MrT

I have been browsing on this site for a while, and, thoroughly enjoyed the pictures and the comments. I have no professional or practical connection with anything vehicle related, having been a lawyer, then a nurse which led to lecturing in healthcare law and ethics, and now retired. However, I am interested in old aircraft, railways, vehicles and warships. As a little payback for all the stuff I have liked, here is a photo of the lorry my grandfather used to drive. So far as I can tell, it is a late 1940s Guy Vixen. He drove William Bates for a fruit & veg wholesalers in Nottingham, delivering to greengrocers etc. As a small child, I would sometimes go with him when he did runs into Lincolnshire to pick veg up from farmers, including his brothers, so we would stop for lunch or tea with them. Apparently he also got commission for doing deals as he knew what he was looking at with the crops. He was the youngest child, and in the prolonged pre-WWII agricultural depression, there wasn't really room for him. He moved to Nottingham in 1937 and worked for Bates until 1970. The Vixen was dark green with either yellow or gold lettering and a cream cab interior. The steering wheel was massive, and the gear stick used to wave about with no visible indication of the gear layout. It lasted until 1965 and then drove a new Morris FG or its Austin equivalent until his retirement.

Because I am a complete sad bastard. The Lightning is actually not an RAF one. It is one sold to the Saudis in the late 60's. They were returned (with a lot lower flying hours than their RAF contemporaries). Because they were flown back and I think it was a government deal, they were all given military serials rather than civil regs. Apart from a few in museums, most ended up as scrap.