Kaniva Auction

[Mike K]

Bob

Kaniva, is where a WW2 German D7 half track surfaced in the early 1980's . A friend was up there for his work and wandered into the Disposals store up near there . The store owner proudly reckoned he had a German WW2 half track at home .

Investigation proved that he indeed did have a German WW2 half track, a D7 in fact . The thing was captured in Nth Africa and shipped to OZ land for evaluation . They also brought home a Horch Sd. Kfz 223 Armoured car , pics of it are on the AWM data base , taken at Port Melbourne .

Back to the D7 . Myself and friend drove up to Kaniva in his VW bug . We drove south of town to a remote farm where we found the original owner , he purchased it just after the war from Hughes in Sydney Rd, Coburg . The motor was missing . The motor was installed in a racing car by Stan Jones who used it in the Aust. grand Prix . Around the sheds were bits of the D7, bins and shelving made from the bodywork ! He cut the hull in half and installed a B model Ford engine in the rear , used it as a crawler on the farm . The hull front we found in town , with mine damage visible , it had hit a land mine and splinter holes were seen on it . We found a tiny swastika on the transmission , all vacuum controlled gear shift , very fancy .

We found German 9mm rounds in the hull floor , hidden in the dirt where someone had dropped them in Africa . I still have one here as reminder of that trip. My friend bought it , but too much missing to restore it .

Friend sold it to a guy in South Australia, from there to Europe it went .

Incidently, it was painted in grey /blue , not yellow .

Mike