Is This One Of A Kind or Production

[motto]

From what you say Tony the situation in SA is similar to that here in Vic whereas it is still not possible to get full registration for a LHD vehicle.
That being the case, I assume the fellow with the M151 wanted to get it fully registered and so had no option but to convert to RHD.
I couldn't imagine anybody wilfully converting such a vehicle to RHD. It surely had to be to comply with a legislative imperative.

Dave

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

Thanks for answering my question, having a RH Drive in a drive on the right part of the world has always made driving a CMP in the US interesting. Never have had any questions from the motor vehicle registry, police or inspection stations about having RHD vehicles.

As I have mentioned before on MLU the only time the police have really taken any notice is when they walk up to the wrong side of the vehicle and start talking to my stuffed parade bear. That story is on my web site.

My friend who reassembles M151 will enjoy all the information.

Cheers Phil

[Little Jo]

Originally Posted by motto

From what you say Tony the situation in SA is similar to that here in Vic whereas it is still not possible to get full registration for a LHD vehicle.
That being the case, I assume the fellow with the M151 wanted to get it fully registered and so had no option but to convert to RHD.
I couldn't imagine anybody wilfully converting such a vehicle to RHD. It surely had to be to comply with a legislative imperative.

Dave

Hi Dave

In SA you can now get full registration for LHD vehicles. Going on club registration is so much cheaper, but you can only use the vehicle on the road for 90 days a year. You must keep a club issued log book filled out if you go on the road and must keep it in the vehicle at all times with your LHD exemption document. If stopped by police and they find your log book is not filled out you can be charged with driving an unregistered-insured vehicle, even if you have the vehicle on valid up to date club rego. So we never forget to complete the log book prior to driving on the road. It is the clubs responsibility to check registration papers and stamp them with the club stamp, issue and check log books once a year. I won't have to worry anymore since I have just sold my 1942 LHD MB Willys Jeep.

Cheers

Tony

[motto]

Hi Phil
Some years ago I was driving across town in a GMC CCKW open cab truck with a #7 Set frame in the back. I was on my way to pick up a bank vault door for my friend Cliff who was riding as passenger.
On a section of divided carriageway there was a police officer standing where he could scan traffic from both directions and stop those of interest.
The Jimmy was obviously of interest as he signalled for me to pull over to the kerb, which I of course did. Walking across to the right hand side of the truck he put his foot on the step, looked at Cliff and asked for his license. I started to reach for my wallet and the officer said,'not you,him', indicating my passenger.
I sat there looking at the big wood rim steering wheel in front of me not knowing what to do next while Cliff, with a puzzled look on his face, started to get his wallet out.
Suddenly the cop realised the situation and said,'Oh, left hand drive! I'm a dill aren't I'? He then walked around my side and conducted the rest of the interview with me.

I believe that the U.S. Postal Service operated a fleet of 30,000 or so RHD vans at one time so as the driver could step straight out onto the kerb. I have no knowledge as to whether the practise of using RHD vehicles continues with U.S. Post and would be curious to know how successful their use was. Perhaps they proved to be a hazard to other road users and have been replaced with conventional vehicles.

David

[Lynn Eades]

David, they had specially built Jeeps.

New Zealand has had on it's statutes a requirement for a LHD permit since about or before WWII. A few years ago it reared it's ugly head and we all had to have permits, to be carried in the vehicle at all times. It then slowly died away and I don't think we are required to carry one any more. It all came up over the import of LHD cars from the states, with government employees, paid to find ways to make our lives more difficult, and as someone already mentioned, the supposed high accident rate, which later prooved to be a jacked up statistic.
At the time government was looking to buy a replacement fleet of vehicles.
the hummer family was a consideration, It was soon dropped because there were no RHD ones being built and the Govt. of the day were not going to allow an exemption. That's my rough recall on the Kiwi perspective.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

A year ago I posted the photo at the top of this thread and asked the question production or one of a kind.

Want to thank everybody for responding, as I mentioned I have a friend Larry Damour who has restored many many M151 series vehicles and Larry was intrigued by it RHD version. Well Larry has actually started building a RHD M151 given his project completion rate I expect this one will be on the road early summer.



This photo is up on our Club Web sight which has recently undergone a major upgrade. I'm sure there will be more photos of this project coming so visit http://mvmvc.org/photos/ if your interested.

Larry also has some other interesting M151s which you will see if you scroll down through the photos.

Cheers Phil

[Bill Murray]

Hi Motto:

I just ran across this thread............

Below is a link to the history of the US Postal Service RHD vans.

As of Saturday, they are still delivering the normal Post Box Mail although they are starting to sound a bit Tatty nowadays.

I had actually thought of buying one off surplus but the Post Office does not maintain them very well and the ones on offer were pretty awful a few years ago.
Edit: Sorry, the link does not seem to work but just google US Post Office Truck and you can get the Wiki story.
Grumman_LLV

Bill

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bill

Those postal delivery had a hard winter around here, with a couple of them ending up on the drivers side. These were very low or no speed accidents so injuries were fortunately minor. One was struck from the rear and laid over on the drivers side, little body damage until they cut the roof open to get the driver out, truck totalled. The second drove over a snow bank and layer over.


But Larry is build the M151 as a RHD just because he thought it would be interesting.

Cheers Phil