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Austin K4


tyler

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Hi Tyler

Yes the AA handbook was updated as far as I can remember annually,but I have no idea when it was discontinued, it may have lasted into the seventies but I suppose it went the same way as AA men on motor cycle

combinations saluting members as they rode along.

 

 

 

Cheers

Degsy

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Hi, the K4 and Quad Polsten, didnt arrive yesterday due to delays, but the K4 left Wales (Owestry), at 9:30 this morning, so by now the Polsten should be with it and here about 2 this afternoon (hopefully), I'll post some pics once they have arrived and Ive been forced from the gunners/drivers seats.

 

Thanks.

 

Tyler.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, here are some pics of it, at the moment its parked on the front drive along with Polsten unit I can find some storage, Ive ran it up once a week

and it does start on the button like the seller said :lol: , and its so quite when running even with holes in the exhaust silencer, I washed it the day after it was delivered as it was so dirty from the trip home, the cab is fairly water tight apart from the opening windscreen but we already knew about that.

The only work thats been done to it so far is I removed a plywood board covering from the rear load bed, which reveiled very well laid (tightly packed) wood load bed with quite a few layers of paint, and looking at the condition of the side and head boaeds it could be the original bed.

Here's some pics to start off with.

 

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Hi Tyler

Yes the AA handbook was updated as far as I can remember annually,but I have no idea when it was discontinued, it may have lasted into the seventies but I suppose it went the same way as AA men on motor cycle

combinations saluting members as they rode along.

 

 

 

Cheers

Degsy

 

On the book rack behind me I have an AA Handbook for 1999-2000. Because it is in this rack (at work) it implies that I was issued a later one and cascaded this one down.

 

ISTR that they took to issuing the book only from AA shops upon production of something (renewal letter? a voucher? membership card?) rather than shipping a book to every member by snail mail at great expense.

 

I also STR that they closed a lot of their High Street shops, which would have made this difficult. Maybe nobody bothered to collect them from the shops?

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Hi Tyler,

looks very nice indeed :D Tell me has the truck still got its "traficator" for turnig left or were these not fitted to Austins, it consisted of a lever fitted to the rear of the cab which when pulled activated o small arem out of the left hand side of the cab so the driver could `indicate` left when wanting to turn :!:

Ashley

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Hi Ashley, Ive looked on the vehicle for any evidense of these having being fitted and can't find any, no filler/welds etc so I am guessing that it wasnt fitted with any, if anyone else is any wiser!

 

Ive got a A4 list of Questions/wants and more pics to come still

 

Thanks.

 

Tyler.

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DSC01688.jpg

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DSC01692.jpg Nice colour for an engine "NOT", starts first time + runs brill, (leaded).

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DSC01695.jpg Entry and exits are a challange if tall and with big feet. :roll:

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DSC01701.jpg Windscreen will be cleaned up before the season starts and rebuilt in the winter.

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DSC01707.jpg The cr*py chequer plate will most definately be removed

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Hi, mainly done odd jobs lately, the loadbed + other woodwork has been fully sanded down,

 

Before:

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After: (4 hours later)

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Once the loadbed is painted the rest of the lorry will be sanded and painted, the wood for the Dropsides is on order (hardwood+pressure treated).

 

Can anyone tell me what colour the inside of the cab would have been painted?

 

This is what it looks like now:

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Also would all of the chassis,drivetrain etc have been painted OD also?

At the moment they are painted gloss black.

 

Thanks.

 

Tyler.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, Ive started on the body work recently, and the new exhaust has arrived, so insurance allowing it will have

its first run since Ive had it this weekend :lol: , here are some pics:

 

The loadbed drying ready for Oxide and paint.

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The exhaust being test fitted, it cost £100 from a local lorry shop, it is almost the same diamensions as the one that was removed,

once the tail pipe is fitted you should'nt be able to tell

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I was quite supprised by how much detail was on the badge, but then it was hidden under 6 layers of paint.

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Thanks.

 

Tyler.

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  • 1 month later...

