Old Photos

[onetrack]

There's better things to use than a stick with a rag attached to it. I have a TradeFlame Ultragas (Mapp gas) blow torch with a peizo igniter. Click the trigger and you've got a beaut flamethrower!

 

https://www.boc.com.au/shop/en/au/mappro-blow-torch-kit-211067

[red750]

[red750]

[red750]

And people protest about wearing masks......

 

[red750]

[Benzine]

Great info & pics!  My grandfather Keith Anderson started at Western Transport as an apprentice mechanic in 1938 - he’s still going strong at 99 ….

[old man emu]

On 22/11/2021 at 6:38 PM, red750 said:

Sorry, Red. Although the bikes are the 1914 models, the models are not Harley and Davidson. That caption is one of those oft repeated errors caused by failure to examine the original documents.

 https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harley-davidson-1914-photo/

[red750]

3 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Sorry, Red.

Took you long enough to shoot me down. That was posted over 12 months ago.

[facthunter]

It's slower in the bush. (and TASSIE).  Some just love it that way. Nev

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, red750 said:

Took you long enough to shoot me down.

I was busy.

[facthunter]

Facts about those model Harleys are a "Grey area"..  Nev

[facthunter]

They had the nickname "the Silent Grey Fellow".  In those years you could get a single or a twin. Nev

[willedoo]

I'd forgotten about this thread. Here's another couple of old photos. First one is a Massey Harris tractor pulling a Sunshine harvester on my father's/grandfather's/great grandfather's farm. The second one is what I guess would be a reaper and binder. I don't recognise who's operating it. It might be the old Irishman who worked for my great grandfather and grandfather. He went there as a young man to work the harvest season, and ending up staying the rest of his life. He died there when he was in his eighties.

 

[willedoo]

Another farm photo taken by my great uncle in 1963. Maybe someone could identify what make of truck it is; I have no idea.

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by willedoo

[willedoo]

20 hours ago, Benzine said:

Great info & pics!  My grandfather Keith Anderson started at Western Transport as an apprentice mechanic in 1938 - he’s still going strong at 99 ….

Was he related to the Anderson who started Western Transport? It was a big company in it's day. The other one I still remember is Cobb and Co. transport. From memory Cobb & Co .was in James Street in Toowoomba.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

Maybe someone could identify what make of truck it is;

I'll take a punt at its being a Bedford or Austin.

[facthunter]

I'm guessing it  to be a Ford "Thames".   Nev

[old man emu]

 Yep 1954 Thames trader

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

 Yep 1954 Thames trader

Thanks Nev and ome. I Googled Austins and Bedfords and came up with nothing.

[willedoo]

It's starting to seem a long time ago when we drove trucks with a yellow metal hand on the end of a lever for an indicator. It's not so much the time gone by, but more so the advances in technology and the comparison with the old gear that gives the feeling. I'm only in my late sixties, but by the time I had a license at seventeen to drive trucks on the road, we still had the yellow hand indicator.

 

On the farm, we started with a Canadian Maple Leaf Chev. I think it was a '47 or '48 model. My father bought it brand new and it was his first vehicle. He used it for general transport as well as farm work, even driving it to the local dances. I seem to recall the Chev having a starter pedal on the floor. I always thought the Maple Leaf Chev was better looking than it's American counterpart. We also had a second truck which belonged to my maternal grandfather who was a silent partner in a share farming agreement for a while. It was a four tonner Bedford, around late 30's and had a tipping hoist fitted.

 

As things got a bit busier, my dad bought a second hand Dodge truck. Like the Chev, it wasn't a tipper. From memory, they called the non tipping bins an 'A' bin. That might have been a localised term for all I know. They had a steel inverted V shaped floor running longitudinally, to run the grain down to the hatches on either side of the bin. The V shaped floor cut down on carrying capacity and my father eventually traded in the Chev and Dodge on a second hand International AA160 truck. It was a flash truck in it's day. It had after market indicators fitted, even though the lever with the metal hand remained. The other flash feature was the Eaton two speed diff. Looking back, those old petrol engine trucks seem primitive now. I think the biggest advances in trucks were diesel engines, air brakes, and power steering.

 

I wish we still had the old Maple Leaf Chev; it would be a good restorer. This photo of it was taken in the early 60's.

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by willedoo

[red750]

 

And before blinkers on cars

 

[facthunter]

The "WHITES" and petrol MACKS and Federals were the big trucks  in the early 50's with big thirsts. Nev

[willedoo]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

The "WHITES" and petrol MACKS and Federals were the big trucks  in the early 50's with big thirsts. Nev

I've never seen a Federal truck. I've driven a couple of Whites; one was an under powered Road Commander with a small 250 Cummins engine. The other was a White Compact with a 160 Cummins. It was an awful little truck for noise and heat coming off the engine. It had the small compact cab-over body that made it look like a bashed crab.

 

As far as Macks go, my total experience was a B model, and an R model with the V8 375hp Thermodyne engine. That truck could go like a rocket. I tried to see how fast it would go one day and blew a steer tyre at well over 130kph, probably closer to 140. That was certainly interesting.

[onetrack]

Willie's wheat-carting truck is not a Ford Trader, OME has picked up a photo with a wrong caption. The truck is actually a Fordson Thames ET6 or ET7 built between 1949 and 1957.

 

The ET6 had the 225 cu in 85HP Ford V8, and the ET7 had a Perkins P6 diesel fitted.

 

https://classiccars.fandom.com/wiki/Fordson_Thames_ET

 

The above site has got things wrong, too - they say the ET6/ET7 was "suitable for a payload up to 8 tons". There's no way these trucks were rated to carry 8 tons, the "8 tons" is the Gross Vehicle Weight (all-up weight).

As the truck quite likely weighed 3.5 to 4 tons empty, they were only capable of carrying about  a 4 tons to 4.5 tons payload.

 

However, I have seen a farmer put 11 tonnes on a "4 ton" Austin! (only for short trips to his nearby grain bin, though!). He'd also repowered the little Austin with a 383 Chrysler V8 petrol engine!

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by onetrack

[old man emu]

6 hours ago, onetrack said:

OME has picked up a photo with a wrong caption

Caught out not checking original documentation!