bigstraight6

The blue example is certainly a home brewed concoction with Cortina MK1 tin, I seem to recall reading an article about the other official conversion years ago and that there were just 2 built both for the Kenyan Police.

Nice selection, the first is a LAD cabbed Leyland, the Dodge Commando looks very saveable but I’m struggling to identify the lorry in the final pic, but I think it’s a Commer.

The rail network can barely cope with what’s on it now in some parts of the country let alone adding more traffic, and so much of the goods handling parts of the system are long gone, I would love to see more freight by rail but I just can’t see it happening…

That was how it was decades ago, now it’s all about just in time deliveries and how the supply chains work today, business expects to place an order today and get it delivered tomorrow, it’s only road transport that can do this.

A tipper haulier based in Doublebois near Liskeard still has a 1988 Merc with this type of cab on the road, I see it hard at work quite often.

I believe that’s an FMK 40 which was a model specifically produced for the GPO telecommunications fleet which didn’t prove very popular with the crew due to the noise from it’s BMC 4/98 engine. That’s a very rare survivor..

Go for it, it’s much better than a couple of bits of bendy old tin that need adjusting with a feeler gauge at very regular intervals!

I can recommend DD electronic ignition, I fitted this to my Zodiac about 18 years ago now and haven’t touched the ignition system since, it started first time easily a few weeks ago after being left untouched in the garage for 6 months.

That vehicle appears to have an N gauge model railway in the spare wheel well, I like it a bit just for that.

Just reading about the possible fuel vaporisation issue here, I had the same problems with my Zodiac which made it awful to drive in hot weather but a few years ago I put some insulated wrap on the under bonnet fuel lines which cured it as it did on my son’s Mercury Cougar when he was having the same issues…

I loved taking my old motor out on today’s drive it day, the highlight of the day was this delightful 1956 Austin A30. I love MOT except.

It’s an old Mercedes diesel, taxi drivers across the World have depended on them for decades and still do in some countries.

I did away with the shitty EGR valve on my 54 plate S60 D5 with a blanking plate after suffering power loss issues, the car is so much better for it and has passed 2 MOT’s since….

Mine did the same, in true shitter style I simply disconnected the supply hose to the engine mounts and plugged the circuit, this was about 6 months ago and I’ve not yet got around to replacing the vacuum engine mounts as the car doesn’t really feel that much different without them…

Update, the car made it from Plymouth to Portsmouth fine and lost no oil! There was a method in my madness as I figured that the cork bung would do because in the old days gaskets were made from cork.