Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2020 i Classic & Vintage Commercials

BUY DIRECT Don’t forget that because many shops that stock Kelsey Publishing magazines including Classic & Vintage Commercials are currently closed due to Covid 19, you can order single copies and arrange short-term subscriptions via the Kelsey shop. We can sell you a single copy for the cover price including free postage. Alternatively, as an extra-special deal, we are offering short term subscriptions of three issues for just £9.99 – again with free postage to your door included! This is aimed particularly at people who normally buy through shops but are temporarily unable to do so. To find out more, go to https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/promotion/kp1…

ALBION CHIEFTAIN Classic CHIEFTAIN! Albion Chieftain FT37AL has recently returned to the rally scene after seven years. David Reed went to Nottinghamshire to find out more. Gordon Dolman has been attending the Rempstone Steam and Vintage Rally for many years. Recently he has been exhibiting JDH859, a 1942 Fordson WOT 2H which worked as a recovery vehicle at his father’s garage in Ruddington, after a spell with the army and later a greengrocer’s mobile sales van. Last year though, Gordon was also exhibiting PTV93, his 1953 Albion Chieftain FT37AL that was actually attending rallies back in the late 1990s, but was back for the first time since 2012. The Chieftain was supplied new to John Player & Sons, tobacco manufacturers of Nottingham, running regularly between Nottingham and Player’s depot at…

Vintage Roadscene Archive Preview HAROLD WOOD – BULK LIQUID TRANSPORT The latest in the Vintage Roadscene Archive series looks at the history of this famous tanker operator, edited by Mike Forbes, using the archive put together for this purpose by Jack Raine and the photographic collection of Peter Seaword. Harold Wood & Sons was considered to be the largest tanker operator in Europe and the third largest in the world in the 1960s, with around 600 vehicles in its fleet, many on contract in customers’ liveries. Harold Wood had built up his business from one vehicle in 1922, always specialising in bulk liquids. In spite of setbacks, the fleet was built up to 12 tankers by World War II, AEC being the preferred make from the mid-1930s. First based in…

PHONE CALL After buying a Bedford HA van, Tony Hudson had become an avid collector of anything to do with British Telecom and its predecessors. NICK LARKIN pops round for a chat. Bedford HA van. A pair of wellington boots. A bar of soap…. What? Tony Hudson’s extraordinary collection of memorabilia from British Telecom and Post Office Telecommunications is definitely diverse. It could also well be expanded with a second vehicle, in addition to the Bedford HA featured here. Gloucestershire-based Tony had always wanted a Bedford HA van. “A friend had one when I was a teenager and we used to go to college and all over the place in it. We both loved the vehicle,” Tony recalled. “I was talking the owner of an immaculate Vauxhall HB Viva car…

1622 MERCEDES MAJESTIC MERCEDES Dominic Newby’s 1622 Mercedes is the only one in the UK, one of only a few 1970s models to have been restored, and a regular prizewinner. Pip Dunn meets the man and his machine… In its striking red livery, it’s a regular on the show circuit, but not many people realise how rare Dominic Newby’s Mercedes 1622 really is. I’ve often argued that there are not enough restored Mercedes trucks on the show circuit, but slowly, and surely, the big Germans are beginning to gain popularity and more old Mercs, some of the wrecks, are being recovered and restored. A rare beast One that was never a wreck, but is now in showpiece condition, is Dominic Newby’s 1622 4x2 tractor dating from 1976. It’s a rare…

CLOSE-UP on Classics BEDFORD R-TYPE Pt2: Peter Davies concludes the story with a look at some specialist versions including the famous Green Goddess civil defence fire appliance. Initially the R-type came in two forms – the RLHC chassis/cab and the RLHZ chassis/cowl, the latter being for integral bodywork such as fire appliances. Power was from Bedford’s 300cu in (4.9 litre) six-cylinder petrol engine with 114bhp net. From 1959 Bedford’s new 300cu in (4.9 litre) six-cylinder diesel engine became available for civilian models, producing only 97bhp but offering improved fuel economy. The gearbox was the standard Bedford wide-ratio four-speed synchromesh unit. Vacuum-assisted hydraulic brakes featured wedge expanders. A pull-up handbrake lever operated on the rear wheels. Early R-types had their headlamps mounted in the standard S-type position but from 1954 they…

