A
record number of vehicles drove into the centre of this historic city
for our first event of the season. By 11.00am some 85, plus 4 motorbikes
and two push bikes had squeezed onto the small circle of grass between
the Museum and Clifford’s Tower. Chris Smyth, our organiser for the
last 15 years or so, says this must be a World record for a one day
event. Chris and his wife Val had chosen their Quad for the outing which
was the only brown vehicle on display! I had left home around 9.00am for
the 100 mile round trip in the MW and travelled via the fairly busy
M62/M1/A64 to reach the lay-by outside Tadcaster. Vehicles from the west
of York gather here for the annual convoy run into the city via the A64
and the A19. A most impressive line up queued to join the busy dual
carriageway, but invariably got split up as we journeyed in. Fortunately
a brief rain shower was all we experienced in terms of poor weather and
then the sun came out. This allowed everyone to catch up with old
friends and have a very pleasant afternoon.
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around the edge of the green was the heavier stuff which included Dale
Shipley’s and Nick Calvert’s Reos, armour in the shape of Nic
Clay’s Fv 436, two impressive Stalwarts, the Fenton’s two K2
Ambulances, Ian Garbutt’s US Navy GMC, a Bedford RL, a Berna Olten 2
VM truck and ‘Big Olive’ a small, by US standards, International
flatbed truck supporting USAF markings.
As you would expect
quite a number of Jeeps and Land Rovers were spread across the site, but
there was also a rarer Austin Gypsy amongst them. Denis Matthewman’s
Morris Quad restoration is coming along but he has yet to fit the
complicated arrangement of lockers. It does however provide him with
much better sleeping arrangements than his former Standard Tilly. |
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next to me, with his 1953 Austin Champ, was Jonathon Williamson from
Delph. He bought it some 5 years ago and it is due to be stripped down
later this year for refurbishment and a fitted with a black Rolls Royce
Mk2/2a engine which is ready to go in. He also owns another Champ
painted in Desert Sand colour.
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Nick
Dunsford’s Bedford MWR was supporting new canvas and luckily I was
able to provide him with two old side screens for recovering in
readiness for his upcoming trip to Guernsey to complete the job. He had
also fitted a load rack on the rear which I assume he has copied of an
old photograph. His MWR supports the Guards Armoured Division insignia.
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Parked together in the centre were two Willys MBs in lovely condition
owned by friends Peter O’Brian and Geoff Birch. They had come up from
Sheffield. Peter’s Jeep is a 1943 model which he has had 3 years and
prior to that had resided in the Philippines. Jon Newbould, over the
border in Lancashire, refurbed the gearbox for him and he is delighted
with the end result. Geoff’s Jeep came from Norway some 4 years ago
and is a genuine 1945 ex Airborne version which had been flown in as
part of Operation Doomsday in May of that year and then left behind. It
is fitted with Tandem Hitch which is a towing A frame.
See - http://www.paradata.org.uk/events/norway-operation-doomsday
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A type of Land Rover, not often seen had been brought along by Peter
Hicks from Leeds. Made in 1968, the Series 2B forward control was the
precursor to the 101. Finished in gloss green with a GS body and fitted
with a 3.0 litre petrol engine it looked really well. Peter told me
these were originally designed as gun tractors.
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Sat rather comfortably inside their 1943 GMC Workshop body were Sarah
Carr and Adam Wright. I didn’t think that I had seen this truck before
and Sarah confirmed that they had bought it from the south of England in
January 2014. They think it may be ex French Army but their interest
lies with the American 80th Division, part of Pattern’s army and the
truck is to be stencilled up in those markings as a workshop. I must say
what a superbly practical truck for going to events it is.
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Kevin Wilson and his wife Megan hadn’t travelled too far with their
son in a 1977 Land Rover 101 Ambulance. Again this was another
relatively new acquisition and another practical vehicle powered in this
case by a 3.5 V8 engine. Kevin reminded me that I had chatted to him
some years ago when he was at Elvington with his Russian Zil 131
Electronics Repair Workshop truck.
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John Gray said he was looking forward to a series of events in May
starting with a trip over to Holland with his son Thomas, Ivor
Waterhouse and Mike Peacock, Connor and Richard Young, Mick and Steve
Dobson, Simon Roberts, Anthony Pearson and Hugo Hunter. The mode of
transport is jeeps and the party were leaving on Friday May 1st
returning Wednesday May 6th.
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The trip had been arranged in conjunction with the Mayor of Utrecht and
is in memory of Hugo’s late father who fought with 49th Division
Reconnaissance during the War which was part of the First Canadian Army.
John was also pleased to announce that a 1942 Ford GPW had been acquired
in Belgium for his other son Matthew to restore. Apparently this had
been parked up a long time ago prior to being bought and is now stripped
down to a rolling chassis.
People were beginning to
leave mid afternoon depending on distance to go. Steve Carr whose article
and photographs also cover the event had a bum aching 93 miles to do
in his Flying Control Jeep with black and white chequered canvas, but at
least it was well protected from the weather. I had an uneventful run
home between 35 and 40 mph now the new engine is run in.
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| Postscript.
As the article says the Yorkshire Area Crank Up us taken place in the centre of York for over fifteen years now. It all started when Chris Smyth the current organiser and originator of the event thought that it might be good for a few MV’s to meet outside the Castle Museum in York. The Museum liked the idea too and put Chris in touch with York Council who owned the oval of grass outside the museum known as the Eye of York. The Council agreed to YMVT using the Eye of York and the event has been held there ever since.
In the early years only a handful of vehicles attended. At one memorable event in 2001 just after the Yorks MVT had parked up on the site bands could be heard playing in the distance. The music became louder and a large procession of Scouts, Guides, Sea Scouts and Cadets came into view. It soon became obvious that their St Georges Day parade was going to end up at the Eye of York too. As they rounded the corner and realised there were MV’s parked up where the parade was due to finish the lead Scout Master quickly turned incandescent with rage “what the hell are you lot doing parked here” he demanded. After Chris calmly showed him the booking confirmation from the Council asking if he had one too ( which he hadn’t) he soon changed his tone. A compromise was reached with our vehicles, much fewer in numbers then, moving to one side of the grass and the Scouts forming up on the other, of course the Scouts loved our vehicles being there.
The Yorks MVT crank up is unusual as it is held on an extremely historic site right in the heart of a city where the vehicles are tightly packed in meaning that members are all in the same place and can easily socialise with one another. Since those early days the Yorks MVT crank up has steadily grown to the record numbers seen this year. It is a simple example of if ‘it isn’t broken don’t mend it’ and dates are already booked in up to 2018.
The photo is my Quad surrounded by scouts and their families at the 2001 crank
up. ( before the days of digital )
Chris Smyth.
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