Cam McFadyen has sent me this selection of scrapheap brainteasers from what looks like a fabulous elephants' grave yard down under. So for a whole shed-load of pies. What are they?
Especially this one....looks vaguely familiar but I'll have to ask Bobby Tuck for a clue...
I do like this one...got a bonnet a bit like a Comet but I'm sure that's not it. And what's that next to it?
Meanwhile Cam says: "Hi Brian, another pommy lorry with a crew cab, not for much longer though I suspect!" And here's what it looks like from the front.
Now click through here for the Mother of all Brainteasers...!
No it's not this one..this should be pretty easy to identify...it's this one...
Not that there's much to go on! Cam concludes: "I threw the other pic in to give your anoraks something to mull over, Cam." Hmmmm....'mull' is right. Any takers?
TS3 COMMER or TK BEDFORD?
The one to the left of the "bonnet like a Comet" in an International, mid 1960"s.
The one that looks like a Comet IS a Comet! It's even got the Comet badge on the side of the bonnet.
Meanwhile the yellow machine above it is an AEC of some description - a Mammoth Major perhaps? It looks as though it's been a tractive unit.
Further down, the machine with the white cab also has an AEC look about it but as for the cab-less unit, I've no idea - I suppose the tapered main frames at the front should be a giveaway to someone!
Top photo LHS is a Dodge AT4, Commer Knocker and TK Beddy. Second and sixth photos are AEC of some sort. The Inter to the LH side of the Comet is an AA series. Dual cab Leyland or Dodge is unusual, never seen one of those.
Think the last one might just be a 1418 Benz, the bullbar and wheels are the only clues.
That cab-less one, looks like it was a cabover, with the steering box ahead of the front axle, and are those two gear levers?
More importantly, Pete, what's the white one right at the back of that photo?
Right you are Vic, I dont have a clue really. Might be two gear levers or maybe the old fashioned yank and hope handbrake lever. That certainly looks like an AACO or early ACCO butterbox behind the Ford Cargo.
Yes, one of them is possibly a handbrake, it's very hard to tell from this photo. I hope, Cam, that you are going to give us an answer soon.
I don't know why Brian thought that Comet wasn't a Comet, there is no doubt at all that it is a Comet, that fine piece of British engineering. I never drove that model Comet, but did drive both the Ford (Fordson, Thames) and Dodge with the same cab, and what a horrible cab it was, to be sure!
I can only tell you its a Leyland or similar,Ithought the front hubs would have given it away.
Its an Acco behind the chassis with a bit of aluminium riveted over the RH headlight
Top photo - Dodge AT114 (AT4 was heavier version?), Mk IV CDY Commer - presumably TS3 powered as someone has gone to the trouble of putting a tin over the exhaust, and a TK Bedford, also diesel powered.
Second shot - AEC Mammoth Major Mk IV? with Commer VC series and something like a Federal or Diamond T - too sloping at the front for an Inter.
Next shot with Leyland Comet (spent a lot of my child hood in one of these!) AA Inter and another Dodge iwth other interesting stuff including a Ford K series cabin the background.
Next two shots are of Commer or Dodge Commando RG 13/15, also known as the 100 series in England. We still have some of these in our Fire Service in NZ. Merc 1418 and yellow 'butterbox' AACO Inter cabs feature in the background.
The white truck is another AEC - Mandator Mk V? with an Inter chassis in the background?
Judging by the wheels with the small holes in the perimeter, I would go for another AEC or Leyland chassis, although it is missing the centre badge and surprisingly, all the AECs are missing the chrome rim which I was informed was to enable the trucks to be roped down to the decks of ships, etc by this rim. The rear hubs have a similar groove and the outside rear rims were taken off and bolted to the chassis frame while being shipped and replaced on arrival. White butterbox Inter, blue Ford / Iveco Cargo and possibly VC Commer, another ACCO and AS Inter cabs in the background.
Just a guess...
The Chassis looked like it would have had a LAD cab on it,there wasn`t too many clues around it.
That AEC in the 2nd photo is odd; I would agree that it is a Mammoth Major, but the cab is strange; I have never seen one with that sharply downward-sloping front quarterlight, or with square corners on the door window. An Australian cab, maybe????
Quite likely a Hastings Deering cab,they were importing them.
Re the crewcab Commando, I understand that there was a crewcab version offered by Commer when the truck first appeared, hence the same cab exterior trim on the crew section. I have an idea that the cab conversion for these was sub-contracted ro Reliant of the three-wheel yellow van fame! The 'Roo Bar' looks to be of local origin.
Quite a few English models of various makes had cabs that were different for the Australian market - much like our Atkinsons out here with the Taylor Hull cabs made in Lower Hutt - usually because the original wouldn't stand up to Aus/NZ conditions in the field. Some of the local build sleeper cabs tacked onto English trucks are a real hoot too, models you would never expect to have sleepers - got any pics of them Cam?