Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i Classic & Vintage Commercials

CLOSE-UP on Classics AEC’s V8 engine, introduced in 1968, wasn’t as successful as first hoped. What began as a promising venture to secure AEC’s future ended up having the opposite effect and is thought to have played a part in the company’s demise. Its shortcomings were blamed on inadequate development resulting from parent company Leyland’s pressure to begin production before a full test programme could be completed. Some commentators even suggested that Leyland might have knowingly obstructed the project, preferring to promote their own `Power Plus’ 680 engine. Ironically, by all accounts, the ill-fated AEC ‘800 series’ V8 diesels were impressive performers. Impressive, that is, when they were running -all too often they ended up in the repair shop. If they completed more than 50,000 miles without a major overhaul,…

Nottinghamshire based Darron Wilson has been on the rally scene for about eight years, but has recently been showing a couple of contrasting vehicles. The first is 988UXU, a 1950 Mack LJT that spent its working life in America and which we’ll look at in a full feature next month. This time though, our subject is Darron’s other heavyweight, namely his 1976 Scammell Crusader. PGW883R has actually been on the rally/preservation circuit for a number of years. In Darron’s ownership it has, however, been treated to a full restoration to, as our pictures show, an extremely high standard. It may not, though, be immediately familiar, as in previous ownership it wore another livery, and carried registration Q83VOE. The Crusader started life as a tractor unit, and was converted to a…

The Cheshire Run is always a popular event and is usually deemed to be a season opener in the north of England. For 2021, however, as with so much else, the date had to change. The run actually took place in late September, making it more of a 2021 season-closer than opener. Despite the change of date, a good selection of vehicles still made the trip from the starting point at Lymm Services to Prees Heath and back, and while numbers were slightly down due to the fuel situation at the time, the run lived up its reputation of being a top event not to be missed. The 2022 run will revert to its usual spot at the beginning of the rally season, so will actually have taken place a…

Several of the major suppliers of oil exploration vehicles such as Kenworth, Scammell and Willème have been covered in past episodes, but one has so far evaded us. This is the Belgian firm of MOL, started by Gerard Mol in 1944 and initially involved with farm trailers and then, from 1952, road haulage trailers. In 1966 complete DAF and Deutz powered lorries were added for special purposes like dock spotting, cranes and concrete delivery. Their Deutz air cooled diesels suited the extremes of temperature encountered in the oilfields and during the 1970s this became big business for MOL. There were five and ten tonne gross 4x4s and 6x6 for up to 26tonnes. Many were sold through a London based oilfield supplier called Incotes run by John Ward, who had previously…

Back in January, our main coverfeature lorry was Simon Sleep’s Bedford KM skip lorry, a vehicle which emerged onto the show scene relatively recently, and been muchadmired. However, this isn’t the only KM in Simon’s collection of six old lorries, plus three others that are owned jointly with others. For the past 15 years, he’s owned this fine KM tipper, and it is often shown alongside the skip lorry. However, unlike the skip lorry, the tipper has been restored in very much working clothes condition, and as such it replicates many such lorries in regular use at ten-plus years old and with second, third or fourth owners. To begin, a brief recap on the people involved. Simon is in his early 50s and now runs Kenilworth-based Warwickshire Waste, a company…

The Spring Tractor World Show at the Three Counties Showground Malvern, an event which is the traditional show-season opener in this part of the world, and which usually attracts strong support from the classic lorry fraternity, is being revamped. For starters, the date has changed. This year’s event is being held over the weekend of May 21/22, and whereas in the past commercial vehicle attendance has generally been concentrated on the Sunday, for this year lorries are welcome and encouraged to attend on both days. There is also, on the Sunday only, a “classic car and vehicle show.” Other attractions at this two-day extravaganza includes regional and national club stands and displays, trade stalls, horticultural and garden equipment, steam engines, Land Rovers, gifts and mechanise. Plus, of course, hundreds of…

Neil Marvin Mark Hutchinson B. Meaden Garey Goddard. Wilf Everitt Bob Dickson…

Ford’s new 7Y 5cwt van was launched in October 1937 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, replacing the Model Y van. Unlike the outgoing model, ‘Easy Clean’ disc wheels (no spokes), 10in diameter Girling wedge action brakes and front hinged doors were fitted. The grille had a single nacelle with vertical bars. Somewhat bulbous headlamp lenses also contained the sidelights. The steel body had double rear doors, a fabric-clad timber roof panel and a wooden floor. The spare wheel was usually, but not always, mounted on the nearside door (the left-hand door on RHD vans, and the right-hand door on LHD vans). The bonnet opened on either side. Vacuum wipers were fitted to the scuttle below the (usually) non-opening windscreen, although an opening type was an option, in which case the…

MMV10C is a 1965 Scammell Highwayman that has been seen at many events over the years, from steam shows to road runs. Named Lord Geike, it has been owned by Peter Chamberlain since 1982, and still looks as good as it did when it was first restored. Peter has always had an interest in vehicles and things mechanical. He has worked for a variety of firms throughout his career, but always with machinery. On leaving school, he started work at the LM Ericsson telephone factory in Beeston, Nottingham and became a cable former. From there he moved to the Bell Fruit Company before having another spell at Ericsson’s, later moving on to Ernest A Bitterling, an engineering company, also in Nottingham. They specialised in machines for the food industry, and…

One of the biggest issues facing commercial vehicle preservation in future is a possible looming skills shortage. I don’t think that, for us, the main area of concern is the bodywork/welding side of things; much of what’s needed here applies equally to classic cars, and while there is a need to attract fresh blood here, people are tackling it. No, a potentially bigger, and commercial-vehicle specific, issue is a decline in the numbers able to look after old-school diesel engines. Engines like Gardner 150s or Leyland 680s are totally different animals from today’s high-tech computer-controlled units. Consequently the skills and techniques needed to look after them are completely different; a laptop as a diagnostic tool won’t be much good, and would someone used to today’s common-rail diesels have a clue…

Photo: Alan Smith Photo: Alan Smith Last time, we looked at the Corgi and Dinky Bedford TK models made when the real lorries were in production and intended as toys. More recently, a number of small-scale specialist truck model companies made Bedford TKs intended as collectors’ models, as indeed did Corgi, all of which have captured the shape of the real thing well. ASAM White metal hand-built Bedford TK models in 1/48 scale were first produced in 1995 by Alan Smith’s firm, now known as ASAM Models, previously called A Smith Automodels and then Hartsmith. Several versions have been produced over the years, in both built and kit form. These include a four-wheel tackle wagon in blue and white Econofreight livery with a HIAB crane behind the cab. A four-wheel…