Hamilton Police Jeeps
 

Back in the day when the "mountain" in Hamilton was the untamed wilderness Hamilton Police bought two Jeeps for patrol. It was believed these jeeps were bought surplus from the military. Im wondering if anyone can provide any info on what kind they are and if they were in fact bought surplus.

They are civilian CJ5s. Giveaways are the lack of blackout lighting, the small gas tank opening, the civilian turn signals on the grill, and the Jeep script on the sides. There are lots of other indicators as well like the lack of holes for the military bow brackets, lack of tow rings, civilian suspension shackles.....

Surprising that they would install winter tires only on the back. Different size tires on a 4 wheel drive like that will cause a lot of drivetrain windup (which of course = wear and poor control) when in four wheel drive.

There is a motorcycle tricycle in the left side of one photo. The trunk box and right rear wheel are visible, and part of the fairing in front. That would have been what the Hamilton police were using until the CJs arrived.

This was one of the tricycle motorcycles.

Very interesting, what is the policeman doing with the stick under the car?
Ken

I would suggest that the stick holds a piece of chalk at the end, notice the lighter coloured tip.

The chalk was used to mark tires (tyres) and was used as an indicator to see if the vehicle had moved. It was in some areas used as a method of establishing length of time parked in an area and if needing a ticket for over staying one's welcome in that area.

My suggestion / supposition.

We used to have an old parking enforcement guy in the town where I gre up who would put the chalk on the sidewall of the tire, I suppose in the same location on each vehicle, to see if the vehicle had moved. I note the radical angle of this one, where it would seem they would mark the chalk on the tread portion. Makes sense, as it would be a better indicator that there had been movement. Otherwise you stood a 1 in 360 chance of being ticketed even if you had moved.

The good old days.

In the photo of Jeep 79 by itself, I have to wonder about the hole in the fender. I see no other body damage, just a large hole, near the seam. At first I thought it was a defect in the photo, but blowing the photo up makes is appear to be an actual hole.

RHD Jeeps
 

The US postal service used Right hand drive Jeeps, I recall reading this somewhere . Where Did they make RHD components for export ?

There was or is an excellent web site for CJ Jeeps run by a Canadian guy , he even mentioned the Australian dealers, Stokoe Motors in North Melbourne where VMVC member Andy Watson worked in the 1970's . There was a small batch of Long wheelbase CJ3B's made for Australia and these are a real oddity . I believe the RAAF used CJ jeeps in the early 60's.

Found it https://cj3b.info/World/AustraliaHistory.html

He gives me a credit for the Stokoe motors info.

more here https://cj3b.info/index.html

The RAAF page https://cj3b.info/World/AustraliaRAAF.html

Chalking tires is still done by Hamilton bylaw.

All over Australia parking officers used to chalk mark tyres (still do in many places) by leaning down and swiping the tread. Their backs must have been destroyed at the end of the day (and a good thing too!)

We now have ground sensors in each spot and the second you overstay your welcome the machine back at headquarters starts printing you a nasty bill.

Little buggies with number plate recognition are now beginning to be seen and they just zip regularly around the block jagging late stayers as they fly past.

Oh how the money rolls in.

Lang