Truck Identification

[Oliver Missing]

What truck is it ?
A Leyland Retriever ?
Location : Northern Russian Port, late '41.

Regards,
Oliver (http://www.o5m6.de, »Trucks lend-leased to Russia in WW2«).

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Oliver Missing
What truck is it ?
A Leyland Retriever ?
Location : Northern Russian Port, late '41.

Oliver,
I think it is actually an Albion BY, as the Leyland has the radiator cap on the top of the radiator where the one in the photo sticks out the front slightly.

Richard

[Pete Ashby]

Hi Oliver

You are right it is a Retriever, never seen this pic before.

Looking at the body I think it is a workshop, the cab windscreen was a factory fit after June 1940, although there is some evidence to suggest that some were 'field fitted' retrospectively.

The truck still has the large commercial radiator therefore production is pre November 1940, do you have any more photos in the series?

Regards

Pete

[Pete Ashby]

Richard

This were I show just what a really sad person I am.

Leyland fitted a number of different radiators to the Retriever, the bus, that’s the one you refer to (and the type I have got), two variants of the commercial, the one in the picture and the vertical spout with lock.

Then after November 1940 (some sources quote Sep 1941) the small radiator came into use with the angled spout some times called the 'Thorneycroft mod'

Pete
PS sorry don’t get much chance to talk Retrievers, most people just shake their heads and move away quickly in case it’s contagious.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Pete Ashby
This were I show just what a really sad person I am.

PS sorry don’t get much chance to talk Retrievers, most people just shake their heads and move away quickly in case it’s contagious.

Pete,
Don't worry I get treated similar for being enthusiatic about 60 year old British vehicles :

I did look at a few books and saw the Thornycroft type in one, I can only think of Leylands having the cap on top.

Another reason I went for Albion was that it was on Oliver's list of Lend Lease to Russia, whereas the Leyland was not, then I noticed that on the Leyland the top of the rad is lower than an albion, so you are correct. Bloody hell, I'm getting as bad as you !!!!!!

I'm off for a lay down.........

Richard

[Oliver Missing]

Pete, Richard,

thanx for your replies, so we can assume the truck being in fact a Leyland Retriever.
Unfortunately I have no other pics of the car at that location.

That's what I found at Bart Vanderveen, ...

...with the radiator cap at the "wrong" position.

Please tell me, where can I find further info on the truck ?
I'd really love to add it to the site...

Regards,
Oliver.

[Mike K]

There was , years ago , a nicely restored WW2 Leyland retriever in a museum in QLD ( Caloundra ). I saw it in 1979.

Where is it now ?

Mike

[Pete Ashby]

Mike

That’s interesting that makes four restored and four part restored that I now know off.

What body type was/is it?

Pete

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Richard Farrant
I think it is actually an Albion BY ...

Pete, Richard, speaking of Albions, have you noticed the "Albion Bysfolding Boat Carrier" advertised for sale on MilWeb?

"1944 Albion Bysfolding Boat Carrier
Chance of a lifetime to buy 60 year old fully refurbished 1944 Albion Bys with folding boat bridging body, never been registered since 50s release (493 miles on speedo) believed to be only surviving example sensible offers only.
01756 752080 Mr Hargraves 04 April '04"

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Mike Kelly
There was , years ago , a nicely restored WW2 Leyland retriever in a museum in QLD ( Caloundra ). I saw it in 1979.

Where is it now ?

Mike,
Would that have been the one that was sold at the Pickles auction in Newcastle NSW in 1997? I was there and was told that it was a Blitz workshop body on it. Not exactly restored but looked fairly intact, with all the nice brass plates still in the cab. For the sad people amongst us, Pete are you there (?), the chassis number was WLW 1/308739, taken from the catalogue you understand. I am not in the habit of collecting numbers!

After Beltring a few years ago, I was contacted by someone near Bristol with a Retriever looking for a gantry body (he had seen my friend's Austin K6 gantry and thought we could help), whilst talking about how rare the Retriever is nowadays and speaking of the one at the Australian auction, he told me it was now being restored in Norfolk.

Richard

[Mike K]

Richard etc.

The Caloundra retriever was part of the Ken Hughes collection . The collection was moved south later on , so that example you mentioned is likely the same one . It was restored to a high standard as I remember ,but it may have suffered from bad storage over the years .

The ex Clemons Thornycroft Tarter is still in Tasmania as far as I know . It was featured in Wheels and Tracks many years ago .

My Morris Commercials have survived a nasty bush fire we had here last Wed and Thursday . The forest next door was ablaze , they had a dozer making fire breaks , many tankers came from over 100 miles away . Helicopter water bombers too . Exciting , yes , but very scary . The fire was only 500 meters from the house . Two tanker crews stayed all night with us to defend the house . It was easy to panic , but it all turned out OK. No houses lost .


Mike

[Pete Ashby]

Mike

glad to hear both you and yours and the trucks are OK, we certainly don't have that to contend with here in rural Oxfordshire

Pete

[Oliver Missing]

Regards,
Oliver [http://www.o5m6.de].

[Alex van de Wetering]

Oliver,

Great! How many time did you spend on this one?

I hope to build one as a scale model in the future.

Alex