Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Classic & Vintage Commercials

At the start of the 1950s, Ford of Britain’s product range was, to put it simply, out of date, far behind most of the opposition and totally inadequate for the second half of the 20th century. Its car range, based around the sidevalve Anglia/Prefect/Popular for the mass market and the V8 Pilot for those wanting a big car, was positively archaic. Their commercials, too were either old-hat, slightly repackaged American products, or a combination of the two. By 1960 however, the car side had been transformed beyond recognition beyond recognition. In 1951 the Mk1 Consul, Zephyr and Zodiac range bought in unitary construction, Macpherson Strut suspension and a choice of four or six-pot overhead valve engines. Then, in 1959, the ground-breaking 105E Anglia arrived, with its distinctive slope-back rear screen..…

Just as we are currently faced with a major transition from diesel to alternative fuels and electric propulsion, the transport industry was faced with an equally life-changing transition back in the 1930s, when steam was giving way to the internal-combustion engine. Road tax on steamers was raised in 1933 making them less economical so traditional steam lorry manufacturers like Foden, Sentinel, Thornycroft and Atkinson were forced to adapt to the new age or go out of business. One leading builder of steamers, under the grand title of ‘The Yorkshire Patent Steam Wagon Company (Branch of Deighton’s Patent Flue & Tube Co. Ltd)’, successfully made the move into the internal-combustion era with a new range branded ‘Yorkshire-Diesel’. The company was originally established at Pepper Road, Hunslet, Leeds in 1903 where, incidentally,…

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‘Haddenham’ is one of those events which has become something of a local institution. Since the 1970s, it’s been one of the first dates that many local enthusiasts in Cambridgeshire mark in their diaries, though its early September date means it’s also usually one of the last of the year. Like so many shows, it started as a pretty-much 100% stream gathering, but over the ensuing years the remit expanded, and since the mid-1980s it’s been very much an all vehicles gathering, with cars, tractors and heavy horses joining the lineup. Along with, of course, commercial vehicles. 2025 was the 50th anniversary event, and judging by the attendance and atmosphere on the Saturday of our visit, it’ll still be going strong in 2075 for the 100th. Here are a few…

As well as their work for well-known fleet buyers such as the Post Office, British Road Services and so on, the company also made specialist bodywork for local one-off customers, often based on light commercial vehicles. These could be made as bespoke to suit a customer’s specific needs or to a standard pattern/design. One of the most popular light commercial chassis of the late 1950s and early 1960s was the Thames 12-15cwt. The Ford marque name wasn’t applied to commercial vehicles until 1965, though there were small triangular badges on the cab doors confirmed that the vehicles to which they were applied were “A Product of the Ford Motor Company.” Anyway, Papworth applied their body construction techniques to many Thames vans, and the rescued photographs include several interesting images which…

When I told colleagues that I was off to photograph an Alfa Romeo, they were a little surprised, imagining perhaps a red sportscar. Of course, Alfa Romeo are best known for the latter, but commercials were also part of their line-up, albeit virtually unknown in the UK. The Alfa Romeo Autotutto (All-purpose) T10 was launched at the 1954 Turin Motor Show as a van and a minibus, with other versions following, including camper, ambulance and pick-up, many built by outside coachbuilders. The name they came up with for this Alfa Romeo was, err, Romeo. So good they named it twice. Amazingly it was the first left-hand drive Alfa Romeo commercial, previous ones having been right-hand drive, despite Italians driving on the right. Also unusual for the time was that it…

The Three Counties Showground in Carmarthen was the new venue for this year’s Celtic Truck Show on Sunday August 10. Lorry owners were able to arrive on the Friday evening, with Saturday dedicated to exhibitors only, and the main event, with public attendance, on Sunday August 10. The weather was kind and a great selection of classic and modern vehicles were on display. The event was very well attended by exhibitors, traders and the public. Plans are, we understand, underway for the show to be a weekend event in 2026.…

