Agricultural Vehicles

[Flying10uk]

I came across this literature from Agricultural Vehicles today which dates to 1965. The company use to be quite well known in the UK for ex MOD/government vehicles. Does anyone know what happened to them?

[RASelkirk]

Oooh, that Humber looks like a 50's Mack B61. In all my auto/truck wanderings, I've never seen even a pic before...

Russ

[Flying10uk]

My family did own an Austin K9 for a short period about 30 years ago and I found it an excellent vehicle for pulling tree roots out with. It would pull the entire tree root no trouble without the vehicle showing signs of labouring.

I'm not sure if all K9's are like it but the one we had had the vehicle's battery located in a compartment directly under the driver's seat. I remember the time that a relative made an attempt to start the vehicle, while I was doing something else close by. Instead of the vehicle starting there was a terrifically loud bang and so I went over to investigate to see what had happened. My relative was fine but further investigation revealed that the vehicle's battery had exploded, with the entire top of the battery having disintegrated and blown right off. I believe that it had been caused by poor/dirty battery connections causing a spark which then ignited the hydrogen given off by the battery. No real harm done apart from having to buy a new battery.

[Surpmil]

Very interesting, the Austin Champ made a small commercial showing out here and a few survivors are around, if I'm not confusing it with a similar Austin! Sounds like a technically very advanced vehicle for the time. I believe the original Range Rover was the first "consumer vehicle" appearance of a coil sprung torsion bar suspension(?) Land Cruisers didn't get that until the 80 Series appeared 30+ years later. In fact I suppose the Range Rover was the original SUV. What a pity they dropped the ball in other respects such as that silly old Buick V8 and overall build quality.

[Peter Laidler]

They were very local to me...... later at Boars Hill too. Used to sell ex WD minis and vans too. So there were always plenty of deep bronze green minis in Oxford!

The last Champs I saw in service was in 1965. The last Bedford tankers, the OY's was in the early 70's, same as the QL's althpough the radio/command QL's atayed until a bit later. The old Austin K2 ambulances, in Malaya up until 1969 with 25 Company in Singapore

[Flying10uk]

if I'm not confusing it with a similar Austin!

Austin Gypsy? Similar but different.

[Flying10uk]

always plenty of deep bronze green

Back in the 1960's my father use to purchase quite a bit of paint from the local government surplus store, not really because it was ex military, but mainly because it was a good quality paint being sold cheap. It was a cellulose based paint which had a particularly strong odour, even for cellulose. If anything needed painting in the 1960's and 70's that was going to be used outside there was a good chance that it would get painted with this government surplus green paint.

This particular tin is labeled up as "Brunswick Green" but I am not sure how accurate this is as it is only hand written on the label. As it is the last remaining tin purchased by my father in the 1960's I thought that I would save the tin after finding it a couple of years ago still with a little bit of half dried up paint in the bottom of the tin.

[Peter Laidler]

As a little aside, to the Morris Commercial 1 tonner shown. These were in service for may years and in Singapore, based at 25 Company in Gloucester Barracks - on the Ayer Rajah Road was the only lorry with a canvas hood. All the remainder were just the steel frames with steel wire mesh. It was an absolutely gleaming and highly polished Morris 1 tonner that was driven by one of the RCT drivers based there called 'Dixie' Dean. At the time there was a LOT of road building and building works going on and the local newspapers were asking the local Chinese, Malay and Indians if they knew where the commonwealth bodies, lost or murdered when the Japanese took over. When the many sites were identified the bodies were lifted and taken to the Alexander Hospital (where the nurses were murdered on the cricket field.....) and identified. They were taken there in this gleaming truck with the covered rear. Once a few had been gathered......, bodies, not trucks....., the same truck and Dixie Dean slowly drove them, with a military police escort plus a few high ranking diplomatic dignitaries including the Indian Military Attache and the GOG - in his Austin Princess staff car - to be buried with their pals at the IWGC Kranji Cemetery. Burial and firing parties were drawn in from the resident UK Australian NZ, Singapore forces.

There......... the Morris Commercial 'hearse'

As matter of interest, the green we used was Deep Bronze Green. However....... In the Far East.., Malaya, Singapore, Borneo and Hong Kong, it was always a lighter shade of MID Bronze Green

[browningautorifle]

the Morris Commercial 'hearse'

One of those resides in the shed in Nicosia Cyprus at the Commonwealth cemetery beside the Grammar school...you know, the big Turk stronghold by Egg hill south of the old Nicosia Airport. Gil Boyd took pics during one of his trips there.

[Mk VII]

Strictly speaking, the Champ was the commercial sales version with the Morris Oxford engine, but the name was sufficiently catchy that everyone used it. These were complex vehicles for their time, with a demanding maintenance schedule which many civilian buyers did not keep up. They didn't do much that a Land Rover couldn't do, much cheaper.