What's this for?

cmperry4 · #1 14-08-04, 11:03

I hate to be an ignoramus, but I don't know what this does, and neither did the guy I bought the C8A from. It appears to be original equipment, but neither of us could figure out what it might be for. Sun visor? Blackout gear? Hat rack? Too light to be a handhold. Map light bracket? It's located above the driver's door.

Bob Carriere · #2 17-08-04, 06:15

Don't touch it... it activates the self destruction mechanism.....LOL

Bob C.

Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) · #3 17-08-04, 06:22

I think it's the ejector seat activation mechanism...

Snowtractor · #4 17-08-04, 06:50

...purse holder. You must have got one of the Girl CMP's.

Sean

cmperry4 · #5 17-08-04, 08:01

Ejector seat mechanism makes sense - check out that driver's seat - should move the roof hatch to the other side, though:

Keith Webb · #6 17-08-04, 08:08

Like the cup holder on the doghouse - must be an optional extra along with the purse holder.

cmperry4 · #7 17-08-04, 08:09

Or a girly CMP? That could explain that cute little strap up behind the driver's seat:

cmperry4 · #8 17-08-04, 08:11

By the way, I should colour-correct these pictures - what looks like a grey interior scheme is actually a pastel green - that is to say, airplane cockpit green, in effect.

cmperry4 · #9 17-08-04, 08:20

Yeh, I was wondering about *that* too - looks like there should be a cover for it - unless it's where the flower vase is supposed to go.

Snowtractor · #10 17-08-04, 08:30

...you know how we call our trucks 'Old girl' or 'baby' I guess you'll have to name that girl truck "Apollo" or "Anthony" or "Cecil" or "Thunderpants" ...and be gentle when you're shifting him lol
Sean

PS sorry Mark, but its kind of funny.

PPS I've a 2003 dodge pickup and on the passenger side there is a hook on the lower dash to hang a little garbage bag. I got home after buying it and my wife loved the truck but complained about something insignificant on the drivers side, I forget what. So I told her that is was because trucks are designed for men to drive. She , of course said BS. So I said "Why do you think they put the purse holder on the passenger side" she shut up.

She still thinks it is a purse holder...one battle won, but the war continues.

Snowtractor · #11 17-08-04, 08:32

Quote:

Originally posted by cmperry4
explain that cute little strap up behind the driver's seat:

isn't that where the ankle goes...

Sean

Snowtractor · #12 17-08-04, 08:41

Speculating,
It seems to be a heavy bracket with different notches for tension or settings or lock position. Could a cable have run from it to the back or outside to unlock the door or orient a fixture. Is there a hole which would allow it to operate a sign outside like a breakdown sign or school bus sign? This is the one from Sask that was painted yellow? Snap a few more pics if you can or unbolt it and snap some pics.
Sean

cmperry4 · #13 17-08-04, 18:18

Snowtractor - that's exactly what it is, a flat handle, sprung so it clicks into the detents - but apart from an old piece of wire twisted on to the handle, it doesn't seem to have been linked to anything, like a "stop" sign, which you implied.

It's too light to be a an assist handle for the driver.

The yellow paint job I presumed was for an airfield vehicle (the yellow is over blue), not a school bus. There is also GVW6500 stencilled on the fuel tank kick panels, but not other markings or signs of them, except for a small patch on the LH door where the paint is removed.

Maybe that thingy on the doghouse was for a light mount - flashing cherry or something. Radio?

Ankle strap - hhmmmm - that might explain why the sliding roof hatch was repositioned forward - I recall something about blondes liking cars with sunroofs because there's more legroom. At this point I suppose I should put in a link to a Paris Hilton website, for futher information.

Seriously, it would interesting to find out what some of these mystery items are. There's also a clevis bracket on the rooof up behind the mate's seat, but it looks like a much more recent addition. Then we have to figure out what the two holes in the roof behind the hip ring do, my theory being they are for drawstrings to snug down the canvas cover. They are even grommeted through the paperboard.

