My own Fordson & Thames examples.

Various E83W pickups plus a solitary van that I've owned since '89.

Gone to new homes, but not forgotten.....

KDL 703 - 1954 Thames van I've hankered after a van for quite a while, so when this opportunity came along, I bought it, only a couple of months after acquiring DKR, the grey pickup, late in 2004. KDL has already benefited from a great deal of restoration work in the past. All it needed was a repaint and reassembly.

CJM 357 - 1955 Thames E83W Three or so years after shovelling up NCA 129, I was tipped off about another metal back pickup that was available. I didn't exactly need another 10cwt Ford, but by 1992/3 I had decided to stick with owning E83W(s) so acquiring another didn't seem like a bad plan. I ran this for a couple of years, but some problems with the transmission led to me taking it off the road. Since then we've moved house twice and, finally, I found time to return it to the road late in 2006. To raise funds for another restoration, it was sold in 2007 :-( More photos: CJM 357.

NCA 129 - 1956 Thames E83W This was my original find, in a field near a campsite in Wales, back in 1989. The condition of this one, especially the steel pickup bed, was parlous to say the least. I owned this one on three separate occasions, and is going to a new home locally, where hopefully it'll be returned to the road.

ONO 370 - 1956/7 Thames pickup I picked this one up from Essex in March 2005. ONO could be just a breaker to provide parts for my other E83Ws, but in reality its too good for such a fate. The cab is actually quite good (far better than DKR), only the front wings show signs of a hard life. The chassis has been cleaned up at some point. Sadly the chassis plate fell off when towing it home, mercifully there is another plate, this time on the dash, that contains the same vehicle info. The plate also mentions it being one of a contract order, the same plate also having room for a W.D. Number - something to do with the war department?

??? ??? - 1948 Fordson pickup I collected this Fordson just 4 days after getting ONO, in March 2005. The photo here makes it look shiny whereas in fact it is just very wet, having just received a thorough jetwashing to remove years of accumulate tree sap and gloopy green stuff. Years ago it benefited from a comprehensive mechanical restoration, using many original new parts, before being left outside under some trees. The cab is mostly good and solid, the remains of the rear wooden pickup body are still with it, but terminally rotten and only useful as a pattern, and to donate the metal brackets etc.

1956/7 Pickup remains Joining the fleet in April 2005 (a busy couple of months for E83W 'movements') is this, a crumbling pile of 10cwt parts held together by rust and prayer. Quite possibly the worst E83W surviving in the UK, and bought really as a source of spare parts for the others. The rear body, a decayed steel pickup, is just about saveable and will probably be put onto ONO for now. I'll remove a few parts from the remainder of the chassis/cab, and probably sell it on as a rolling chassis/scuttle for someone to use as spares. The running gear is all there so should be useful for parts if nothing else. The cab only extends midway over the front doors, so perhaps it had a special body at one time? the pickup body shown is not original to this chassis but just sat on it for now.

*SOLD 2005* DKR 509 - 1947 Fordson wooden pickup This one came along in 2004. This is an early-ish example, with floor mounted handbrake, more substantial iron steering box mounting and other detail differences compared to the later ones. I fitted some secondhand panels to it, the idea being to make it more of a complete kit of parts. The door and front wings came from Hampshire, the grille from a contact on the Wirral. Early in 2005 I decided that 6 E83Ws was probably one too many for the storage space I had, so it was sold, and went off to a new London home in March '05. Late 2005 I heard that it had changed hands again, and the chassis & cab had been fully restored.