Truck Shite

[New POD]

Quite small as museum's go.  I think they change the exhibits on a regular basis. 

[martc]

This could have gone in several threads... but who knew Karrier Bantams where sold in the Netherlands?

Very popular with local councils  - ours had several. We also had a mobile fruit and veg man who used one. I think they're ace - very 'cobby'; I guess those bluff fronted Isuzu Grafters are the nearest to them now-a-days.

 

[Slappy]

Haven't been around these parts much recently due to life, but I did get this Maggy converted fire engine a few weeks ago when I was on the Jurassic Coast. Made an almighty racket when it showed up at the car park. The owners hung around for a while, so went off and collected some fossils, before getting the pics and clocked the PCN...

The third one is from a trip to France last week. Pickings were slim, but I did get this 90s Renault that I think was owned by the municipality.

[quicksilver]

Remember this old heap from last year?

It's back again and I was astonished to see it's finally had some cosmetic attention. The knackered step's been fixed and the cab has had what appears to be its first ever repaint after all the original paint from 1987 wore off to the bare fibreglass.

[MiniMinorMk3]

A Ford truck yesterday

[MJK 24]

Put these words in the correct order…

Cracked.  Head.  Cylinder.

 

And now these words in the correct order…

Sterling.  Thousand.  Five.  Up to.

 

 

[martc]

Stella keeping both Renault and Citroen happy -  a Galion and a U23.

[Shep Shepherd]

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!

[Shep Shepherd]

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 ^^

[5speedracer]

On 13/10/2023 at 12:39, Slappy said:

Haven't been around these parts much recently due to life, but I did get this Maggy converted fire engine a few weeks ago when I was on the Jurassic Coast. Made an almighty racket when it showed up at the car park. The owners hung around for a while, so went off and collected some fossils, before getting the pics and clocked the PCN...

The third one is from a trip to France last week. Pickings were slim, but I did get this 90s Renault that I think was owned by the municipality.

That fire engine conversion is fantastic, wonder if there is a door from the cab to the bedroom or whether it is actually a separate room?

Unusual choice but it was probably cheap and well looked after.

[5speedracer]

On 16/10/2023 at 16:52, MJK 24 said:

Put these words in the correct order…

Cracked.  Head.  Cylinder.

 

And now these words in the correct order…

Sterling.  Thousand.  Five.  Up to.

 

 

Jeez that is shite, not even like it's worked hard on a transporter. Have you found a solution for reasonable money?

[Arfur Foxache]

13 hours ago, Shep Shepherd said:

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 ^^

I own GM19 VNJ - same truck but mine has silver curtains

[sierraman]

13 hours ago, Shep Shepherd said:

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 ^^

It’s illegal round these parts to have a meal without it. 

[martc]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

It’s illegal round these parts to have a meal without it. 

Hear, hear. Hendo's is ace, used it for years, far tastier than Woooostershite Sauce. Mixed in with beans is especially nice.

[Shep Shepherd]

7 hours ago, martc said:

Hear, hear. Hendo's is ace, used it for years, far tastier than Woooostershite Sauce. Mixed in with beans is especially nice.

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.

[EyesWeldedShut]

16 minutes ago, Shep Shepherd said:

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.

It's on and off the shelves over here but I scored a litre bottle off Amazon last month - that's no longer in stock but they have this (in case you're a heavy user):
Cheaper than Jenolite at those prices  

[martc]

Construction of the L60 began in 1987, it was intended to replace the well known W50 but that pesky re-unification got in the way and production finished in August 1990 after 20,289 had been built. Sveral variants were available - the above one is a 4x4, interesting the subtitle is in proper English English

[Shep Shepherd]

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

[Shep Shepherd]

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

[Dyslexic Viking]

2 hours ago, Shep Shepherd said:

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 have always found it a bit comical that the Eastern Bloc countries could not produce good enough trucks for long distance use and bought western trucks for this.

I found this bellow interesting

 

[Shep Shepherd]

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.

[Dyslexic Viking]

16 minutes ago, Shep Shepherd said:

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.

