Truck Shite

[SunnySouth]

7 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

A few more from yesterdays truck racing 

 

 

 

If one of them was racing with a steam loco in tow that’s very impressive indeed!

The Leyland and Seddon A are lovely!

[martc]

50 minutes ago, SunnySouth said:

Some Google sleuthing suggests it’s one of these:

Which, apparently, is an Ayats Pegaso. No idea what the chassis might be though!

Thanks for the sleuthing. Pegaso would have made the chassis, Ayats was (and in fact still is) the coachbuilder - https://ayats.es/en/home#

[SunnySouth]

1 hour ago, martc said:

Thanks for the sleuthing. Pegaso would have made the chassis, Ayats was (and in fact still is) the coachbuilder - https://ayats.es/en/home#

I did wonder! Ayats can be found in limited numbers in the UK, as far as I know exclusively in decker form either as coaches or custom built open toppers - an odd mix, all of them I think being the Bravo model. They’re all knocking on a bit now, I assume they no longer sell in the UK?

(Not my photos).

[Noel Tidybeard]

seen a brown one of these a couple of times this month

[SunnySouth]

6 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

seen a brown one of these a couple of times this month

Quite sexy aren’t they? But, Ford…. Just nah! 
 

Incidentally is it all actually Ford stuff underneath, or are they just flogging someone else‘s kit that they’ve tarted up?

[Snipes]

I've seen a couple or ford lorries recently. I know they never really went away in places like South America. Maybe a euro operator got hold of a few?

[SunnySouth]

1 hour ago, Snipes said:

I've seen a couple or ford lorries recently. I know they never really went away in places like South America. Maybe a euro operator got hold of a few?

They are/were running an ad campaign over here recently I thought? Trying to re-establish themselves in the market?

[busmansholiday]

19 hours ago, SunnySouth said:

Some Google sleuthing suggests it’s one of these:

Which, apparently, is an Ayats Pegaso. No idea what the chassis might be though!

Ayats are a Spanish coach builders and Pegaso were chassis makers in Spain.

 

Edit, beaten to it.

[Spottedlaurel]

2 hours ago, Snipes said:

I've seen a couple or ford lorries recently.

I saw at least one in France, a more rugged look with round headlights - can't remember if it was an 8-wheeler or cab pulling a tipper trailer. But definitely modern and had a Ford badge.

[martc]

^^^ Those Fords are made in Turkey https://www.fordtrucks.com.tr/

Here's a clip from an article from 14/10/24, they've plans to sell them here, but they are sold across the continent so there is a good chance of seeing a LHD one here -

https://trans.info/en/ford-trucks-interview-399815

The ones with the round headlights have a familiar name 'Cargo'.

Tonnes of info about it here - https://www.truckanddriver.co.uk/latest-stories/new-ford-cargo-1846t-is-on-the-road-and-biglorryblog-has-the-full-story/

 

[martc]

[martc]

I'm not sure how they have the nerve to photograph one of these near salt water. The angles of the front wheels, bumper and number plate make it look like it's had a minor shunt as well. Top work the Chrysler publicity department.

[martc]

Extensive use of Ford products by Citroen. I guess the transits at least got kicked into touch once Citroen started bringing their vans over here. They never had/still don't have any heavy lorries (sold in the UK at least).

[martc]

Gerposa were bought out by Christian Salvesen, which then became Norbert Destressangle, and are now XPO.

[martc]

A Swiss registered Scania-Vabis.

[danthecapriman]

42 minutes ago, martc said:

Extensive use of Ford products by Citroen. I guess the transits at least got kicked into touch once Citroen started bringing their vans over here. They never had/still don't have any heavy lorries (sold in the UK at least).

That says everything anyone needs to know about French cars!😆

Good old Ford’s!

[quicksilver]

On 12/08/2025 at 11:23, martc said:

^^^ Those Fords are made in Turkey https://www.fordtrucks.com.tr/

Here's a clip from an article from 14/10/24, they've plans to sell them here, but they are sold across the continent so there is a good chance of seeing a LHD one here -

https://trans.info/en/ford-trucks-interview-399815

The ones with the round headlights have a familiar name 'Cargo'.

Tonnes of info about it here - https://www.truckanddriver.co.uk/latest-stories/new-ford-cargo-1846t-is-on-the-road-and-biglorryblog-has-the-full-story/

 

The F-Max is becoming a more common sight over here, mostly Turkish for obvious reasons but I've seen them from various other countries too - not just from the east but also French, Dutch and Spanish so they're making inroads into western Europe. I've never seen one but apparently there are a few LHD private imports kicking around on UK plates.

[danthecapriman]

Are there any of the Pegaso trucks left from their very short time on sale in the UK?

They had a partnership with Seddon Atkinson and shared cabs etc but Pegaso did also try selling trucks here at the time (early/mid 90’s?). Just wondering if any of them survived?

[Vantman]

[willswitchengage]

On 13/08/2025 at 17:28, quicksilver said:

The F-Max is becoming a more common sight over here, mostly Turkish for obvious reasons but I've seen them from various other countries too - not just from the east but also French, Dutch and Spanish so they're making inroads into western Europe. I've never seen one but apparently there are a few LHD private imports kicking around on UK plates.

I see F-Maxes all over Europe. Not sure if they're officially exported from Turkey, but it's been a tremendous success at penetrating Europe's very protective truck market. I'm pretty sure they only sell one option, too, one cab, one engine (500) and one axle arrangement - presumably to keep costs in check.

