Need a few good yarns

Chevrolet number three.

Well, after finishing the 1 1/2 ton Chevrolet mentioned above (and bringing home a Federal 6x6 from Collinsville and a Blitz gun tractor from locally near Bowen) I had quite a collection of vehicles. Anyhow a young cockie noticed my car park and wanted to buy the Chevrolet.

I really love those Chevs, the nicest driving truck of the period you can find. As they say everything has its price and I knew where there was another one on a cane farm. So bye bye Chev and a 150km drive north once again.

This new one was much straighter than the old one but had the cab cut off in North Queensland style. Mick drove me up and we got her started and it ran as sweet as a song (these Chevs had the full pressure 235 motor not the splash feed 219 of the Blitz.)

No clutch (turned out the new clutch described by the farmer had been put in backwards, no brakes either hand or foot and no starter switch (normally on the floor but the lever had broken requiring a screw driver to push the solenoid in by hand). We pumped the almost new tyres up and I put it in first while Mick did the screwdriver thing under the bonnet and away we went.

It ran like a dream and the beaut Chev gearbox just slipped through easily without the clutch. I was well aware I was stuck in gear with no brakes going through Ayre and dawdled along ready to turn the ignition off if someone stopped in front of me. No incidents and back home before dark. The headlights worked and I later fitted a proper tail light but they were never needed as all running from here-on was in daylight.

Unfortunately this was the last week of the job so Mick escorted our wide load trailers back to Brisbane while I with my good mate Kaiser set off to drive the Chev 1,500km home. Early in the morning I got the dog up on the back with my swag and standing on the running board did the in-gear start with the screwdriver, slammed the bonnet down and jumped into the seat before we had gone 20 metres.

Off we went. cruising at about 70kmh. Each town was passed at about 30kmh with 50 metres between me and the next car with the key in my hand ready to switch off. In the badlands north of Rockhampton I stopped for the night rolled my swag out under the truck and my mate and I had something cold out of a can. It started raining about 1.00am but I was dry, that is until the bloody dog tried to get in my swag with me.

Next morning we were off again and I must say it was extremely stressful going through all the traffic lights in Rocky dropping to 5kmh judging to get there on the green then speeding up to an uncomfortable speed to get through on time.

Another night on the road north of Nambour saw us home unscathed about lunchtime on the third day.

I did a good restoration on this one and it was one of the best military vehicles I have owned. Unfortunately about a year later we were funding a big project so the Chevrolet had to go.


As bought on the farm at Giru


After getting home to Brisbane on its way to be pressure cleaned to start the restoration.


As the truck finished up. Note it proves my point that in Queensland all old vehicles are found under a mango tree, even in Brisbane!

Wonderful stories fellas.
Keep em up...
Cheers
Rich

Just to close off the whole Bowen period truck sagas.

Here is the parking lot without the second Chev or Mick's 1/2 ton Chev ute.

From the left is the first Chev 1 1/2 ton in the story above.

Next is the 1941 Federal 6x6 I bought in Collinsville. It had a 6-71 GM in it and drove like a car. Should have kept it but sold it to a mine. I wrote the story on its recovery a couple of years back for the forum.


Next is a Chev Blitz gun tractor found on the edge of town. It was just cab and chassis running beaut and the farmer said he had taken the body to the town tip. I raced over there an to my surprise there it was untouched. Only took a day to put it back on the truck and spray the whole thing with the red primer we used on the steel piles.

Well final story.

About 3 weeks after Kaiser and I shared the Chevrolet drive from Bowen to Brisbane I had to go back to pick up a bit of gear we had left behind, Mick's 1/2 ton Chevrolet ute project and of course the Blitz. Hooking my tandem trailer behind the Jeep ute I set off with my dad who had volunteered to be second driver.

We got to Bowen, loaded Mick's ute and various construction equipment onto the trailer, got a permit for the Blitz (only had a handbrake but it was very good!) and getting a stack of torch batteries set up my red cellophane torch tail light system.

Now the old man had been in the car business all his life and had a number of very successful dealerships but his strength was management and sales and I always was worried he might poke his eye out if he used a screwdriver. Also very unusual for a car salesman he was scrupulously honest and was a stickler for the rules - he despaired of my cavalier attitude to rules and authority. So it goes without saying he was not comfortable driving the ute with a 1,500kg registered trailer carrying 2,500kg. Worse still I wanted him to follow me driving a Blitz with a dodgy permit, no brakes and a couple of torches taped on the back for tail lights.

