Farm Scrapyard X

[Mr Sam]

so went to dump a load of hardcore at a local farm today and leave the tractor trailer there so we could ge some more logs and im driving my old banger of a tractor out and i notice a crane through the bushes, now ive been past this thousands of times but allways too fast in the car to notice it and whats clearly viewable from the road never looked worth bothering about

anyway this evning i nipped in and had a poke around, theres not alot really but a few gems



scuse the shots, the sun had set and the camera was just on auto so ive edited them a bit

up untill the mid 50's this tank used to be the village water supply

the crane

'thorncroft'

engine sat behind the cab

ivy getting at the wheels

mahoosive piston, the one on the left is about the right size to be out a 1 litre engine so the big one is BIG


now the last find i saw the back doors and knew immediatly what it was!! such a shame its been left to get like this, if only the farmer had laid it up in a barn

Anlia 105e van, i may have a word with the farmer see if i can help myself to the diff

 

[Foxylady]

Ooh, nice find, Mr S. Love that water tank as well as the other stuff.
I really like your pics, btw. They look luminous.

 

[smiffy]

I'm guessing the motor up behind the cab is only to power the crane???...cos the wagon/chassis looks to me like an AEC Matador (4x4 Gun tractor of WW2 vintage) which would have had the motor down in the usual place under the cab.......... but you mention Thorncroft??....you sure the plate (or whatever) didn't say 'Thorneycroft'??? .was that name plate on the 'extra' engine ???........cos there was a famous old wagon makers called Thorneycoft around in the same sort of era......they made
the 'Mighty Antar' Tank Transporter Tractor.........??????
....good stuff though whatever it turns out to be.....!!!!!!
.A few of my mates had Ford Anglias way back when we was 17..........I always though the Anglia car looked like a minature version of the classic '57 Chevrolet ......
..with a few quid you could sport them up quite good actually as they were a popular car for Rallying at the time and plenty of 'hot' bits were available.........

 

[Mr Sam]

fear not i know my anglias well

heres my baby 67' saloon flip fronted and crossflowed with front disk conversion amongst other goodies, still a long way off though



and yes it quite probably was thorneycroft and yes the tractor units engine was under the cab, couldnt really get in the cab didnt want to force the door

deffinetly a thorneycroft after a quick google

and check out this beast they made

 

[ricasso]

looks to me like a fowler gyrotiller

 

[waynezbitz1]

nice pics as always sam

 

[escortmad79]

Christ that van is shagged!!

 

[ricasso]

A good bag of spanners would sort that out

 

[MD]

Nice one mr Sam well worth a nose around
Like the pistons

 

[BigLoada]

Great man, knackered vehicles are always cool. Top stuff!

 

[festcu]

Christ that van is shagged!!

Nah, I've taxed worse

Its a crying shame really - I desperately want an old commercial

 

[freebird]

Definately a few gems! Nice find.

 

[Seahorse]

Piston broke?

Story of my life really.

 

[Mr Sam]

had a word with me old man he's going to give the farmer a ring see if i can salvage an useful bits of whats left on thr van, rear lens', roof vent, i think i saw rear bumpers, and im hoping the axel is under there as they have a 4:4 diff IIRC and the axel itself is a different size to the saloon and quite sought after, if not ill have a spare pair of half shafts

 

[james.s]

Those pistons would make a great doorstop or garden ornament. Nice pictures. I love the light effect. How did you do it?

 

[smiffy]

Mr Sam I think your Anglia would benefit greatly from fitting her with a V8 Rover Lump.........preferably one of the last model 4.6 hi-tune lumps.......Mmmmh... mmmh!
Sweeten her up just a little from standard and she should comfortably put out around the 275bhp mark..........now that would be some sorta Ranglia!
Lovely looking little car they were for sure.......I particularly love the reverse angle to the rear screen...thats what makes em look like a Chevy I reckon........
Yer right its a Thorneycroft sure enough.......... and that dozer/tractor !!!.......
......... never seen one like it ....in one word.........gorgeous !
Love the cab too ...looks like a builders hut sat on the top!
D'you reckon thats a ROPS cab ? heheheh!

 

[Mr Sam]

there is an anglia that runs a small block chevy in fact i can think of another one too, both 10 second cars

 

[bullmastiff]

the crane

'thorncroft'

engine sat behind the cab

ivy getting at the wheels

that is a thornycroft big ben waggon with some sort of coles crane attached cant really make the crane out but looks like a 4 or 5 ton but defo a coles engineering crane should have ballast plates on the rear with the name on it and its model number, the engine on the rear looks like some sort of donkey engine for possibly a winch drum may run between the chassis rails as i cant see it in the shot, these were popular with early vehicle recovery opperators probably ex R.E.M.E

 

[Mr Sam]

yes it said 'coles cranes' on the back of it

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

The four cylinder engine behind the cab is connected to a generator - this can be clearly seen in photo 2 of the original post. Most likely the generator was used for arc welding, but I think some of the Coles cranes were supplied with a generator to power the large electromagnets used to lift small pieces of scrap steel. This could mean that the engine/generator assembly had been removed from the rear of the crane, and just placed behind the cab for storage.