Heavy haulage makes tracks on the beach at Saunton Sands
Last summer’s Devon D-Day event afforded me the opportunity of admiring these two stalwarts of wartime haulage; I even got to drive one of them along Saunton Sands. Often seen together at local shows, these two Matadors are owned by Somerset friends, Jeff Coles, who restored the green one and Gordon Fry who brought new life and a sand colouring to his.
Gordon is no novice when it comes to restorations and military vehicles. His Morris Quad was featured in CMV’s December 2018 issue and, as owner of West End Garage in Brunton, specialists in commercial vehicle repairs, the scale of work involved in restoring the Matador was no surprise, but it did take him the best part of three years. Bought a decade ago, it was barely there - a rolling chassis and half a cab.
A restoration had begun, with the chassis being shot-blasted, but it was a non-runner and needed a full refurb. Gordon wanted to rebuild it in full classic desert spec but first he needed to lengthen the chassis, which had been shortened. Like many post-war, this Matador had been converted to work as a timber tractor and in that process it had its body removed and replaced with a jib and th…
