Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Classic & Vintage Commercials

One of Britain’s oldest, largest and best-known Truckstops, Route 74 at Lesmahagow in Lanarkshire now has a new owner. On August 1, the business was bought by well-known Scottish haulage business Hayton Coulthard. Situated next to the M74 which forms the main west coast route between England and Scotland, the Route 74 site spans seven acres and has parking for 150 lorries. Facilities include a modern restaurant, 24-hour shop, ATM, free Wi-Fi, TV screens, showers, fuel station, truck wash, and secure truck parking which is monitored around the clock. Hayton Coulthard’s existing Lesmahagow depot is adjacent to the truckstop. Hayton Coulthard say that under their ownership “the business will continue to operate as it is with same people, supported by the same suppliers, delivering the same excellent service to the…

Once Britain had joined the Common Market in 1972 Bedford, along with a number of other British manufacturers, had their sights set on Europe but one big problem was after-sales service, or the lack of it. European heavy truck sales and servicing facilities were thinly spread, based largely at Vauxhall/Bedford/GM dealerships who were not generally geared up to heavy vehicles. Without such vital customer back-up Bedford’s sales potential in the heavy-duty sector was limited. When it came to possible sales, France, Italy and Germany were all seen as promising. Spain was less attractive because of its high import duties. All the same, Bedford exhibited TMs at the 1977 and 1979 Barcelona Shows but with little success. Then investment was ploughed into a new German marketing operation in Dortmund but sales…

Last month, we met Surrey-based Alan Greenwood and the fabulous 1954 Leyland Comet tipper which he has owned since the mid-1980s. This has, as we saw then, been a hugely significant part of his life. However, as we also indicated, Alan’s real commercial vehicle passion is fire appliances, to the extent that he owns no fewer than fourteen of them. What’s more, they are all in superb order, fully-operational and according to Alan, appliances from his collection have been known to help out with actual emergencies on occasion! There is a common theme running through the collection; every appliance in it has a connection with Surrey where the appliances are now based, and the majority are ex Surrey Fire Brigade/Surrey Fire & Rescue vehicles. This is hardly surprising; as Alan’s…

There’s something special about travelling without an agenda. No clock to punch, no schedule to chase — just a van, a road, and the open country ahead. I was a few days into a tour of Dumfries and Galloway in my 33-year-old Leyland DAF 200 Series campervan — a slow but soulful workhorse affectionately named “Dorothy” — when something remarkable happened. The morning’s drive from Dumfries to just outside Stranraer had been quiet. Just a couple of lorries spotted in over an hour of winding rural roads — hardly the type of route where you expect to see anything out of the ordinary. But then I clocked a 4-series Scania and Foden S20 in close formation. The kind of lorries that stop you mid-sentence. Something clicked — a gut feeling…

From the 1950s until 1998, the red livery of Dent’s Transport was a familiar sight on the roads around West Norfolk – and further afield – as the firm was one of the key players in the local haulage industry. With a main operating base in the village of Hilgay, and outstations on King’s Lynn’s Hardwick industrial estate and a smaller one in Southrey, at its peak, the Dent’s fleet had around 100 lorries plus trailers. Dent’s was in many ways the architypical old-school haulage business. It was family owned, and run by Albert Dent who was known to most staff as “guvn’r”, and the lorries were bought rather than leased. It was also an overwhelmingly British fleet; a smattering of Volvos were trialled in the late 1980s after Leyland…

Once upon a time the Port of Liverpool was a hive of activity with around five miles of dock road from near Seaforth in the north down to the Sefton area taking in memorable streets like Regent Road in Bootle, Waterloo Road, New Quay, past the famous Liver Building and Pier Head and on to Strand Street, Wapping, Chaloner Street and Sefton Street. Along every inch one would see hundreds of lorries from all over the UK. It was at its height in the 1950s and 1960s but was still busy in the 1970s when I took this shot of an Atkinson L1786 belonging to Holt Lane’s subsidiary Aaron Henshall. The shot dates from April 1974. 788WTE, new to Holt Lane Transport, dates from 1961 and was re-painted in this…

