Shep Shepherd

Changed The V70's engine oil and filter this morning, after being constantly nagged by the dashboard display for the past couple of weeks that it needs doing. I'm glad that it only needs to be done annually, as I have very little inclination do anything but check/top up the levels and check the tyre pressures these days. Being an Skilled Amateur Mechanic* of nearly 30 years' standing, I have an electric oil extraction thingy in my arsenal of tools, so the actual job was dead easy, but the aftermath was pretty grim; even in limited quantities, spilt used diesel engine oil is horrible stuff. I could never be a professional mechanic. Managed to put the car through the local IMO car wash on the way to collect the new oil, as it hadn't been washed since the end of September. It did a surprisingly good job, although the wheels could do with a further going-over: Not a bad looking car, but it would be a lot better if I gave it a T-Cut and polish, but it's not that sort of car. In any case, I'd rather drive cars than polish them these days. I did put some Clearvue on the exterior glass, though. As for The Volvo, its MOT ran out in the summer and I gave up trying to fix its seeeming incurable running issues not long after. Last time I tried tinkering with it in October, when I fitted a new idle air control valve, it wouldn't even attempt to start, even after I refitted the old one, so I seriously lost interest. I'm in no mood to get it back on the road, despite December 11th being the 20th anniversary of my owning it. Perhaps I'll have another go over Christmas, when I'm off for 10 days.

Received The V70's new loadspace mat today, and fitted it in the car park of my local Sainsbury's on the way home from work. It's of almost equal joy as the floor mats (bought it from the same eBay seller), although it would fit even better if the seatbelts for the rear-facing kid's seats weren't in the way: Incidentally, that was emptiest the back of the car had been since I bought it. It was full of stuff again within minutes of that photo being taken 😅

Panther were also responsible for creation of the Vauxhall VX Prestige concept car, a car which was intended to take on the Ford Granada, had it made it into production: It was used by Vauxhall for a while, after which it ended up in the wild, as per the photo. It was owned by the guy behind the Vauxpedia website for a bit (some GR9 content about it on there), but was probably scrapped years ago; its last tax disc expired in 1984, according to the DVLA.

I fitted a new set of eBay-sourced rubber floor mats to The V70 today: They're a great deal better than the set that they replaced as they fit properly and clip onto the pegs in the carpet, something which the previous Halfords specials never did. I'm so impressed with them that I've just ordered a matching load space mat ^^

It's a joy to see old ERFs (and Fodens and Seddon Atkinsons) being used as their makers intended.

Saw this outside Gloucester this afternoon. It's been de-liveried but the ghost of the Cummins sticker above the door is still visible. It really shifted and sounded great

I grew up near Dover and used to see Hungarocamion trucks quite a lot on the A2 and the A20 going to and from the Eastern Docks in the late 1980s and early 1990s I believe that the company was privatised in the late 1990s and became Warberers about 20 years ago.

Perhaps the authorities didn't deem them suitable for such work? If that was the case, it's strange, as they have a reputation for beng very tough. From what I've read, outfits like Sovtransavto were big users of Volvos and Mercs.

I think the only heavy trucks made in the Eastern Bloc in the 1970s and 1980s which were really suitable for long distance and international work were the Jelcz (Poland), the LIAZ (Czechoslovakia) and the Roman (Romania). Examples of the latter were sold in the UK back in the day.

Check out this W60 artic. Must have been utterly miserable to drive on long distance work. The real long distance work and international work in the DDR era was done by a state owned concern called Deutrans. Here are some photos of their wagons: https://lkw-infos.eu/archiv/speditionen/images/d/deutrans/teil-01/Deutrans Teil 1/index.html

I love the W50 and L60. Their cabs put me in mind of an Eastern Bloc version of the Leyland G/Bathgate cab.

Hendo's was first introduced to me by a friend from Wakefield around 2007. At the time, it wasn't widely available in the South of England, but most supermarkets here stock it these days.

Had a delivery at Henderson's in Sheffield this morning, the makers of the godlike relish of the same name. I was surprised by how small their factory was. Speaking of small, I got a free mini bottle of the aforementioned condiment, as demonstrated by Foden, my current travelling companion ^^

Currently overnighting at a transport yard in Dewsbury, which was the closest (and cheapest) Snap parking to tomorrow's first drop at a place in Shipley. Nice and quiet, and there's a Sainsbury's next door ^^ I'd never heard of Brocklehurst before today. They sure do like Ivecos!

Nice Cavalier Sportshatch. A Kent car, going by the registration. I wonder which dealer originally sold it?