Quote:
Originally Posted by sth65pac
I do have the feeling that Western Desert Vehicles have had black bits with the Light Stone, whereas the 'Green machines' had green bits.
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Bear in mind they were going through V8 engines in the desert on a very high rate - see quote below. Due to the increased wear because of the sand engines were changed frequently. Possibly "crate" or exchange engines were painted black?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra
From Gregg's "Blueprint for Victory" p.151: "Kuno Stockelbach, a civilian employee of Ford Motor Company of Canada, supervised all vehicle assembly and major overhaul facilities for the British 8th, 9th and 10th Armies in North Africa and the Middle East from the Fall of 1941 until the end of the Sicilian Campaign.
Kuno attempted to keep the inventory list down by putting Canadian 95 h.p. Ford V8 engines in anything that had room under the hood. All Universal Carriers were re-engined, at the first refit, with the larger powerplant, as were English Ford products such as the W.O.T. transport series. Engines did not last long in the North African desert; Universal Carrier engines were changed every 2,000-3,000 miles and transport vehicles after 10,000 miles. The enthusiast should not despair if he finds a British-built Armoured Car equipped with a Canadian Ford V8 engine. This was the standard refitting procedure in North Africa."
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