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[w3526602]

Hi,

I believe the Champ 2.8 engine is two thirds of a "four and a quarter" Bentley. My DVLC mate compared the engine bits from my discarded Champ engine, with his Bentley bits, said they appeared to be interchangable (big end shell bearing, rather than white meta, in the con-rods) ... but being a purist, he didn't try.

On he other hand, he bought the Old Vicarage, in a dilapidated state, in the early 1970s, I think for sub-£20,000, and sold it about 20 years later for a "straight million".

Which reminds me ... in the very early days of DVLC, that mate was departing his tent (on a holiday camping site) every  morning in business suit, carrying a brief case. 

602

[The Shed]

Not sure where I read it but apparently nearly 100 'new' Champs where sold off in the late '90's.
Think they had the standard engine. Possibly from a Standard ? 😁

[Alan Drover]

It appears to have been a modified 2.6 litre 4 cylinder Austin Atlantic engine which was tuned and fitted to Austin Healeys. I can't imagine Austin fitting a Standard engine.

[twomokes]

Not sure where I read it but apparently nearly 100 'new' Champs where sold off in the late '90's.
Think they had the standard engine. Possibly from a Standard ? 😁

I thought they were ex civil defence Austin Gipsys that had been mothballed when new.

[Peter Holden]

Alan is rigt, the few civilian champs that were sold had Austin engines instead of RR

Peter

[The Shed]

Found the Ad', it was from Bonhams.
"The Gipsy used broadly the same BMC 2199 cc petrol engine found in the Austin A70, although with compression ratios that made it far more accepting of low octane fuel."
This particular Gipsy or is it Gypsy (?) was sold in 1997 by the Home Office being ex Civil Defence (AFS).
I wonder do the Powers that be have more vehicles stashed, just in case ?
I do know back in the late Eighties my elder brother was in the RAOC (MT) and one of his roles was putting Trucks into 'plastic bags'.
One depot was in Aschurch the other, he was not specific about but somewhere in Wales 

[w3526602]

Hi Shed,

OT (sorry), but do you know if the "Brown Jobs" (Army) had a rank that is equivalent to " Junior Technician" in the RAF? JTs wore a single inverted chevron (stripe) on their sleeves.

Higher ranks ... Corporal Tech (2 stripes), Senior Tech (3 stripes) and Chief Tech (3 stripes and a crown), but all with inverted stripes. I have no recollection about Master Technicians (I never met one) having anything to differentiate them from Warrant Officers, who had a coat of arms (Lions and Unicorns, etc) on their cuffs.

By the time I was entitled to wear two inverted stripes, somebody had decided that J/Ts should wear four bladed propellors on their sleeves, and higher ranks should wear regular stripes. Not exactly a morale booster ... nothing to differentiate us from the regular "Shiny Asses" (from polishing their office chairs.)

My Sergeant (Why not a Chief Tech?) at RAF Sharjah was a black Jamaican ... I assume he had come over during the war, to fight for the Mother Country. He was an "AMI Mech E".. We called him "Jim". On one occasion, my Flight Sergeant (driver) was giving me a hard time. Jim suggested that he "Go forth and multiply!", but in fewer words.

602

PS My dark skinned Caring Ladies are shocked when I tell them that the Arab labourers addressed Jim as "Sambo". No offence intended, nor taken.

[DogDave]

One stripes a lance corporal 2 a full corporal

Equivalent ranks to private were often different, sapper if an engineer, craftsman if REME etc but I can’t remember lance corporal being called anything different.

[Peter Holden]

What was a fitter one in the RAF?

Peter

[autorover1]

Alan is rigt, the few civilian champs that were sold had Austin engines instead of RR

Peter

Most of the Austin Champs had Rolls Royce engines made my Austin under licence from RR. I think they had unified fixings rather than Whitworth on the RR ones

[Peter Holden]

Yes Austin built a lot of RR engines of different sizes under licence,  I could never get my head round them not using the engine they built for the military in the civvy champs, especially since they sold so few

Peter

[O7BE16]

Austin Champs started with a 2838cc 4 Cylinder B40 engine manufactured by Rolls Royce with BSF threads and a alloy head. Next came a UNF version with a cast iron head also made by Rolls Royce this engine was then manufactured by Austin. For the civilian market a version of the Austin A90 Atlantic engine was fitted and these were mainly sold in Australia and South Africa. The B40 was the 4 cylinder derivative that shared components with the B60 6 cylinder (fitted in Ferrets etc) and the B80 8 cylinder (fitted in Saladins, Stalwarts, Saracens and some fire engines)

[Peter Holden]

The reason for the failed experiment with the B40 and the 81" land rover was because the MOD wanted to standardise on spare parts and the RR Bseries engines had most parts in common with each other.

Peter

[The Shed]

Hi Shed,

OT (sorry), but do you know if the "Brown Jobs" (Army) had a rank that is equivalent to " Junior Technician" in the RAF? JTs wore a single inverted chevron (stripe) on their sleeves.

Higher ranks ... Corporal Tech (2 stripes), Senior Tech (3 stripes) and Chief Tech (3 stripes and a crown), but all with inverted stripes. I have no recollection about Master Technicians (I never met one) having anything to differentiate them from Warrant Officers, who had a coat of arms (Lions and Unicorns, etc) on their cuffs.

By the time I was entitled to wear two inverted stripes, somebody had decided that J/Ts should wear four bladed propellors on their sleeves, and higher ranks should wear regular stripes. Not exactly a morale booster ... nothing to differentiate us from the regular "Shiny Asses" (from polishing their office chairs.)

My Sergeant (Why not a Chief Tech?) at RAF Sharjah was a black Jamaican ... I assume he had come over during the war, to fight for the Mother Country. He was an "AMI Mech E".. We called him "Jim". On one occasion, my Flight Sergeant (driver) was giving me a hard time. Jim suggested that he "Go forth and multiply!", but in fewer words.

602

PS My dark skinned Caring Ladies are shocked when I tell them that the Arab labourers addressed Jim as "Sambo". No offence intended, nor taken.

Sorry 602 no idea of the ranking system. My own experience was a short tenure in the TA (RCT)
My Brother, sadly no longer with us, reached the dizzy two stripe heights on a few occasions. His propensity to argue with orders he did not agree with saw him demoted on a seemingly regular basis ! Though his proudest moment was being made Provost Corporal. Not sure how long that lasted but our Mum had his photo' proudly displayed with him, side arm, side-burns and dodgy 'tache !
I do wonder if poacher turned gamekeeper was the idea