F30 4x4

[Rod Salter]

I recently slipped out of the paddock before daylight, and did a cross border raid under the cover of a lot of smoke into the state where they have yellow number plates.
You have to make a donation to cross and use the road, and to make sure you do there are many pole mounted cameras !

I had a very basic hand drawn map, and luckily a road was closed due to the fires, so going another way around turned out to be the correct way.

Eventually I almost found a right hand door, so I must be on the "right" track



Then a left door, this is getting better





Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, I can almost smell the rust of a blitz

and finally an almost camouflaged truck



Not another tree with a blitz?


.

[Rod Salter]

In due time we were met with the owners and their old backhoe



Removing that extended front bumper arrangement, mostly with a cold chisel was an exercise in its self.

Eventually got it loaded onto my smallish trailer


appoligies for photo quality

I crawled out of there in low 4 with diff lock onto the narrow bitumen, and for the first 15 clicks I don't think I got past 3rd as I twisted and turned back up the range.
On the flat and into high range I comfortably rolled along at a good convoy speed, getting home, way after dark.
The neighbours didn't see this one come in!

Home and in the flash shed "The one with concrete slabs for a floor"



Its 134 inches long


.

[Rod Salter]

So what have I got?

The price was right - FREE!

It is a FORD



so by the length a 30 CWT (WOW, I haven't got one of them!)

Early aliminuim heads with water pumps on top, to pump steam when it gets hot, and possibly a real pain to remove

The generator is stuck, some spark plugs and carby missing, therefore will be a mess inside, - - - IF I ever take it apart!

5/16 inch thick floors,



and 2 and a half 20"rims, nice headlight trim rings, a good left door.

What haven't I got?

Steering wheel, Radiator, Grille, Front Bumper, Front left hub and axle, rear right hub, both rear axles, transfer case, drive shafts, a right door and of course the windscreen/cab roof

Add a pintle hook and I'm good to go, Right?

Woe to anyone who runs up my backend! LOL



What am I going to do with this one?

Well, I cancelled its ticket for a deployment cruise to china for the time being

I suppose seeing as this is number 10 into the collection of chassis, and a good round number I should stop dragging these rusty remains home, and 10 would make a good convoy.
I've been asked how can I drive them all, I think once I get one registered and a set of plates, who will notice the difference, GREEN BLITZ should about cover them all?

Sorry Mike, I haven't found any numbers for you to look up as yet. None on gearbox or top of block, and can't quite see onto the chassis rail.

cheers rod

[Tony Smith]

The massive front overhang and the PTO levers on the cab floor indicate this might have had some sort of crane on it at some time in it's post-war life.

Wow, you're certainly enjoying the luxuries; concrete-floored sheds and all!

There's certainly a lot of smoke being produced up that way, and much of it in out of the way areas that used to have sawmills and independent-minded farmers that kept old Blitzes running for many years. Dreadful stuff, and I hope too much is not lost. Curiously, when the areas were being logged for timber, or pillaged for firewood, the fuel load on the ground was usually managed and maintained and fire management was an active part of living and working in the areas. Since the areas have been "preserved" as National Parks, the manpower to manage fire risks has reduced to the point where they are vast tracts of land waiting for dry weather and a strong wind to go whoosh. Many of these "Unique Ecologies" will take a decade or more to recover, if ever, and the communities in the area have been devastated.

You're probably just best for now to stay north of the border (stay safe!), and tell us where these trucks are popping up.

[lynx42]

The engine is an early one. Before 1937 being 21 stud with aluminium heads and the pumps in the heads. It may well be 1935/36 by the looks of it.

Regards Rick.

[Grant Bowker]

20" rims and 134" wheelbase suggest F60S rather than F30 to me but Australian production could be different than Canadian.
As an aside, for Canadian Chevrolets (not what we are talking about here) there was a service bulletin detailing the work/parts required to upgrade from C30 to C60S.

[Rod Salter]

I came across this video of the invention of the Ford V8 engine.

The water pumps are on the heads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RB3z1er9Sw

cheers rod

[Rod Salter]

While I am catching up
I have managed to get a Front left hub and axle, rear right hub, a rough radiator, maybe a transfer case,

No steering wheel, rear axles or drive shafts yet
Might need to repair that rim