Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2021 i Heritage Commercials

In 2019/20 Dave helped to recover a Guy Vixen from Giles Lane Industrial Estate, Landford. “For a number of years and in my retirement, I’ve helped my friend Eric Coats by doing odd jobs for Coats Bros at Landford,” explained Dave. “In one corner of this large area was an unused and overgrown scrapyard. A decision was made to clear the area and re-use the space. Among the collection of derelict vehicles, we discovered an old Guy furniture van which had been ‘hiding’ in the undergrowth for more than 30 years! The accompanying images reflect the story of its rescue!” The Guy Vixen is now on its way to Wakefield, Yorkshire in the ownership of the Sweeting family, established removers and storers. The old Guy will be the latest ‘project’…

The vehicle had been bought new in 1959 by Peter Barker of Staines Road Farms at Shepperton and subsequently passed through many owners as Alan explains: “It was bought for a market garden company in Shepperton, all it used to do was go across the Thames to the Western Market by Heathrow, very low mileage. Then it was passed to a company called Barbers, then Teesdale Brothers who used to do the large advertising hoardings around new building sites and stuff like that. He used to transport the hoardings around and erect them there. Obviously, it wasn’t used a lot there either. Then it went to Benhill Motors who totally restored it and then left it outside for ten years with no cover on and it was in a hell…

October 2021 • Bus recovery vehicles • 1955 Seddon MK5L • Shows back on the road September 2021 • Roddy's big Yin • Bus Recovery • Volvo FS7 • Truckfest August 2021 • Exotic eights • Foden nuclear wrecker • Scania model profile July 2021 • Free 24 page supplement • Citroen Acadiane • Trains, boats and planes June 2021 • Sunter's Motors • Frankie's Big Mack • Haul Waste LTD • Top Kat May 2021 • Poetry in Motion • Westmerian Wanderer • Danskin's of Strathkinness April 2021 • Big bonneted Leylands • An Englishman abroad ••Find the AEC March 2021 Scammell: the inside story • ERF C-series • The story of Proctor’s February 2021 • St. Maurice Fire Collection • Chicken Crusader • T French & Son January…

Being a regular reader of all the lorry mags, having spent most of my working life as a milestone inspector (more than half a century), I remember the better days of being a lorry driver, some bad, but mostly good. Freedom – the open road, the cafes, the companionship! All halcyon days long since gone. However, and more to the point, during my illustrious career, at one point I worked for Starr Roadways, Vulcan Road, Bilston, in the Black Country (now West Midlands). They ran a fleet and what a fleet it was, a mixed bag of Bedford ‘O’ and J-types on County Transport warehousing and distribution. Flat section to which I was appointed and given an S-Type Bedford PYH 466, fitted with a Leyland engine – what a flyer…

The June issue of Heritage Commercials, had a great article on Sunters, and yes the Bedford TK was one of my favourite lorries. My father sold many of these mostly as horse boxes. He even had one which was nicknamed GTK or E-type Shed. It went from Kent to Brownhills in the Midlands and on the M1 it could maintain 80mph. It was thought it may have had a coach axle. I even took my HGV 1 test in a TK. Great memories and stories. CHARLIE WATERS hc.ed@kelsey.co.uk Heritage Commercials, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent.…

It’s the tick over of the Leyland 600 engine which does it for me every time. Richard Green had pulled his large frame up onto the driving seat of his Leyland Hippo and at first touch he fired its engine into life. “Don’t move off,” I begged him and then I asked if his feet were off the pedals as all I wanted to listen to was the soothing sound of that 9.8 litres on tick over as it waited to be called to work. Engine sound nutters like me could stand around all day and wait for the diesel tank to empty before we tired of such a distinctive drawl. The Leyland 600 can have a habit of almost dying as part of its cycle but the slow reassuring…

Diesel is likely to be in the lifeblood of the majority of Heritage Commercials readers. That being the case, all the talk about the death of piston engines and the battery powered future leaves us feeling decidedly flat. JCB is working on a hydrogen fuelled version of a diesel engine. But is the Staffordshire-based international construction plant manufacturer swimming against the tide? That would not be an unreasonable conclusion, given that media coverage generally presents the Government as being hell bent on road transport being taken over by battery electrics and fuel cell units. So – encouraging news for piston heads: surprising though it may seem, the Government is actively backing internal combustion engine development. With a dollop of UK Government funding support, the Cummins facility in Darlington is a…

Like many of you, I probably always took a Foden, and for that matter, an ERF, for granted, but that was over 20 years ago. And I admit I never photographed enough of them. Th at was in part due to still using print film, which was costly to buy and develop. But the advent of digital cameras came about in the mid-00s, which, coincidentally was the time the end of Foden came about. It was 2005 I bought my first digital camera and it wasn’t as good a tool as the cameras are today. And of course, I didn’t carry my bulky SLR around with me every day! In 2010, I got my first smartphone which suddenly brought with it the ability to always have a camera with me.…

Bob Tuck wrote a superb article on the Bedford TK but I have to disagree about it, because if you had a conversation with any mechanic that was six foot and over, me included, I feel sure that they would tell a different tale. I was getting married in September 1970, and had come off the road in December 1969. I got work with a company called North Mid. Construction in Nottingham. The Foreman Fitter was a chap name of Joe Laidlow. I knew Joe from College being on Day Release courses, he was two years in front of me. Now Joe was 6ft 4in, I was 6ft 3in. I had not had a lot to do with with Bedford TKs but Joe certainly had, along with other lads in…

