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Ward La France Gallery


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During the mid to late 70s Buccanner aircraft were towed by road from aero space at Brough E yorks with thier wings folded up to Tollingham aerodrome to be tested after mods etc. they were towed behind a bedford TK with a ballast wieght on. One sunday morning i was off to a recovery and got to a place called Sancton and the road was blocked by police cars. I stopped and had a walk to see what the problem was the tk and Buccanner had come down a hill and skidded on ice gone of the road jumped across a 6 ft dyke and landed in among trees. the TK had already being recovered but i had the pleasure of watching a WLF owned by a recovery operater called Eric Marlybone of shiptonthorpe do a full lift on the buccanner across the dyke and on to the road and then set of and tow it away. It was way over any intended capacity of the wrecker but even at full stick it never flinched. When i came back a couple of hours later the road was blocked at the same place. Took a walk and this time the same wrecker was lifting and winching a grossly overload 8 wheeler out of the same dyke he reckoned he had skidded on mud from the previous recovery. From that day on not only did i think they where a bonny truck but also a proper piece of kit

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Hi folks,

 

for the WLF wrecker lovers

 

Line-up of 3 WLF series 5 all former Belgium Army, at ArmyCars, Zwijndrecht, The Netherlands

Picture was taken during an visit in may 2009

 

They had about 12 :cool2: in storage and they are planning to restore them all back WW2 looks

 

 

MichelK

M1 Ward La France &.jpg

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Only the olive drab green one had been restored to WW2 looks

 

The other two standing there where in there original Belgium depot state :-D

So with the width indicators and the nice striping.

 

At an closer look the two vehicle's appeared in an reasonable good condition, just some minor rusty bits and scratches

Nothing realy shocking that can not be fixed

 

According some of the staf all they have to do is

- check the engine for damage or that it's still working

- make some minor repair / modification

- repaint it

 

MichelK

M1 Ward La France &.jpg

M1 Ward La France &.jpg

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

 

According some of the staf all they have to do is

- check the engine for damage or that it's still working

- make some minor repair / modification

- repaint it

 

MichelK

 

If only they were all that easy to restore. :rotfl:

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Hello,

Here is my tired, but still working Kenworth M1A1. It was a real sorry state when I got it. This old girl is brought out of the shed regularly to assist with a Diamond T 969 re-build. The picture was taken at an MV gathering near Bundaberg, eastern Australia, in 2009. That is my Jeep seeing a bit of air.

 

Someone went to a lot of trouble to convert the boom to a telescoping boom. Not original, but handy. I'm seeking a base and motor for a siren rebuild?

Honestly, the vehicles I see pics of in Europe look outstanding compared to what is available down-under. We don't have many, and they are mostly worked to death. Hmmm...

Have a nice day,

Sam.

IMG_1043.jpg

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Hi Sam,

 

There are a few Kenworth M1's about in Europe but this is the first Kenworth M1A1 I have knowingly seen. The vast majority of M1A1s were built by Ward LaFrance. In Europe at least, these trucks were known generically as Ward LaFrances, to the extent that there was a recovery company operating in France or Belgium called 'Depannage Ward LaFrance': photos show this was painted conspicuously all down the sides of what was clearly a Kenworth M1 !

 

Welcome to the forum and thank you for posting the photo. Could you post a photo of the front end too as I'm interested to see the brushguard and radiator?

 

Regards - MG

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  • 5 months later...
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Tootallmike - those twin axle bogies look a little familiar, n'est pas?

Looking at some of the other photos in the sequence they are dollies for some very serious lowboy trailers. I've not had time to look in detail at all of the shots yet but there is some very interestign kit there. Big question is who on earth in the US was re-importing this stuff? He is described as a 'collector'. I assume this really means 'dealer'?

 

- MG

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