FWD HAR-01

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by jack neville

Of the few remaining HAR 01 trucks so far encountered none have any rear body remains. Photos I have acquired so far are very small or poor quality so getting an idea of construction is limited.
Wheels And Tracks #5 mentions the trucks as being fitted with Canadian produced GS bodywork. “Two types of body were made for the HAR 01 chassis; they carried Codes 4R1 and 4R2 and were made by Brentford Coach and Body Ltd.”
They appear to be of steel construction.
Was this body style fitted to other Canadian sourced trucks? When the time comes I would like to build as accurate a copy of the correct body.
Is there any known blueprints of this body style?

And some more info from the AEDB Design Record:

Design_Record_Volume_5_Basic_Bodies_and_Non-technical_Vehicles_0125.jpg Design_Record_Volume_5_Basic_Bodies_and_Non-technical_Vehicles_0126.jpg

[jack neville]

Thank you Hanno. Exactly what I need. The POW cans are interesting being on both sides and in that location. Do you think there is two X sets of three cans or just two individual cans.
The square shape did have me intrigued when looking at the small fuzzy images.
Any thoughts on whether the tailgate would be standard? I expect there is a hole corresponding to a hole in the front of the body for passage of the winch cable.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by jack neville

Any thoughts on whether the tailgate would be standard? I expect there is a hole corresponding to a hole in the front of the body for passage of the winch cable.

Typically with a mid-mounted winch, the winch cable is fed under the chassis and out to the rear or front, depending on where the pull is needed.

But one of the sheets mentions a small door in the fron of the 4R1 body to permit the passage of a cable. A was the winch used to hoist the diesel engine into and off the body? In that case I don't think the tailgate needs a hole, it would be lowered to permit exit and entry of the load.

This type of vehicle is unknown to me, so I do not know if the diesel engine was bolted onto the body, or just carried within and could be taken out. It says the body has angles attached to the floor of the body for "mounting" the diesel engine.

What did the diesel engine do? Drive a generator?

[jack neville]

It would seem that the Diesel engine powered trailered radar units.
Why diesel? That itself seems unusual given most allied vehicles and equipment was petrol.
I knew nothing of this truck until recently either. There appears to be only one restored in the UK and no others being worked on.
Any and all information is going to be very welcome.
And needed!

[jack neville]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

And some more info from the AEDB Design Record:

Attachment 125777 Attachment 125778

In the above description it refers to “the substructure comprises seven (7) 10 ga. H.R.B.A. formed steel cross sills and two (2) 10 ga. H.R.B.A.longitudinal sills, the cross sills being laid on their flanges while the longitudinal sills are inverted. Hardwood fillers are provided for the longitudinal sills.”

I’m not familiar with what H.R.B.A stands for and can anyone explain how the longitudinal sills would look with the timber fillers?

[Grant Bowker]

I think that HRBA = Hot Rolled Blue Annealed - but will be happy to be corrected.
The longitudinal sills are C shaped, wider than tall with the open face downward. The timber filling sits inside the sill (or in other words between the sill and the frame) to provide a bit of compliance/cushioning.