Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Classic & Vintage Commercials

Among the winners was the Western Desert Recce Group of ex-services volunteers, for their restoration of a unique WW2-era Long Range Desert Group Chevrolet Truck, built as a mobile consulting room/casualty station. Based on a 15cwt Chevrolet CMP, the vehicle had demountable bodywork which could be used inside a tent and was designed by the LRDG’s medical officer Dr Lawson. The painstaking restoration made considerable use of Dr Lawson’s original notes which are now at the Imperial War Museum. The award was accepted on behalf of the group by Gary Wallace. Another worthy winner was Nigel Bayes, for his restoration of a 1933 Dennis 30cwt fire appliance which is thought to be the only survivor of its type that’s bodied as a turntable ladder. NTT Awards Director Paul Brook commented:…

In 1980 the F12 received the new TD120F intercooled engine and simultaneously Volvo introduced their heavy-duty SR70 12-speed gearbox to go with it. This had three gear positions each with high/low range plus splitter. There was also a crawler gear and reverse. To be precise there were two crawlers available and four reverse ratios. The TD120F developed 385bhp according to Volvo’s figures but net output to BSAU 141a was 355bhp. Front axle capacity was raised to 7.5 tonnes in 1981 and the following year the F10 was given the more powerful TD100G with 276bhp (257 net). Transmission choice included the R62, SR62 splitter and the MR62B with torque converter which was aimed mainly at heavy duty 6x4s which could operate at up to 150 tonnes gtw on heavy haulage. The…

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of Volvo’s FH so this month’s centre spread is dedicated to what has, without doubt, been one of the most successful heavy goods vehicles of our age. It is estimated that almost 1.4 million have been sold worldwide. The FH has undergone several upgrades over the past 30 years and, in its present form since 2020, is still among the market leaders. This classic 1993 timber laden outfit of Donald G Watt was on contract to BSW Sawmills at Boat of Garten in Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park. The sawmill ceased operations only last year after UK-wide BSW was taken over by the Austrian Binderholz Group. BSW Sawmills Ltd now concentrates most of its activity in Central Wales.…

For some of use it’s a hard thing to take onboard, but the 1960s ended more than half a century ago, and there are now far more people alive who cannot remember it first-hand than who can. For this majority, then, this era, and the 1950s even more so, are part of history, and it is therefore only right and proper that many living museums which have previously catered for the Victorian, Edwardian eras, are now embracing post-war life. One such is the well-known Black Country Museum at Dudley, where a new area intended to replicate the period from the late-1940s through to the 1960s has just opened. As well as a typical shopping street (including recreations of many famous shops of the area and era, plus the Elephant and…

Darran Clark has, it would be fair to say, been around lorries, and the haulage industry, since the day he was born, a little over 52 years ago. His father and his grandfather were both drivers, and living as he does in rural North Lincolnshire, Darran himself drove lorries on farmyard work from pretty-much the moment he could reach the pedals. This was the early-mid 1980s, and the lorries entrusted to young Darran’s loving care back then included Atkinson Borderers and DAF 2800/3300s. On leaving school, it was no surprise to anyone when Darran started work in the haulage industry. His first job was in the workshops at C R Hansard, a local general haulier who were one of the first in Britain to offer self-load crane lorries, and who…

On September 9/10 the village of Laughton, near Lewes hosted its Autumn show. It was, in the words of our correspondent Roy Mellor, a perfect rally weekend with blue skies and high temperatures on both days, attracting a good visitor attendance.” There were many entries in the classic car, tractor, motorcycle and commercial vehicle classes, and in addition a large marquee dedicated to displays of period model circus diorama, the modelling of which was “mind-blowing.”…

Austin’s K2 will be well-known to many, but not least those with an interest in WW2-era vehicles as the lorry played an important role in Britain’s war effort and saw military service all over the world. The new model had been launched in inauspicious circumstances. With war clouds looming on the horizon, Austin was ordered by the government to increase lorry production to meet the expected demand. Experience during WW1 had already shown that lorries would have a crucial part to play in supply and logistics. There would also be an ancillary role for emergency service vehicles, like ambulances and fire appliances. The K2 was introduced in January 1939 as a two-axle, normal control lorry. Built at Longbridge, the initial line-up was two models, the K2 and K3. These lorries…

We welcome photos of older lorries (15 years and older) that are still in service for publication in this section. We can accept contributions by email - cvc.ed@kelsey.co.uk, or by post to The Editor, Classic & Vintage Commercials, PO Box 1243, SPALDING, PE11 9HE. Please provide as much (or as little) information about a vehicle as you are able and, before entering or taking photos on private property, please ensure that you have all the permissions that you need to be there, and to be taking photographs.…

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The Mercedes-Benz T2 commercials were launched in January 1967 as the L406D and L408, plus the O309 Minibus, with an angular, semi-bonneted body, replacing the curvier, snub-nosed Mercedes L319/O319 range. They were built in Daimler-Benz’s Düsseldorf factory, hence being nicknamed the Düsseldorf Transporter. Described by Mercedes as, “Larger and more powerful than a delivery van, more easily manoeuvrable and lighter than a truck,” size-wise, they were indeed somewhere between a typical van and a truck, pretty much creating a new class of vehicle at the time. Visibility from the cab was good, with very slim windscreen pillars, and decent ride comfort by the standards of the day. Various body types were offered, including panel vans, with or without additional side windows and doors, minibuses, dropside trucks, double-cab pickups, tippers and…

This series started off by looking at the pioneer days of oil exploration and then followed the likes of Scammell into the jungles and deserts of the 1930s. Twenty years later we looked at Berliets and Kenworths in North Africa. By the 1980s the pace of land searching had slowed down, though Gulf and North Sea oil was taking off. Most land locations had been exploited but there was still a need for a small number of specialist vehicles to recover the black gold. We’ve recently met most of them so this time it’s a chance to catch up with a few also-rans and to contemplate the largely unknown Chinese and Russian scene. The fact that MOL, Canadian Foremost and Oshkosh did such big business there suggests that local production…