British Empire Staff Cars

[Lang]

I don't think I put up a photo of my 1940 Dodge staff car whch we drove from Aqabah, Jordan to Normandy a few years ago. It is now on about its third owner in UK so I hear.

Lang

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Lang

I don't think I put up a photo of my 1940 Dodge staff car whch we drove from Aqabah, Jordan to Normandy a few years ago.

Which border crossing did you use to leave Jordan and how thoroughly did the Israelis, if you drove through Israel, search your car? Reason I ask is I wonder if your experiences driving in and out of Jordan were similar to mine. During my U.N. leave I visited Jordan and entered at the Jordan River border crossing near Bet She'an and recrossed from Aqaba to Eilat. Before I could reenter Israel the Israelis insisted on searching my truck from top to bottom, even removing the tires from the rims. Apparently that was a popular dodge for Palestinians to smuggle explosives into the country. They kept me waiting for nearly 2 hours during this process which annoyed me to no end. I kept my tongue during the search, something I didn't always do with the Israelis as they can be a very annoying people. They can be very pushy and obnoxious at times. If you got a minute I'll tell you an amusing story of a time when I finally had enough of Israeli attitude and let one have it. In Eilat there is a movie theatre for tourists where they show a presentation of the natural wonders of Israel and the Red Sea. The soundtrack is in Hebrew so they have earphones on the sides of the seats for Anglophones. My pair were missing so I politely asked one of the ushers, a pretty young lady, if she could get me a pair, please. Well, she spun on her heel and spat back at me:

"SCHWAY! SCHWAY! GIVE ME A MINUTE AND I"LL GET YOU A PAIR!!!! SCHWAY!!!!

Unfortunately, the young lady picked a moment when I had truly had my fill of pushy, obnoxious Israelis so I jumped up, turned my camcorder on and pointed it at her and yelled at the top of my lungs (when I'm pissed I've got a voice that'll make a parade square Sargeant Major shake in his boots)

"COULD YOU REPEAT THAT PLEASE SO I CAN SHOW EVERYBODY BACK IN CANADA HOW RUDE YOU PEOPLE ARE!!!!!"

The usher took off at a run...I never saw her again but an obviously embarrassed pair of Israelis sitting next to me sheepishly said, "We speak Hebrew so we don't need ours, you can have them."

It was a very interesting show.

Derek.

P.S., if you did drive North through Israel, is the:
ANGER INKHOLES
sign still on the side of the highway just south of the Dead Sea?

[Keith Brooker]

Yes i am looking for 900-13 tyres. Played the Agatha Christie film that it was in last night, must be some of the stars DNA left in the car.Peter Ustinov, Lauren Bacall and Sir Jhon Gielgud. Have been ripping out the old floor [ Wood ] to put a new one back in looks a bit like a Flintstones car. Have found the photo from the British Cars of the Early Forties 1940 - 1946 by Bart H.Vanderveen. Good book.
Humber Pullman RAF webjpg.jpg

[Rich Payne]

The Humbers are certainly fine looking cars.

This picture is an IWM image taken from Gavin Birch's "Motorcycles at War"

Is it a Snipe Mk2 ? Definitely a BSA M20 in the foreground and I think a Beaverette bringing up the rear.

Formation sign looks to be the bulldog of Eastern Command although facing the opposite direction from the only illustration that I have.

[lynx42]

David, First glance said 'Railton', but the picture is still small so couldn't get a good look. Went to Google and came up with this. I was right. Don't know what year though. Rick

[Keith Brooker]

This is my 1938 Humber Pullman we just bought it two weeks ago. It Given to the services or Requisitioned and was used in WW2 as a staff car and came out of the services in 1946. The RAF, Army and Navy used these Humbers and i think the US Army had some. I think my Humber was used by the Royal Navy as it was dark blue then and reg in Exeter for most of its life untill 1978. was used in Agatha Christies film Appointment with Death by that time is painted Army Green. There is a photo of one with reg number RAF 181850 in the book British Cars of the 1940s-1946 by Bart H.Vanderveen. the number on the my Humber was taken from an open top Humber for the film.
Humber 6.JPG Humber 8.JPG

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Keith Brooker

This is my 1938 Humber Pullman we just bought it two weeks ago.

Keith

So you will be looking for some 9.00-13 tyres then.... you will have to join the queue of tyre hopefulls .

Mike

[Bill Murray]

Hi David:

I can't claim any great knowledge of obscure British makes, but I think there is a chance your small postwar photo is a 1939-1940 Sunbeam-Talbot.

There is a very poor photo of such a six light saloon in Vanderveen's book "British Cars of the Late 1930's" that I don't think will scan well but I may try later.

In the meantime, here is a photo of a four light version of the car.
Cheers
Bill