F60L ARN 46660 Cab 12

[Ken Smith]

Good day
This is the truck I bought in February 2015. It was supposed to have been bought by the previous owners in 1946 from a nearby aerodrome Cecil Plains, I think the AWM records will probably show who actually bought it.



It is serial # 14717 Engine # 2G40613F ARN 46660
Cheers Ken

[Ken Smith]

Good day

This is the F60L I bought last month, and while it isn't mint it has got that minty feel about it. I haven't got much history on it even though it has been in the one family for at least 65 years.
It doesn't have any data plate on it but thanks to Keith in one of his posts, I was able to find the chassis # on the RH side of the chassis. It has had a factory replacement engine and transmission fitted at some stage as the transmission doesn't have the engine # stamped in it.









Chassis # is 2G40452F ARN 45818

Cheers Ken

[Ken Smith]

Now that I have managed to get the photos up, I can go into a bit more detail, the farmer that owned this truck was a Changi survivor. The gentleman passed away in 2013 so he was a true survivor. He was a member of the 2/10th Field Regiment. His family didn't know until the 1990's that he had been a POW.

I bought the truck off his son, who didn't want the truck ending up at the wreckers, as it has always been loved and cared for by the whole family.

The truck had been registered for road use up until 1994, it was then used for another 20 years as a facility for emptying grain chaser bins into. It appears to have the almost perfect remains of the original wooden body but without floor boards, as the bin empties through the bottom.

Cheers Ken

[Beau Bruce]

G'day mate,

What's the little tank under the left hand door for do you know.? My cab 12 f60l only has one main fuel tank on the right hand side and that little tank under the left hand door (Whether the left hand main tank has previously been taken off I'm unsure), i was thinking that it might of been a starting tank then switched over to the main for when running on low octane fules, just like the old John Deere tractors and such do. Thanks

[Ken Smith]

Good day Beau,

The little tank is the radiator overflow tank. It is usually missing off most trucks, as they get damaged or rust out.

You are very lucky to still have yours, I didn't notice mine until I took the photos as I didn't expect it to be still on the truck.

Cheers Ken

Cheers Ken

[Ken Smith]

One of the first things I have to do is repair the mods to the bonnet. Somebody cut the front of the bonnet and bent it up, they also put a very well made hinged flap in the top of the bonnet, all this work to direct more air in to the radiator and engine bay.




The top flap is seized open at the moment.
I was just thinking the top flap would help stop vaporising too. A lot of the AWM pictures show the North South road cab 12s with the bonnets off.

Cheers Ken

[Ganmain Tony]

An extraordinary start for a project Ken.. despite the mods to the bonnet.

Appears to be very complete. Is the bar that goes through the Radiator shroud still there??

Well done on saving the old beast - keep the pictures coming

[Ken Smith]

Good day Tony,
Nice to hear from you thanks for your comments, I will be putting up photos as often as possible. I would have liked the two truck threads to have not been merged as it would have been easier to follow each trucks new life, any way I will do my best with the merged thread and I can put a few other truck resto pictures in when it suits.
I just noticed my grey truck ARN 46660 and your truck are only 34 chassis numbers apart. I like those sort of interesting things happening, the two trucks may have even been parked next to each other at the factory or got their ARN's at the same time although I see your ARN is a lot different to my number. If I can get my trucks looking even half as good as yours I will be happy. Thanks for such a detailed restoration record.

Cheers Ken

[Lionelgee]

G'day Ken,

I just looked at the photograph I had of the tilt tray truck that brought my 1940 Chevrolet from Dalby to Bundaberg. It looks like the same truck that brought your Ford to your place. Are you near Dalby?

PS. I just checked my one photograph showing the tilt tray truck's number plate and it starts off 521 J ... It has the same pinstriping above the number plate. Looks like it is the same UD tilt truck - you should have asked for a MLU discount rate!

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Ken Smith]

Good day Lionel,
I do live near Dalby and I am not very far from Mick the owner of the tilt tray, so I get a bit of a discount anyway. Depending when you got your truck it would have been Mick or the previous owner Jason that delivered it, both top blokes.

It must have been Mick, and you must have had an effect on him, as he has started collecting 1 ton Chevs, with the intention of restoring one back to civilian colours.

Cheers Ken

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Good day Lionel,
I do live near Dalby and I am not very far from Mick the owner of the tilt tray, so I get a bit of a discount anyway. Depending when you got your truck it would have been Mick or the previous owner Jason that delivered it, both top blokes.

