Unrecognized motor

VALKYRIE:

DEANB:
Whats this motor then chaps…

1

TruckNetUK . Old Time Lorries . Unrecognized Motor ,Page 1 .Leap Year Day Saturday,29th February,2020.

VALKYRIE.

Tank Transporter In Development.

The impressive lorry in the photograph,QV below,was designed and developed from 1947 to 1951 by
Leyland Motors for and on behalf of the then War Office=WO-WD=War Department,later renamed the
MOD=Ministry Of Defence.Certain members of the British Motor Industry were under contract to the
WO to produce a range of new Post War military vehicles to standardized designs from jeep-type cars
to tank transporters,and all were to be powered by petrol engines…ideally the Rolls-Royce B-Type
OHI-SVE 4,6 and 8-cylinder petrol engine range.
But in reality,although some standardized designs,some of which had Rolls-Royce petrol engines,entered
military service,the majority were commercial designs,some of which had diesel-oil engines and others
had petrol engines that were not made by Rolls-Royce.

By the way,I have often wondered why the British military insisted on petrol engines. Although British
power was waning the British still had military outposts in many parts of the world in the 1940s,1950s,1960s
and 1970s.From a logistical point of view petrol was probably easier to obtain than diesel in many of
these outposts.Petrol was also cheap and plentiful in all parts of the world in those days,while diesel was
probably harder to get in certain areas of the world,because the diesel engine was still in its infancy in
those areas. The British government had a healthy military spending budget,so could afford to run a
large fleet of petrol motor vehicles and it made sense from a logistical and tactical point of view

Well,that’s my take on it

Anyway,back to the Leyland lorry in the photograph:-

Leyland FV1003 60-Ton 6x6 Tractive Unit,FV3301 Semi-Trailer,Articulated Tank Transporter Lorry.
Rover Meteorite Mk202A,Petrol Injection,Watercooled,18,012cc,SOHC per bank,60 degree V8,
498 bhp,1035 LBS,FT Torque,Petrol-Engine.

560mm Hydraulic Coupling and Friction Clutch.

Leyland 5-Speed 1 Reverse Gearbox.

Servo-Assisted 3-Speed Transfer Gearbox.

Drive went via propeller shafts to the front driving axle and bevel and spur reduction gears to the rear walking beams,inside of which spur gears drove the axles. This transmission system was basically similar
to that of the Scammell Pioneer,as was the big transverse leaf spring suspension on the centrally
pivoted front driving axle!

There was no rear suspension as such:The centrally pivoted walking beams were limited
to a 305mm up and down movement,and were fitted with bump stops that limited this movement.

Brakes were air.

It had hydraulic power assisted steering.

This Leyland,which was the FV1000 Series project,eventually became the FV1003,
and was tested at the FVRDE=Fighting Vehicles Research & Development Establishment at Chertsey

• and indeed,where it was designed!
  But alas! This Leyland proved to be too costly,too heavy and didn’t meet the mobility requirements.
  Therefore it was dropped in late 1951 - officially announced by the War Office in March 1955
  Meanwhile,also in 1951,the far less costly Thornycroft Mighty Antar FV12001 replaced the above Leyland
  and became the new tank transporter of the British Army
  The original British Army Thornycroft Mighty Antar 6x4 Tank Transporters were also powered by Rover
  Meteorite petrol engines - 1-3 MPG! ,but the later Mk3’s had Rolls-Royce 8SFL IL8-Cylinder 333 BHP
  Diesel-Oil Engines.
  By the way,the Rover Meteorite V8 petrol and diesel engines were developed from the famous
  Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 Aeroplane Engine The Rover motorcar company was developing Sir Frank
  Whittle’s pioneer gas turbine jet aeroplane engine.Rolls-Royce were making military tank engines,as
  well as aeroplane engines and motorcars.The military tank engine was based on the Merlin aeroplane
  engine. In August 1940 the head of Rolls-Royce,Lord Hives,had dinner with the boss of Rover,Spencer
  Wilkes. Hives was determined to get Rolls-Royce into the jet aeroplane engine business,so he did a
  deal with Rover: Hives said to Wilkes “What are you doing with this jet engine? You don’t know
  anything about aeroplane engines;that’s our job - you grub about on the ground”. Hives then said:
  I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you our tank engine factory at Nottingham;you give me this jet job".
  Wilkes replied:“Done.”
  So for the price of that wartime meal - fifteen shillings - Rolls-Royce got into the gas turbine jet
  aeroplane engine business!

Leyland FV1003,Rover Meteorite,V8,498 BHP,Petrol-Engined,60-Ton,6x6,Tractive Unit,FV3301 Semi-Trailer,Tank Transporter,LYN 60,London,2-1951.Development lorry. TNUK,OTL,Unrecognized Motor,2-2020.DEANB 3#
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VALKYRIE

Well done Valkyrie,a comprehensive reply if ever there was one,thank you indeed.

David