Richard,
I did have a QL very briefly but found it did not
stand up to the CMP vehicles in off road performance and ability. They are pretty rare in Australia as you probably know and I have been told most of the few of them in the country came out after the war for the "A" Bomb testing the British did in our desert - come and clean up your mess you b.....s! Don't know if that is actually their origin or not.
My very first military vehicle at age 14 was a Morris C4 which, as you say was quite delightful to drive, probably one of only handful ever to come here - how and why I do not know. My father had a car dealership and traded the then worthless vehicle so I got it in exchange for two week's pocket money. It was in perfect roadworthy order.
A couple of mates and I made a raft from 44 gallon drums and floated it 3 miles across the bay to South Stradbroke Island off the Queensland Gold Coast - probably 1961 or 62. The island was (and still is - National Park now) totally deserted. About 20 miles long and two miles wide with forest covered sandhills up to 500 feet high and a 200 yard wide surf beach the whole length on the sea side.
We would go over every weekend with a can of fuel and a battery then spend two hours with 4 sheets of marsden matting (PSP sheet) getting through the soft sandhills onto the beach. Didn't know much about sand driving or deflating tyres then but when you have a pair of strong 15 year olds with shovels it adds to the fun.
We would then spend the weekend racing (in a C4?) up and down the beach on the wet sand, camp beside a sandhill for the night, before taking her through the sandhills again to be hidden under bushes for the next time. The only other vehicles on the island were about half a dozen Blitz 3 ton tippers collecting mineral sand (rutile and ilmenite) - shoveled on by hand from patches on the beach!
One very hot day we were at the end of our stamina trying to get the Morris off the beach because we had left the steel matting about 10 miles south of where we were trying to cross the sandhills. We had dug it out about 20 times for about one vehicle length progress each time and still had about 300 yards to go up the steepest part of the sand track. Along came a Blitz loaded with about 5 tons of mineral sand, no muffler of course, that had rusted off years ago. (They kept the rust out of the chassis by spraying the old sump oil over everything - cab axles body. They looked a pretty sad sight but once the sand stuck. layer after layer the coating was like inch thick toffee, totally protective)
Anyhow the driver who obviously knew us by sight from us sailing past him on the beach as he shovelled sand - these guys had muscles in their eyebrows - took pity.
So, tied on behind a grossly overloaded Blitz (don't know if it was a Ford or Chev) its engine valve bouncing with a two foot long exhaust pipe making to teenage ears, a fabulous roar, the Morris seemed to rocket up the track.
By the time we got to the top of the sandhill, the Morris had been excommunicated from my heart. I just HAD to have one of these four wheel drive miracle machines. I did have pretty soon after that!
Lang
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