Thread: 112-723 Emmet

I know the whereabouts of five of the little critters within 20 minutes of my place.
1 x S2a registered,
1 x S2 pretty close to registerable and 90% restored,
1 x S2a goer but sitting in a yard and owned by someone who doesn't know what it is as is NOT about to be told what it is by myself or my acquaintances, and
2 x S2a unrestored. These last two have appeared on this site before.
Regards
Glen

112-725 88 00.06.1963 - Series 2A 6005B Truck, Utility, 1/4 Ton, GS, Fitted For Rifle 106mm 25145601D 24303898B - SA. 'Fitted For Rifle 106mm'. ANZACsteel archive. Milan missile
Used to be owned by me in the mid 90'S.

I have just learnt that it now resides in New Zealand. The new owner put in a diesel early on, and is now converting it back to the 2 1/4. It still had it's Camo paint from the Army and the name ASSASSIN on the guards. It is still in orginal condition exept engine.

Emmet has been recovered and is sitting outside my house at the moment!







Chris the previous owner is now down to only I ex-RFS S2a but seems pleased that both buggies are on the road for restoration.



Having a close look at the vehicle there is evidence of the AUSCAM Camouflage Tan.



and with the black over painting its possible the last in-service paint scheme was the three colour AUSCAM.

As for the rest/rejuv, a few bits are damaged and will need replacement, like the instrument panel and the blackout switch.



What I have noticed are a few locations where there are pairs of holes, almost as if webbing straps were affixed. Any Ideas????

Also given that there is no convoy headlamp on the guard fronts like Numpty's I'm wondering the convoy headlamp could have been on the brushguard? There seems to the a brown/yellow wire clamped to the chassis side rail behind the bumper. Could this be the wire for the convoy lamp?

The other issue is the exhaust manifold. It is one of the very early manifolds off the Command recon that does a "U" turn and goes out the mudguard.

G'day All, Diana, that Blackout switch is correct, see my dash

as for the front convoy light, all the Gunbuggies I have seen have had it mounted on the sloping face RHS wing as shown in this pic

and just for interest sake, here is a pic of the ??cab?? unmolested 100%

I noticed that your Oil pressure gauge is showing approx 40psi, was?? the engine running at the time of photo? or is the instrument US, cheers Dennis

Thanks for that Dennis, I thought the blackout would be the non-oven switch type.

Re: the oil pressure, would you believe I was pre priming the oil before start? I guess it's US, there was an instrument fitter over at Penshurst who restored these things, hope he is still in business!

I looked for evidence of the convoy lamp being fitted in the same place as Numpty's but found naught. That was when I found the wire under a saddle clamp at the side of the chassis and why I thought it was possible that the lamp was fitted to the brushguard like the SIII. What colour are your convoy lamp wires?

Any ideas about the pairs of holes?

Most of these vehicles would have seen the three tinted Auscam in their later days, I know that Onslow did.

The fact that they stayed in service so long would have seen them progress from their original DBG through to Olive Drab (and if they went to SVN then that is the colour that they would have served in) through to the later Auscam.
I can't speak for Light Horse or other Armoured units that used them, but in Infantry they were more or less classed as a weapon rather than a vehicle as far as maintenance and upkeep was concerned and in the case of, let's say for example, a replacement diff being fitted, this would often have been done "in House" rather than through the stricter workshop environment under which most vehicles were maintained, hence there exist a great number of anomolies.
I have mentioned earlier in other posts on these vehicles that originally they were not fitted with recovery CES carriers on their mudguards, but rather had their own unique CES carriers fitted in the rear tub. As inevitable damage occurred and repairs were required in later life the army spare parts animal would not have held in stock enough specific common body parts for these vehicles, so a standard mil mudguard would have been cut down and adapted in many cases. This was pretty common practice.
Also the distances to be travelled on exercises back home here in Australia would have demanded a lot of spare parts, spare tyres, spare fuel and water to be carried simply to keep the vehicle moving hence extra fuel/water can carriers were often fitted plus other oddities to carry various odds and sods; things that were not originally included in the design of the vehicle, as it was envisaged as a weapon to operate fairly close to its home base and handy to a resupply source. These odds and sods would have been stripped off the vehicle once a "base" had been set up and the vehicle would then have operated as designed.

My front blackout is fitted on an angled bracket that bolts to the guard enabling the limited light from this device to actually show on the ground, but as I said earlier in the field, whatever fits, fits.


Diana, whilst on the subject of Emmet, take a real close look at the photograph on "the other gunbuggy" thread that Dinty posted up of a gunbuggy taken from 'Anzac Steel' site, and see what you can make of that ARN!!!!

Glen, examining edges of the image from ANZAC Steel, I have an opinion that the ARN is either 112-731 or one in the 112-72*/113-72* series. My reason is that the spacings indicate that there is a 6th digit obstructed by the bar and not the 4th.

The 4th digit has a point at the top Rt and a straight angled line in the bottom Rt - the only digit that complies with those 2 elements is a "7"

The 5th digit has a round top, without detail in the top/Lt and probably a corner at the bottom Lt, making a "2" or "3" (I thought most likely a "2" ).

The 6th digit is fully obstructed by the vertical element of the brushguard. This suggests to me a narrow digit, therefore a "1" and from the REMLR list hence my best bet being 112-731 (and not what I determined to be Numpty's or in fact Onslow or Emmet ).

Regarding Emmet

The pairs of holes have corresponding pairs about 200mm away and are duplicated on each side. There is one set just behind the front panel, a second set mid guard and the third set just in front of the firewall They are filled with black "rock art" paint so drilled before the faux indigenous painting ? in-service.




Could they be webbing straps to hold cam netting or something?

The wire on the side of the chassis:



Roughie: Do you know where I can get a good Holden engine to fit to Emmet?

Others will be pleased to know that the clutch issue doesn't seem to be present today, although I have found a short where the wire for the horn runs under the indicator drum thingo. I keep tooting the horn - which works!

Originally Posted by Dinty

That ammo box under in the passenger footwell... Is it just a handy cubby for needful items in lieu of a glovebox or something else?

Good idea, that.