Anyhow with him fretting we set out from Bowen for a night run. I always found traveling in the dark reduced the chances of attracting attention. A few hours down the road it started to rain. Naturally the wipers on the Blitz did not work, probably because there was no glass in the drivers side windscreen, so I had to put a rain coat on backwards - lucky it was warm rain.

An hour later we stopped for fuel and a coffee. Back to the vehicles, still raining.

It is one o'clock in the morning pouring rain and here I am, soaking wet with no windscreen , driving a truck with no brakes and by now white torch tail lights (the red cellophane had melted), just about to let out the clutch when the old man appears at the door.

"We will have to stop. I have just checked the lights and the left hand blinker on the trailer is not working"

This was the only time in my life that I ever told my dear old dad to f.... off!

Lang

Lang
The things we used to be able to do and get away with one question would you be game to do it today

Always recon if you’re going to do something dodgy send it straight down the highway in the middle of the day do it at night and people think you’re doing something wrong be brazen and they think you must be doing it right

Cheers Bluey

Bluey

If I was 35 again, I doubt I would get away with it. Too many people, too much traffic, too many cameras. A smack on the wrist or minor fine then could be huge fines, loss of licence and even jail time now. Most people then would say "how dangerous" but look upon it as cheeky and maybe humorous (including many police), today everyone would be outraged and offended. The world has changed.

Depends what you are doing re night/day. If you don't look out of place but are dodgy in some way, brazen it out in full view. But if you look at the vehicles in the stories you would not get far. At night much better chance. Remember back then only one vehicle in five or ten on the highway was a car between midnight and 5.00 am, the trucks owned the road. Now it is traffic 24 hours.

Anyhow we gave it a go and I am satisfied "Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again"

Lang

I have the remains of an engine from one of those Crossleys. I thought it was pre ww1 as it is so pre-historic but was amazed to find they built them for the next war. Shows how desperate the poms were at that time. They were used for airfield rescue and towing aircraft recovery trailers. They are now very scarce - less the half a dozen in the UK including wrecks. There has been mention of a survivor in Qld - is that the one you mention?

Another extremely popular recovery vehicle used in the UK and here too for recovering aircraft was the David Brown Cropmaster. Some came with an enormous winch and stabilizing legs out the back that would dig into the ground and then winch away. Some D.B. were made as straight out tugs known as Task Masters and are another desirable toy to have. These had slightly upgraded gearboxes and clutches and hauled the largest of air craft around the strips.

Steve

Somewhere there is a photo of the Crossley will try to find it. Probably a Middle East refugee used by RAAF but certainly not standard Australian issue.

Here is a factory photo. Does not look too bad here but absolutely the worst looking truck in real life.

On the subject of Austin 7s and rope. Way back about 1955 I was "tracking square" with a local girl. Tall, slim, wealthy parents. Couldn't cook. Who cares.!
Went to a party. She was there. Tonight is my night. Another bloke tall dark and handsome moved in. Bugger He was winning. He had borrowed his dad's Austin 7 which was parked outside pointing down hill for a clutch start. Idea!! A mate and I went home to my Dad's Holden Dealership, one of the first in Australia by the way, grabbed a length of wire rope from the tow truck, went back tied one end around diff, left a few feet of slack and tied the other end around a lamp post. Tall dark and handsome with MY girl attached hops in H/Brake of roll start. As he lets out the clutch rope takes up the slack and Kaboom!! Diff, tailshaft and all comes out. OMG I say while mate and I Hi tail it home. Next day the Dad who owns said Austin rings my dad who has the only tow truck in town. Please go up the road and pick up my car. My son borrowed it last night and seems there is a problem with the back axle. Dad says to me hop in the tow truck and pick up an Austin 7" I bring car back to the workshop and Dad arranges a mechanic to repair it. I hide!!!! Next day all repaired but before Dad rings the owner, I come clean!! Dad did not charge for the repairs but I had to work the next 8 weekends NO PAY. The mate who helped became my best man at my wedding and we are still mates 62 years later. The tall dark and handsome married the girl and until their passing a couple of years ago became very dear friends and they bought 3 cars from my Dad.

AH! And in every story hides a moral!