RHD Willys MB

[T. Metsovitis]

Hello all,

Shown in the photo are two Cypriot National Guard Military Police Jeeps parading in Nicosia in 1964.



What strikes me as unusual is that they are both RHD . The National Guard's equipment at the time came mostly from surplus British stocks. Could these RHD Jeeps be ex- British? The one on the left has a cut down bumper like the airborne version.
As far as I know there military jeeps were not converted to RHD in British use. It's obvious that some work has been done on them as they have new indicator lights, but a conversion to RHD seems like a pretty advanced mod to me.
Can anybody shed any light on this mystery?

TIA

FYll

[Ian Fawbert]

Hiya,

Interesting photo- thanks for sharing it!

I notieced that the one with rego CJ226 has either been through a rebuild or has had some major rebuild body work done due to rust repairs. The reason I say this is because it has a squared off fuel tank sump- characteristic of either a slat grill MB (of which this jeep no longer has hence thought of rebuild) or the basic remanufacturer of the fuel tank sump in a repair job.

Either way, this could indicate extensive work and possibly the reason for conversion to RHD at the same time?

Just a thought!

Cheers,
Ian.

[Jeff Gordon]

O.K correct me if I am wrong but it looks to me that the bell crank is still on the left hand side.
How does that work with with the steering box on the right?

Gotta get me some white walls!

Cheers
Jeff

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Jeff Gordon

O.K correct me if I am wrong but it looks to me that the bell crank is still on the left hand side.
How does that work with with the steering box on the right?

Hi Jeff,

This photo came up on another forum and I also spotted the bellcrank in normal position. It reminded me of an old M series 6x6 seen years ago at Alice Springs. It had been converted to right hand drive by fitting a sprocket on the shortened steering column, under the dashboard and another on the dummy steering column on the right, connected by roller chain ! Perhaps this is a similar conversion / bodge

regards, Richard

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

C.T. Wooler Engineering Ltd in Andover, Hampshire were a long-established gears and gear-cutting Engineers company and then they converted lhd cars to rhd using a cut column with sprocket and a chain running to....the lhd column and box. They converted AMC Jeep Cherokees and Pacers. I have no idea if they had already converted earlier Jeeps to rhd using a similar system.