Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Webb
Tony can you post a pic of the steering column bracket in case it's different from the standard? The Rover with the dash with hard angles on it looks like a standard cab 12 one but with about a 2" block to lower it.
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Well done Keith, I see you have your thinking cap on!!
As Keith says, the vehicle I saved from the scrappy was formerly a Rover armoured car. By way of background, the following info from Keith's website:
"Based on a Ford cab 12 F60L chassis, the Australian Rover Armoured car was not a big success, being overweight and having poor cross-country performance, only 238 were built from late 1941. There were two basic variants, the Mk 1, or long wheelbase and Mk2 which used a shortened F60L chassis of 134 1/4". With a crew of 5 they earned the nickname of "mobile slit trench" because of their appearance. Their main use was in crew training. Hulls were built by both the Victorian Railways workshops and Ruskin Motor Bodies. The last was delivered in September 1943."
Pictured below are the two variants, with the "mobile slit trench" on display on the Mk 1. My particular vehicle was a Mk2 which appears to have been converted back to a standard GS truck during the war - the upshot being possibly the only Cab 12 F60S in Australia! As mentioned earlier I had no plans to own a Cab 12, and after trying to drive one three years ago I assumed it wasn't possible for someone of my height. Like Sjoerd I was astounded at the time, because I've driven some of the tiniest sports coupes ever built, and yet here was a TRUCK I couldn't squeeze into! However it seemed to confirm everything I've heard and read about the early cab being "cramped", so it came as no surprise to me upon getting this ex-Rover home that I could not sit in it and operate the clutch. Just like three years ago my leg jammed under the steering wheel. But wait!! What's that strange block under the steering column bracket? More on that in the next exciting episode....