Havent done much at all lately on the K4 due to work on the SWB Landy.

 

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Moveable windscreen has been removed for minor refrubishment and paint prep.

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Most of the bodywork has been prepaired for paint.

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Exhaust fitted just minor tinkering to finish it.

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Discovered that one of the loadbed planking supports has turned into a compost like substance.

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The sum total of what was a 6Ft+ peice of wood.

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Thanks.

 

Tyler

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Yes it will be all green (brush or rolled on not sprayed) with Black Micky mouse camo on top, the markings on the door are from when it was civilanized (see begining of topic), still havent taken it on the road yet :roll: , sould be ready for Duxford :lol: .

 

Tyler.

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Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any pics or info of Austin K4's in military service or post military service, also any website with info on this vehicle.

 

Thanks.

 

Tyler.

 

Tyler,

 

Did you find any In-service pictures ? Have you seen IWM F4398 ?

I could be mistaken on exact type but it looks the same as yours to me.

 

The vehicle in question was in use with the RASC during the BEFs advance through Belgium in May 1940. Is that date possible? They certainly had quite a quantity of impressed civilian vehicles.

 

Unfortunately, I can't post photos but if you pm me your e-mail address, I'll send it through to you.

 

Cheers,

 

Rich.

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  • 1 month later...

Cost £20 :D

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Lasted 20 mins :lol:

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Alright for some :roll:

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Slacking again :wink:

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Found 74 holes in the fuel tank :shock:

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Paul pretending to work again!

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Another lot to follow with just as many drama's.

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Friday 02/06: right so the first coat of green is on looking more than respectable to go to a show, so we thought we'd take it for its first run since owning it before its first show last weekend, so we swing onto the road and start chugging and crunching along as we get used to the Crash box :oops: , not knowing what to expect as neither I or Paul have driven a vehicle bigger than a transit, so speed, noise, handling, brakes etc all we dont know what they should perform like.

 

Speedo, fuel guage dont seem to respond :? we'll keep going as it a quite road etc, then we come a fairly steep hill (for a WW2 lorry) gets halfway a feels like its going to cut out but keeps going :oops: , so we feel pretty chuffed that we’ve covered a massive 3 miles so we pull up to check it all over looks to discover that the passengers front and drivers rear brake drums are rather hot. So we try to do a proper brake test only to discover because we stopped the brakes have locked on, time to call for backup and 15 mins later we have 2 jerry cans of water, by this time its 9:15pm and the light is fading, brakes surficantly warm we start to head for home, as we get within 100yards of the drive it starts running on 4 cylinders and hesitating but we make it. By 11:30pm the offending brakes are being inspected discovered we’d touched 40Mph, and we call it a day.

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Saturday: It’s a 5:30am start, by 8:30 the brake cylinders are working and the system has been beld and the engines back to running 6 cylinders, time for another run this time we take it further to ensure all if any faults show up, and they do at the petrol station the tyres should be 85 (rear) and 70 (front) they were between 5 and 30, this being a well known petrol supplier they cant afford to let people have air without benifitting and not only that it took 20 min to inflate 2 tyres for the cost of a fish and chips :evil: , so we call it off as we have a que of lorrys and cars behind us. So off we chug only to find that in 2 Mls since the station the brakes don’t exist much, so we gingerly head for home and make it (again). All wheels and drums off and a full overhaul and a day later its ready again.

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Tuesday 06/06: 3rd time lucky, we took the same route as the 2nd run and this time we had a chase car to carry extra tools and find out how accurate the now working speedo was, and it worked every thing worked, I was following in the chase car and we touched 55 on the straights easily with travel still on the gas pedal. We stopped to check the brakes and they worked well and were’nt even lukewarm, we carried on until we got to a WW2 RAF base 2Mls from home to have a final check, take some pics and have a look at the memorial, then had the K4 drive past just to see if their was any excessive noise from the drivetrain etc and I was supprise just how quite it was.

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There's still a 2nd coat of green, micky mouse camo pattern and the markings to be applied but they should be done by Duxford

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