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POMMIE vehicles down under


goanna

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Just a brief rundown of the types I've seen down here over 32 years ...

 

The tillies

 

Standard : the most numerous variant with about 70-80 being sold to civilians around 1946 .. these were apparently late WW2 imports that were never issued to the army here .. disposed off very quickly. At least one ( in restored cond.) has been repatriated back to the UK

 

The other tillie variants are very rare . A Melbourne company had a fleet of Morris' , but only two or three have ever turned up .. beyond help . One is under restoration in West. Aust. I've heard of only one Austin ... a wreck beyond help. Never seen or heard of a Hillman .

 

8 cwts : 3 - 4 Morris Commerical PU's . Only one is relatively complete .. never seen or heard of a Humber or other makes .

 

15 cwts: Not common today , but probably 400-500 arrived here . MW - CS8 and WOT2's . The Bedford seems to be less common than the other two makes . A few restored WOT's around ..but nil Morris or Bedford .

 

3 tonners . a mixture of Ql's, Fordson and the odd Crossley etc. I know of 2 restored Ql's . Again, not common .

 

A batch of MCC C8 2 pounder portees .. these were the unmodified ones ..not converted to tractors ... 5-6 have been found .

 

Its the land of CMP's here.. ubiquitous things that seem to multiply .

Mike

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I have heard that the Ford WOT2 vehicles in Australia were destined for Singapore from England, but were diverted to Oz after the Japanese attack. Anybody any proof of this story?

 

Well yes ,

 

I've done a little research and the diverted vehicles are normally refered to as ' refugee ' cargo. Some of the Dutch NEI vehicles were diverted also eg the little Dutch Marmon Herrington tanks .

 

This topic surrounds a whole story on its own covering US Dutch and British vehicles . It's complicated and not easy to fathom. Some vehicles did arrive direct from the UK .. the AWM records show for example that Matilda tanks were shipped directly to Australia . I've got a feeling that some soft skins were shipped directly also . Towards the wars end .. there was a big build up of equipment ..getting ready for the invasion of Japan ...and I think that some vehicles arrived then.

 

Most of the CS8's here are late production with the later cab and full windscreen , 1941 production maybe ? ... just before the Japsanese war . My thoughts are these maybe are cargo diverted from Malaya ... Some of them have Z numbers on the bonnets

 

this site has much info..but takes hours to find relevant info

 

http://www.awm.gov.au/diaries/ww2/

Edited by goanna
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Hi Mike,

 

I send to you few answers on your private message. About Bedford MW,

 

please send me more info, thank you,:tup::

 

Im sorry to other members HMVF,

 

Tomas Higgins

 

Just a brief rundown of the types I've seen down here over 32 years ...

 

The tillies

 

Standard : the most numerous variant with about 70-80 being sold to civilians around 1946 .. these were apparently late WW2 imports that were never issued to the army here .. disposed off very quickly. At least one ( in restored cond.) has been repatriated back to the UK

 

The other tillie variants are very rare . A Melbourne company had a fleet of Morris' , but only two or three have ever turned up .. beyond help . One is under restoration in West. Aust. I've heard of only one Austin ... a wreck beyond help. Never seen or heard of a Hillman .

 

8 cwts : 3 - 4 Morris Commerical PU's . Only one is relatively complete .. never seen or heard of a Humber or other makes .

 

15 cwts: Not common today , but probably 400-500 arrived here . MW - CS8 and WOT2's . The Bedford seems to be less common than the other two makes . A few restored WOT's around ..but nil Morris or Bedford .

 

3 tonners . a mixture of Ql's, Fordson and the odd Crossley etc. I know of 2 restored Ql's . Again, not common .

 

A batch of MCC C8 2 pounder portees .. these were the unmodified ones ..not converted to tractors ... 5-6 have been found .

 

Its the land of CMP's here.. ubiquitous things that seem to multiply .

Mike

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