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WW1 Riker restoration project


alsfarms

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2 hours ago, alsfarms said:

 please describe the type and name of vehicles shown in the first of the  movie series. 

One of the vehicles active on the rally circuit might have been in the TV series or film:

https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17557&sid=f0a11eb58f82fafd1553dd405088f14c

"Fellmonger" is a word I was unacquainted with until I met the car on the Isle of Wight. 

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On 1/2/2021 at 1:49 PM, alsfarms said:

I am snowed in and thought I would share a picture of a five spoke, cast, hard rubber tire truck wheel that has adorned my mailbox for about 40 years.  Can anyone here venture a good suggestion as to what it is?

I will post three pictures

1-

 

IMG_20210102_122309744_HDR.jpg

Hello, I'm new to this site.

The "S" enclosed by an octagon is the mark for Standard Steel Wheels. The Standard Steel Castings Co. was from Cleveland, OH but its wheel foundry was in Clearing, IL. The latter is a suburb of Chicago. It took me a while to dig up any information on Standard because it's such a generic name, but I know marques like Hendrickson and Fageol used wheels made by this company up to about the mid-Twenties. I've also seen that "S" mark on Mack and White truck wheels. Since these two brands made almost all of their own parts, wheels on these trucks might have been made to the brands' own specifications. The names "Mack" and "White" are often cast into wheels. However, I don't think these truck builders ever made wheels themselves. Instead, Mack and White farmed out wheel production to companies like Dayton and Standard. Two other big wheelmakers were West Steel Castings out of Cleveland and Smith Wheels of Syracuse, NY. The only wheels I have seen that look just like your Standard are on Mack AC's from the late Teens/early Twenties. Some Whites used five-spoke front wheels from Standard or Dayton as well, but White-type wheels have less metal around the hub and more webbing where each spoke meets the felloe. Mack wheels beyond 1922 or so are more like this, too. Macks have a flanged, three-bolt hubcap, which is what your wheel would have had. Whites use a smaller, screwed-on hubcap.

--Neil

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Neil, I second that thanks.  Now I know most likely what my mailbox ornament came off from originally.  Maybe, someone will need the wheel sometime, if not I am happy just the way it is!

Al

Edited by alsfarms
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On 10/17/2020 at 1:52 PM, Great War truck said:

You are correct. If you can see them they can no doubt see you. If you were to bring a lorry that close to the front and park it they will bring down artillery fire upon you and that will really stuff your day. 

Mobile pigeon lofts would move with the headquarters when they moved (which was very rarely). The pigeons adopt a location as their new home after they have been there a few weeks. The loft would be manned 24 hours a day so that any incoming messages could be seen as soon as possible. You can see a "grill" type affair on the front of the lorry behind the stuffed pigeons. The birds enter through here which rings a bell which sends the custodian upstairs to check for new messages.

For most of the war the German army held the higher ground...

This became even more apparent in the last few months of the war as the advancing allied powers were able to look back at their previous positions and realise just what a panoramic view of the battlefield German observation had been enjoying...

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  • 11 months later...

A Riker chassis has turned up in Wisconsin. It isn't much more than the frame and axles, but still something. The frame is bent in half and cracked near one of the rear spring hangers but could possibly be repaired. This chassis was used as a "job site structure" later in life. A drawbar was added to the front axle and the frame was lengthened. The worm driven rear axle is there, though I don't know how the internal parts have faired. This chassis has the optional front bumper, which is something I have seen in old photos but not on other surviving Rikers. 

--Neil

riker frame 1.jpg

riker frame 2.jpg

riker frame 3.jpg

riker frame 4.jpg

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I see that it has front towing hooks in the British WD style. Does that make it an ex British contract one ? It looks like the half shafts have been removed as some of the bolts are missing so it is possible that the diff itself is still there which would be a huge bonus. Great find !

David

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Good luck! You should absolutely try and buy it.

Yes between Rowlie and myself we own the Locomobile and the Riker . The Riker was originally bought for spares for the Locomobile but now it will also be got running, not restored but left literally as found to show people what 104 years does to them.

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