Wow. Your magazine has evoked loin-stirring memories. (Again) Thank you Mr Richard Brent…. When proper nights out existed. When parked up in East London depending from where you came from determined where you parked up! I recall The Wool Lads had claimed Backchurch Lane behind The Minories (I think) as their own. The lads in their clogs and enormous loads secured back to front… Side to side by thick winched ropes completely enthralled a young diesel junkie. (Now an old diesel junkie still), that’s me. I managed to slip my A-model petrol Bedford in between those magical vehicles. Sanderson Murray and Elder… James Ashworth (sometimes with Tractors Galore)… Chris Metcalfe…. Fielders (Well loaded Thames Traders). All with overcab decks. Longs? of Manningham Lane? So many I have forgotten. Sorry! Even…

Regular contributor to Heritage Commercials, Timothy Byrne has kindly sent me a copy of his latest book to review in the magazine. Timothy’s knowledge of the waste industry is second to none being an International Waste Management Consultant, B.Sc. (Wastes Management), MCIWM, ISWA IWM. The book charts the development of both UK private sector waste management companies and UK waste management equipment/vehicle suppliers during the 1960s up to the year 2000. It also covers the progress in technology with skip loading systems, roll-on-off systems, front end loading collection, industrial rear end loader collection, liquid waste tankers and trade waste collection vehicles. Th is neat and compact book is well illustrated with many black and white and colour photographs featuring the vast array of vehicles and companies involved with waste management.…

Following on from my West Midlands/Black Country foray in Heritage Commercials, I thought I would turn my attention to some of the firms and their lorries that once operated in the county of Staffordshire. It will be my own ‘Staffordshire Hoard’ so to speak as a nod to the amazing Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork found in a field adjacent the A5 Watling Street, near Brownhills in 2009, but in this case the treasure is road haulage related. One of those companies where I was always made welcome and who were only too willing to move lorries for photos was Shirley’s Transport of Mount Garage, Cellarhead near Stokeon-Trent. The business commenced in 1936 as G.W. Shirley & Sons, traffics being agricultural related including livestock, meat and corn. Post-war the company…

The company has a long history in transport, quarrying and waste management across the South of England. The company has also expanded and now has operating centres across Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol. Over the last 50 years, the company has bought a number of innovative waste transportation vehicles, one of which was the first Sheppard Rolonof (2) series 22.8 hook loader units sold in the UK in the early 1970s. Norman Grundon knew that Sheppard’s were launching the Rolonof (2) series range to replace the popular Rolonof (1) series cable lift range, so he placed an order for the first two units in the UK. These were mounted onto Scammell Routemann 8x4 28-tonne chassis which were supplied by Colin Stephenson at Arlington Truck Centre, the agent for Scammell and Leyland…

Motherwell is located in the heart of Scotland’s Central Belt. The town used to be known as Scotland’s steel capital, until its decline in the 1980s. Nicknamed ‘Steelopolis’ the giant steelworks at Ravenscraig dominated the local landscape, before its closure in 1992. Th is rich industrial heritage is probably the reason why a large number of old commercials keep popping up out of the woodwork, and the area has become something of a treasure trove for Scottish classic vehicle enthusiasts. William has lived in the area all his life and is an engineer by profession. He has been interested in light commercials for many years, and in addition to the Thames owns several other vehicles. “I served my apprenticeship as a turner fitter, so am used to working with tools,”…

Seddon Atkinson was formed in 1974 by the merging of two great British truck builders – Seddon and Atkinson. It had a job on its hands from the off to woo buyers due to the rise of foreign trucks coming into the UK – indeed 1974 was the same year, MAN started to sell in the UK, following on from Scania, DAF, Volvo, Mercedes and others. Seddon Atkinson reacted quickly, and a whole new range to replace its dated Borderer models and the like – the all-new 200 series rigids, 300 series multi-wheel rigids and small tractors and the 400 series long distance tractors were all quickly launched and were exceptionally good products for their day. The 400, which morphed into the 401 and then the 411 was replaced in…

SRT 634M, is my favourite truck ever explains Simon Waspe. Driving it is an honour and a pleasure. A time warp of simple Swedish reliable engineering. It’s now 46 years old. Brothers-in-law Glyn and Ron Davies started their own transport company on 7th January, 1974. They named it after Glyn’s late father (Russell Davies) who had a fleet of lorries in South Wales which was sold to the P&O Group after he suddenly passed away. Glyn had married Ron’s sister Liz. Both of them started out as management trainees in 1966 and were in their mid-twenties when they left their respective management roles in large respected transport companies. Glyn was at the P&O Group and Ron Lovells’ shipping. They had built up a network of contacts in the industry. They…

It was interesting to read in an earlier edition of Heritage Commercials, the article by Tony Lawrence Some readers may be wondering why, someone who runs his own truck repair business, as does Nick O’Dell, would ever ask someone else to come and set the valve timing on an engine. The reason is that the AEC engine was very sensitive to valve timing, set it even slightly ‘out’, and you could guarantee that the engine would eventually, drop a valve head. It was for this reason that AEC had a vernier adjustment on the timing gears.…

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