"Yankee Joe" truck

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by gjamo

Heres a pic from the opposite end when it was located in Rockbank before being sold.

Thanks, it shows it does not have an engine in the back, behind the cab, as Steve mentioned. So it must be a Chevrolet Earth Borer?

Shown below is a picture of a ACK-353 Earth Borer, according to Vanderveen 100 of these were supplied to the US Signal Corps. It clearly shows the borer engine behind the cab.



Source: Life Magazine images @ Google

[gordon]

The Chevrolet K-43 and K-44 trucks had a pto drive to winch and augur, rather than a separate engine.

That is presumably why the previous owner of my K-43 changed the engine to a GMC 270, but mated it to the Chevrolet transmission and transfer to keep the winch drive.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by gordon

That is presumably why the previous owner of my K-43 changed the engine to a GMC 270, but mated it to the Chevrolet transmission and transfer to keep the winch drive.

. . . . and painted it purple?!?

H.

(picture source: http://miliblog.co.uk/?cat=129)

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

. . . . and painted it purple?!?

If I am not mistaken this truck may have been featured in the Darling Buds of May. If I remember correctly the truck was that shade of purple.

Cheers

[gordon]

It was sitting in Mike Stallwoods yard at RR Services when a TV company needed a blue ex-army truck for "The Darling Buds of May" TV series, so he pulled off the body, dropped on a cargo body, painted it blue ...

last time I heard the back body base and winch were still there.

[Ron Pier]

Ah I remember the telivision series, They actually had two of them painted purple They are not identicle. A friend of mine in Devon UK has bought one of them and tells me if you studdy the filming you can pick out the differences....I'll take his word for it. Ron

[gordon]

I never knew that.

Mine was the original with the PGC 123 registration, issued in London around 1950. It is easy enough to identify when you see the cab roof, as you can see the weld where the driver's periscope was welded up.

Telephone trucks had this periscope in the cab roof so that the driver could operate the winch controls and watch what was happening in the back of the truck.

Get him to check his cab roof maybe? I'm sure my truck is the one that was in storage at Hop Farm.

Gordon

[Ron Pier]

OK Gordon. I have seen his truck in it's purple paint. I don't know where he got his information. I'll contact him for more. Ron.

[Richard Farrant]

I think the other one was in a museum near Maidstone, Museum of Rural Life or something similar. They used to advertise it as an attraction.