Austin
 

An interesting one. 76125 Austin K2/Y Ambulance .

Found a few Ford Prefect staff cars !

78146 Morris Anti Tank Portee

76155 Bedford OY Lorry

76161 Bedford MWC water tank ex Z4578138

Mwc
 

Confusing because they refer to CVT 30 cwt water tanks ? These maybe Bedford MWC water tanks , makes three so far . With an OX number ? Wheel Base is 101" so must be MWC I would think.

76159 and 76160 ex British Z4578229 and Z4578152

Not found any Morris CS8 yet.

76154 A Leyland breakdown lorry mixed in with a CVT sedan ? Seems to be two vehicles with the same ARN ? Seen this mixup more than once.

76115 Chev and Thornycroft with same ARN ??

Ford GP ?
 

This is a strange one:

51751 Ford pilot model GP 16651 5 cwt ?

52114 Ford 15 cwt van . Soviet Union ?

Fordson WOT2D
 

The refugee Fordson WOT2D's were sold off , beginning in late 44 .

50317 - 50377 . Some went to bush fire brigades , Country Roads Board , NSW Railways and the Forestry Commission.

Mix of refugee from 50201 including Albion, Ford FGT cab 12 ? Austin K2Y. Bedford OY and MWC , Thornycroft .

I found a few 1941 Ford coupe utility model 11A, wb 112" : eg ARN 50030 Are these the 1941 Ford military sedan based utes ?

GMC 4X4 compressor trucks model AFKX 62054 - 62040

more
 

67165 is a White scout car held in the RAAOC museum Bandiana. Was this vehicle still in service before it was transferred to the museum ? I can see a 1982 date .

88469 was a 1941 Dodge GS Van or ute that went to the Aust. war Memorial . This car would have been a runabout for the museum staff just after the war.

It seems that just about every Govt. department in existence at the time, was putting in a bid for the vehicles . Even lowly shire councils got into the game. Some of the Govt. departments were almost esoteric , going by their weird titles ! Some of the weirder ones: Japanese board of trade. Director of Internal security.

opel
 

more unusual finds:

127105 Opel staff car to the AWM . Was this a captured car ? Does the AWM still have it ?

123374 Dodge command car

136365 Dodge 1/2 ton ambulance

Found the WC 21 I bought in 1978: 129166

The Dodge WC 51's are around 128325

Found a few early T207's in there too.

The AEC Matadors are around : 123794, 123666, 123211

A mixture of impressed stuff at 127959

Impressed
 

Seems to be a long list of impressed vehicles from 100000 onwards.

Many are 1938 models, even found a 1935 Dodge breakdown truck in there 100506 ! They certainly preferred Chev and Ford and Dodge/Fargo.

More impressed ? from 109251 , a few have gas producers fitted. The V and Q in the first column would indicate the state ?

1939 Morris tipper, a CV model 110011

General Laverack's Buick sedan 110113

The T110L Dodge's start at 120201

odd bod
 

More odd bod stuff:

White Half Track 149650

Bedford OY Prime mover cab/chassis at Balcombe School of signals 1961 149590

Morris 8X8 Terrapin 149391

GMC Quad rear engine ? Peters crane ? 144722

FWD HAR tractors with radar trailers 150703

Lvt
 

Forgot to mention this:

The Buffalo LVT's 149457. Some were transferred to the French embassy, Canberra . What was that all about ?

127136 Yankee Joe telephone truck

127990 Model A Ford in among a menagerie of impressed pre-war vehicles in NG

Terrapin
 

I wonder whether the Terrapin was the one at Belfield's?

The GMC Quad rear engine was probably one of the 8446 chassis imported for the Rhino project converted by Peters.

Yes, Keith, there was only ever one Terrapin in Oz, and the remains are at Dingers.

Mike

Morris
 

Among the refugee listings is a single listing 'Morris 6W Rec.' 13809 ( British WD reg. 4407366) . It appears to have arrived with the thirty odd 4X4 Morris Portees on the same ship. Could this be a CDSW 6 wheeler breakdown truck ? I don't know what else it could be.

Spotted the Ford No.8 & 9 tractors sold off at Seymour , the latest was in 1964

Mike,
I checked the British census number and the Morris is a CDSW Breakdown truck.
The Ford tractors could be models 8N and 9N. If I remember correctly, the 9N came first and was the tractor made in collaboration with Harry Ferguson.

regards, Richard

I recall we discussed this vehicle HERE, but since that thread, I have been told of another "Army vehicle, WW2 amphibious, 2 ford V8s" on a property a fair distance from here, so can't be readily visited. Certainly sounds like a Terrapin. Having expressed curiosity, I am awaiting photos from the contact before heading out to have a look.

Did the Belfield Terrapin sell in the Auction, or is it still there? If it sold, I might be chasing the new owner.

thanks
 

Ah thanks ! Wish I could track down that CDSW , it may have survived somewhere . Can't quite make out the scribbly red note that gives a clue as to its whereabouts - possibly SA11 but that particular scribble appears on many other vehicles

Sorry I confused you re. the Ford tractors , I meant the CMP based Ford artillery tractors Aust. No. 8 and 9 . There are many conventional agricultural type Fordson tractors in the registers as well as McCormick Deering and other brands .

Auction
 

Can't recall the Terrapin being sold at the auction. I have the catalogue here somewhere . A few items were withdrawn from sale at the last instant eg a DUKW was one.