[willswitchengage]

On 27/07/2025 at 21:56, Dyslexic Viking said:

She is/has been to the UK filming trucks so I guess there will be more to come.

1978 Leyland Marathon

 

He really doesn't want his face showing 🤣

[willswitchengage]

On 17/07/2025 at 07:33, Vantman said:

I have only ever known them as 'Super Singles', supposedly for weight saving,i had a mate with them on his tipper back in the 1990s.

They're more popular in America, I've never seen one in Europe before.

[quicksilver]

I don't know if those happy chaps are the newly-wed couple but they're certainly doing wedding transport in style with their old German fire engine. It's the second Merc T2 I've seen this week as this camper appeared yesterday.

And a few weeks back another fire engine with an equally happy crew was visiting from Germany.

[Cavcraft]

On 11/08/2025 at 21:37, Noel Tidybeard said:

seen a brown one of these a couple of times this month

Looks a bit Volvo-ish to me. Take it they're not in bed with Iv*co any longer, as you think it'd make more sense to have a badge engineered S-way?

[quicksilver]

The other regular circus is back in Milton Keynes. Their fleet is mostly modern MANs but I was pleased to see the return of the old Foden. I last saw this in 2023 and it wasn't there last year but it's still alive and well.

[warch]

On 03/08/2025 at 17:28, Dyslexic Viking said:

When looking at this it's amazing how outdated UK trucks were compared to European trucks.

They were. Look at British cars and motorcycles during the same period.

The problem was that the British marketplace was quite conservative in this era so buyers tended to buy British, especially as overseas alternatives were usually more expensive to buy. This made company directors rather complacent, why develop new and better products when the ones they had were selling like hotcakes? 

Lots of 70s and even 80s era British vehicles were essentially based on very elderly designs, so trucks and commercial vehicles were often just an evolution of something that had been developed in the middle of the 20th century. 

British Leyland, which combined a number of British vehicle manufacturers, cars, trucks, 4x4s and tractors didn't help matters either, as any profits made were ploughed back into propping up loss making companies within the corporate umbrella rather than developing or modernising their products. 

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, warch said:

They were. Look at British cars and motorcycles during the same period.

The problem was that the British marketplace was quite conservative in this era so buyers tended to buy British, especially as overseas alternatives were usually more expensive to buy. This made company directors rather complacent, why develop new and better products when the ones they had were selling like hotcakes? 

Lots of 70s and even 80s era British vehicles were essentially based on very elderly designs, so trucks and commercial vehicles were often just an evolution of something that had been developed in the middle of the 20th century. 

British Leyland, which combined a number of British vehicle manufacturers, cars, trucks, 4x4s and tractors didn't help matters either, as any profits made were ploughed back into propping up loss making companies within the corporate umbrella rather than developing or modernising their products. 

That’s exactly how/why we went under in the end as a manufacturer of things like trucks and cars. Add to that useless government, incompetent management and constant union disputes and there really was no hope in the end.

As an example, the AEC Ergomatic family of trucks. Brilliant trucks when they came out in the 60’s and a big step forward. Going into the 70’s they were given a few facelifts to make them look modern but essentially still the same thing and by the late 70’s they really were getting on a bit. By the early 80’s with the ‘new’ Marathon and Leyland Bison 2 etc still available they really were dated. 
Compare that to what the likes of Volvo, DAF and Scania were making in the 70’s. And those continental manufacturers improved and developed as time went on whereas British manufacturers didn’t really beyond styling. Funnily enough, now we have no commercial vehicle manufacturers left!

The Leyland G cab trucks were the same. A 60’s design still in production into the 80’s.

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

I guess if a truck fleet in the UK in the 70s got some new Volvos it had to be a shock and a revelation for everyone?

[danthecapriman]

Just now, Dyslexic Viking said:

I guess if a truck fleet in the UK in the 70s got some new Volvos it had to be a shock and a revelation for everyone?

I think it pretty much was!

Most UK fleets would have been domestic production vehicles as it was just the done thing back then. People bought products of their own country and that just went on and on. 
But particularly in the 70’s foreign manufacturers started making inroads into the UK market. Even in the 60’s there were foreign trucks here but not in huge numbers.

Volvo probably made the first big impact with their superb F88 series. The Scania’s were not long after in various sizes. Another very big hitter at the end of the 70’s was the DAF 2800/3300 which were incredibly good trucks and proved very popular.  
Mercedes got big in the 80’s too particularly with their light to mid sized trucks.

But it was all because people became sick of buying the same old same old from the like of Leyland and Bedford etc. Look at the Bedford TK and its variants. A product of the early 60’s and it showed! Yet it was in production and being sold right into the 80’s and even longer under AWD branding. Compare that to a DAF or Merc! They were so much more advanced and a nicer place for the driver too.

[warch]

12 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I guess if a truck fleet in the UK in the 70s got some new Volvos it had to be a shock and a revelation for everyone?

British people were a bit suspicious of foreign vehicles in the 70s, so people who bought vehicles from overseas were generally regarded as mavericks. They were generally regarded as sub par too, so French cars were considered to be hard to work on, Japanese cars shoddily built (the irony!), Italian cars were rotboxes (again...)

This sort of thinking persisted well into the 1980s as well. My mum bought a rhd Opel Kadett as a grey import in 1984 (basically a Mk2 Astra). One day, shortly after buying it she came out of a meeting to find an older gentleman standing next to it spluttering with rage;

'Bloody German cars! I didn't fight in the war so people could go and buy bloody German cars!'