Howard Pettigrew is back on Biglorryblog with Classic Kiwi Curios and says: "Brian, as promised, a few more from the Ellesmere 50th Anniversary Show. The Inter (IH K3R) has had an interesting history. It began its life as an army truck in 1940. Purchased by a Medical Centre of a small town on our wild West Coast at an army disposal sale in 1945 with only 8000 odd miles on the clock, it was rebuilt as an ambulance and had a long history of service before retirement in 1978. Included in its service was taking the injured to hospital from New Zealand's worst mining disaster. After its retirement, it got caught up in the flooding of the town of Greymouth and was badly damaged through sitting under water.It was purchased by a friend and bought over the hills to nearer Christchurch. It was roughly patched up for use in the film Heavenly Creatures, by our famous film producer Peter Jackson in the early 90s. As it was effectively out of action, it was towed around with an A frame for the crucial shots. Purchase by our St John's ambulance service in 1998 and beautifully restored by a dedicated bunch of permanent St Johns staff - right back to the last nut and bolt over a two year period."
"The Bedford van here belonged to a diary company and was used to distribute their Fernleaf branded butter to shops around Christchurch. I'm sure Robbie D may remember them, although he may not be old enough?"
Oward continues: "The Scania was once a fire engine although I am sure it would have been single drive." And what about this for a bedford TK emergency dumper recovery vehicle...
Meanwhile Howard lays down a real "And now for the BIG pie quiz challenge" find out what it is by clicking through here.....(oh, he says all NZers excluded!"
Howard asks: "What is the little red jobby? I will be very surprised if Richard has a brochure on this. Unbelievably, it is a commercial vehicle produced in NZ and it has a slight connection with the Inter! " is there a clue in the number plate wonders BLB?
And while we're at it what's this?
Nice old LP Merc. Which reminds me a long time ago I went to a factory in Norfolk Virginia where they aseembled LP rigids for the US market supplied, if my memory serves me, in CKD form from a Merc plant in Brazil.
And last but not elast it's a Dodge... But what year and model eh?
The Merc is a LPS1418 - the "S" denotes Sattelschlepper, a German word for tractor/prime mover!
1418s over here in NZ have their headlights in the grille. Definitely a 1924.
I know I can't answer the BIG pie quiz, since I'm a Kiwi, but I do know what it is. It, or another one of the same model, featured on Billy Connelly's show when he was riding around NZ on his Harley trike.
The truck in the photo underneath that one is a Morris Comical, and that Mercedes, well Joe, I don't think it's a 1418 unless you can read the badge better than I can. All the 1418s I've ever seen had the headlights in the grille and the bigger models had them in the bumper like this. The next most common model in NZ in those days was the 1924, maybe that's what this is.
The Dodge is a wartime model, I think, from the early 40s. Maybe ex-army?
Vic,
Sorry - I stand corrected! I forgot what it was - it is a LPS1924 - again, apologies!
Joe
No need to apologise Joe, I only know that because I used to drive a 1924 for a while about 30-plus years ago. An excellent truck it was, too!
I don't know whether the time has come, Brian, for Kiwis to be allowed to answer Howard's pie question, but I very much doubt if anyone outside NZ would get the answer without assistance. The mystery vehicle is a Duzgo; there were only about 10 built and I don't think they were all identical but they generally had Kohler engines and 2 gearboxes to give a pretty good selection of gears. As far as I know there is one still in use in the town of Pukekura (popn 2) in Westland, NZ and there may be others still around; I'm not sure where Howard saw his one. Pukekura is actually an interesting town, the population really is 2 and it is worth having a look at http://www.pukekura.co.nz/
Cheers, Vic