question What is it?

[Smithy]

Ok you guys are usually pretty good at these things. I've just returned from a few days in France following in the footsteps of the BEF around the Lille and Dunkirk area. Anyway whilst in Dunkirk we visited the very good Memorial du Souvenir which covers the Battle of Dunkirk and Operation Dynamo.

 

Inside the museum there is a section which now contains a wreck of a vehicle recovered in 2009 after being found on Bray-Dunes. It is believed that the wreck is one of the trucks which were used to build up the temporary jetties in May/June 1940.

 

Now can anyone identify it from the following photos I took? Obviously a good chance it could be a Morris Commercial or Bedford MW. However with the number of different vehicles that were around at the time it could be anything. On the plaque it says that the tyres are made in England along with the battery and it has a six cylinder engine. However if anyone can identify it then I'm sure you lot can!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott

[Maurice]

I think it is a Bedford from the O type range . gear box shape is GM shape , and bedford had starter motor at left side.

[wally dugan]

l agree with maurice just look at the wheel very much a O series DESIGN

[rippo]

I agree with the above only i think it was a impressed cilivian spec truck, rather than a mw ox oy, model. The breather pipe on the drivers side of the engine is pointing down the military ones point up. Will have a look through my pictures later see if i can find anything looking the same.

[wally dugan]

JOHN you are right there were impressed O series BEDFORDS with the BEF in FRANCE and recall seeing a picture of some on a FRENCH road but at the moment cannot remember where

[Richard Farrant]

I would say it was a WT or WL type, there are lots of them to be seen in photos around Dunkirk at the time. The wheels are the telling feature, different to O types. The engine would be a 27.3hp unit, not the later 28hp that we know in the wartime models.

 

No tyre pump fitted either, so most likely an impressed lorry.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Richard Farrant
grammar

[Pete Ashby]

Might be an early OXC with 32x6 civilian tyres or an early OY this would be fitted with 32x6 fronts and dual rears

 

Pete

[rippo]

Hello,

 

Pete i think like richard says the wheels give it away, the early ox/oy did have twins but the wheels are different.

 

As richard/wally say i think it is a w type similar to this i think, as wally says there are a number of pictures and Bart Vanderveen states cilvilian trucks were used.

 

[Pete Ashby]

Hello,

 

Pete i think like richard says the wheels give it away, the early ox/oy did have twins but the wheels are different.

 

As richard/wally say i think it is a w type similar to this i think, as wally says there are a number of pictures and Bart Vanderveen states cilvilian trucks were used.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]81717[/ATTACH]

 

Ah yes but the very early 1939 and 1940 O models had civilian ventilated disc wheels but I agree the BEF had a large number of W types there a classic picture of one loaded with Infantry during the retreat on one of those classically straight French roads.

 

Pete

[wally dugan]

l have found one picture they are WTLs in BART VANDERVEENS BEDFORD and VAUXHALL MILITARY VEHICLES on page 21

chapter 4 not the one l am looking for

[rippo]

Hello Pete,

 

Yes you are correct, but the wheels changed i think, i'm happy to be proven wrong. If you follow this link

 

 

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=80610&start=2460

 

on page 165 there are some trucks like the one above, and on page 161 there is an o type with the twins as you say, but the wheels look different, more cooling holes. I think the wheels changed when the o type was introduced. There are more pictures of o types with twins on other pages.

 

Also as i said before the breather on the drivers side of the engine is the civilian type, if it was an o type the breather would point up.

 

Best wishes

 

John

[Pete Ashby]

Game set and match to you and Richard I think John,

having got the magnifying glass out on some reference photos I agree more than likely a W type civi impressed.

 

regards

 

Pete

[Smithy]

Some cracking information provided so far, I knew someone on here would have the answer :-D

 

Scott

[mike30841]

It doesn't look like an OX to me, and I have spent the last three months becoming intimately acquainted with my OXD. Note that the handbrake lever is attached to the left hand side of the gearbox, and as someone has already pointed out, there is no compressor on the gearbox, and there are differences from the military spec 28hp engine.

Mike.