Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2024 i Classic & Vintage Commercials

Welcome to the February 2024 issue of Classic & Vintage Commercials, and a special welcome to readers of Vintage Roadscene, whose magazine is being incorporated into CVC from this month. As a result of this, we’ve an extra ‘Roadscene’ section of archive photographs which I hope you will enjoy, starting this month with what I hope you will agree is a fine selection of photos from London from the 1950s to the 1970s. These show just how much our capital city’s street scenes have changed over the past 50 years. I especially like the pictures of Covent Garden as a fruit and veg market and of all the heavy traffic crossing Tower Bridge. It’s not widely appreciated just how ‘industrial’ that part of London was until relatively recently, but when…

October 2024 may be some time away, but we have just been advised of a new event that is taking place on October 20 in the North West. The Autumn Leaves Road Run will start at the British Commercial Vehicle Museum at Leyland (postcode PR25 2LE) and from here entrants can follow a detailed but only suggested route of around 70 miles. The event aims to raise money for local charities, and there will be trophies for the best commercial vehicle and crew in period and the best classic vehicle and crew in period, though it is stressed that period dress is totally optional! Entry and further details can be obtained from Michael Briggs on 07850805134, Mark Turner on 07840907139 or Paul Wilson on 07506 542288.…

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The British Motor Museum have confirmed that the 2024 Classic & Vintage Commercials Show will take place over the weekend of June 8-9 with, as is usual, the Sunday being the main day. The show format will remain as it has been in previous years; it works, so why change a winning format? One thing has, however, changed, and it’s a change which in the current climate is very welcome; ticket prices are in effect being reduced, and for those who have in the past attended on both days, the savings are pretty significant. Basically, the premium pricing has been removed from the Sunday, and annual passes are also now valid. Consequently, although the standard admission prices at Gaydon are rising slightly in 2024, admission to this event, because there’s…

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Founded in 1956, this event, which takes place on the Lambton Estate near Houghton-le-Spring in County Durham, is one of the oldest in the country. In fact, it’s older than almost all the lorries which took part in the 2023 event! As the name implies, this is mainly a steam event with both large and miniature engines on show. But Chester-le-Street is always very strongly supported by the commercial vehicle fraternity. Here are some of those which were there is 2023, most of which aren’t seen that often outside the North East.…

Last month I looked at period toys made of the BLSP cabbed Commer QX, Karrier Bantam and Gamecock. This time it’s the turn of more recent models of these and the Sankey cab lorries. In 1962, the Commer CA was launched with new cab with twin headlights, designed and built by Sankey’s of Birmingham. TheCAwasa7½-ton and 8-ton payload lorry range, plus 10/11 and 12-ton tractor units, replacing the equivalent Commer QX models, available with 115in., 141in. and 162in. wheelbases, many fitted with the TS3 engine, usually identified by a Rootes Diesel badge under the grille. In 1964, this became the CB, with minor detail changes, then the CC in 1965 with a slightly more powerful version of the TS3 engine. Amulti-fuelversionoftheTS3 engine was available on the four-wheel-drive military version, which…

Classic & Vintage Commercials regrets to report the passing of Tony McGovern, whose huge fleet of superbly-restored lorries, usually in the distinctive McGovern red livery, have been such a feature of the lorry preservation movement for many years. He was 78. Tony was born in Aughavas, County Leitrim, on February 25 1945, the youngest child in a family of nine. After working with horses and tractors on the family’s farm he left Ireland for the bright lights of London aged 16 in 1961, and joined his older brother Peter who was manager of the famous Crown Pub in Cricklewood. At the time, The Crown was the social centre of the burgeoning London-Irish community hereabouts. Many of the regulars worked on building site and construction projects, and Tony, too soon found…

Two days after learning that Hattons of Liverpool are to cease trading, we received further sad and equally unexpected news; Brighton-based Rootes specialists Speedy Spares are to cease trading on March 28 2024, after 58 years in business. Speedy Spares are the main parts specialists for all Rootes Group vehicles including light commercials. The business is owned by the same family as formerly ran R J Grimes of Coulsdon, who had specialised in obsolete Rootes parts as far back as the 1950s, and when Grimes closed due to site redevelopment in the early noughties, the Rootes stock, goodwill and knowledge all moved to Speedys on the south coast. They always provided excellent service; stuff people wanted was in stock, and if ordered before about 2.30pm it would usually arrive next…

Here we go again with another series of period shots that will help to transport us back to the past, bringing alive some distant memories from an age when long-lost British lorries like AECs, Bristols, Ford Thames and Scammells were an everyday sight. Those days will never return but at least we can enjoy something of the experience with photographs of such classics in their real environment when they were still at work. The following pictures span a period of almost forty years from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. None of the manufacturers featured here have survived – all have been killed off by foreign takeovers.…

The Kelsall Steam Rally is renowned for the number of commercials that are on display at their annual gathering. As ever, organisers Geoff and Marie Newsome welcomed the exhibitors for the weekend, and with good weather prevailing attracted large numbers of spectators. Although billed as a steam fair, and there is a good selection of steamers on view, it is the commercials section that is exhibited in a number of fields. There are endless rows of ERFs, a great selection of Fodens and a variety of other commercials with associated club stands to look around. And there are cars, bikes, stationary engines, the lot to be seen, and for a bonus Sir David Jason could be seen filming a programme on restoration which will be screened next year. There is…

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