It must have been Mick, and you must have had an effect on him, as he has started collecting 1 ton Chevs, with the intention of restoring one back to civilian colours.

Cheers Ken

G'day Ken,

I bought my Chev from Russell Price's located on Toowoomba Road. If Jason is a Price then it would have been Mick who delivered my truck. If it was Jason, then he had only just sold the truck when I was arranging to have my Chevy delivered here. If that is how things ran - as it has been years since; then maybe, it was Mick who delivered my Chevy!

Yes, the Chevys can be contagious. One thing about going to Price's place is that you need to bring a packed lunch and water because it can take a day to just tour the place!

Kind Regards
Lionel

[Ken Smith]

Good day,
I just have just discovered my F60L ARN 58171 has a Machinery "D" loading body, does anyone know what that had in it?
I had a look on the AWM site but no interior pictures, except of a Machinery "E" trailer.

The left hand page of the ARN list also has a notation,
Check per G.R.O. 0.831/43 22/3/44. Any idea on that one?

Cheers Ken

[Mike Cecil]

The vehicle register entry was checked for accuracy against the actual vehicle ion accordance with the requirements of General Routine Order 0.831/43 on 22 March 1944.

Mike

[Ken Smith]

Thanks for your invaluable input Mike. Very interesting that the army was double checking their assets, but also nice from a historic point.

Ken

[Ken Smith]

Ok a bit more research. I searched loading instead of machinery and workshop on the AWM site, and I came up with a "DI" loading instrument repair vehicle.
I think it is probably "D1" not "DI" as there is a "Z1" loading vehicle mentioned elsewhere.
When I searched this forum I found that some Lindsay C60X machinery body types are C1, D1 etc. I know that it is a pretty big leap going from Lindsay body designations to Australian made machinery bodies, but surely there was a common designation for Empire armies.
I might add that the designation in the AWM book for my truck is "D" alone.
I just read on a bit further in the ARNs and I see that 58206 is a "D1" so maybe there are variations.

Ken

[Ken Smith]

I have had a bit of time to spend on the computer the last couple of weeks and decided to clarify some things with my trucks, ARN 46660 was supposed to have been purchased direct from the Cecil Plains aerodrome in 1946.

This has now been proved wrong as the AWM books show that it was bought by Ford from a sub park. I don't want to offend the fellow I bought it from by calling him a liar as he was very sincere in his efforts to help me have the history of the truck, and I don't doubt that they were the first owners, so I thought I might clarify some grey areas.

Did the army auction stuff to the public from local areas? It would make sense to have the people that bought the stuff carry it away rather than have to pack it up transport it to a depot and then auction it.

Would/could these local areas have been called sub parks for the purpose of a name?

Did the manufacturers send buyers along to lines of trucks and bid on them, or did they send buyers along to lines of trucks check them over then offer a price to the government for a batch, or did the government say, we have say 300 trucks in Brisbane do you want them? or you will purchase them.

My 3 cab 12 F60Ls were all purchased by Ford Motor Co from sub parks.

What I am getting at is could the previous owner have bought the truck from a Ford rep after a auction? I just remembered he told me all the wooden rails in his undercover pig pens, which he showed me came from the Cecil Plains auction.

Last question what would an army truck have been doing on a RAAF base anyway?

Cheers Ken

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Ken,

I have no doubt your man was telling the truth. To answer your questions:

Did the army auction stuff to the public from local areas? It would make sense to have the people that bought the stuff carry it away rather than have to pack it up transport it to a depot and then auction it. Yes, but it was the CDC who did the actual disposal after the equipment was written off by the Army, RAAF, etc.

Would/could these local areas have been called sub parks for the purpose of a name? Yes

Did the manufacturers send buyers along to lines of trucks and bid on them, or did they send buyers along to lines of trucks check them over then offer a price to the government for a batch, or did the government say, we have say 300 trucks in Brisbane do you want them? or you will purchase them. The middle answer is correct: the CDC's second stage of the disposals policy was to offer trucks back to the original manufacturer/supplier. The buyer would assess each vehicle and either make an offer per lot, or break the lots into sub-lots based on condition and offer on each sub-lot. Any vehicles rejected/mot purchased by the manufacturer/supplier, then auctioned direct to the public.

My 3 cab 12 F60Ls were all purchased by Ford Motor Co from sub parks. Quite normal disposal process operated by the CDC.

