Swap meet find 1942 Inter

[Mike Kelly]

A local swap meet had me finding a unusual and rare item in the form of a printed wartime document . A Victorian registration owners certificate for a 1940 Inter tip truck.

The truck was first registered on the 27th Feb 1941 ,reg CU 745 To a owner in Pt Nepean road Brighton . So what ! Well the second owner of this truck ,as indicated by the transfer of ownership in the certificate, on the 16/6/42, was the Defence Department, Sturt St. South Melbourne .

The trucks colours were blk grn red . Model no. D35 21761R

There is more .. the third owner was Mr. Victor Drew of 260 Racecourse road Flemington , this was 25/2/1946 , the reg number was now HN 323 . What is weird is there are two other ownership transfers on the same date that Vic Drew bought it.( Who remembers Bill Drew ? I do )

The last owner indicated was The Economic Cash Buying Co. of Leongatha 17/12/46

The 1941 rego fee was 28 pounds 4 shillings which I reckon was a hell of a lot of money for then.

The truck hp is 27 149" wheelbase

Pic of a similar truck. Marchants lemonade was around til the 1970's at least, only Victorians would remember it though

http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1469144

Demco were machinery dealers , I have a lathe sold by them

http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1469146

[Mike Kelly]

for your enjoyment

[Keith Webb]

Aaah yes, Bill Drew, his brother Les and sister whose name I can't recall but who used to be in the office most of the time. I think she died of lung cancer. Bill was always having trouble with Les as I recall.
For those who don't know, Bill and his siblings inherited the business from their father. By the time I knew them in the mid 70s they were truck wreckers and resellers of old surplus parts accumulated over decades.
They had several large yards in the Kensington, Ascot Vale and Moonee Ponds area full of truck wrecks including many CMPs and even a carrier.
I used to visit to collect parts when I worked for Hughes Auto Spares and was allowed to go through the yards when it suited them. I photographed them fairly comprehensively.
The yards are long gone, but last time I drove along Mt. Alexander Rd I noticed the shop was still there with it's collection of hubcaps in the window. This was quite some time ago, I wonder whether it's still there.

[Mike Cecil]

Ahh, yes, the 'Saturday Morning Circuit' with Peter G - we hit Billy Drew's first then Hughes Yard at Coburg (but not letting on we'd been to Bill Drews before hand, or a string of unrepeatable invective would be unleashed by the 'middle' Hughes whose name I cannot recall, and entry to the yard would be barred for the day. (Keith ... help me out with a name!)

Bill was always good humoured and even took us on a tour of the other premises on more than one occasion. I can remember being delighted when one treasure trove was opened up by Bill to reveal a stack of Boots, AB - only to find they were all size 5 and only the left foot!!

Dem woz the days, eh Keith, and I was a very late comer by comparison to you and Peter G.

Mike

[Mike Kelly]

I recall the occasion I was at Bills main yard , I think A Browne was with me , anyway he drove us around to another shop somewhere in the back streets , he seemed to have yards all over the place . Anyway I mentioned I had a early C8 4x2 blitz and he said his father had one of those too , apparently they had a garage business and they used the C8 as a run around vehicle . He showed us a mezzanine floor and I climbed up and stacked up against the wall were 6 brand new cab 11 windscreens , all still wrapped up in paper , you can imagine, I was trying to hold back my look of wow ! Anyway the price was 15 bucks each ! I took three of the screens, these were complete windscreens in original paint .

Bill was telling me about the 1/2 ton Dodge Command car they sold after the war , he said a rural postman in NSW bought it .... this was the Command Car I tracked down in 1979 ....

back to the shop ..he had packets of NOS Chev wiring looms just sitting there . Another VMVC member bought heaps of stuff there , even qualifying for the free calender Drews' had printed.

There was a huge amount of NOS chorehorse spares too....

Poor Bill wanted to keep the business going but his siblings wanted to close it all .....

[Keith Webb]

I think it was Bill Hughes... but I can't recall the older bloke's name. Bill was the one who lived in the house on the property with the model railway setup.
Travis came along later and took on the mantle of keeping people out of the yard.
Funny how there was jealousy between the dealers, they all used to bid against each other at the government auctions, and sometimes in collusion to gang up on some unfortunate. There was clearly big money to be made given the number of property acquisitions by people like Drew and the Pearce brothers of Hudsons Stores fame.

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Ahh, yes, the 'Saturday Morning Circuit' with Peter G - we hit Billy Drew's first then Hughes Yard at Coburg (but not letting on we'd been to Bill Drews before hand, or a string of unrepeatable invective would be unleashed by the 'middle' Hughes whose name I cannot recall, and entry to the yard would be barred for the day. (Keith ... help me out with a name!)

Bill was always good humoured and even took us on a tour of the other premises on more than one occasion. I can remember being delighted when one treasure trove was opened up by Bill to reveal a stack of Boots, AB - only to find they were all size 5 and only the left foot!!

