"The Beast" in South Australia

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by oztankboy
Hi there!

Well I do have some doors salvaged from Kingaroy... And I have sent you some pic's in a email today Keith. From what I could make out the ARN is 132384 and the formation sign on the rear end was the Blue Maltese Cross with the kings crown on a white background making it a Northern Command vehicle Pre QEII days.

There is a little bit of rust in it... oh the usual place in the dodgy ford roof hatch... damn those things knew how to rust out! But have a good 1 to go in. I need to mention that there are a few bonus bullet holes... will add to it's war creds! Also have a pair of the 20 gal fuel tanks to boot.

It has all it's lockers etc inplace and also a spare wheel mount inside. BTW did the side ammo lockers have some kind of racking in them to take the ammo boxes?

Phil...

Interesting - I'll see what we can find out about the ARN for you. You're right about rusty roof hatches!
As far as I know a spare wasn't part of the orginal equipment with No8 tractors although it was with No9 which used normal tyres, and also carried a ramp on the side to load it. I've seen pictures of No8 Chevs with the spare on the roof. I suspect the internal spare bracket was an mod when the decided not to use runflats any more.
The narrow passage in the back of the vehicle would be completely taken up by the spare!
As for the side lockers I don't think they had racking and were more likely used to carry steel boxes. I have not seen a stowage diagram for these tractors.

Thanks in advance for the pics!

Keith