Who is this man and why is he looking so happy with himself. And what's he driving? Click through here for the answers.
Well here's a better view of it and the lucky bloke in the driving seat was none othe than my old 'GI Joe' buddy Neil Stevens who just so happens to be the Wilts & Berks ETO Research Group/UK Historian 437th Troop Carrier Group Association Newark, Notts, UK. And you can see his website "Yanks in the Kennet Valley on www.YITKV.co.uk ."
Anyroadup he and fellow enthusiast Paul Bratton (from SDC Trailers) has kindly sent me some shots from the recent military vehicle gathering at Newark for the D-day celebrations.
And he says: "Max Stevens (age 7) is seen here sitting in an M8 armoured car."
Neil adds: "Both the M8 and the Stuart tank (that's what he's seen sitting in at the very top) belong to Paul Shepherdson. Paul Bratton's son Elliot goes to the same school as Max. Paul B organised the spectacular---relatively easy when you have access to low loader resource!!"
And amongst the vehicles on display was 'Coffee Pot' the GMC 6x6 that Biglorryblog drove recently as part of the Commercial Motor Christmas Roadtest. And here's one more of the GMC featuring 'driver' Paul Bratton's son Elliot.
Named after American Civil War general, most interesting feature was the use of Continental 7 cylinder radial aero engine - later model having twin Cadillac V8s. It was fast, and reliable but undergunned, underarmoured cramped, thirsty, caught fire easily, sank in wet going, and suffered appallingly in one of its first campaigns against the Afrika Corp. Sounds like it would be better for running AWAY from the enemy rather than engaging them!