Rack for MG Ammo Boxes

[fred]

Hi,

Yes, these racks did exist in WWII, but this may be a copy rack, (ammo boxes genuine of course), last year I bought two new made racks from a guy in Germany, they were supplied in natural metal finish of course.

Its is also amazing that the rack and ammo boxes have stayed together for 70 years and all have exactly the same colour and "dirty" parts,they look identical to various fake Volkswagen parts, in terms of "finish", as are often shown on a well known VW 166 website.

Nice item of course, but is the rack genuine maybe its just a coincidence that when those new made racks were offered for sale as recently as last year, now, an "original" appears on e-bay just a few months later

cheers PAul

[fred]

Hi, my new made ammo rack from last year, has small detail differences, but is the same as one seen in a WWII photos.

cheers PAUL

[wille]

Her is a original rack, but different.


Wilhelm

[fred]

Hi Wilhelm,

That is excellent, virtually identical to my new-copy frame, I added the half wing-nut and lock to mine for security reasons, the WWII photo I have seen looks identical to your (and my) rack, but I am sure there were variations in detail on original racks.

When I bought the new-made rack last year, its handle was identical to the one seen in the first post from opelblitz, in that it was the same as the folding handle on an ammunition tins, but I took it off as the WWII photo shows a fixed handle like yours. But it is probable that both handle types were used originally.

Are there any dates and ordnance stamped codes on your rack ?

cheers paul

[wille]

Hallo Paul,

I haven't search for codes yet.
Do you have WWII photos that you can post her? Was this rack also mounted in the back of the sidecar?

Regards Wilhelm

[fred]

Hi Wilhelm,

The only WWII photo I have ever seen of this rack, its in Italy probably 1943 and it is most likely Fallschirm Pioneer Batt 21, here the rack is located on the rear of the BMW R75, but it could of course be fixed onto any of the three pannier locations. I have put mine on the front because my rear pannier is full of batteries and other electrics.

cheers PAUL



cheers 

[wille]

Hallo Paul,
Great photo!
I have heard that this rack also was mounted inside in the sidecar?

Regards Wilhelm

[wille]

Hallo Paul,

Way is there five fastenings-point, not six? Must be a reason for that?

Wilhelm

[fred]

Hello Wilhelm,

First to clarify the situation, what you have is the rack from inside of the rear of the sidecar, and that does have just five raised fixing points, I do not know why, but the parts book also stipulates just five M6 bolts, nuts and washers.

This same rack design was used for the outside pannier position, but the five raised fixing points were deleted and the pannier carrier frame added.

All five sKrad associated with the MG group, Krad 1, Krad 2, Krad 3, Krad 4 and Krad 5, all had the triple ammo tin rack in the rear of the sidecar, although only Krad 1 actually carried an MG, the other krads were support vehicles, carrying more ammunition, a Dreibein, a Lafette 34 and more single and double spare barrel containers. Also all 5 Krads carried a double drum MG belt tin and its carrier rack.

For your interest I have equipped my R75 as Krad 4, with 10 ammo tins, a Lafette 34,a twin drum MG belt tins and carrier rack and a single spare barrel container. this is according to the specification issued in WWII, apart from that I added the triple ammo rack to one pannier position.

cheers PAUL.

[wille]

hallo Paul,

Thank you for the information! Then I know what I have:)

Regards Wilhelm

[fred]

Hi Opelblitz,

yes that is it as fitted to a Zundapp KS800, I believe your photo is from a 1940 German manual ?, so predates the BMW R75 shown below.

cheers PauL

cheers PAUL

[osara]

Hi Paul,

I'd like to learn more about that lafette sidecar, I sent you a PM.

Thanks!

Dominic

[broccoli]

Hello to all.
Please, I cannot see the pictures from the "photobucket.com" - is it my fault? Could anybody send me the pictures of the bicycle with the ammo rack in the left rear box-holder, please?
Thank you ;o)
Frankie

[Sd.Kfz.]

No, it's not your fault.
Photobucket has changed policy, so if the owner of the photos want to show them on third party sites (i.e. outside Photobucket), he has to pay a monthly fee.
Photobucket sucks, so I deleted my account there.

[broccoli]

Thank you for your info.