A nice story

[Keith Webb]

Just found this on the ABC website. There must be hundreds of stories like this - isn't it good to see one actually published.

"Tales Of Outback Australia - TSH Hall
Arriving as I did in June 1949 in Australia under an ex-servicemen’s ‘new settlers scheme’ sponsored by the British/Australian government of the day, I was asked by my employers at the PMG Department in Rockhampton, Queensland, to go to central western Queensland to carry out the annual vehicle inspections of the PMG Department in that area.

I left Rockhampton early in January 1951, my final destination being Longreach. On reaching Emerald some 150 miles west of Rockhampton, I was informed that the road over the Drummond Range was impassable due to boggy conditions and a detour via Clermont was required, Clermont being 60 miles north of Emerald.

I arrived in Barcaldine just on dark and the heavens opened – it rained for two days. The road was a blacksoil track in parts, the road running alongside the western rail line. At Ilfracombe, some 15 miles east of Longreach, I came across a flock of some 5,800 sheep with eight stockmen and 10 Kelpie/blue cattle working dogs. Some of them said ‘G’day’ and off again to work. Two were having a ‘layday’ under the cook’s camp wagon, resting on boards between the wheels.

I left Longreach towards Jundah some 120 miles south west, with a new group engineer to keep me company. At one halt, hundreds of galahs were perched on the two-wire telephone line. The engineer banged the door of the utility with his hand to disturb the birds and they flew off all at once. We were told on reaching Jundah that by the engineer’s actions, the wires could have wrapped around themselves and put the line out of use. After doing an engine change on the Jundah PMG Ford Blitz, it was back to Longreach.

The Blackall Ford Blitz also needed an engine change at Isisford on the Barcco River, some 90 miles south west of Longreach. Some 15 miles from Isisford, I bogged the vehicle I was in and when I did not arrive as Isisford at the estimated time of arrival, the Barcaldine PMG crew came looking for me. They found me and became bogged themselves, despite having wheel chains on the tyres and carrying the new engine for the Blackall Blitz. The three of us walked 12 miles into Isisford in pouring rain at night, arriving around 2.15am. Two days later, we were able to free the chain tyred Chevrolet carrying the spare engine with a tractor. My travelling ute was stuck for three months because of the Wet.

The local Isisford garage was in the main street about 250 metres from the Barcco River in flood and the garage, having a blacksoil floor, saw the Ford Blitz sink down to the axles. The first thing was to un-bog the Blitz, which took half a day using timber. With the vehicle on hard ground and a tarpaulin as cover, the engine change was made and I, together with the Blackall employee and Barcaldine crew, made a very slow and steady journey in the wet back to Blackall and eventually returned to Rockhampton in July.

But the most memorable part of my trip was the Yellowbelly (Golden Perch) in the Barcco at Isisford – fish three times a day at Isisford’s pub! "

Source

[Keith Webb]

This one is less than complimentary and comes from a Car website describing a low production Australian built car of the 70s:

FORD XY FALCON 4X4

Earlier this year and with considerable fanfare, Ford launched its Falcon-based Territory all-wheel-drive.

In 1972 and with hardly a murmur, Ford also became the first Australian manufacturer since Caldwell-Vale to produce a four-wheel drive vehicle that wasn't primarily intended for military use.

The XY Falcon 4x4 utility was built at Ford's Brisbane factory, using running gear from the Jeep Wagoneer, three-speed transmissions and Ford's 4.1-litre/250ci engine.

Suspension was by rudimentary semi-elliptic springs that gave a ride reminiscent of the WWII Ford Blitz, while the block-tread tyres and standard winch further emphasized the 4x4's off-road credentials.

Just 432 were made and they appear in the market with sufficient frequency to maintain buyer interest. Prices range from around $7000 for those that have been used as their maker intended to over $12,000 for immaculate, restored examples.

[Keith Webb]

...revealed this audio grab of our own Salesman Bob...

[Keith Webb]

which comes from an article on Restored Classics
The truck is/was located in Gladstone, Qld and has been fitted with a winch kit.

[Max Hedges]

keith, surely you would have a couple of pictures of blitzs in the outback in your collection to add to the ABC site stories.
Max

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Keith Webb
Tales Of Outback Australia - TSH Hall

Keith,

Good story ........I wonder how people today would cope with a job like that, with 6 months away from home chasing old trucks

Richard

[Keith Webb]

"George Blundell, who operated the service station in conjunction with the business, did most of the deliveries and collecting of supplies, first with an Austin A70 utility, then with an old ex-army short wheelbase blitz wagon he had bought in 1947. He kept the decrepit old blitz for about a year before buying a bigger one from the army disposal yards at Tempe. It was almost brand new, with an army canopy and high sides, which he removed in order to convert to an eight-foot by eighteen-foot flatbed tray."

Source

It's nice to see how these vehicles are woven into the fabric of our history.

[Keith Webb]

Sawmills were large users of CMPs but by the 1970s most had worn out and been retired.
Here's a mention of those days, found on the Australian National University website:

"The walk-saw site used by Peter Scheele
For many years Mr Peter Scheele cut sleepers and road marker posts in the local state forests. He cut down trees and using an old Blitz Wagon with a jury rigged crane on the back he dragged the logs to a level wooden platform made from square-cut sleepers laid in a forest clearing. This platform served as the cutting platform for his Hagen saw, a large circular saw mounted on a long arm extending forward from the paired wheels which also carried the petrol engine powering the saw. The logs were marked out with chalk lines and the saw was walked forward to make the long cuts.

