|
Nuts
and Bolts
(dropped
from some Rat Patrol vehicles)
Please
understand. Suncompass has very few nuts and bolts knowledge
about machinery (be that weapons, vehicles, or whatnots).
Mechanics isn't her strength (she's still searching for that -- as
well as numerous nuts and bolts), but some kind people are attempting
to educate her about a few mechanical things related to Rat Patrol vehicles.
Here
are a few things she has learned so far.
About
those jeeps, fellows . . .
Stand
up so I can refuel.
|
Gas
tank located UNDER the driver's seat
image©2004
DB |
|
During
the Second World War, the fuel tanks for jeeps were located in a
most unnerving place - UNDER the drivers' seats. It was almost
as if the driver's body was meant to shield the fuel tank from enemy
fire. Suncompass thinks that was a definte no win situation for
the driver - either to be shot shielding the fuel tank from bullets
or risk being blown up if one didn't.
This
all means that to add anything to the gas tank of a jeep one had to
literally lift both seats (the driver's and the jeep's)...like shown below. |
|
photo©2004
DB |
|
|
So,
if the fuel tank access is under the seat, what exactly is going on
here in this picture from the Two for
One Raid?
|
What
is happening is that the boy is being naughty and pouring a handful
of sand into the jeep fuel tank (he wants to keep the Patrol from
going on a mission). Clearly, however, he has NOT lifted the
jeep seat to access the tank. Did someone make a handy
alteration of the jeep refuelling system for this episode?
Evidently. (Even so, the naughty boy did not accomplish his
terrible plot to stop the Rat Patrol.) |
[][][][][]
Now
you can sit down while I gas up.
|
To
the right is a post-war model jeep.
See
how the fuel tank access, as evidenced by the exposed gas cap, was
moved out from under the driver's seat. (And think how much easier it
became to refill without having to physically move the driver out of
the seat to gain access to the gas cap.) The external gas cap is one
key to when the jeep was built - post-war.
|
photo
©2004 DB |
[][][][][]
Those
Groovey Tool
Holders
(no
comment from the peanut gallery please)
|
photo
©2004 DB
Here's
another obvious clue to when a jeep was built. Dave (DB)
pointed out to Suncompass that authentic World War Two jeeps had
tools fixed to the driver's side. Post-war
manufactured jeeps did not have groovey tool grooves
to help support those darn handy tools. |
from
The Touch and Go Raid |
Clearly
there are no tools stuck to the jeep by Hitch's left knee, but if
you look closely you can see what might be one of those groovey
grooves that would have supported the phantom tools had they had any.
(Suncompass wonders why they didn't have at least a shovel
there. They did get stuck now and then.)
Not
to be outdone, Tully's jeep (pictured to the right as in The
Exhibit A Raid) appears to have a somewhat subdued groovey groove too. |
Does
this mean the Rat Patrol lads are driving authentic war jeeps?
Maybe,
maybe not. |
|
from
The Gunrunner Raid |
It
has been suggested that the two jeeps used by the patrol may have
been of different periods - one built during the war and one built post-war.
The
jeep pictured here in these two images from The Gunrunner Raid
lacks tool grooves and shows an external fuel cap. It is clearly a
post-war model. It appears the Rat Patrol fellows used whatever jeeps
happened to be in the motor pool that day - be they war or post-war models. |
from
The Gunrunner Raid |
[][][][][]
The
Morris Minor - vehicle of the French Resistance.
|
from
The Fatal Reunion Raid
(with
David Bond in foreground) |
The
vehicle on the left is a Morris Minor and is shown in The Fatal
Reunion Raid . In that episode, the French Resistance used
it to ferry a rocket scientist to the Rat Patrol. The patrol would
then take him to safety after a requisite number of interesting hurdles.
The
'Dinky Toy' on the right (a Suncompass favourite) is also a Morris
Minor (model 1000 - it says so on the bottom). Just like the one in The Rat
Patrol (only not so dusty...and at about 1 inch tall, just a tad smaller). |
from
Suncompass's toy box |
|
There
were Morris Minors built in the pre-war period but they looked
nothing like the Morris Minor used in the Rat Patrol. That
particular design didn't come into production until 1948 and
after. Until 1971 when the last Morris Minor rolled off the
production line it had a good run of popularity. (It would seem
the Rat Patrol French Resistance in North Africa liked this
particular model - even before it had been built!)
More
about the Morris Minor (and detailed history) can be found at the
following (and many other websites too):
http://www.minormania.com/index.php
http://www.cgettins.demon.co.uk/index.htm |
[][][][][]
What's
a decade between friends?
|
Dietrich
(irritated) with the car from
The
Decoy Raid |
This
car, used in the Decoy Raid, is one that Dietrich borrowed
from a French Red Cross official. Normally Dietrich does not
stoop to driving himself in what must have been a hellishly hot
borrowed vehicle, but his hand was forced by an insane SS
officer. Dietrich was driven (excuse the pun) to borrowing the
car, then kidnapping Moffitt, in order to try to save a shipment of
critical vaccine. We always knew Dietrich was cut out to be a
hero even if his methods were a little less than noble this time (or
so Moffitt was bound to feel). |
Moffitt
(more than irritated) and others with the car from The
Decoy Raid |
|
This
important little black car has been identified* as a model quite in
keeping with its original owner - a Frenchman. It is a
French-designed Citroen Traction Avant, a car that was used
extensively throughout the war - by the French Resistance and others
who could get their hands on one (and the petrol to fuel it).
The only problem is that this particular model, a Citroen Traction
Avant 11BL, would have been built between 1953 and 1957, at least a
decade after Dietrich needed it for his kidnapping. But
what's a decade in the broad scheme of things? ("Ten years,"
said Suncompass, answering the rhetorical question.) |
*The
identification of Dietrich's borrowed car was made through the
kindness of the Citroen expert at:
http://www.cats-citroen.net/
(an excellent website with images and details about many Citroen
vehicles through the years)
See
a car very like Dietrich's borrowed car here: http://www.cats-citroen.net/citroen_museum/ta_11b_ber_54/index.html
(The man in one of the pictures is even opening the bonnet/hood the
way Dietrich did in the Decoy Raid.
In another image you can look 'under the hood' exactly the way
Dietrich did. "Now, where is that bothersome overheating radiator?")
And
here:
http://users.pandora.be/ulrik.de.neve1/plates/wheels/Traction.htm
[][][][][]
Suncompass
gives special thanks to Dave for his help in finding some of these
nuts and bolts from the Rat Patrol.
Several
images are from Dave's own published material and personal photo
collection and are used with his kind permission. Thanks, Dave.
If
you have Rat Patrol
Nuts and Bolts (Allied or Axis vehicle points of interest) to share,
Suncompass would be happy to hear about them
(Please
respect that complex mechanical descriptions will befuddle
Suncompass. Keep it simple.)
Suncompass
reserves the right to politely decline to use any submitted material. |