Snowtractor · #14 18-08-04, 05:00

Quote:

Originally posted by cmperry4
There is also GVW6500 stencilled on the fuel tank kick panels, .

Well that should stand for Gross Vehicle Weight 6500 but as to the others? Something on top that had to be oriented like a light or post war radar , camera truck?

Sean

Harry Moon · #15 19-08-04, 01:40

I think it is the handle for the signal flag that swings out on the left side in place of hand signals. straIGHT UP FOR RIGHT TURN, STRAIGHT OUT FOR LEFT TURNS AND DOWN FOR BRAKING ALTHOUGH THE CMP DID HAVE BRAKE LIGHTS, darn hit that caplock button again. Don Gordens old C15A had the signal device still on his . The thing on the Dog house? No idea!

chris vickery · #16 19-08-04, 05:27

Cmperry, "pastel green"? Where I'm from men only identify but the basic colours, you know like "green". Not pastel, soft, light, perriwinkle etc etc. I know this because my missus does interior decorating and we always have it out when discussing colour. What I see as a green usually ends up as No.2345 lemon dream cloudburst or some other goofy thing!
Maybe the boys are onto something with the purseholder???

Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) · #17 19-08-04, 06:12

That thingy on the engine cover is where your tin mug full of whiskey goes. Just fill it 2/3 full or it'll splash on the bumps.

cmperry4 · #18 19-08-04, 18:23

Ahem - I used that colour as a reference based on it once having been a standard Land Rover colour. One theory goes that the first Land Rover interiors were painted that shade of green only because there was an ample supply of surplus aircraft cockpit green paint. (as with the aluminum first used for the body panels). Pastel Green was the name for the light green used as a body colour on Series II-III Land Rovers.

Now if I had said "seafoam green" you might have had a case.

As for the mystery handle operating some kind of semaphore. there is a hole on the inside and a slot on the outside at the top of the door pillar between the first and second doors on the *left hand* side, in the sort of location you might have had one of those turn-signal semaphores of old, but I can't visualize what sort of linkage you'd have, perhaps some sort of wire and pulley arrangement running across the (now missing) cabin partition. There is a scrap of wire still attached to the handle. Maybe it had something to do with the blackout curtains.

Mystery binnacle on the doghouse - whisky cup holder - makes as much sense as anything so far suggested.

Snowtractor · #19 19-08-04, 21:29

Quote:

Originally posted by cmperry4
Ahem - I used that colour as a reference based on it once having been a standard Land Rover colour.

Erm, yeah sure

Quote:

As for the mystery handle operating some kind of semaphore. there is a hole on the inside and a slot on the outside at the top of the door pillar between the first and second doors on the *left hand* side, in the sort of location you might have had one of those turn-signal semaphores

I am sure the mystery is solved, migt have been a pulley in the front corner to redirect the wire. Remember we are left hand drive here so it makes sense there was something like that system

Quote:

There is a scrap of wire still attached to the handle.

see

Quote:

doghouse - whisky cup holder -

whiskey-doghouse-bowl....seems to indicate its a whiskey bowl for rex when the boys go out a hunting...see earlier thread on cmps and camping

Sean

Hanno Spoelstra · #20 19-08-04, 22:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Snowtractor
whiskey-doghouse-bowl....seems to indicate its a whiskey bowl for rex when the boys go out a hunting...see earlier thread on cmps and camping

Hunting? You must be meaning CMP Spotting, don't you?!?

rob love · #21 25-08-04, 02:50

I have seen this mechanism on many of the CMPs from Saskatchewan. When I was in MooseJaw, the older collectors told me that there was a law back in the 50s that the right hand drive vehicles had to have the indicater mechanism because, although people were familiar with hand signals, (and they probably still are in Saskatchewan )
they weren't used to seeing it out the right side. Although I have seen the handle in many of the trucks,I don't think I've ever seen the outside marker still present.

