Diamond T Wanted

I have a friend with a good collection of trucks. Has his heart set on a WW2 Diamond T Transporter. Any leads would be gratefully accepted. The more complete the better.




There were quite a few around. Photo of Albury (or Puckapunyal) line-up.

Last one I saw cheap ,Dale Barnard had it......a knock in the motor.........Anyway,for a presentable one with the Hercules still in it he d be looking at $40-50,000....But they used to sell for between $2500-$4500 when the army were selling them at auction in the seventies....multiply that by 10......houses were selling for around $15000 in brisbane at the time........lot more than 10x now.

Thanks John

Forgot about Dale's truck. I will tell Bernie to get in touch with him.

Lang

Its gone,............Dale nearly too,at one stage....He s not too good any more,so dont bother him.

Hello Lang

I purchased Dale's 980 several Years ago while it is complete the truck had been butchered somewhat. I then had the opportunity to obtain at a reasonable cost a 981 that had been fitted with a 980 cab complete and going from France. The truck is fitted with a Holmes wrecker (not an original fitment on a 980) otherwise other than being red and with a wrecker fitted in colour it is absolutely original in every detail. As for Dale's 980 I have done quite a bit of work on the severely butchered chassis but the cab is a real challenge and I have never tried to investigate the engine problem.
To sum it up I would consider selling the truck purchased from Dale.
Rex

Thanks Rex

The fellow interested is my next door neighbour Bernie Tobin who owns Followmont Transport. He already has a collection of beautiful 50/60 Macks and a newly restored Autocar.

I will let him know.

Lang

Hello Lang
Happy to talk to Bernie but it needs a lot of work. Just for the record the drivable complete 981 slightly modified with 908 cab but none the less NOT quite original due to chassis number worked out to be about 50K by the time it arrived in Australia.
Given the Holmes wrecker is complete with all genuine attachments it in it's self has value to the extent that I consider the 981 to be a good buy. As for going on a Sunday afternoon drive I would not recommend the 981 bloody hard work.
Rex

And 25 mph speed with diff ratios of 13 /1 or thereabouts......no power steering either.

Wouldn't worry Bernie as he has just finished building a lovely drop deck with ramps from a converted taught-liner. He is going to put the Autocar in front of it to go to shows.

Lang

Dear Rex,
Do you still have the Diamond T 980/981 for sale?
Thank you
Stephen