Peter's skill was legendary and he must have been one of the last sleeper cutters using a 'walksaw' on the south coast. I recall seeing a lined up stack of several hundred sleepers, about 20 sleepers high, with less that 1cm variation at each side such was his cutting accuracy.

About 1978 Peter Scheele moved his walksaw platform from the forest edge outside the Foundation boundary to a patch of flat land just to the north of the London's Cutting Road as it enters the forest. This was the last platform site he used. Peter was then in his late 70's. A second walk saw site lies further up hill (pers comm. Michael Tracey)."

[Keith Webb]

And from my website comes this 1959 article on owning a Blitz...




"IT could be worth a lot to you to know that there's still a lively and widespread demand for Blitz trucks - the work-horses many of us knew so well during the war.

Although production started in 1942 and ceased in 1945, the Australian Army has still many thousands in use. They are regularly offered for sale through the Disposals Commission in the various States.
A useful number of used Blitz trucks are also put on the market by civil firms who use them on contracting jobs.

In most capital cities there are companies which specialise in buying, selling and reconditioning ex-Army Blitz trucks. Their vehicles go to all parts of Australia.

What do you have to pay for them? Up to about £630-£700, although plenty sell cheaper. Not a bad buy, when that amount of money gets you something you might have had to pay £2,000 for-and depreciation is only a fraction of what it would be with the more costly sort of new truck. And they don't need roads!

When - the American Army commissioned, the production of the four wheel drive truck we now know as the "Blitz" , they demanded a rugged go-anywhere do-anything track capable of making its own way through life without the luxury of a made road.

Most Blitz trucks to be used here were made by Ford and Chevrolet. They answered the army demands so successfully that the old war-time khaki has been traded in for a peace-time green, and they're still in use all over Australia. You see them doing anything from carrying seven tons of sugar cane to operating boring rigs from rear driven winches.

A Sydney firm which specialises in Blitz wagons, Russell Pearson Motor Sales, recently told COUNTRY that one buyer flew in from Oodnadatta, bought a reconditioned Blitz and drove it home 1,900 miles. The same firm has also sold vehicles to graziers and farmers in the Kimberleys, northern Queensland and N.T.

Even at £600 or more, a Blitz is good value provided its mechanical condition is faultless and the mileage moderate. They are versatile workers, extremely robust and durable and capable of carrying up to eight tons when fitted with dual rear wheels. Being second-hand units they carry no sales tax.

A man who normally uses a truck for 8,000-10,000 miles a year can reason it this way: A new truck capable of doing a similar job as a Blitz retails around the £2,000 mark, including sales tax, Its rate of depreciation is high, particularly during the first few years. He can expect its value to drop about £800 in eighteen months - a depreciation factor of over £10 a week.

In comparison, a reconditioned Blitz involves an investment of about £650. The days of its initial high rate of depreciation are long since over, Given normal use, the owner can expect it to depreciate at about £3 a week for a year or two and then at a lower rate.

Apart from price considerations, the ready availability of spare parts and good mechanical accessibility are important reasons contributing to the popularity of the Blitz. Both Chevrolet and Ford trucks use engines which are almost identical to the power plant sold in the sedans of the 1939-1946 era. Apart from the transfer case, which provides front wheel drive and two driving ratios, all mechanical parts are common to normal Ford and Chevrolet trucks. New and used spare parts are readily available. Major components can be quickly removed for overhaul or repair.

In most cases, Blitz trucks bought from the army disposals are in good mechanical shape, with a reasonably low mileage. Many have been standing for long periods and it is likely that some oil seals, particularly those in the transfer case, will have deteriorated to the point where they require replacing.

A range of Blitz trucks and types are currently being sold - short wheelbase, long wheelbase, l2ft. table top, 14 ft. table, single and dual rear wheels. Some of the firms specialising in reconditioned Blitz units equip them with new table tops before selling. They are sold in a range of capacities - 15 cwt., 30/40 cwt., 3 ton, 5 ton and 7 ton.

The mechanical specifications are conventional. They have four speed gearboxes, with a rear mounter transfer case offering high and low driving ratios as well as two and four wheel drive. Boosted hydraulic brakes are usually fitted.

Because there is an ample supply of ex-army Blitz trucks on the market and a steady demand for them from a wide range of users, at least one dealer operates a mail order business for customers who cannot get to a capital city."

[Keith Webb]

from the Kurnell website



"Several years prior to the construction of the Caltex/Council road to Kurnell and for many years after, Spencer Lowe, proprietor of the Alexandria Bus Company, ran a tourist service to Kurnell. Aware that conventional rearwheel-drive vehicles were impractical in the Kurnell terrain, he had a purpose-built coach built on the chassis of a two and a half ton, 6 wheel-drive ex-army GMC cargo truck. It had a 36-horse power engine. He extended the wheelbase to 19 feet 9 inches, added double wheels to each of the two rear axles, fitted bar-tread tyres to all wheels and raised the ground clearance of the vehicle. The finished cream-coloured coach was 32 feet 9 inches long with a 40-seat passenger body. It negotiated the sand and swamp by engaging the 10-wheel-drive transmission. It was claimed to be the largest touring vehicle in NSW and required 4 steps to enter the dust-proofed seating area, upholstered with blue seats. A public address system, a shovel and mattock were available for emergencies."




"He used to drive the Stutz out here to Kurnell, pick people up, and take them in to Cronulla to the pictures on a Wednesday and a Saturday night. The Friday night bus was called the 'drunks bus' because it ran at closing time for the pub. Then he bought an old army blitz and they had to drive that out there when the tides were very high because they couldn't get the bus through. And if they did have the bus, they used to have to take the blitz truck too, to tow the bus through the high water. He also used the blitz to carry shellgrit. It was amazing what they did do!"