Hancock motors selling spares

[Keith Webb]

Having met quite a few of these characters I can fully believe that, although I hadn't heard the one about the suicide.

I was overseas when Hughes Auto Spares was being cleared, there were stories about a Hillman Husky which made many severely overloaded trips out of that place.

Originally Posted by motto

There are some interesting stories around about military vehicle parts and the shifty deals that went on.
One has to do with a large amount of Studebaker spares that was acquired by the government when the stock of U.S. 6 trucks were being put into service. Many of the spares were repackaged used parts instead of NOS. I remember seeing a knackered transfer case in its transit box all greased up at one of the dealers and that is where I was told the story. You had to be careful what you were buying.
I even came across some of this stuff in the possession of Chris Wilkinson in the UK. A large number of used Hercules JXD big end shells that were individually repacked.
The story went that one of the three characters involved in the scam committed suicide when it started to come to light.
I also remember visiting Auto Surplus when they were having a sort out and the scrap skip in their yard containing a mass of NOS stuff that had got too slow moving.

David