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PICK UP A PILOT! Peter Simpson reckons there are plenty of reasons for doing so, and no time like the present… Photo: Nick Larkin Back in the day, driving an LDV Pilot was a bit like staying in a Travelodge; both were generally things you did because someone else – usually your employer – was paying! Even when introduced in 1974, the ‘Sherpa’ van was hardly state of the art; just compare it to the Mk2 Transit which arrived the following year. That the Mk2 Transit was in reality a heavy facelift of the Mk1 introduced in 1965 made the comparison even worse. The Sherpa, arguably was a facelift – albeit a more radical one – of the BMC J4 which dated back to 1960. By the time the final…

archive INSIDE THE FACTORY Making Commer PBs at Dunstable The Rootes Archive Trust has recently acquired a quantity of photographs taken, at various times, inside the Commer/Karrier factory at Dunstable in Bedfordshire. The Trust has kindly agreed to allow us to reproduce some of these, and we’re hoping to bring your more over the next few months as the sortout continues. We think these all date from the late sixties or early 1970s. With premises at Wroxton near Banbury, the Rootes Archive Trust is responsible for conserving and preserving a huge quantity of Rootes Group archive material collected from various former factories and other premises. In ‘normal’ years they also open regularly, and run a programme of special events. For more details, go to www.rootesarchive.org…

Next month Coming up in the July 2020 issue of Classic & Vintage Commercials Now incorporating Classic Van & pick-up ON SALE Friday June 26 Bedford TM New full restoration, shot just before lockdown! Atkinson Borderer Saved from scrap Leyland Bison Held over from this issue, ex-Malta lorry back in the UK Morris LC3 Major two-year restoration! Plus; Stunning Leyland 15 Restoration, Nick Baldwin on collectables, classics still working, another fantastic selection of period photographs from Peter Davies, all our regular features and a few surprises to keep everyone’s spirits up in these rather trying times… BUY DIRECT! Did you have difficulty obtaining this issue? Is the shop you usually buy magazines from currently closed? Are you unable to get out to buy? DO NOT MISS OUT. You can order individual…

VOLVO FL6 NORTHERN STAR Stuart Walker from Aberdeenshire still uses this 1994 FL6 in his vehicle recovery business. He also has some other interesting older lorries, as Bob Weir recently discovered. Stuart Walker owns his own vehicle recovery business S.S. Walker, based in Peterculter to the west of Aberdeen. “My father was a haulage contractor” he explained. “When he retired in 1986 he sold his fleet to local company Freeland Freight Services. He liked Leyland trucks, particularly the Roadtrain, and at its peak the company operated several vehicles including articulated lorries and tippers.” Stuart worked with his father for some time, but eventually decided to start up on his own. “My first lorry was a Bedford KM tipper,” he recalls. “I then bought several more tippers, until I decided to…

Model Corner Mike Neale profiles miniature versions of the Morris Z van that have been made over the years. The Morris Z Van was launched in 1939, based upon the Morris 8 Series E car. One of the biggest customers was the GPO, buying the vans for both Royal Mail and Post Office Telephones use. Most of these had the standard Morris body, but a number were coachbuilt to GPO specification by Duple and other coachbuilders. Probably the best-known model of the Morris Z van was the popular bronze green Post Office Telephones diecast version produced from 1956-61 by Dinky Toys in approx. 1:48 scale, No. 261. This came with a roof mounted ladder and the casting featured a simulated metal mesh over the (otherwise solid) back window aperture. In…

ASCENT OF MAN Today, MAN are without doubt one of Europe’s big three lorry manufacturers, but it wasn’t always thus. Nick Baldwin tells the story of its transformation from a tiny company into the world player it is today. Nowadays, MAN is one of the big names amongst the world’s heavy lorry producers with technical and financial links to Volkswagen and Scania. Back in the 1950s it was a mid-sized player with lower sales than such German rivals as KHD-Magirus, Hanomag and, of course, Daimler-Benz. The predominately light commercial makers in Germany, like Ford, Opel and Volkswagen, outsold MAN’s 4587 lorries and 188 buses in 1958, but then again so did Borgward with 6521 lorries. A three hundred metre assembly track at new Munich production facilities, opened in 1961, had…