Kingy's new tow car

[kingy]

Hi All ,
What a year,This time last year nearly to the day i was just a normal bloke with a family car, a ute and a 78 millard alloy van.
Now since getting tangled up with you lot (and loving it) the millards sold , the utes sold ,we bought an EH, fully restored a bondy,bought another bondy,and NOW we have another tow car.
I'm going to see which one can guess it's make and model first by slowly releasing photos ( i reckon kaybee will even have trouble with this one ;D )
The ?? is not running yet, as i have to either rebuild the engine or find another.
first to guess gets a clap ;D
Cheers Kingy

[sutcac]

Mapleleaf ?? Dodgie Bros???International Harvester (NOB NO bloody idea............ But I bet Uncle Col gets IT!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Would wanta have plenty of OOOMMMPH ta ovatake me up dem hills in my new tow car Kingy!!!!?!

Mine will be on the road in a few weeks. Will post pics then!!

Cheers Cacti.

[Geoff & Jude]

hey kingy

my first guess is maybe it's a morris commercial, about '49 or '50 ish.

well, do i get a (or the) clap.

geoff

[cobber]

Hey Kingy,

Parts for sale......reeeal cheap.


Don't start crying now
Cobber.

[Deleted]

Hi Kingy.
I'm guessin' its a green truck!!! Howami doin so far ;D.

by the look of the leading edge of the right side door i am thinkin maybe 38 to 40 ford side valve V8 ...

'49 to '50 Morris or Austin.... naaaaaa ya wouldnt wish one of those on anyone.... unless of course it had a 350 chev in it ;D ;D ;D

Oiy Clyde when do we get ta see the PanelVan....... or was it out of your league???

Reddo

[groovy]

I believe it to be Pommy, single wheels with about 7.50 or maybe 8.25 tyres, square cabin, small rear window. My initial thought was a late 40's Morris, then a early 40's Bedford, think I will go with the Bedford.

Greg

[humpty2]

I'm gunno stick my neck out........Morris LC3
Humpty

[fbmad]

Willys

Terry.

[Geoff & Jude]

kingy

i retract the lc3 morris commercial suggestion, i think the door has too much curve at the top front window. still thinking though.

geoff

[MRFJ55]

G'DAY KINGY , HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YA ! I RECKON THE TRUCK IS A 1 1/2 ton 1939 GRAHAME . ( DODGE BROS ) . CHEERS, MAURIE.

[Geoff & Jude]

i agree that it has to be pommie. most of the american trucks had a one piece pressed roof by about the early to mid thirties (i think).

the only lightish truck i've seen with that much curve on the top of the door front would be an austin k8 (around '47ish), although i don't think that to be a 'kingy' kind of vehicle.

geoff

[cobber]

I think the Geoff half of geoff&Jude is close to the money.

That wreck I posted a photo of is an Austin K2, the cab is pretty much the same but the door is a uniform smooth curve at the top.
The bloke who owns the K2 is my next door neighbor (market gardener) who dumped it in the paddock about 20/25 years ago and the kids have been helping it fall to pieces since then.
So how about it Kingy...is it an Austin...just for starters??

Cobber.

[kingy]

Hi All,
Well i'll be buggered, not even 24 hours and mystery's solved.
Well done Geoff you got the clap ;D ;D
I purposely left the door open so as to get an idea of the cabin shape side on, and that no doubt helped a lot.
And you were right again in saying ''it's not a kingy car" but for what i got it for and the condition it's in (RUST FREE) i thought i best get it. I was working on a large property and just happen to ask the owner if there were any old caravans lying about (as you do ) the answer being no but i have -- long story ---but this what i came home with. The down side being the engine has had the head off for a long time (un covered) and i think a few parts missing.The austin A70's run the same engine.
Unsure of the year yet but they were built between 47&54 and yes it's a austin k8. Well done Geoff CLAP CLAP CLAP

[Geoff & Jude]

shucks

t'wernt nuffin'

geoff

[Deleted]

Ahhhh its an Austin Fuggly 8.
Was this trucks father a Bulldog?
let me know if ya gunna hack it up like JBJ suggested.

I have a use for the two front gaurds

Dennis.....Start back brewing JBJ ......i reckon the bloke who penned the design for the austin was on something stronger than the dreaded jailbar juice.... or was he in the horrors after a big session on the stuff.
Now where is Boots's phone number. I bet she will be over the moon to find out he's headin back to "The shed of fermentation"

;D ;D ;D secrets safe with me mate... Gunna cost ya a flagon

Reddo

[Geoff & Jude]

hey reddo

if only you (or i) had bought the old lc3 morris commercial with the 350 chev in it. it would have looked "really neat" beside kingy's k8 austin. oh well, another opportunity lost. (for you and me (i really liked the old fella too)).

ps
i talked to the seller the other day and it went to victoria. i wonder if the kaybee's are keeping secrets.

geoff

[will and lyn]

Awsome truck Kingy
If you restore it keep it 100% original Mate
unbelievable condition for the year
Perhaps Cobber might loan you his 36 V Van for a weekend
How about it cobber
Hi to Mary-anne from Lyn and I

Will

[Geoff & Jude]

hi col and kingy

if kingy wants to stop clyde from "blowing his doors off", he's going to have to do some really serious re-powering.

geoff

[raybell]

Same engine as Morris Commercial...

That engine really did some varied work. Built originally as a replacement for Jeep engines during the war (so as not to waste shipping space if Jeeps blew an engine, build one locally... Austin made a 4 out of their truck 6), it went into Austin 12s straight after the war, and Austin taxis.

Then they stretched it to 2.6 litres for the A90 Atlantic and for trucks. Austin built the Gipsy 4WD and used the 2.2 version in that and they made a diesel version for taxis too. Nuffield tractors used them as well.

The 2.6 then was used in the civilian version of the Austin Champ (military units had the RR 4-cyl) and Donald Healey caught sight of the mechanicals of the A90 Atlantic and built a prototype sports car around it.

That prototype got him tied up with BMC and the car became the Austin Healey 100. Over the next couple of years Healey went racing and got a hold of the crank from the diesel version, had blocks cast with slightly different bolt pattern in the top and made an alloy head for them. This was the Austin Healey 100S race car... 'S' standing for 'Sebring'.

The factory also blessed Land Speed Record attempts with the engine, one crazy 100S unit being built with a head having two carbies on each side and two exhaust ports on each side.

I reckon it's the most varied factory usage of any engine in history.

[Ray Bell]

It would only have happened in England, kaydee...

As explained, it was to save shipping space as they were importing bucketloads of ordnance from the US and needed to use all the available space.

They did have local manufacture going on and that's why they tapped into it. But there would have been no adaptation necessary. The engine was built to go in there.

The engine produced well over 60bhp in its 2.2-litre form, as it would have done to propel the 2-ton Morris trucks and it did for the Austin 16 sedans. It also had the exhaust manifold up higher than the Jeep's, so probably the steering clearance was less of an issue.

Frankly, I don't know if it's true or not. I was told it was by someone I obviously trusted to know about these things. I have known a great many people like that over the years, from Austin Healey experts to people who worked from BMC to motoring journalists of note.

So you may be right. And, like me, you may be wrong.

By the way, it was an Austin engine, not a Morris. At least until about 1952.