Snowtractor · #22 25-08-04, 06:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Hanno Spoelstra
Hunting? You must be meaning CMP Spotting , don't you?!?

Duly admonished, must have had a TWO-FOUR in my ears

Sean

cmperry4 · #23 25-08-04, 06:20

That makes the most sense of anything so far - as I noted, there is also a hole and slot on the left side that could have mounted the semaphore. Mike Heiberg however said he brought the truck to Saskatchewan from B.C. - but could have been in Sask. even before that, unless they had a similar law in B.C. Now to figure out what the bracket with the clevis pin in the cab roof is for - part of the hip-ring tie-down system?

cmperry4 · #24 02-02-05, 10:34

I started to remove the old pressboard liner panels in the HUP today. The first one I unscrewed was the top piece on the inside of the spare tire recess. When I pulled if off there was a piece of wood lath and a metal piece resting in the top of the "X" of the carrier recess - lo and behold, it was the cover for the "cupholder" - the mystery opening on the top of the doghouse. What's more, it was painted in the original olive drab, not the oobleck green, which suggests it had been sitting there since the '50s, when I figure the RCAF did that interior paint job.
I'm guessing someone was working on the engine, had the doghouse in the back, took the cover off for some reason, rested it on the window ledge, then maybe vibration caused it to fall off an slip behind the pressboard. It was either looked for, presumed missing, or not missed and back went the doghouse sans cover. No theories about that piece of lath though.
A surprising and pleasing find, to say the least.

This shows it, where I found it, and where it belongs:

Rolf S. Ask · #25 02-02-05, 12:46

that the cupholder thing is somewhat to make it easier to get to the airfilter to give the engine a small drink before starting it up after long time? As I have understood, the air filter is shaped as it is, so you just loosen the screw on it and then the petrol will seep down in to the carb...
Some old users of the CMP's in Norway told me this is the way to give it a starthelp. Don't take the filter of.
Or could it be some sort of wading equipment?
To let the air intake come up trough the dog house?

Rolf

cmperry4 · #26 02-02-05, 21:41

It's possible - I was noting in the parts book for the HUP the extensive listing of "articized" equipment, such as heaters oil dilution and so on, so maybe this feature was related to possible installation of arctic equipment (the truck was in Canada, after all), but I don't see any other indications of that as far as I can tell. The staff car was also supposed to have hot-water heating in the cabin, too, but I haven't seen any evidence of that.

Thanks for the suggestion.

cletrac (RIP) · #27 03-02-05, 01:20

Here's a picture of the semaphore and signal lever in my 13 cab in Sask. Years ago lots of old farm trucks had these signals installed. It was simpler than installing signal lights.

cmperry4 · #28 03-02-05, 03:10

Plus, it's hard to stick your left arm out the window to signal when driving on the right-hand side. Good pics, thanks cletrac - certainly fully explain the operation of the mystery lever, as well as accounting for the the holes in the pillar in the exact spot where the semaphore would go.

Maurice Donckers · #29 03-02-05, 07:58

Yes that thing is for deep water fording , it is a feature of late chev`s . All the Airportable C60`s wich came from the French Army storage had that , seems to be introduced at the same time wenn also the doors got the pressing on the inside for wiring and lubrication diagrams . I have several bonnets at home were you can see that they cut that same piece out of the dog house , and folded it backwards , and later was bent back again and welded up again .
I have a picture somewere in a book were one can clearly see the hose comming out of the dog house , and then going up and sticking out on a post atached to the windscreen frame.

Gunner · #30 25-02-05, 20:57

Hi Mark:

Your driver's seat appears to be out of a Dodge M37 or APT... much more comfy than the CMP original.

The bracket with the clevis pin is part of the hip ring cover. The cord that went around the canvas cover passed through two lined holes in the roof and connected to a spring which in turn connected to the clevis.

Cheers! Mike