Albion was established in 1899 in Glasgow, initially building cars until 1913, thereafter concentrating on commercials and buses, with their motto “Sure as the Sunrise” leading to their logo design. Their first commercial vehicle was built in 1902. A new purpose-built factory was opened in Scotstoun in 1903. A short-lived agreement with the Long Acre Car Company of London in 1904 saw some Albion commercial vehicles sold as Lacres for about five years. After a lull in the early 1920s, due in part to a surplus of ex-War Department lorries being released onto the civilian market, new models began to be introduced from 1923 onwards. At the Earls Court Commercial Motor Show in November 1937, a new range of commercials was launched with two letter designations working in from either…

The Leyland Society held this year’s Gathering of Leyland buses and lorries at the Peak Rail Rowsley South Station. This is on part of a preserved section of the former Midland Railway mainline, which once ran between once connecting Manchester Central (now the GMex exhibition centre) and London St Pancras. Closed in 1968 by British Railways, a four-mile stretch between Rowsley South Station and Matlock is now preserved by Peak Rail. There was an excellent turn out of vehicles covering Leyland production from 1933 to 1989. Holding the Gathering at this new location for the Society encouraged some new entries including 1956 Leyland Comet PFH 380 in the livery of Brian Thomas of Darley Dale, Matlock. All vehicles were very well turned out and all sparkling in the welcome sunshine,…

The name of Wynns is synonymous with heavy haulage, and several vehicles that worked for the South Wales firm have survived into preservation, the letters DW in the registration number often denotes an ex-Wynns vehicle. Now there is a new one on the scene, namely the Marriott family’s 1973 Atkinson Venturer that has been out and about at many events this year. But before we look at the Venturer in more detail, it is worth looking at the history of the iconic heavy haulage firm of Wynns. It all started back in 1873 when Thomas Wynn, set up as a carrier with a couple of horse and carts to compete with the flourishing railway network including delivering flour to bakers and shops from Star Flour Mills in Newport. By the…

The Ford Thames 307E was launched in June 1961, fitted with the 997cc overhead valve four-cylinder petrol engine from the Anglia 105E with a four speed gearbox. The van cab doors were shorter than those of the Anglia saloon and the bottom sloped upwards at the rear so that they didn’t foul the pavement if the van was stopped on a cambered road surface for unloading, quite a neat idea. The wheelbase was 7ft. 6½ in. Both 5cwt and 7cwt versions were offered, the latter having heavier rear springs and a larger, six-ply rating of the tyres. Externally the 7cwt could be identified by its chrome mesh radiator grille instead of painted horizontal bars, with chrome headlamp peaks, bumpers and mirrors. From 1962 an 1198cc engine was offered as an…

The annual Llandudno Transport Festival took place over the early May Bank Holiday weekend, with hundreds of exhibits to be seen. Again, Bodafon Field alongside the promenade was the place to be with commercials, buses, cars, tractors and motorbikes all lined up for inspection. The festival again ran alongside the town’s Victorian Extravaganza, which takes place in the town itself, with a free vintage bus service running between the two sites. The highlight of the event must be the two road runs that take place over the weekend. The Saturday run heads to Conwy, passing the town’s imposing castle, while the Sunday outing takes the vehicles around The Great Orme, winding their way around the narrow road between the high cliffs and the sea below. It is a spectacle not…

BEDFORD M Another new restoration for 2025! GUY BIG J4 T Real rarity restored! YOUNG VAN MAN Mike Neale meets a 24-year old-enthusiast who owns a preserved 1936 Fordson, and also uses a 1963 Austin A35 van as daily transport. PAPWORTH PYE Another look inside the Papworth Coachworks archive, this time showcasing some traditional top-end coachbuilding techniques used to make specialist vehicles for Pye Electronics. PLUS: Pt3 of Peter Davies’ Bedford TM anniversary piece, event reports from Holbeach, Thornes Park and Chester-le-Street, more classic period photography from the still-expanding Peter Davies collection, all our usual features and, of course, a couple of special surprises! These features are all planned at the time of going to press. We reserve the right to make changes and amendments if necessary.…