Restored Strickland Bren Tractor

bstrickland · #1 30-12-07, 02:58

I have recently finished restoring a Strickland Bren Tractor which i have entered into the Tracked Vehicle event in Corowa 2008.

I have attached a photo of the first test drive. Both my brother Matt and I are direct decendents of Jack Strickland the engineer who designed the tractor conversion. We used alot of his original drawings and designs to complete the restoration.

Thought I'd share it with you.

Cheers
Bruce

Plushy · #2 30-12-07, 03:47

Hi Bruce Welcome to MLU . The Strickland looks great any chance you could post up more photos and if possible make them a little larger ?

Cheers Plushy

Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) · #3 30-12-07, 03:54

G'day Bruce, outstanding restoration! It will be great to see it running...

As Plushy says, have you any more pics?

Jif

Bob Moseley (RIP) · #4 30-12-07, 05:55

Hi Bruce - great restoration. I have 5 Stricklands recorded on my Carrier database. Can you supply your details, ie. Hull Number,date and place of manufacture and type, ie. LP2/2A.
Bob

Keith Webb · #5 30-12-07, 10:22

Congratulations Bruce and Matt!

What a great effort to preserve a very interesting piece of our history.

Here is a page on the subject of Bren Tractors

Looking forward to seeing you both and the tractor at Corowa.

I wonder what Jack would have thought.

bstrickland · #6 01-01-08, 06:23

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate the interest.

I have attached a file containing more photo's (sorry cant seem to get the photo thing working on this), I am happy to send more pics to your email address (i know how to do this) and info if you require. Sorry doing my best with the pics its all new to me.

These are pics from when we picked her up and a brief restore phase. As you can probably tell the kerosene vaporisor is not authentic I had to manufacture my own through original documents. I am still chasing one if anyone knows the whereabouts of one.

Bob the details of my Bren Tractor is Sth Aus Rail 4198 LP2A. She is one of the first few conversions as the spacer brackets are solid steel instead of the mandral bent spacers. That's about all I know about her.

Cheers
Bruce
http://C:\Documents and Settings\use...d Tractor Pics

Keith Webb · #7 01-01-08, 06:33

Hi Bruce

Looks like you've tried to link to your local hard drive which won't work.

I'll send you an email and you can send me some pics to add.

Keith

bstrickland · #8 01-01-08, 06:38

Thanks Keith appreciate your help.

Cheers
Bruce

Bob Moseley (RIP) · #9 01-01-08, 07:58

Thanks Bruce - details added to my database. Your Carrier originally was a 1943 manufacture SAR LP2A under Order Number MOS.170.
Bob

bstrickland · #10 01-01-08, 09:34

This is what she looked like when we picked her up.

bstrickland · #11 01-01-08, 09:36

She's getting a paint job. We stripped her back to bare metal, undercoated her with red oxide and sprayed with olive drab acrylic.

bstrickland · #12 01-01-08, 09:40

Picture of the Kerosene vaporisor I manuafactured myself using original disagrams from Jack. I made it out of stainless steal to reduce as much heat as possible. Its only a get by until i find an original... so if anyone out there knows of one or anyone willing to sell please let me know.

Cheers
Bruce

Keith Webb · #13 01-01-08, 15:28

Bruce sent me a couple of large ones which I have resized. In this case I was able to retouch it to sort of remove the yellow date.

Keith Webb · #14 01-01-08, 15:29

Next one:

Bob Moseley (RIP) · #15 03-01-08, 11:26

Hi Bruce
Just to tease you, here are close ups of the vaporisor on the Kaniva Strickland.

Bob

phoenix · #16 07-01-08, 01:08

Now that is an impressive looking vehicle. Congratulations

I'll have to have a closer look at corowa

Bob Carriere · #17 07-01-08, 03:43

What is that "vaporisor"..... was it heated by exhaust gas to turn the gas vapor into fumes....??? why would they need that.... were they running kerosene...???

Just curious???

Bob

Tony Smith · #18 07-01-08, 11:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob Carriere
What is that "vaporisor"..... was it heated by exhaust gas to turn the gas vapor into fumes....??? why would they need that.... were they running kerosene...???

Bob

Exactly, got it in one, Bob. The Strickland was a postwar conversion of war-surplus Carriers, sold to Farmers as a stop-gap farm tractor. Normal production of tractors wasn't yet back to full swing and numbers couldn't keep up with demand. The Strickland used a vaporiser to enable Power Kerosene to be used as a fuel as Kero had significant tax benefits for Primary Producers compared to petrol, which was still being rationed in the post-war period.