885 Blaw Knox bulldozer (French assembly, 1959-1960)

For a long time I have been suspicious about the full authenticity of the French 885 Blaw Knox Bulldozer I have. The driver's head is finished, painted in an unusual way and many other French examples do not show this odd 'hair cut', which I presumed to be a previous owner's embellishment. Until I found a no. 50 Grue 'Salev' recently, which shows the same 'hair cut', on a regular basis. And now, looking around on the internet, indeed I find this hair cut on the French Blaw Knox driver every now and then, but very exceptionally. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to show this 'French hair cut'. Kind regards, Jan

Jan.....That is interesting, but it appears that was done by the factory, at least some of the time. By the way, I am sure you noticed that the Grue driver also has a necktie painted in......an amazing detail for sure. Do you think the 'haircut' and that five were hand painted, as the area is tiny, or was that somehow masked?Best regards, Terry

At today's AGM in Derby, I noticed something I'd never noticed before about the Blaw Knox Bulldozer, and it is clearly shown in Jan's photo - some have the vertical rib behind the driver's seat, and some do not. I assume that the rib was a slightly later addition, but was it ever applied to the Heavy Tractor version (which had the addition of the front bumper bar)?

See also 561/961 in the British Commercial Vehicles section.

Jan I have deleted my last Post as it is not relevant to this Topic, with my pictures and text relating to the British Blaw Knox Bulldozer. and I may resubmit it under the 561/961 Topic, as too my comments on the driver of my N but it depends. Bruce (150)20160627/950/1736

Hi from New Zealand, I just had to check the hairstyles of my French Dinky drivers and came up with 3 that had the black addition under the hat. They look hand done to me.