Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Keith Webb]

Great story Tony! I've not had a tyre deflate while driving in a CMP - it's alarming to hear how it affects the steering though.

Well told, and I hope others read this to benefit from your experience and the learnings from your father.

[Private_collector]

Yes folks, a rapid deflation is a scary thing, and the truck was rather difficult to maintain directional stability. However, I'm very grateful the tyre didn't blow apart instead of just go flat. I fear that would have been much, much worse to control.

I had forgotten to say I found the cause of the flat. A round disk approx 1 & 1/2" across, bent in such a way that would rival a caltrop. I'm hoping the tyre damage is repairable. Wouldn't put money on that.

[lynx42]

Glad it all came out ok in the end, Tony.

Jill and I had a heart starter blow-out in the right rear tyre on the White Scout Car with a large 1 ton "Humber" trailer attached a few years ago on our way to Canberra for the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. We were travelling at 55 miles an hour down a steep hill on a left hand bend near Eden NSW. when the tyre blew. We were in a cutting with a bank on each side, higher on the left, and a narrow two way strip of bitumen. I really had to hang on and luckily didn't cross over the white line at any time with traffic coming up towards us. I tow the "Humber' trailer which has White Scout Car wheels fitted with the spare tyre for the Scout Car and trailer mounted on the "A" frame and it is also fitted with get me home bits as well as being a camper for us. Unlike you, we couldn't get off the road and had to change it out on the bitumen with the traffic passing close by. (Jill just added "and the log trucks and wood chip semis heading into Eden").

The biggest problem after changing the tyre was trying to get the now flat tyre back up onto the 'A' frame. Fortunately a truck driver stopped up the road and walked back to assist. There are still some good people in this world.

I don't know how many swerves we did in pulling up but it was pretty scary for a while, the Scout Car had an evil mind of its own..

It is not the first time we have had a scare in an old vehicle. We have a 1923 20hp. Rolls Royce with two wheel brakes on the rear axle only. We had a blow out one day and threw the tyre right off the rim which left us with only one wheel out of four pulling up a 2 ton car and a bare rim sliding down the road. The split rig on the wheel took off and took us about 2 1/2 hours to find, but we did eventually find it on the other side of the road to where we were looking and about 200 metres away.

1924 20hp. Rolls Roycez.JPG

Drive safe out the folks and be prepared for the unexpected.

Regards Rick.


This is the trailer on the White:
IMG_6352[1]b.jpg

[Ian Johns]

This one is the only one I have seen. Post war they strapped a wrecker on top of the fifth wheel for some reason. I found this in a old boat yard.

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by lynx42

This is the trailer on the White.

Attachment 80225

regards Rick.

I don't fancy ANY blowout, let alone that heavy thing, beautiful though it is.
Someone needs to invent a foam 'run flat' material you can spray into the tube.

[Private_collector]

Since the tyre incident I haven't driven my grey truck much. With the miserable failure of fitting any of my NDT tyres to the CMP wheels, I have been looking for modern replacements. I have now been to every single tyre business in town, and any that don't do heavy haulage vehicles just say they can't help and send me to the truck places. Long story short, NONE of the tyre businesses have access to any tyres that will fit my wheels. Not entirely true. One place did find a single Firestone tyre that would have been good, but they were $740.00 each. He suggested I ring Antique Tyres, after finding they have 9.00 x 16" NDTs, but warned me they would probably still be expensive. Around $400 to $450 he guessed. I wish he was right, because when I rang them they quoted $550 each,........and those were out of stock for another 8 weeks until the boat arrives from USA. Oh , and then there's cartage from the supplier to me. Probably another couple of hundred or so. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! It's a serious possibility that these vehicles could be put off the road in the not too distant future, simply because you can't get affordable tyres to run them on. One place today, told me nobody makes an effort to buy in anything other than the most commonly used tyres, because that's where the bulk of their customers are. He also said a majority of well known brands are now made in china anyway. Well thats lovely, isn't it. Looks like I won't be potting too many miles on the clock in foreseeable future. Bloody ridiculous.

[Mrs Vampire]

9X16" is that the same as 25pdr?? I brought a set delivered to Auburn for $600 bucks
from Qld supplier

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Since the tyre incident I haven't driven my grey truck much. With the miserable failure of fitting any of my NDT tyres to the CMP wheels, I have been looking for modern replacements. I have now been to every single tyre business in town, and any that don't do heavy haulage vehicles just say they can't help and send me to the truck places. Long story short, NONE of the tyre businesses have access to any tyres that will fit my wheels. Not entirely true. One place did find a single Firestone tyre that would have been good, but they were $740.00 each. He suggested I ring Antique Tyres, after finding they have 9.00 x 16" NDTs, but warned me they would probably still be expensive. Around $400 to $450 he guessed. I wish he was right, because when I rang them they quoted $550 each,........and those were out of stock for another 8 weeks until the boat arrives from USA. Oh , and then there's cartage from the supplier to me. Probably another couple of hundred or so. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! It's a serious possibility that these vehicles could be put off the road in the not too distant future, simply because you can't get affordable tyres to run them on. One place today, told me nobody makes an effort to buy in anything other than the most commonly used tyres, because that's where the bulk of their customers are. He also said a majority of well known brands are now made in china anyway. Well thats lovely, isn't it. Looks like I won't be potting too many miles on the clock in foreseeable future. Bloody ridiculous.

Have you tried the MRF dealer in Dubbo ? He imports from India .

[Mrs Vampire]

I think this is where I got them . $290 each


http://www.milspares.com.au/Catalog15-16Web.pdf