Norman D. Landing

[General Apathy]

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Today's work.

 

This afternoon I thought I would wire-wheel all the old paint and rust off twelve or so old jeep shock absorbers that I hung onto from when we stripped Jeep wrecks leftover in farmers fields when they either broke down or the farmers bought one of the newer replacement 4 x 4's made by Land-Rover.  Shown below are used shocks made for Ford Jeeps by Gabriel Shock absorbers of Cleveland and stamped with the letter ' F '.  There were some other US made shocks which I will try and photograph tomorrow, ones I remember this evening  were Monroe Shock absorbers and one was stamped ' E-Z RIDE ' and perhaps I will show these tomorrow. 

 

The two shock absorbers in the photograph are both Ford used ones, front and rear are different lengths when fully extended. On the left is a front one  and on the right a rear one shown in close up on the stamped details, the rear one has a extra piece of steel attached at the lower end to prevent damage from stones thrown up from the front wheel, the front doesn't have this patch. 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 07  2025.

[General Apathy]

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Today's finds in Normandy .. . .... . . . .

 

I had a spin out in the Jeep this afternoon, passing a farm entrance I spotted some recognisable pieces in the yard. I looped around and parked in the entrance and took these photographs of a couple of sheets of PSP planking and a mangled set of rollers the farmer had recovered from his fields.  The rollers were used for easy movement of ammunition, food, and  spares crates etc in storage areas, hidden in the ground these last eighty years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 08  2025.

 

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[General Apathy]

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spotted today . . . . . . .

 

This Canadian Dodge with a load of brass shell cases in the back  . . . .. ... ..

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 09  2025.

 

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[earlymb]

14 hours ago, General Apathy said:

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Today's finds in Normandy .. . .... . . . .

 

I had a spin out in the Jeep this afternoon, passing a farm entrance I spotted some recognisable pieces in the yard. I looped around and parked in the entrance and took these photographs of a couple of sheets of PSP planking and a mangled set of rollers the farmer had recovered from his fields.  The rollers were used for easy movement of ammunition, food, and  spares crates etc in storage areas, hidden in the ground these last eighty years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 08  2025.

 

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That's a great find! They would look great in your garden, I'm sure they'd fit in the jeep and the farmer won't mind if you ask nicely 🤭

 

Yesterday I made a big step with my jeep as well. After sanding, cleaning, welding up some forgotten holes last-minute, priming, sanding and more cleaning I got the first coat of MAT 1 OD on her! 😍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was perfect for painting, about 15C with a bright blue sky and almost no wind. The areas painted were both sides of the fire wall, the dashboard and the underside of the entire floor, minus the right rear wheel well and the area just in front of it as those require some more work before they're ready for paint. Rather than lay on the ground I'll just put the body on the other side on the trolley.

 

Having no choice really I hung a tarp on my garage door and sprayed the body on the pavement right in front of it, being careful to avoid overspray but all went well. I used a cheap ($25) spray gun from Temu, a 10 mtr air hose and a small compressor with a 20 ltr tank and it worked just perfect; the paint going on smoothly and evenly without any issues like drips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this first coat dried a bit I put the brackets for the air cleaner and for the horn back on the body as Johan mentioned earlier so when I give these areas a second coat these parts together with their (original) bolts will be sprayed too, as originally. When this second coat has had some time to cure as well I will put things like starter switch, high-low beam foot switch, oil can holder and junction blocks on before fitting the fire wall padding. At this time I will also apply the brick sealer to the underside and fire wall.

 

Another job done was to modify the passenger seat so it now has the typical early split-frame. By now it was too late at night to grind the welds, so I'll finish it next week.

 

 

 

 

Obviously the paint will need some time to cure and harden between layers, so in the meanwhile I will start with the frame. That needs some work done to both front horns, but for the rest it seems it will mainly be cleaning and painting. Cleaning the engine block so the fresh paint won't peel off in a few months will be quite a job, and I will add some correct parts to it as well. I'm still looking for a oil filter housing, but later this month there is a MV parts fair and I hope to find something there. In the worst case I'll put the post-war housing back till I get the correct one.

[Johan Willaert]

On 3/7/2025 at 9:15 PM, General Apathy said:

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Today's work.

 

This afternoon I thought I would wire-wheel all the old paint and rust off twelve or so old jeep shock absorbers that I hung onto from when we stripped Jeep wrecks leftover in farmers fields when they either broke down or the farmers bought one of the newer replacement 4 x 4's made by Land-Rover.  Shown below are used shocks made for Ford Jeeps by Gabriel Shock absorbers of Cleveland and stamped with the letter ' F '.  There were some other US made shocks which I will try and photograph tomorrow, ones I remember this evening  were Monroe Shock absorbers and one was stamped ' E-Z RIDE ' and perhaps I will show these tomorrow. 

 

The two shock absorbers in the photograph are both Ford used ones, front and rear are different lengths when fully extended. On the left is a front one  and on the right a rear one shown in close up on the stamped details, the rear one has a extra piece of steel attached at the lower end to prevent damage from stones thrown up from the front wheel, the front doesn't have this patch. 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 07  2025.

 

Hi Ken,
I've sent you the pages from the manual you requested, but not sure the email went through, so please let me know!!

[doyler]

Airfield in France . Repurposed Schwimmer

 

[doyler]

On 3/1/2025 at 3:35 PM, General Apathy said:

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My daughters wedding . . . . . . .

