Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i Heritage Commercials

Welcome to the December 2023 issue of Heritage Commercials. Ian Shaw starts this issue with an immaculate Foden Fleetmaster which is closely followed by Brian Culpan's feature on a 1936 Commer van. After that, we have a shows round-up with reports from Chris Newton, Joseph Lewis and Patrick Boniface and then Ed Burrows tells us all about a century's worth of Kenworths. Tony Petch supplied the stunning image for the centrespread which is then followed by Part 2 of the Bedford story from Mike and Julie Blenkinsop. After that, we have some excellent images taken by Mat Ireland while on a trip to Kosovo and last but never least, Pip Dunn visited the Newark Vintage Tractor Show and photographed a smattering of classic lorries and he also gives us the…

Kenworth has been celebrating a century of KWs — although the business actually traces back to 915. The anniversary marks the 1923 introduction of the Kenworth nameplate (which in its original form was Ken-Worth). To the uninitiated — and even in the case of a centennial refresh to enhance aerodynamics — it's not always easy to tell whether a Kenworth is a classic old timer, a model from a recent generation or current production. Which is hardly surprising, given Kenworth's philosophy of incremental product development. Operators like a KW to look like a KW; regardless of its era. Take for example the owner-driver K100 Class 8 cab-over-engine Kenworths that used to bestride the US Interstates. With two COE predecessors, there were only three models over the space of six decades.…

Scania was one of the few manufacturers to offer conventional – bonneted – trucks across Europe well after many others had dropped the models to concentrate on cabovers only. Even though they had limited appeal, because of the modular construction techniques used by Scania, offering them to those who wanted to buy them was not a major issue. They were popular in many of Scania’s markets, especially South America, but were also quite popular in their Scandinavian homeland. The 2 series T models were the first Scanias to use the new GPRT cab when it was launched in 1980, a few months before the 82/112/142 cabovers – had not sold in huge numbers in the UK either as the T82/92/112/142 or the later T93/113/143 models – but the 4 series…

Cheffins Auctions in Cambridge appear to be a good place to find a vintage Bedford to buy. They brought another ‘Big Bedford’ to market in April 2022, with the auction sale of a 1954 Bedford ‘S’ type dropside petrol lorry, finished in the blue and red livery of P. G. Culham of Colchester, complete with a set of greedy boards. The Bedford had been used for general haulage but came with sugar beet top sides to service one particular client. While on the subject of vegetable haulage, Ken Thomas, the well-known Wisbech haulier, established back in 1948, also rescued a Bedford dropside which the company now rallies in the colours of his fleet; 3234 NG comes in green over black paintwork reminiscent of a livery from the 1950s. Corgi® honoured…

The 2023 truck show season has ended, right? Well, yes and no … there has still been a few road runs here and there, but on November 4/5 the Vintage Tractor Show was held at the Newark Showground and had more than enough vintage vehicles on show. As its name suggests, tractors — of the agricultural variety — were the key attraction, and there were plenty of such machines — brand new and very old, and everything in between — but if you like your classic trucks, as I do, there was actually a fairly decent showing. Most of the show trucks were ERFs, with a healthy smattering of other oldies from many manufacturers, but there was also a good number of lorries that where there to bring the tractors…

Steve goes on to say, before going on to A J Brush, I will give a short history of our family and transport connections. My family are original Maldon people with history in the area going back to the late 1800s and my wife's family lived in the Maldon, Danbury area pre WW2. My grandfather and his father operated lorries from between WWI and WW2 in the Maldon Danbury area mainly on the agricultural and building work with working a lot after the second war from London Brick Companies Stewartby Brickworks. As a young boy, I would in the school holidays get out of bed at lam to go with the lorries to Stewartby to be there at the front of the queue to get the delivery notes for loading…

On the 13th and 14th September, Timothy had his Waste Transportation Nostalgia stand at the Lets Recycle Live exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre (N.E.C.), in Birmingham. He also had a stand at the 2022 event and displayed photographs illustrating equipment and vehicles which were displayed at the Torbay waste management shows during the 1990s and the 2000s. This year's photograph display illustrated the A-Z of both national and regional waste hauliers from the UK and the Republic of Ireland depicting the 1980s and the 1990s eras. The exhibition also enabled Timothy to sell copies of his new book, Volume Three of 'A Lifetime of Waste'. He also had copies of Volumes One and Two and his 'A Pictorial History of Biffa Waste Services Dry and Liquid Waste Collection Vehicles'…

The Minx range lasted a very long time; with small cosmetic improvements every few years just to keep it fresh. Despite these small Commer vans being bought in large numbers; very few have survived into preservation. This despite the later chassis having been made 'twist proof' by boxing in the channel sides to make it six times stiffer than before. This is an account of how one extremely rare 1936 model was found, rescued, and restored. Brian's original article was prepared in early 1997, published in Vintage Commercial Vehicles in the October (issue 094). The late Bradley Wilson was a paramedic and worked at the Emergency Ambulance Station at Kendal in the magnificent Lake District; and when on shift he was on call for any situation involving the nearby M6…

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend, the Eastbourne Historic Vehicle Club staged another Hellingly Festival of Transport. This year's show, the 47'11, once again attracted large crowds to see a wide variety of steam, agricultural and transport vehicles assembled just outside of Hailsham in East Sussex. The oldest transport vehicles came from the 1960s while the newest from as recently as 2014. Andrew and Simon Mills brought no fewer than five historic trucks to the show as part of a GPO demonstration. These comprised a 1968 Morris GPO Telephone van, a 1963 Morris 1000 Pick-up, a 1974 Austin J4 Royal Mail van, a 1973 Bedford HA van complete with telephones and GPO fittings and a 1967 Ford Anglia van that has never been restored. The Claude Jessett Trust of nearby…

Mat Ireland has once again, been on a long jaunt in his van, this time to Kosovo, a country he had not been to before. Mat was pretty sure from his previous runs to the bottom of the Balkans that he would be able to bag a few photos of some classic trucks, and luckily he was not disappointed! With the more clement weather and lack of emission zones, there are still quite a few classics in this part of the world still earning a crust, although it has to be said that there are also a lot of new trucks on the roads as well. There were not as many as he was expecting, but then it can be luck of the draw with times and the weather as…