This Great War truck

[Truck257]

Hello 

 

and thank you to all that will take the time to read this 

 

my name is Andrew I am 24, and Im new so this is an introduction aswell. 

I run a small classic vintage and veteran vehicle workshop in Birmingham and currently have in for recommissioning a 1915 Leyland Truck. 
 

I love History and the wars so when I got the chance to work on this Leyland I gladly accepted the offer.

 

I am here seeking your guidance and knowledge. The furthest I’ve got with research is just google. And apparently this vehicle was in the Egyptian desert during WW1. Firstly is there any way anybody could confirm this ? I know they used FWD lorry’s, Thornycrofts and AEC’s but never found much about Leylands ? 
 

I have many many more questions and am very happy to chat if anybody has any advice or help 

 

Thank you  

[Chasemuseum]

The Leylands are often described as the "RAF" model, with an implied premium status over the wide variety of other trucks used by the BEF. They were accepted in both of the army's standard sizes 30cwt cargo capacity and 3 ton capacity. The 3 ton was the RAF model. It was widely used by the RAF but also used by the Army Service Corps in general service as well.

 

A good primer on British military lorries in WW1 is the book by Tim Gosling "British Military Trucks of World War One". This gives lots of period photos of all the different types but not the specific detailed information I think you are after. For mechanical information the Dykes guides from the 1920s are generic but useful. 

 

There has been a huge WW1 truck thread on the forum for years, it has 229 pages. This is absolutely worth a trawl but be warned it is addictive

 

 

The other resource I recommend is the Historic Military Vehicle Forum - HMVF

https://hmvf.co.uk/forum/38-pre-ww2-vehicles/

Good luck and have fun

Cheers

Ross

 

 

[Waddell]

Nice truck Andrew. The wheels look like they have been replaced with newer ones and I suspect many other components have been refurbished or replaced over the years. What are the owners plans for it?

 

As Ross has mentioned, someone on the HMVF will have experience working on these.

 

Scott

Edited 8 September , 2020 by Waddell
Added more.

[Truck257]

Thank you for you replies I have also posted this article on the HMVF as I have 2 of my own 50’s ex army trucks on a thread over there 

 

yes that thread about WW1 lorry’s is very addictive

[4thGordons]

 

On 07/09/2020 at 18:56, Chasemuseum said:

A good primer on British military lorries in WW1 is the book by Tim Gosling "British Military Trucks of World War One". This gives lots of period photos of all the different types but not the specific detailed information I think you are after. For mechanical information the Dykes guides from the 1920s are generic but useful. 

 

 

 

I believe he is a member on the forum Great War Truck (Tim Gosling?) who I believe also also owns, restores and operates period trucks...

Hopefully he will see this thread. @Great War Truck

Chris

[Great War Truck]

Hi Andrew

A super looking lorry, which would be improved with solids as opposed to pneumatics, but who wants to go everywhere at 15 mph?

 

Does Mr Dawson say that it was used in the desert? Some were as RFC workshops in Egypt/Palestine but not many. Have you had any luck with the chassis number? If you can find that it may provide the delivery date, but next to impossible to find any specific history behind the individual lorry.

 

Good luck with it.

 

 

[Truck257]

Thank you and the only evidence I have of it being in the desert is off a website for a company called Findlaters who owned the vehicle in the 30’s or 40’s and they put the info on a picture of the vehicle back in the day 

[war horse]

Nice truck

[mancpal]

Any chance of posting shots of the work you are doing and also the finished article. It makes Cpl Jones butchers van look like a Ferrari !

 

Simon