Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i Heritage Commercials

Amberley Publishing has very kindly sent me these two books on buses to review. The first one; Southdown Buses in Preservation by Simon Stanford, shows us a superb collection of images of Southdown buses and coaches that have been lovingly restored. Formed in 1915, Southdown Motor Services became a well-known and respected operator of their green-and-cream buses and coaches seen along the south coast of Sussex and Hampshire. Today, there are more than 100 former Southdown coaches and buses surviving in preservation. Many have been restored to a very high standard and some are licensed to carry passengers for hire, while others attend rallies and shows. There are a number still awaiting restoration and others are used as spares to keep sister vehicles running. My favourite picture – even though…

It was Springtime 1967, a Thursday when we noticed Ron’s Rover was not on the house drive, come to think of it, his wife Josie and two children hadn’t been seen either, we all thought no more of it. One morning the following week, Ron drove into the workshop in a new Mercedes Benz 250 SE car. He and Josie had been to collect their new car from the MB factory in Stuttgart, Germany and then drove it home through Europe. We all gathered round for a look-see, it was a darkish brown with cream leather upholstery, it was a “beauty”. I distinctly remember Ron pointing out the factory applied colour matched under seal which had a “golden” hue to it. A few days later, we took delivery of some…

A notable selection of commercials included a 1948 Scammell tug lorry “Lady Kathleen” at £6,400 and a 1961 Atkinson 8x4 diesel flatbed lorry for £5,100. Fire engines featured a 1963 AEC Merryweather diesel sold for £1,300 and a 1956 Bedford at £2,200. Local memories featured a Pattemores Transport lorry head board.…

The sale of items formerly belonging to the late Charlie Welson and being disposed of by his widow Joyce following his untimely death, stood out for two reasons, some 74 lorries, in the main once familiar British makes and the poor condition of many lots that had lain outdoors for up to 30 years. The auction held on Tuesday, 18 June at a site just on the outskirts of Kington, Herefordshire was conducted jointly by G Herbert Banks of Great Witley and H J Pugh & Co of Ledbury. To describe Charlie as a collector would be a step too far, as would the opposite, hoarder. It would appear that items just gravitated to his premises as a last resort. Apparently, it took a local contractor some six weeks to…

David List has a copy of Kelly’s directory from 1880 which has them trading as a courier and omnibus company. It was the third generation of the family, Ernest List who finally put a name to the family business. “They were the first company to run a bus service from Debenham to Ipswich. It used to take a day there and a day back,” David tells me. As the bus side developed from horse power to steam and then to petrol and diesel, a haulage side was also started at some point. The bus essentially had wooden benches bolted onto the body, so these would be removed and then loads carried locally, until buses became a more complete unit in their own right. A small garage was bought in the…

The second book being reviewed is, Buses, Old Technology Refined by Keith A Jenkinson which goes on to say that although people may think that electric and hybrid vehicles are a modern-day phenomenon, in fact they are old technology introduced more than 100 years ago. This book looks at how gas, hybrid and electric power has been redeveloped after disappearing during the 20th century and which is now regarded as the future. This is not a definitive history of public road transport in the UK, but this book does include several other technological and vehicle design developments that were first seen over a century ago and have made a return in recent years, thus, the book provides a fascinating insight into how things have continued to change. My favourite image…

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR If you have enjoyed this issue of Heritage Commercials and have a passion for the world of classic lorries, trucks and vans, then why not subscribe? You will save money on the shop price and receive every issue delivered directly to your door! SUBSCRIPTION BENEFITS ➔ ENJOY ONE WHOLE YEAR OF HERITAGE COMMERCIALS ➔ GET EACH ISSUE DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR DOOR IN 100% PLASTIC-FREE PACKAGING ➔ SAVE UP TO £45* ➔ NEVER MISS AN ISSUE OF YOUR MUST-HAVE MAGAZINE SAVE UP TO £45* EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE 1. GO TO SHOP.KELSEY.CO.UK/HCMAD 2. CALL US 01959 543747 QUOTE HCMAD 3. USE THIS QR CODE TO GO DIRECTLY TO OUR WEBSITE 4. COMPLETE THE FREEPOST POSTAL COUPON Lines open Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5:30pm. Calls charged at your standard…

This year’s event was blessed with fine weather that drew in thousands of visitors to see the behemoths of steam together with vintage road transports. Among the star attractions at this year’s show were a beautifully presented Ford Thames 300E van built in 1960 entered into the show by Melvyn Turner of Peacehaven, a 1973 Scammell Handyman that was delivered new to Meachers Transport of Southampton before being sold on to Jack King for use with his galloping horse ride. In 1999, it was bought and restored by Ian McConachie, of nearby Hadlow Down, East Sussex and fully restored to its present condition. Nearby was another Scammell, a Pioneer 8369cc of 1944 vintage, which is presently owned by Peter Haining of Cross in Hand in East Sussex. Also at the…

In 2019, I was on my way to receive my Associateship of the Museum Association (AMA) in Brighton when I stopped off at the pleasant Dorset town of Gillingham. Ordinarily, I would simply pass through on my way to attend the Southern Counties Auctioneers’ Wessex Machinery Sale at Shaftesbury. However, on this occasion, I needed to post an important letter and Gillingham was one of the closest towns to the A303. Parking up in a well-known supermarket, with free parking offered for a minimum spend in the shop; I set off into town on a bright sunny start to my adventure. I soon came upon a nearby park area and to my delight a colourful variety of rides and amusements were being assembled. An integral part of the hustle and…

