly but a FWD all the same, hopefully at W&P for the first time this year.

Finally tracked it down to be a FWD HAR-1

Churchstanton was also known as Culmhead, a GCHQ outstation. I understand all the masts have now been removed.

Wolford Chapel, near to Dunkeswell, has Canadian connections

been reading the fascinating thread and had to add mine, not a ww1 FWD admitedly but a FWD all the same, hopefully at W&P for the first time this year.

Which model FWD is that?

Can not find it in my FWD spotters book

Sorry i thought I had already posted the number ----SPLY MECH No 2018

Will try and get picture...its well `buried` in a bush and you have to look hard to see how it was ever a vehicle. I will see what the owner can come up with...

I have just contacted the `owner`....its on a small metal tag fixed to the dash of a very rotten cab. No running gear but holes in the floor suggest the vehicle was RHD. Holes in the very rotten cab panels suggest it might be a timber framed cab

From my days in the services Im guessing this is a contract number ......anyone able to give me a year or what it refers to?

Im guessing its a vehicle...poss as far back as the 40s