4x2 Light Utility Trucks

Andy

I'll try and get some decent pics and post them here, ta

Smudge

 

Hi fellas

Anyone id this location/date? I thought behind the Maginot Line summer of 1940?

Smudge

 

I can recall WWII era tillys still in use by the Roayl navy in the 1960s, and WWII era vehicles were still in use in the late 1960s (mainly specialist 'binned' and workshop vehicles)

 

Those fortifications are much older than Maginot. 19th century at a guess. It could be a coastal installation. I'd agree that it looks French which means that the vehicle is probably a BEF abandoned example.

 

Thanks lads; Jed nice to get a bit of feedback like that.

Rich; I thought French rather than German built atlantic wall but I wasn't aware of much pre Maginot Line...did the French have many of these fortifications?

 

Hello,

I'm particulary interested of the use of Austin Tilly within the BEF.
I have since more than 20 years such a vehicle which I overhauled completely in 1998.
Looking for its origin I contacted the Austin Tilly Register with its chassisnumber G/YG 190739. The vehicle number which I found under several layers of military and civilian paint is M4168518.
They replied me that my Austin was made in 1940 and belonged to contract number V3887 wich makes it one of the oldest Austin Tillys.
With that information I painted it in BEF khaki, 4th Division, arm of service number 8 (Engineers). That solution seemed fair enough with the information available in '98.
But with wath I read now I'm not so sure anymore that this unit construction is still possible.

John,

 

The original markings I found on the front side of the Austin


The word LANDES on the left hand mudwing


On the right side mudwing: the combination
N°.1. SUB
DEPOT
N° 2.B.O.D.


On the bonnet: not readable anymore.


The vehicle number M4168518


In the middle of the bonnet: a patch of yellow paint. I suppose this to be the patch of gas detection paint

Nobody could provide me with the meaning of some of these markings: LANDES and the SUB-DEPOT group, but that was in '98. Maybe anybody can help me today?

John,

 

What a nice thing to have !

The marking "No. 1 Sub Depot - No.2 Base Ordnance Depot is obviously an RAOC marking and could have been BEF but the stencilling of that type of marking doesn't seem common in 1940, rather more likely to have been applied during UK service or post 1944

However, the presence of the original rather than a rebuild census number suggests that it didn't have a long or hard life with the British Army.

Can LANDES have a German connotation ?

I'd love to look harder at that bonnet marking.

 

Hello Rich,

What is a "census number". I'm not quite familiar with some expressions.
This are the only pictures I have of the markings.
Concerning the unreadable bonnet markings I thought about German style of lettering But wiped that idea thinking it to be impossible.

John,

 

Sorry John, the 'census' or WD number is simply the M prefix number issued to the vehicle. Does yours tie in as expected with the chassis number ?

If the car is ex-BEF then it almost certainly saw some sort of use by occupying forces. Motorcycles could be hidden in barns but a car is likely to have been found. I've seen a picture of a right hand drive Wolseley saloon which appeared to have been used by the Kriegsmarine and was then recaptured in 1944 and used by the British again.

It would be likely if it had seen German service that there would be some trace of fittings such as Notek blackout lamps.

It is of course possible that the car was used post-war by the British Army of the Rhine and then sold off from the big ordnance depot at Antwerpen.

 

My census number is M4168518, so this it belongs to contract V.3887 18/03/40. It even is the 64th vehicle of the total amount of that contract.

If we're talking Austins, have the Tilly club been able to give you details of the first contract ? They are really not my speciality so I feel that I'm on slightly dodgy ground but I've had a look through the Ordnance Chilwell lists and the earliest contract that I can find is for Contract V3887 - Austin Car, 2 seater, 4x2 model 10HP Utility - Census numbers M4168454 - M4180202.


I cannot remember having seen additional holes in the mudguard or fittings on the bumper for a Notek blackout. Which leaves it still open wheather there were or not such items. I admit that the idea never came up untill your question.
I will look tomorrow under the mudguards if I can see traces of welded place.

I got this vehicle more than 20 years ago from a friend who himself bought it from a car collector. This car collector painted it army green. The paint underneath was a dark brown-aubergene civillian color. Underneath were, if I remember it right 2 layers of a khaki paint. It was not clear wheather the markings were on which one of the original army khaki layers.

John,

 

2 BOD, Landes.

I find that 2 Base Ordnance Depot was established in late 1939. It was to handle stores coming through the port of Le Havre. The various parts of the depot were spread over a large area centred on the town of Yvetot. The town of Landes is in the area.

That is all I can find but I hope it helps.

Mike

 

Mike,

It helps a lot. Thank you. This confirms that Austin Tilly's were used with the BEF in Northern France and that some survived the war and went into cicilian use later on.
I looked it up with Google and there are different smaller villages with LANDES in their name but they are all indeed in the greater Area of Ivetot.

John

 

Mike

concerning 2 BOD, Landes.

I find that 2 Base Ordnance Depot was established in late 1939.

Maybe this is not the right place for the thread but dit the N°2 B.O.D. belong to an army corps, or to another form of higher echelon? which one?

John

 

What was the function, use of the Utility truck? I mean for what was it used.

Any information of utility's, (especially Austin) in units? RAOC (like mine was), RASC, RE etc ....

 

Not at all, go ahead, thanks

 

Thank you, I received everything in duplex, a quick view confirmed the early version of my Austin. Quite interesting

John,