Night Movers - what is it

Apart from being a night truck what is it?? Just sth of Merimbula Yeah a 550F but wot yr model??

Austin......or one of the BMC group of vehicles

Knocker,G'day mate. This is a FF/FH model "Austin". (550F) badge,I think,makes it a late version probably '65 or later.The model first became available 1958 and ended about 1968/69.A direct and worthy competitor to the TK Bedford,although not nearly as common.
I say"Austin" because of the lower grille....two solid looking horizontal bars
with the smaller vertical bars behind."Morris" Fs had four horizontal pipe bars.After about '67 both names disappeared in favour of "BMC" but I don't remember what lower grille was used on the BMCs.
It has extra air vents in the upper grille each side of the name plate.These were put in locally and may indicate a Diesel engine but at the end of the day they constitute a
"Tropical" cooling mod.
Diesel versions usually had either a Perkins or BMC Diesel badge on the lower grille,but this may have fallen off.Otherwise there may be a BMC 4 ltr petrol lurking under the floor.
Like the LAD Leyland cab of the same era the cabs were prone to rust around the lower shell where the mudguards/headlight panels attach.This one would appear to have had a relatively charmed life both when it was in active service and after retirement judging by the lack of dings.It also has nearly all of its glass intact and even has its factory bumper,albeit held on by good old fencing wire !

R/

my old man had one of those in the early 70s ..it was a petrol 6cyl .. later he had a BMC 345F ..which i think had the some motor the bmc was a 1971 model

Thanks for that I blew the pic up and it is a 560F.

I dont remember seeing these around in the 60s and I was cartin dirt late 60s

Hi all, Bob Whitehead converted an Austin to an 8 wheeler to carry bag cement for Max Larizus in Sydney. It had been converted to a 680 Leyland engine by memory.
Later he used the truck as a demo unit for his suspensions - Twin steer & trailing axle.
After that it became a 12 ton crane for Permatrak / RFW trucks in Chester Hill, Sydney.

I used to drive these things in the UK in the early 60s, so here is the story. They were sold as Austin or Morris FF or FH models and were available with a petrol motor or a 5.1 litre or a 5.7 litre diesel. In the earlier FF models the engine was upright between the seats and covered by a tin cover and in the later FH models the diesel engines were slanted (almost horizontal) so that there was a flattish floor in the cab. The Austin and Morris trucks were identical apart from the grilles on the 5-tonners, on the 7-tonners the Austins and Morrises had the same grille which was different again from the 5-tonners.

Complicated, but typical of BMC badge engineering. Here are some photos to illustrate - firstly the Austin 5-tonner

http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/vicandval/austin4_ffk100qau_51631f_1_aw.jpg?t=1276406472

Then the Morris 5-tonner; same truck, different grille

http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/vicandval/morris5_ffk140b_392uxr_1_rh.jpg?t=1276408050

Then the Austin 7-tonner with a different grille again

http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/vicandval/austin4_ffk140qnz_dv3376_hp.jpg?t=1276408163

and finally, the Morris 7-tonner, exactly the same as the Austin except for the badge.

http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/vicandval/morris7_fhk140b_ace571b_rh_1.jpg?t=1276408256

I'm not sure about the BMC-badged versions as when I left the UK to come back home they were still all called Morris or Austin, and they were never badged as BMC in NZ.

That is starting to make sense, thanks Vic

Understand this is an old thread but we just bought a 560F as pictured and thinking it is a 1967 but really not sure. Any info would be valued and appreciated. Cheers

Lucas dated all their parts back in those days.

The wiper motor will have a date on it as will the generator.

You can also date a vehicle of the window glass.

if you look at the words used to brand the glass there is a dot over one letter. This dot represents the year the glass was made.

You can find the code with a quick Google.