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Somewhere in the southern suburbs of Perth is a busy man named Brian Carr, who will one day join this website. He has promised! In the meantime he has been duly sending us through a steady stream of 'rebuild' pics of #203, which tonight we will begin assembling into a very pic-heavy, long thread that will eventually get us up to date with his progress.

203 has an interesting history, and we'll begin by reproducing an email and some photos from member OkaPete (Peter Furlong), who did own 203 for a while - but was not the original owner. Here goes...

Hi Brian, good to make your acquaintance, and good to track down a bit of history. I've attached pics of #203 for you.

Oka 203 was purchased new and set up as an ostrich carrier with a fifth wheeler behind it, as seen in Oka's brochure of the time. It used to travel from WA to NSW transporting ostriches. I purchased it in 2001 I think it was, without the trailer, for the specific purpose of removing the tray and ball setup so I could do the same thing with a 30' fifth wheeler caravan. I fitted the 19.5" wheels and the canopy off my Oka #224, which I had fitted out with sub floor, cargo drawers, and canvas tent etc for off road camping purposes when I was still towing a conventional caravan.

It used to also have a bench seat in the rear that slid forward and folded down into a bed, and blackout curtains so, when tranversing the continent, it was never switched off, as one guy drove while the other slept, and then swapped over, so the big birds could be transported as quickly as possible. The original paint was in Vic Bitter livery, and as you can see looked real good. The front bar was custom made, as was the tray for it, as it was ordered from the factory as a bare cab chassis. Hope this helps, regards Pete.

Moving on to 2004...

Here's about where the rebuild will begin:

November 2010:

A brief sidetrack to show another of Brian's rebuilds; a 50-odd-year-old Chamberlain tractor now named Footloose. It occasionally cruises WA with a caravan in tow, at a steady 50km/h, as part of the Chamberlain 9G Tractor Club. Those air horns may not be standard, but are no doubt handy when overtaking.

December 2010:

March 2011: always handy to have a crane in the backyard...

More from March 2011:

May 2011:

August 2011:

January 2012, nearly ready for painting:

Interesting...

Any more updates? What intercooler does it have and are the any more pictures on how it is connected up?

I like the dash pod which is all one piece like a LT. I wonder how I could that made, nearest sheet metal place is 1000kms away. Would also have to try and match the pod/dash paint. I think it was some holden or for colour???

Jack,dash pods are available from Allan at OKA parts Australia as bare pods

Cheers,Joe

Cheers Joe, but I think the ones from Alan are a seperate pod. The one in the pics is more like a a LT one.

Hi Jack i like the fuel tanks can you please tell me how many liters ar and who build them cheers George