Info needed: Belgian Vickers Utility Tractor

[Hanno Spoelstra]

This is a thread I start on behalf of Jan Roelse, to aid in the restoration of his Vickers Carden Loyd Utility Tractor.

Some background in very short chronological order:

1) This tractor was bought in the late 1930s by the Belgian army as a gun tractor for their cavalry troops.

VCL%20Utility%20B%20cavalerie%20-%201(1).jpg

2) After the fall of Belgium, this tractor was captured and used by German troops occupying the region. They left it in a ditch after they fled for the advancing Canadian troops in 1944.

vickers in actie 2.jpg

3) It was recovered by a garage shortly after the liberation of the region in late 1944. They converted it for agricultural use and a farmer bought it. It was last used in 1959/1960.

rups op het land.jpg

4) Jan acquired this cut-down tractor from a farmer in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in 1984. See Wheels & Tracks magazine.

rups bij de loods in Vliss..jpg

5) Jan donated this tractor to a local war museum and started it's restoration.

IMG_6045.jpg