What I am getting at is could the previous owner have bought the truck from a Ford rep after a auction? I just remembered he told me all the wooden rails in his undercover pig pens, which he showed me came from the Cecil Plains auction. Yes: saved the Ford dealer moving them if he could sell them quickly direct from the Army lot within the specified contract time for them to be removed by Ford.

Last question what would an army truck have been doing on a RAAF base anyway? Redundant (even operating), RAAF bases and any other military bases of convenience were used to accumulate equipment for disposal, so there is every possibility that an Army sub-park (ie a base area away from the unit's normal operating base) was established there for the purpose of disposal by the Commonwealth Disposals Commission. Army accumulated the gear & wrote it off, turning it over to the CDC for the actual disposal process. CDC then disposed of it according to the three stage policy: (1) offer to other govt depts (2) offer to the original manufacturer and (3) offer to the public by direct auction.

Clear as mud!

Mike

[Mike K]

Colin Bell worked at Auto Surplus in Mitcham ( when it was owned by Hancock) . Colin told me he was a buyer for HEALINGS just after the war. Healings in Melbourne , were a business that sold a large range of stuff i.e. surplus vehicles and other gear. Colin said the best value auctions to attend were those smaller auctions held in remote areas. He said some trucks sold for almost nothing because they had a minor part missing i.e. a distributor had been removed . He told me Healings had Ford F15's or F15A's ? virtually new in CKD .

He mentioned his time in the army, he was a Lieutenant in a transport company . He said some of the chaps in his unit could not read or write and he would wrote letters home for them. Interesting guy, probably no longer with us.

[Ken Smith]

Thanks Mike,
A lot clearer than mud a can assure you. The gentleman I got it from is a well respected local farmer businessman who, obviously older still has a big input into his farming enterprise.
Your very clear answer makes the truck procurement fit perfectly with his recollections.
I thank you again for your input into this forum.

Ken

[Ken Smith]

The next truck I have been thinking about is the portee ARN 51720, this is more of a I wish I had asked the owner questions while he was alive, instead of assuming I knew everything.
The truck is quite nice I had always thought it was something special because the horn button has a very well made clip on cover over it, so assumed it had always been roofless. The truck was fitted with a 13 cab steel hinged side body ex RAAF, when I got it. I assumed that was the way the previous owner bought it from somebody in Sydney. The story was they bought the truck drove it to Dalby to their new farm job, it was good because his wife could easily get over into the back to look after the kids. It was their car for a number of years.

Over the years I spent a lot of time doing tractor repairs at the farm they eventually bought just out of Dalby, they had lots of interesting, but not interesting to me ex army stuff. One thing was an old rag top KB5 Inter which I used to repair for them, the body off that was lying over in their dump, the body was some sort of parts body with hundreds of little draws and shelves in it. It was made of wood and had deteriorated but was still restorable back in the 70s.

In the 80s when I was interested in stuff I picked up few things at the farm, such as a spare wheel ramp wasn't sure what from and the toolbox from the rear of a water truck.

Which brings me up to this week, I now know thanks to the AWM books that my truck was a portee and wasn't converted to a GS. I started looking over the portee photos on this forum and something got me thinking about the spare tyre ramp I found at the farm years ago. So down the back and sure enough I have the original spare tyre ramp from a portee with the retaining bolts still in place, where the wood has rotted off.
So now I am assuming that the truck came up to Qld with at least the front part of the portee frame still fitted, with maybe the RAAF body bolted on in place of the 2 pounder frame. They had quite a few kids and they would only have been little then, I think it would have been a job to get them to sit safely on the portee seat for that distance.

Why why why didn't I ask what was on the truck for the trip up, I did ask about the cab roof that's how I found out about child care in the late 40s.

The previous owner was ex RAAF having trained pilots on Oxfords and Ansons.
We drove the truck from the farm to my place and have had it in a couple of parades as well. It is stinking hot in a parade without a roof and I usually keep the doors on half open latch to let a little bit of cool air in.



Ken

[Ken Smith]

Good day,
Every year I put on a bit of a display in the front yard of the farm, nothing much, usually whatever will start on the day. This years line up included Albert the Ford C60L ARN 45818, Series 2a Landrover Binned + workshop trailer, Series 3 Landrover GS + 1/2 ton trailer, and my trusty Dodge WC21 + water trailer.
This year one of my grandsons had a sleep over so that he could help me put the trucks out, I like to have everything out by 7.30 am so that I can get cleaned up and go into town for the march. I had 3 grandsons in their school uniforms in this years march.
Ken

[Robin Craig]

What a wonderful display of vehicles and of national pride, thank you for sharing