That Terrapin was or is a rusty hull without running gear or engines , it looked more like a colander each time we laid eyes on it.

There is a second Terrapin in the register 149367 but its the same vehicle 149391

Could the Buffalos relate to the growing problems the French were having in their colonial Vietnam?

David

yes
 

Yes I reasoned that was the likely scenario and the transfer dates (1954)
tend to support that suggestion.

Found this: Light tanks Mk3 USA origin . Were these Stuarts or the M-H Tanks ?

AEC Armoured Command Vehicle
 

Found four of the AEC Armoured Command Vehicles
138720 138734 139641 139891

Tracked truck: 139974 went to the PMG

jap truck
 

This is a rare one:

Captured Jap truck 169634 Sold to Saville bros. Was this vehicle sold up in the islands or was it sold here ?

More captured at 169568

Quite a few more at 169515 including a Nissan water cart !

153060 list of captured , seems most of it went to the Dutch

The Z special unit, the behind the lines cloak and dagger unit, got CCKW radio trucks 158616

One of the SPA Italian tractors 153222

Mike.

Would the Japanese vehicles have been items of opportunity Australian forces came across and put to their own use for the duration of the war? And I wonder how many, if any, made it back to Australian and were sold off? They would make a very interesting restoration project.

David

Kurogane
 

We think there was a Kurogane 4x4 registered in Victoria at one time. Before the system was computerized , the Victorian reg. records were available on the old card system and you could have a look through them - not possible these days. The owners name cards were all destroyed in a purge. BTW you can look up any current reg number on the Vicroads website and get the engine number, chassis number and the registration status ..freedom of info !

Some of those captured vehicles in the ARN registers maybe would have belonged to civilian planters or maybe missionaries or the Dutch administration authorities. The captured sedans would have been used by high ranking Jap officers. It's a miracle that any of those cars survived Japanese ownership for 3 1/2 years

Just wondering; using the AIF 1-6112 register as an example. I note that there are a few missing entries, with some pages around number 3000 being almost empty. Would this be unallocated numbers, or unrecorded entries? I've seen a couple of pencilled notations that say (example 760 to 766) no record of these numbers ever having been used, but there are plenty of blanks with nothing noted.

Seems strange that there'd be big gaps, although I know how administrative errors can appear today, despite the computerised systems at our disposal. So, I could imagine errors in the past, but I'm happy to be corrected.

Cheers,
Matt

Studebaker/Reo US6s in AWM126
 

This is my first post.
I have prepared a listing of the serial numbers in numerical order and the corresponding ARNs of the 1192 US6s (1093 Studebakers and 99 Reos) purchased by Australia towards the end of WW2. Confirmation of the figure of 1192 appears in AWM MT1131/1 (procurement of Studebaker spare parts) and is mentioned a couple of times.
The serial numbers in the digitised AWM books presented a few challenges. Sometimes the numbers were faint or comments had been written over them. Whenever a vehicle was disposed of or written off a red line was drawn across the entry which sometimes made it difficult to differentiate between a 1 and a 7. Occasionally the record clerk must have nodded off as the numbers ran into one another. Two vehicles appear to have the same serial number (99960) and one vehicle did not have a plate. By enlarging the numbers and using a magnifying glass I managed to read all the numbers except those for six vehicles.
Two attachments are included:
Serial numbers for US6 - listing is in numerical order
ARNs for US6 - identifies those books which record US6s
Attachment 98811

Attachment 98812

Good day Darryl,
Thanks for doing that, I can imagine how much time it took to sort it out.

Ken

Studebaker & Reo Trucks in Aust
 

Well done Darryl - as I know exactly how long it takes to extract information from AWM126!

I couple of points: MT1131/1 is not housed at the AWM in Canberra: it is a 'Melbourne Temporary' file series housed at the NAA in Melbourne. The file to which you refer is barcode 3249497 - a much easier way to refer to the file so others can find it quickly. It is digitized and available to view on line.

That file contains references to both 1,192 (page 47) and 1,200 Studebakers (page 1), but the figure, as you correctly point out, is 1,192 (I had 1,190 in my Army Motors article published circa 2004, having missed two in the registers, which I subsequently located after the article went to press. Of course, pre-digitised AWM126, it was a matter of sitting down in the AWM RC and wading through the hard copy looking for a vehicle type). I've attached a .pdf of the un-edited article text for interest.To see the images, you'll have to locate the original article in AM. Enjoy, and please forgive the 'total vehicles' error. :bang:

Regards

Mike :salute:

Found my Champ chassis 16000 rego 104498 but not understanding the rest. Need a phrase book! Will search through for the Morris?
Paul Davies

Morris
 

Paul

I did not find any of the Morris C8 GS models . Maybe your truck arrived with the British forces late WW2 when the invasion of Japan was on the books.

Thanks for looking Mike, yes a late addition to the kit bag, I am sure it will turn up one day.
Paul

Searching the ARN records
 

Good Day All,

Not sure if I missed it but is there any easy way to narrow down a search in these records or does it just involve scrutinizing page after page?

I have a Ford truck transmission 3G 12166 F (1943 at least) It came out of my first F15-A but I don't think it was original. The filler plug is on the right side near the cover plate. All other transmissions I have seen for Ford CMP's have the filler plug on the left side just in case a tyre pump is fitted.

Would be curious to know what vehicle it was from, but after a few hours of eyestrain I have given up searching. Any tips gratefully received.

Cheers,