AUGUST 2024 COVER: MERRYWEATHER EMERGENCY TENDER INSIDE: Ford D Series, Kelsall Show JULY 2024 COVER: BEDFORD KM INSIDE: Transport Museum, Volvo F7, The Lorry Battle of Britain JUNE 2024 COVER: A SHROPSHIRE SOJOURN INSIDE: Aussie Tippers, Peugeot 304 and a holiday horsebox MAY 2024 COVER: FABULOUS FORDSON INSIDE: Morris Commercial LC5, and a Fruehauf trailer rebuild APRIL 2024 COVER: DODGE 300 INSIDE: Scammell Crusader, Austin A35 van and Highland trucks MARCH 2024 COVER: SCAMMELL CRUSADER INSIDE: Austin Twinshaft Commercial, Recovery Lorries and Iveco FEBRUARY 2024 COVER: TWO AUSTIN SEVEN VANS INSIDE: Dennis Eagle Elite chassis, the Bedford Story and a DAF collection JANUARY 2024 COVER: IVOR OWEN & SONS INSIDE: Shropshire lorries, the Bedford story and Citroen vans DECEMBER 2023 COVER: FODEN FLEETMASTER INSIDE: 1936 Commer van, the Bedford story…

The second weekend in June is always one of my busiest with a host of events – not just connected with lorries – to occupy my time. As a rule, I try to get to Gaydon on the Sunday as there are, typically, slightly more trucks there than just on the Saturday. This year, those lovely people at Iveco invited me to a Metallica concert on the Sunday…. In Helsinki! I wasn’t going to turn down an all-expenses paid trip to Finland to see one of the best heavy metal bands going, so Gaydon had to be attended on the Saturday. So off I trotted at a leisurely pace. I soon saw the M6 was ‘shafted’, so luckily I was able to get off it at Junction 1 and cut…

Regarding William Mitchell’s photo of the Mercedes horsebox in Ontario (HC May 2024 Issue), like many Scots I have family in Canada. On one of my visits to Toronto in 1979, I saw many New Generation Mercedes trucks around the city, mostly rigid vans with a few artics, all with day cabs. Bremen vans were everywhere. In 2012, the only one I saw, apart from Sprinter vans, was this four-wheel drive vehicle in a yard at Bradford, Ontario. It was in poor condition, someone, though, thought it worth saving. Unfortunately, there was no-one around to ask for any information. I emailed Mercedes who told me that it was a 1113 - 1314 Chassis built as a tipper or military chassis. Alex Saville Diamond T/Rogers Trailer Having read the May ‘24…

Hillhead 2024 was held at the Hillhead Quarry, Buxton, Derbyshire in late June writes Joseph Lewis. Held every two years, amid 600 exhibitors and some of the largest quarrying, earthmoving and recycling machinery in this country, we found some notable commercials in the catering vehicles. We started on the Miller stand with British-made, precision engineered construction and earthmoving buckets and a 1974 Renault Estafette owned by Gorgeous Gourmet Grub. This was acquired already fitted out and now has a Volkswagon Passat engine and an Audi gearbox. We moved onto a 1992 Mercedes Benz 308D owned by 112 pizza. This company specialises in converting retro ex-European fire vehicles. Their oldest vehicle is a Mercedes Benz previously used by an underwater scuba team! The oldest of the three was an early 1962…

The Power of the Past Ring held a variety of tractors, steam and commercials plus a small selection of military vehicles. Commercial vehicle entries ranged from a Ford Model T truck to a 1994 Seddon Atkinson Strato, which was new to Norman Offer Transport of Southampton and now owned by Malcolm Gray from Poole, Dorset. In between was a 1946 Scammell Showman’s Tractor 45-ton chain-drive powered by a Gardner GLW 108bhp engine. The “Empress of England” was new to Showman Bernard Hill who used it to pull a dodgem set around the Westcountry fairs. The second owner was Colin Evans in 1972 that carried out the restoration. Colin used his Scammell to tow his steam plant of Bryan Donkin engines around. Colin’s daughter, Jayne Evans now enjoys exhibiting her father’s…

The chassis comprised the Dennis Elite (1) series 4x2 17-tonne crew cab combination, seating a driver and four crew. Powered by the pre Euro series six litre Perkins Phaser engine of 210hp, the chassis was fitted with the Allison MD3060P five-speed close ratio automatic transmission, to ease driver fatigue. In this era, there were no regulations for the vehicles to be fitted with speedometers. Therefore, one gear was blanked, so the chassis used a four-speed Allison drive train. Two of the chassis were fitted by Dennis Eagle with 15m3 Phoenix (1) series open back rear loading units, with dual tailgate operating controls. Cargotec of Ellesmere mounted two 16m3 Norba RL35/16 rear loading units, with dual tailgate operating controls, to the remaining two chassis. The vehicles were used to collect black…

When MAN took over ERF in 2000, it wasted no time in stamping its mark on the marque with the use of the nearly-redundant F90 cab on the ECS model, aimed as being a pure ‘gaffer’s motor’; a few frills, but competent machine to do a job of earning money. Luckily for those drivers wanting a better specified truck, that could rival the European manufacturers, ERF also introduced the ECX at the same time which was essentially a reworking of the popular EC model. That at least kept some real ERF-ness to the product. Both models, however, were very short-lived, and in 2002 the ECT was launched. The ECT was MAN’s last attempt to keep ERF alive but it was to all prove to be in vain. By exploiting economies…