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Cameron Berg's

1936 2-Ton


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From Cam: 

           I live in Perth, Western Australia with my wife Lisa. Lisa is from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, in Canada, she is about 17000 miles from home. Perth is the capital of Western Australia and is the most isolated capital city in the world. West Australia has a population of 1461700 and an area of 2500000 sq kilometers, bigger than Texas ! It seems big but most of it is outback. Not many people live out there, if the heat doesn't get you the snakes will. Temperatures in the north can reach 50+ degrees. But the climate in Perth is pretty good although in summer it gets up to 45 degrees sometimes. Lisa has trouble with the heat which is understandable considering were she comes from.

       Enough about Perth, I'll tell you about my truck. It belonged to my grandfather on my mother's side. He is 84 and is still going strong. He gave me the truck fairly recently. He bought it brand new in late 1936 for 360 pounds, (we were still using convict currency back then). He used it up until about 1950, it was basically a farm vehicle, he has some fantastic stories about adventures he has had in the truck. They used to call it the sauce machine, when they carried their apples to town, by the time they got there they were apple sauce. His farm is about 450 kms from Perth in the south. Back then the roads weren't too good, this is in pioneer days. West Australia is only about 170 years old. The truck has not done a lot of work since the 50's. In total it has done only 75000 miles. I am pretty sure of this as the speedo still works just fine. It actually never got more than 30 miles from the farm. That is of course until I brought it back to Perth. I had it hauled on a car carrying rig, I couldn't watch as they winched it up onto the second level of the semi, but it got to Perth safe and sound thank goodness.

       You are correct, it has a Holden body. This is a subject I am still researching. Apparently these trucks were put together at a plant in Fishermans Bend, in South Australia. I do not know if the sheet metal was shipped here or actually made here. It has some differences from trucks I have seen in the US. The roof has raised ribbed sections which I have not seen on US vehicles. Also it has a pop out wind screen that is hinged at the top and secures on the inside via two threaded brass knobs. There is no crank out assembly at all. Of course, it is right hand drive. And it has no glove box. There is also no headliner and my grandfather swears black and blue that it never had one. Something else interesting, it has hydraulic brakes as per all late 36 trucks, but the running boards have raised diamonds which I understand were for early 36 trucks only.

       The engine is good having done so few miles, I don't know whether to rebuild it or not. The body is not too bad for a farm truck. But you can see all this in the photos. Parts are a problem down here. I have to get just about everything from the US. But it costs me less to buy from the US than it does to buy parts for my driver here. It just takes longer, I have a bunch of catalogues and haven't had any trouble finding anything yet although I may need some help in the future.

       I wouldn't mind restoring a WLA, I have already restored a '66 Triumph. Any way thanks for your interest and drop me a line or 20 any time. I will send my photographs asap -- I hope you like them.

Regards,
Cameron Berg


  Thanks, Cam. The Stovebolt Page readers look forward to seeing photos of your truck. Keep us posted. ~~ Editor


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