I find it strange that Kamaz trucks was not mentioned in that video and was not used for this as it was the Soviet Union's most modern truck at the time.

Wondering what the cause of that was.

[Shep Shepherd]

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. 

[CreepingJesus]

I had the pleasure of the company of a couple of ex Hungarocamion lads on a job, many years ago. Their tales were extensive, as you'd expect: Africa, Asia, Middle East, never mind Europe and Russia, been there, done that; and although they often travelled in convoy, they were all the crew they had. If it needed fixed, they fixed it.

So it went, that they started out in Bloc times with homegrown equipment, because they knew how to work on them, and they carried spares. As the Iron Curtain fell apart, European manufacturers came in, and they accepted that having access to spares and workshops all over their routes might be a good thing. It was a pragmatic decision, for the most part. 

I heard something similar from an ex Polish army tank fitter I knew. 

[willswitchengage]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I have always found it a bit comical that the Eastern Bloc countries could not produce good enough trucks for long distance use and bought western trucks for this.

I found this bellow interesting

 

American trucks were imported extensively into Russia following the end of the Cold War, however are getting rarer nowadays as the country returns to generic European tractors. The interesting full story can be read here: https://itclife.com/usa-trucks-are-disappearing-from-rus/

[Dyslexic Viking]

9 minutes ago, willswitchengage said:

American trucks were imported extensively into Russia following the end of the Cold War, however are getting rarer nowadays as the country returns to generic European tractors. The interesting full story can be read here: https://itclife.com/usa-trucks-are-disappearing-from-rus/

I recently watched a documentary on youtube and was surprisingly many American trucks in Africa now. They are possibly simple and hardy together with large living space which makes them desirable?

[D.E]

On 13/10/2023 at 08:06, martc said:

This could have gone in several threads... but who knew Karrier Bantams where sold in the Netherlands?

Yes; Ten Hoeve was the importer,

These (and some other Britsh brands) were often deliberately sold in RHD spec, it was considered to be safer for city use with lots of stops and getting in and out at the sidewalk.

[CreepingJesus]

18 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I recently watched a documentary on youtube and was surprisingly many American trucks in Africa now. They are possibly simple and hardy together with large living space which makes them desirable?

IIRC the Russian government increased the import duties on second hand vehicles, maybe about five to ten years ago, deliberately to choke the market. I assumed they'd been leant on by manufacturers! But the American trucks were a bit of a status symbol in Russia, which doesn't apply so much in Africa; like most undeveloped places, it matters more that you can massively overload it, and it doesn't snap. 

[quicksilver]

What a fabulous view!

No, not the hideous modern hotel but the 46-year old ERF. Registered September 1977 and current owner since April 1985. I hadn't seen it since before Covid and it didn't turn up here and was SORNed last year so I assumed it had been retired for good, but it's back on the road and still going strong.

[martc]

Some interesting Bloc chat lads.

When I was in the Bloc in the '80's most/all inter Bloc transport used local lorries - IFA, RoMAN and LIAZ being the most popular. I think the western units were used for trips into the west were spares for the local wagons were virtually unobtainable. Yes, the crew were responsible for maintenance but there's only so many spares you can carry in place of cargo so if anything major let go you had a better chance with a Ford Transcontinental than an IFA W50 on the hard shoulder of the M1.

Hungarocamion were big users of locally made Raba lorries. These were unusual as they used a mixture of DAF and MAN cabs (and the odd RoMAN one due to a trade deal with Romania), but underneath them was their own work. The western cabs made them very popular and I think Raba's were the only heavy Bloc lorry seen frequently west of the curtain in the '80's - I certainly saw them on Britain's trunk roads, easily recognised by the green cabs and yellow trailers and as mentioned above they often hunted in packs.

Here's a DAF cabbed one on a motorway somewhere in the UK -

And a MAN cabbed one -

Raba are still with us making components for all the major manufacturers (they claim that at least 33% of wagons made in Europe contain at least one major component, often axles,  made by them). They also make wagons for the Hungarian armed forces which look familiar as they use MAN cabs, but again, underneath, it's all their own work -