Wanted 2pdr. stuff
 

I am posting this on behalf of a friend who asked me to post it for Mike Peters in New York State. Mike is working on a Pacific Theatre display and is looking for the following for his Australian 2 pdr.

#1- a complete seat
#2- any original canvas
#3- ammo boxes that mount behind armour shield
#4- the optic sight
#5- an original manual

He also can't find any detailed close up photos so these would help also. I will direct him to this forum so you can reply here. Lets see if we can help a Yank who is doing Commonwealth material.
:cheers:
Cheers,
Barry

2 Pounder Ammunition box
 

Hello,

Here's a photo from the one preserved at the IWM at Duxford.

Regards

Nick Balmer

Ammo boxes were stored on racks, like so:

And:

And this manual sold on E-bay a couple of months back for US$159, only one I've seen specifically for this vehicle and appears in excellent condition.

Hi Barry , thanks for starting this thread and I'd like to thank you all for helping me out with this ...the pictures you've posted will be a great help. I bought my first 1944 GPW in 1979 and never had any problems locating parts but ...I'm learning that this will be a whole different animal to complete. As far as my finding the seat and ammo racks ,I was hoping that someone knew of a junk yard or Scrap yard (with Military Vehicles) that might have a carriage still hanging around.
Here are a few shots of it being delivered to my backyard ...overall , it's in really nice shape. I'd love to know how it ended up here.
The maintenance Manual will be a big help (if I can find one) ...I'd like to change the wheel bearings before I try towing it anywhere for display ...still have to figure out what position the levers go in to make sure the wheels are locked on and don't fall off while I'm on the road! :rolleyes

#2

#3

That wood handle belongs to a garden tool ...the people who had it didn't understand that the mechanism had been cut and welded shut ..so they were trying to open it with the garden tools ! :fry:

#4

I know that this weighs in at 1700 pounds but , I've seen many pictures of Jeeps towing a 37mm AT Gun so ..I was thinking of using my GPW to tow this ..However , several of the "purists" out there say that they've never heard of or seen an American Jeep towing any Australian Equipment. Between the shortages and lend-lease equip ..at times I'm sure we were all using whatever was available and at hand.

Great find, now what?
 

That is a great find, it just amazes me the stuff that will turn up and the condition that it is in.

What are you going to tow it with or mount it on?

Would be interested in how you came to find it?

I'd like to set up a Pacific Theater display ..if I could find a picture of a GPW towing one , that would help justify things a little. I set up free displays for the Veterans Hospital, Schools etc. Our Schools don't teach very much about WW2 these days so , I enjoy putting my collection to work .
Here's a picture of my GPW at a display ..it wasn't raining that day , the kids always love to play with the manual wipers and the horn :yappy:
I bought my GPW back in 1979 from a Gent who bought it at a Gov Auction ..I was living in Vail Colorado at the time and , the Jeep came from Camp Hale (Leadville Co) it's an orig 10th Mountain Jeep

From the AWM archives:

"CAIRNS, QLD. 1943-06-25. JEEP HAULING 2-POUNDER TANK ATTACK GUN FROM LANDING BARGE DURING COMBINED INVASION EXERCISE OF THE 24TH INFANTRY BRIGADE, 9TH AUSTRALIAN DIVISION AND THE 532ND ENGINEER BOAT AND SHORE REGIMENT, UNITED STATES FORCES. "

THAT"S FANTASTIC!!!
Thanks for that Tony ..I knew there had to be a picture of it someplace ....so much for the "experts" opinions :p
It looks like they bundled it up to waterproof it , great shot!

And another:

"Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 17 May 1945. A jeep towing a tank attack gun over the ford constructed by engineers across the Hongorai River. The gun will be used by 57/60 infantry battalion to clean out Japanese positions on the escarpment south of the Hongorai River."

