Hi Grant, im probably making it sound like that there is one every street corner, not quite but they do come up for sale quite regularly,so we must have had thousands at some stage ,they would be the most prolific ex army vehicle (WW2 vintage) still around in unrestored but still being used condition (others would probably argue different).
I dont know how to post it here but Gumtree- western Australia has one on there now for $1200 under Ford blitz CMPV,this is pretty typical of what keeps cropping up in Aust,usually like this with crane type appendages attached.I have seen numerous vehicles in this configuration and cond with no doors,glass etc and generally still just running on 3 or 5 cylinders (testament to the toughness of these old bangers).
Only thing that puts me off a lot of them is the fact that most have had large chunks of angle iron etc welded to their chassis or even shortened to facilitate the fitting of said appendages,which may not go down that well with our Road Transport licencing authorities if ever one got round to being restored and attempted to go back on the road again.
Yes i agree Grant the more complete and unmolested vehicle is the better choice but they are the rarer, harder to find ones which when they do come up command better prices,Aussie farmers and small town engineering firms in earlier times seemed to cut up / modify what was cheap and plentiful, but who cared back then! ,but i will keep my eyes open for that " barn find" hopefully that may crop up.
Cheers John
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