 

my daughter and son-in-law discovered a couple of days ago that one of their wedding photographs was being used in an advertisement by the hotel where they were married.  As ownership of the copyright of photographs remains with the photographer then it was out of their hands, but maybe just accept that the hotel considered the photograph worthy of being used in their advertisement.

 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 01  2025.

 

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......a star is born 

[General Apathy]

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Hi earlymb.

 

a great deal of work and effort,   but great to see a more authentic shade of OD than what was previously on it.  

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 09  2025.

 

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[General Apathy]

2 hours ago, Johan Willaert said:

 

Hi Ken,
I've sent you the pages from the manual you requested, but not sure the email went through, so please let me know!!

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Hi Johan,

 

yes thanks I have received them , I simply couldn't remember where to find the images I needed and will be using them here on the forum when I post tomorrow.

 

Thank you.

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 09  2025.

 

...

 

 

[mikie]

Not military, but I have nothing else lately to report that may interest you. Hopefully this will. 
Gunji Boy and I spotted this while out walkies the other day. Beautiful car! 
I’m no expert on old cars, but Gunji thinks this is a 1939 Cadillac. Feel free to correct him if he is wrong. Right or wrong, he is a good boy. 

Mikie

[General Apathy]

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Helping friends . . . . . . . 

 

A local Jeeping / Hot-Rod friend has had a replacement knee so I used the Jeep to run the bags of carrots up the fields to the donkeys, Llamas and Alpacas 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 11  2025.

 

[General Apathy]

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Original take-out shock absorbers . . . . . .

 

A few posts back I made reference that I had saved several old take-out shock absorbers from damaged or abandoned Jeeps we broke for spares in the 1970's.  The ones shown below are Monroe Automotive ones, ( note the small fold out pieces for tool access ) these feature in the later Jeep manual TM9 1803B, April 1944, it was possible to take these apart and refill them and re-fit which helped save on materials, manufacture, transport and stocking during the war, I have never had to do this, having had sufficient NOS stocks. 

 

I have to thank Johan for locating which manual these featured in, I couldn't recall where without spending time looking through all the manuals I have in my collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 11  2025.

 

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Went to a Photographica Fair over the weekend. Spotted some German 10x80 "FLAKglas" binoculars on offer.  Not something I collect though.
Not a lot of other militaria beyond photographs and books.

Came home with a rare pre-war Leica 28mm viewfinder ....that was worth about as much as another Leica body.

For an upcoming living history event I'm doing some art-and-crafts, reproducing some legal-to-display WW2 US Army demolition material.

 

[doyler]

saw this n FB post and thought it may be of interest here. Original fender with the war time paint intact. 

 

 

[manayunkman]

6 hours ago, doyler said:

saw this n FB post and thought it may be of interest here. Original fender with the war time paint intact. 

 

 

Ron, how much is it? Is it in the US?

[doyler]

5 hours ago, manayunkman said:

Ron, how much is it? Is it in the US?

 

 

recall its in Europe and wasnt for sale

[manayunkman]

25 minutes ago, doyler said:

 

 

recall its in Europe and wasnt for sale

The architecture didn’t look US.

 

Thanks for responding 

[General Apathy]

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At the roadside today . . . . . . .

 

A length of wartime PSP planking holding down a weatherproof sheet over a pile of logs .

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 12  2025.

 

[mikie]

On 3/12/2025 at 12:31 AM, doyler said:

saw this n FB post and thought it may be of interest here. Original fender with the war time paint intact. 

 

 

OK, I hope I don’t become an offender by asking, but what vehicle is this off of?

mikie

[Mr_Flibble]

I can't readily place the light fixture mount....Simca 5 staff car maybe?

[General Apathy]

32 minutes ago, Mr_Flibble said:

I can't readily place the light fixture mount....Simca 5 staff car maybe?

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Hi Flibble,

 

Here's a wartime photo of the Fiat designed Simca 5, in production 1936 till 1948, obviously with reduced manufacture during the war years.

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 14  2025.

 

[manayunkman]

On 3/9/2025 at 7:56 AM, General Apathy said:

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spotted today . . . . . . .

 

This Canadian Dodge with a load of brass shell cases in the back  . . . .. ... ..

 

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 09  2025.

 

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I wonder what the story is behind that?

[Johan Willaert]

On 3/9/2025 at 12:56 PM, General Apathy said:

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spotted today . . . . . . .

 

This Canadian Dodge with a load of brass shell cases in the back  . . . .. ... ..

 

 

It's a Dodge D-15 Dump Truck as used by British and other Commonwealth Forces during WW2

https://truck-encyclopedia.com/ww2/us/dodge-wd-15.php

 

 

[General Apathy]

2 hours ago, Johan Willaert said:

It's a Dodge D-15 Dump Truck as used by British and other Commonwealth Forces during WW2

https://truck-encyclopedia.com/ww2/us/dodge-wd-15.php

 

 

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Hi mikie & Johan.

 

back in the late 70's when I had boundless enthusiasm for collecting vehicles as there were so many still readily available laying around on farms everywhere, I bought a similar Canadian Dodge cab unit with a large wooden rear body, it came from a fruit farm in Worcestershire UK.  One day when I realised that my boundless enthusiasm was greater than the one life-time I had,  then I let this Canadian Dodge go to a friend who had kindly been storing it for me, and concentrated on my US vehicles. It was similar to the one shown below.

 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 15  2025.

[General Apathy]

22 hours ago, manayunkman said:

I wonder what the story is behind that?

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Hi Peter,

 

His family own a vehicle breakers / reclamation yard and the entire family pull out anything militaria that turns up. 

 

Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, March 15  2025.