Spot the C-GT or A/C?

[Tony Smith]

Peters Brothers/G-Well crane on Chev chassis:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-...MAAOSw0o5ao8Ys

We have looked at these conversions before, where we discussed they were built during the war years using both unused CGT chassis that were not required for "Aust No9" Gun tractors as ordered, or Armoured Car chassis that were not required for the "Rhino Heavy Armoured Car". Looking at the front bumper,this looks like a CGT version.

Mike Cecil's book on "Australian Scout and Armoured cars" mentions Peters Brothers:
"By mid 1943, all the Model 8446 4x4 chassis ordered from Canada had arrived, and apart from those in use, were in storage at the Fisherman's Bend plant of GMH. They remained there until mid-1944 when at least 75 were assigned to the company of Peters Brothers, located in the Sydney suburb of Redfern. Peters Brothers had been undertaking the construction of general purpose cranes for the Services based on various makes of wheeled tractors, such as the International W-9. Peters Brothers built at least 75 cranes based on this chassis, these being assigned Commonwealth registration numbers 144311 to 144322, 144373 to 144421 and 144722 to 144735."

[Rod Salter]

There was a green one of these at the workshop

One of many persons, I drove/used it during my apprenticeship

In fact, it was possibly the only crane in town, callouts to car accidents, farm lifts all over the shire

It was registered with 'Hand' for signals

Worked best with the boom jackknifed around to the front

on bitumen, it could get the bunny hops

slow, hot in summer, cold in winter and wet when it was raining

at manoeuvring speed, without a load, it built up the armstrong muscles

the cran's rams were strong enough to lift the back of the truck off the ground

I was not old enough to have a drivers licence, no one asked either, reflective jackets had not even been thought of

king of the road rod

[Brett Nicholls]

Hi Tony,
I don't believe this to be WW2 military. It can be noted the many differences between this crane and the War time pictured Military out front of Peter Bros. Starting with the hydraulic ram being a single unit on the WW2 crane. The boom is straight on the war time crane. I had looked at a couple of units over the years and I believe I have not come across a WW2 manufactured one yet. The abvoe differences could be dispelled if we knew there were changes to the design during production and/or there were some wartime pictures showing a different design.

Regards,

[Brett Nicholls]

These I believe are all POST WAR cranes.

[Tony Smith]

It may well be a post-war conversion. However, it is interesting to note the CGT winch fairlead and cab floor, and there wouldn't be too many of these cranes made onto CGT cab/chassis except for those wartime "Aust No9" chassis examples.

Also of interest is the variations seen with single ram/dual rams, and the design of the pivot mount ( "C" section beams or "lattice" style). Peters Bros made these styles of cranes for a variety of vehicles and SWL ratings. There was no single design model. Add to the fact that they were made over a couple of decades, I think you would have to have a Peters Bros catalogue or sales brochure to definitively date or classify any particular example. I'm sure that some over the years have even been moved from vehicle to vehicle, and even modifed by users to suit specific applications.

Other companies, such as Servex, also manufactured similar cranes during the war and after, and may share similar appearances.

Despite that, if this crane was closer, I'd like to have a good look at it (for the chassis No. of the CGT and a builder's plate on the crane), and perhaps if it was closer still, I'd be buying it!

[Brett Nicholls]

Hi Tony,
Thanks for the 2nd picture. I didnt have that one. Would there be a date for that photo?.

The picture of the crane loading a bale has to be my favourite war time picture of the crane in operation. Shame there is not more like this. Maybe one day some will surface though as time goes on I guess it becomes less likely.

Yes definatley lots of variations and probable refittments from tracktors to trucks etc along with additional manufacturers. My theory with the CGT is that more of these would be used post war mainly due to the CGT specs making them ideal for conversion. Particularly the shortness of wheel base.

Its a shame the seller hasn't posted more pics of those plates etc but Im sure the information would be available if some one closer could/would chase it up.

They are a unique vehicle to drive and make you constantly think which way you have to turn the wheel to make the crane do what you want. I have driven Laurie Winney's one a couple of times and its definately interesting

Its a shame the 'Old CMP' site is not working. These pictures would be a great addition to the variants for all to see.

Regards,

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Brett Nicholls

Hi Tony,
They are a unique vehicle to drive and make you constantly think which way you have to turn the wheel to make the crane do what you want. I have driven Laurie Winney's one a couple of times and its definately interesting

Its a shame the 'Old CMP' site is not working. These pictures would be a great addition to the variants for all to see.

Regards,

There was also a thread on the old Network54 MLU site that had a lot of pics, that is also sadly lost too.

Laurie's is a perfect example. It is a wartime built crane, and quite different to the known pictures. However, it is the 3 ton W9 model for an International Harvester tractor, that has been fitted to a Blitz post-war by an unknown modifier. The wartime pictures are of a 5 ton crane. It demonstrates that different crane models do display different features for different weight ratings even in the same time period.