Decided to continue my trend of buying motor vehicles with little to no inspection whatsoever, I thought I'd go one better.
So I bought something I've been daydreaming about owning for years.
It's big. It's very yellow. Significantly older than I am. Not road registered (yet). And it doesn't run (yet).
I'm not yet certain on its age; though, according to various bits and pieces I've discovered while researching, it's supposedly a 1957-ish truck. The hip-ring/cupola in the roof -- where a machine-gun would have been mounted -- was supposedly removed in model-year 1958; and the mesh upper grille piece was a change made for model-year 1957.
I'm still waiting for a response from a query I've made with the RLC Archive; trying to figure out if they have the record card that has my truck's chassis number on; if they do, then they'll give me the ERM (The registration mark unique to each piece of equipment.) that it had in service.
Then I can look up its 'B' vehicle card; which gives me useful information such as the date that the vehicle entered Army service; which will be helpful when getting the truck registered. (Also, other neat things such as when the vehicle was transferred to different units, and who ended up with it before it was cast off.)
Progress so far!
There hasn't been a great deal, so far. Doesn't help that there's not much of a plan, per se...
I've freed off a bunch of linkages; the clutch pedal now moves freely, as does the accelerator and all the linkages to the carburettor. I can put the transfer case in 2 wheel drive, neutral, or 4LO. I can select all four forward gears, and reverse. I can't get the lever that engages the PTO to move; but I haven't fiddled with it much.
I've also -- with the help of my brother -- removed the radiator and put a bloody gert spanner on the end of the crankshaft; and got that to rotate enough to overcome the stiction. Now the engine rotates quite happily on the starter when the button is pressed.
I've since determined that there's no spark; and parts are being delivered right now to rectify this. Also, because it's me, I've bulked out the order quite considerably by adding in HT cable, terminals, boots, crimping tool, etc. to build new spark-plug leads.
First priority, for me, is to see if I can get the engine to fire; at least sputter. There are better things I could probably be doing, but it's a motivational thing.
There's a Grand Rewiring that must happen; but I've not planned that out fully enough to start tearing into it yet. It starts with "Negative Earth", though, and involves an entirely new (modular) fuse-box...