Get your buddies together:

"TOROKINA, BOUGAINVILLE. 1945-10-22. A CEREMONIAL PARADE AND MARCH PAST BY 29 INFANTRY BRIGADE WAS HELD FOR MAJOR-GENERAL BRIDGEFORD, GENERAL OFFICER COMMANDING 3 DIVISION, AT TOROKINA AIRFIELD. SHOWN, TANK ATTACK SECTION OF 29 INFANTRY BRIGADE PASSING THE SALUTING BASE."

I can't thank you enough for the pictures Tony ...they'll be put to great use.
I'm putting new Military ND Tires on it tomorrow and was wondering if the rims on my 2Pdr were original because they don't seem to match with any of the pictures. They remind me almost of the M151 style with the cut outs ..and at first , I thought they were mounted backwards . They look like they are off set ..but if I did reverse them , these rims would extend over the axle a little and cover the lever used to remove the whole wheel (& make the wheel base smaller).
Do you recognize the rims ? Could they be WW2 Australian ?
:cheers:

Mike, your wheels and tyres ARE Mutt items. The Aust 2 Pdr used commercial wheels and normal road tyres, not military NDTs. There were even fitted with hubcaps from a car! You should be able to find some Ford 4in x 16in rims with a 5 on 5 1/2 bolt pattern. The tires are 6.00-16.

Have a look at the AWM site and look through their collections database, using the search term "anti-tank". You will find plenty of pictures of the 2 Pdr in it's original form.

Mike, you might want to get some of our Aussie friends to go and bid on these 2-pdr ammo boxes.

http://www.shedfullofshit.com/images...mo_Box__1_.JPG

Ganmain auction

Hi Tony ...I was too late , the Shop already mounted the NDT's on the rims so ...I'll have to live with them until I can find some normal rims. They are trying to match up the bearings right now and finding the correct seal is not easy. I hope to have it back by Monday , if they find the parts. :(

Thanks for the heads up Hanno ! :cheers:
What a mess ...it will be a lot of work to clean that yard , but ...that's probably quite a bit of Money sitting there all those years rusting away .I Emailed the people running the auction and asked if I could bid and if they would mail me the ammo box (or boxes ..don't know how many they have)
It's pretty close to the auction date so , I thought contacting them could be the only chance I had. I'll let you know what they say.
Thanks a million
--Mike

Mike,

Howard, "Former owner of Stuff", invited proxy bids in the thread Some more things to I.D.. So you'll stand a fair chance.

Attached is a WW2 pic of a 2-pdr gun, taken by a German soldier in France in 1940 (source: ebay Item number: 6273092765).

Cheers,
Hanno

It looks like the original Ammo Box was hit or exploded ..but the leather tool case is still attached ? Great closeup.
Thanks again for keeping me in mind Hanno !

Hi Gents ...I've been searching everwhere and even posted on a few other MV sites but , I still have not had any luck finding all the parts I need . I have met a lot of great Collectors though. I did find an original manual on Ebay and that's been a great help. I want to thank Barry and all of you for posting those pictures and trying to help me out with this.
Anyway ...since I last posted here ..I power washed it ..replaced the bearings ..took it to an Auto Body Shop where they steam cleaned it and applied some sort of "etching" solution (to get rid of any surface rust) then , they primed it and painted it ...thought you'd all like to see how it came out.
I used the 1945 semi-gloss OD because it holds up better than the WW2 flat OD and ..it matches my Jeep now. It will look better after the sun bleaches it a little...

Here's the "set" --

Front--

Here's the hard way to move one...
 

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/argus/0/0/4/im/an004030.jpg

Source.

A mixture
 

I hate to be a killjoy but judging from the photos of your antitank gun I would have to say it is a mixture of a British army type and the Australian type. I base this on the British style ammo rack mounted behind the shield.

These racks are totally different between the two and the Aussie one does not have the leather tool box sitting on top of the ammo boxes either.

I believe the Australian Army used both types and this shows in some of the AWM photos Tony put up.

Still a nice piece and I wish you well with it's restoration.

Cheers
Cliff :)

2 Pdr
 

Mike, send me a PM. I maybe able to help with the manual. I am half way through putting on disc.