Dem woz the days, eh Keith, and I was a very late comer by comparison to you and Peter G.

Mike

[Mike Kelly]

I did a TAFE course years ago and the guy sitting next to me had grown up in Coburg in the early 1950's - he said Bill Hughes was his best mate at school . He would visit Bill and be goggle eyed at the fantastic model train setup Bill had .

This chap said there was a council tip across the road from their yard and anything of low value , not worth selling, would be pushed into the tip . He used to scrounge the tip as Hughes had thrown out thousands of mortar bomb holders , the clips being made from gun metal , he would spend a few hours there and take the salvage to the scrap metal yard and make enough to go to the pictures .

He said the old man would buy a new Rover car each year !

I know one of them went to Europe on a buying trip as some German items were turning up in their yard .

They used to run full page adverts in the Weekly Times .

At one stage they were buying so much surplus , they ran out of space and they rented a paddock at Broadmeadows , trouble is the paddock owner was selling off the stuff on the side !

[motto]

Vic Drew was the proprietor of Vic Drew Used Trucks. He had three children that inherited the business when he passed away, they were Bill and Les and their sister Val.
Bill knew no other life except the business of buying and selling parts for trucks belonging to bygone times and his knowledge was (is) quite extensive. He has an alert manner and is happy to share his knowledge and memories. He still runs an offshoot of the business in an old shop across the road from the original yard in Mt Alexander Road, Ascot Vale.
Val died many years ago, she worked in the business until overcome by ill health.
Les wanted nothing to do with the business except to get his hands on his cut. He and Bill were always at war and it took years to liquidate the property held by the estate.
One of the yards was Rosamond Road, Maribyrnong where Highpoint West shopping centre now stands. A very large quantity of ex government trucks and parts was accumulated there behind a corrugated iron front fence but no side fence and no security. Kids got in and smashed what they could. I remember sets of Harley Davidson engine bearings scattered on the ground and NOS CCKW open cab windscreens pulled out of the crate and broken. All very sad.

David

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

The truck was first registered on the 27th Feb 1941 ,reg CU 745 To a owner in Pt Nepean road Brighton . So what ! Well the second owner of this truck ,as indicated by the transfer of ownership in the certificate, on the 16/6/42, was the Defence Department, Sturt St. South Melbourne .

Very interesting indeed Mike, and well spotted on your part! Adding to the story a little - presumably this truck was commandeered by Army shortly after Mr. Grant of Brighton purchased it brand new. I wonder if he was relieved of it in the manner described here:

[motto]

Unfortunately I can't read your attachments Tony. When I try enlarging they just get more blurred.
My father was a despatch rider for a time in WW2 or 'Don R' as they were called. When he was in camp at Albert Park, Melbourne early in the war part of his duty was to prepare compulsorily acquired civilian motorcycles for army service.
I recall him saying that the owners were offered five pounds (IIRC) to relinquish all rights to the vehicle or take the option of having it returned at the cessation of hostilities.
In the event I understand that new replacement motorcycles were supplied to those owners at the end of the war that had opted for return though I don't know the source of that information.

David

[hrpearce]

Originally Posted by motto

Unfortunately I can't read your attachments Tony. When I try enlarging they just get more blurred.

David

David, right click on picture and open in another window it is easy to read.

[Tony Wheeler]

David the newsprint itself may be illegible but the electronically translated text should be clear. It's easily readable on my screen without enlargement. Alternatively you could access the article directly on Trove: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8175927

Great that your father was a Don R which as motorcycle enthusiast I've always considered the best job in the Army - provided of course you're not getting shot at!

[motto]

Aah! Thanks fellows, I knew how to do it but had forgotten that I knew.
Seeing as you're interested in army motor cycling Tony, here's a bit more about dad. In the camp at Albert Park were speedway, scramble and stunt riders, a high spirited lot some of whom I met at post war reunions dad attended. The best known was a speedway rider named Bernie Mac who was somewhat of a legend.They got up to all sorts of tricks. Dads time as a Don R was cut short however when he ran into the rear end of a Dodge Command Car in the Northern Territory. The Dodge, belonging to a Yank outfit, overtook him on a dirt road and stopped in the dust cloud. Everything was against the man on the motorcycle, even the colour of the Dodge, he didn't see it until it was too late. He suffered leg and back trouble for the rest of his life.
We both bought ex army WLA Harleys in the early 70s. I paid $65 for mine and still have it. Dad paid $150 for his and only sold it a few months before he died at the age of 93 in 2012. I have fond memories of riding together, he was a better rider than I ever could be.

David

[Tony Wheeler]

Great stories David, I can well believe those Don R types were a special breed! Bad luck about the Dodge in the dust cloud but sounds like your dad never lost his passion for riding. Fabulous that he wound up on a WLA Harley again but you're killing me with those '70s disposal prices! Can you post some pics of your bike? I'm thinking we may need a new thread for some serious motorcycle discussion on MLU!