WORK AND PLAY Old-school owner-driver Robert Wakefield drives a 2003 MAN to earn a living, but at weekends he likes to drive his 1970 Commer. It’s a whole-family thing too! SCANIA 111 Peter Davies begins a new in-depth story and analysis… FORD D-SERIES Peter Simpson continues the story with a look at the heavier versions that arrived from 1967. LUTON BEDFORD An early CA restored. Mike Neale tells the story. PLUS: John Thomas collecting-reduction auction results, another bumper selection of Papworth Coachworks images, David Reed takes in the Heart of Wales Run and the Atkinson Gathering, all our usual features and, of course, plenty of surprises as well! These features are all planned at the time of going to press. We reserve the right to make changes and amendments if…

Believe it or not, this stunning 1952 Bedford dropside is 56-year-old Steve Enderby’s first-ever commercial vehicle restoration. What’s more, it took Steve less than a year to get it up to the standard seen here. I spotted the completed lorry on the finish-line at this year’s Historic Commercial Vehicle Society’s London to Brighton Run. As we will see later, there was a rather noticeable clue on the lorry that it was new-out this year, and closer inspection confirmed that it was, indeed, both new for 2025 and a restoration that had been carried out to a very high standard indeed. Although Surrey-based Steve hadn’t restored a lorry before, he has had a long-term interest in old vehicles. He also, it would be fair to say, has a significant talent for…

The Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show returns to the Newark Showground on November 8-9, bringing together some of the rarest, most remarkable commercial machines from across the country. This year’s show will celebrate 60 years of the Ford D Series lorry, a model that became a mainstay of British roads and industry. Among the highlights will be a truly extraordinary survivor. Hertfordshire-based enthusiast Brian Gardner is bringing along his 1980 Ford D Series Chinese Six, a vehicle so rare that it could well be the only original example in the UK. “I’ve never seen another one like it,” says Brian. “Everyone I’ve spoken to says the same – there are Bedford Chinese Sixes out there, but I don’t know of another D Series.” The Chinese Six, with its unusual…

GUY OR VOLVO? The features on the Guy Big J and Volvo F88 in the October issue bought to mind these two photographs which I took on the same evening at Norman’s Café, Brotherton. The date was May 20 1984. Both lorries had travelled down from Scotland that day. I am pretty sure I know which driver had the more comfortable journey. Gordon Mitchell I’m sure that most readers will have a fair idea which of these two they’d prefer to drive day in day out on long-distance work…. Ed MERCURY MEMORIES I read your report on the AEC Monarch MKIII tanker and your mention in that of the 1929 model Mercury. From my late father’s photo album, I enclose a photo of this model tanker in service with the National…

Though it seems utterly inconceivable today, when the “Dartford Tunnel” opened on November 18 1963 it was exactly that. More specifically, it was a single-bore two-lane tunnel, with just one lane of traffic on each direction. But even this was a massive improvement; previously, the lowest fixed link between the north and south banks of the river was at Blackwall! Anyway, this image was taken on the day that the first tunnel opened, hence the scaffolding still in place around the air vent. This is the Dartford side, with traffic coming towards the camera having just crossed over from Kent, and that tunnel mouth is still recognisable today, although it’s now surrounded by much more crossing-paraphernalia. Behind the Ford Classic and Riley Pathfinder or 2.6, we have a Thames Trader…

Although the annual Kelsall steam rally is best-known in lorry circles as the venue of the annual Register of ERF Vehicles Society rally, it also attracts much more support from commercial vehicle enthusiasts and, in fact, fans of most other kinds of road-going vehicles from classic motorcycles to showman’s steamers. We featured the ERFs last month, but many other makes were in attendance……

A EC introduced their Mk II lorries in 1935. The Mercury was a normal control four-wheel lorry with a four-cylinder engine, and the Monarch a forward control four-wheeler with a four-cylinder engine. The Matador was a four-wheeler with a six-cylinder engine. The Mammoth Major was a six or eight-wheeler with a six-cylinder engine, whilst the Mammoth Minor of 1937 was a lightweight six-wheeler with single wheels on the rearmost axle and a six-cylinder engine. There was the option of either Petrol or Oil (diesel) engines, an O prefix being added to the model number if the latter. The Mk II range went back into production after the war in mid-1945, all now with 6-cylinder oil engines, either a 7.7-litre or a 9.6-litre direct injection unit. In 1948, the MkIII range…