another Aussie humber fv1601

[David Herbert]

Hi John,
I regret that there are very few preserved Humber 1ton in the UK as they rotted away faster than people got interested in them.

At the risk of upsetting people in the UK I must say that you don't have to go far for inspiration. The Humber that Dave Mills has restored is a superb job and must be one of the best in the world and the Tilly project being done now by Jack Neville and Chris Collins is a masterclass in bringing a soft skin vehicle back from the dead. The are both written up in the 'Restorations' section of this forum.

David

[john piercey]

Hi David,i hadnt had time to check in the restorations section yet,but you are right some outstanding work going on now with the tilly and yes with Daves humber which i have followed with interest.
Having tackled some old car restos in the past i know the process can be long and drawn out/painful/costly but ultimately rewarding,but there is a point where i have had to decide that some projects are just going to be "too much" EG work/time/money/skun knuckles/oxy acetylene burns/impossible to find parts/or just plain above my skill levels prone,but it is good to see others who can and do tackle such tasks especially when it is well photographed and documented, more so when the vehicle is indeed rare and or on the endangered list.

John

[john piercey]

Richard ,where you found auction disposal dates etc is there any mention of where auctions took place,i am wondering if they took place over east and new buyers transported them elsewhere like to WA,or did WA units just dispose of them at local level hence these few here are maybe ex 10th light horse vehicles or poss other Western Aust regiments.
I may be wrong(correct me otherwise)but i assume they transported vehicles back to a central holding yard in Vic or NSW or QLD back then, nowadays i think they spread auctions around the states thru Grays,or is it all online?
You said other vehicles had same disposal info / numbers etc on them same as 105-691 any ides how many?,1969 must have been the last batch to go surely, as 64-67 seems to be the stated main period for getting rid of them or did they just sit around for years?.
John

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

The little information available is handwritten, by several different clerks, with various acronyms used, depending on who did the writing.
I can tell you that yours was one of 15 sold off with the notation 5B/VSD/B27, all written by the same hand, and among the last to be demobbed.
I'm reasonably confident that the notation 3BOD/SEY/ is 3 Base Ordinance Depot at Seymour (Puckapunyal), this could mean the 5B/VSD is 5 Base Ordinance Depot at VSD?
I believe that your batch would have been sold in WA. In those days I'm pretty sure the disposal was done through a specific army base in each State, not subbed out like today. So it would not have made sense (even for the army...) to bring them back East.
A few went in '66, the bulk was sold mid '67 to late '69. There were a few with no date, and the odd anomaly, but it appears none of them made it to the 70's.
I hope this is of some help.
Rich.

[john piercey]

Richard,thats interesting info,i may never ever know its full story but if theres a chance it was last used in WA i could probably take artistic licence and mark it out as at least some WA regt with some glimmer of truth behind it.
Midland was a transport depot and another was alongside Canning hwy in Sth Perth area from memory all long gone now,just trying to decipher the VSD bit?.
Removed tub to get at everything eventually, but concentrating on roof rust at moment so dont want grinding grit every where it doesnt have to be.
rubbed back doors yesterday but not a hint of markings left,i presume it was rubbed down prior to red fire unit paint which may have been the cause of said marks to have disappeared,also may have been when tool brackets etc went walkabout.
John

[john piercey]

Just as an aside to Humber movements this shows the lengths of travel some service vehicles saw,the ex RNZIR 66 kiwi land rover i have which is closer to british MOD ones spec wise than Aussie landys, went to NZ then shipped to singapore and may have seen vietnam service was imported to Perth in a batch of landys and bedford RLs may be 20 or more vehicles in mid 80s for auction here instead of returning to NZ, so army type decisions can be a bit puzzling in any country,unless they WERE sold off in Singapore and then imported by a private concern.
I saw 6 or 7 of the landrovers some were rotten as a chop chassis wise others were near perfect all with low mileages ,some made it on to WA roads but havent seen any recently,the sole Bedford i saw was very nice all hood bows and canvas present went to a collector i know not where,there is a bit of a write up on REMLR re the auction and numbers but i cant remember it clearly.
John

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Thanks Robert, my assumptions may be correct.
Don't worry too much about the crowbar, while I know the brackets were designed for a crowbar, I have yet to see any proof of them being fitted. Dave has gone to the trouble of sourcing a period correct military issue item, I like to think it is the first Humber to finally get it's own bar.

John, you have plenty of artistic licence, you only have to please one person! Apart from which, there is so little information relating to the Humber in our service, I have only seen a handful of in service photo's. It will be a rare occurrence indeed to be called out on anything re: the Humber, although I hope you would resist the urge paint general stars all over the bumper as was the craze amongst Jeep owners a few tears back!
Rich.

[Robert Sexton]

Richard, my research for WW1 and WW2 personnel all refer to the 5th Military District when dealing with WA. You are most likely correct to assume that "5B" means 5th Base and when we get to Nasho's all the regimental numbers for personnel WA start with 5.if the.Hopefully when I am in the big city again I will see some people at the Fremantle Army Museum as they have a collection of records (and vehicles).
I still am thinking that the crow bar on the Humber shown be Dave has been pinched from a railway gang.
regards, Robert