Truck Shite

[quicksilver]

6 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Fugly - but it interests me when things are adapted or modified for a particular useage - not sure what the reason would be for those half-cabs though.

I'd heard they got cheaper insurance because they couldn't carry passengers. Not sure how true that is though.

In present day truck shite news, there's not been much about lately but this Ford Cargo horsebox turned up today.

[Cavcraft]

2 hours ago, quicksilver said:

I'd heard they got cheaper insurance because they couldn't carry passengers. Not sure how true that is though.

In present day truck shite news, there's not been much about lately but this Ford Cargo horsebox turned up today.

That must be a pretty late one, I'm sure the Euro Cargos were available on a 'J' plate.

[Markeh]

Back into the Stobart archives today and let's riff off the last few posts.

Here's the last Leyland they had - they only had 3 according to my books, a Reiver tipper that predates the female names and was christened the Caldbeck Ramper, a Buffalo (Helen), and this Roadtrain that had no name!

And a Cargo shunter in the United Glass livery - this is the oldest recorded one, as you can see the lettering has been tastefully* modified when this one got turned into a shunter (it's formerly E610 ARM and would've been christened Amy). There were never tons of trucks in the UG liveries, only about 40 or so, starting off with 5 M-reg FL10s, then 10 P-reg Actroses (must've been not long after launch, that!), 10 R-reg FH12s (half of which were renamed at some point), another 5 S-reg FH12s (the next 5 in the batch ended up in Mirror Group livery) then finally 10 more FH12s 

When not on a shunter it's a fairly smart livery as seen on this S-reg FH12:

Here's one of it's sister trucks from the same batch in Mirror Group livery - this one was a bit more short lived, they only had these 5 FH12s, another 5 S-reg MAN F2000s and a priavte plated FH12 Globetrotter. Strangely they also had a plain white Merc Sprinter van, although this did carry on in use after the contracte ended in plain white.

And one of the early Actroses:

]

And as for that J plater being a late one, could very well be - Stobarts last Cargos were on an H, their first Eurotechs weren't brought in til a K though.

[Snipes]

Love a Ford Cargo. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Nice set of pictures of this old bus - on FB - https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1411184707682615&set=pcb.1411186401015779

[Snipes]

Spots on display at the Truck Racing, Brands Hatch

 

 

 

 

 

 

-this wasn't on display but a working lorry as part of the attached funfair.

[danthecapriman]

10 hours ago, Snipes said:

Spots on display at the Truck Racing, Brands Hatch

 

 

 

 

 

 

-this wasn't on display but a working lorry as part of the attached funfair.

That Scammell is absolutely gorgeous! What a big brute of a thing. 
Mack is an absolute beauty too.

[quicksilver]

That Scammell is an interesting one. It was an ex army recovery vehicle but the current owner transplanted the recovery body onto another chassis and converted it to a tractor unit. It pulls an old showman's living wagon that looks far too small for it.

 

[Snipes]

@quicksilver lol yes that camper trailer was behind it but I also assumed they didn't go together!

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, quicksilver said:

That Scammell is an interesting one. It was an ex army recovery vehicle but the current owner transplanted the recovery body onto another chassis and converted it to a tractor unit. It pulls an old showman's living wagon that looks far too small for it.

 

Well, it looks like it’s got an easy life now if it’s only towing that😄

[5speedracer]

On 31/10/2025 at 18:42, Snipes said:

Love a Ford Cargo. 

Never driven one then 😂

13 tonner back in the late '80's where I worked. Hopeless thing, the gear ratios were far too wide, screaming in one gear to just getting into the torque in the next gear.

[5speedracer]

On 01/11/2025 at 23:32, Snipes said:

Spots on display at the Truck Racing, Brands Hatch

 

 

 

 

 

 

-this wasn't on display but a working lorry as part of the attached funfair.

Rubbing my thighs over that 4 series Foden.

[Dyslexic Viking]

As I have mentioned before, American trucks were the backbone of Norway, but unfortunately the history of most of them has been forgotten. So today I received one of my Norwegian motor magazines and here is the story about Norway's first milk tank truck which was also, unusually enough,was a tractor unit with a trailer.

1938 International D30 that worked for Aurskogs Meieri. It had a 6syl flathead petrol engine with 81hp and a 5200 liter milk tank. It had a driver who drove it most of the time and also took care of the maintenance and repairs. At an interview in 1949 when the truck was 11 years old it had done 480,000km. It would continue in this driving until the late 1950s when it was converted into a regular truck and went into the countryside collecting milk in milk pails until the late 1960s. Mileage at that time was probably close to a million km.

 

During the war, it ran like most with a wood gas generator. Picture taken during the war. Bags of wood chips and generator behind the cab.

 

After a over 30 year long working life it was parked on a farm in 1973 and later moved into a barn, where it still is today. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

30 year working life for a truck is a lot, but it was not uncommon here back in the day.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Some more old International trucks in Norway.

 

FWD truck and International fire dep crane truck. 1975.

 

FWD trucks in Norway

 

[danthecapriman]

13 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Some more old International trucks in Norway.

 

FWD truck and International fire dep crane truck. 1975.

 

FWD trucks in Norway

 

That red International Loadstar looks lovely.

They actually sold those new in the UK too for a while. Pretty sure the range of engines in them wasn’t the same as US versions though.

[Dyslexic Viking]

56 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

That red International Loadstar looks lovely.

They actually sold those new in the UK too for a while. Pretty sure the range of engines in them wasn’t the same as US versions though.

There was a Norwegian sold Loadstar for sale here with Perkins diesel engine guess the UK got the same engine.

https://www.finn.no/mobility/item/418021715?ci=1

[danthecapriman]

22 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

There was a Norwegian sold Loadstar for sale here with Perkins diesel engine guess the UK got the same engine.

https://www.finn.no/mobility/item/418021715?ci=1

I believe it was, yes. 
The US versions didn’t use the Perkins, but a few different petrol V8 options (which probably would not have gone down well in Europe!). For diesel, they used either Detroit or Cummins I think.

UK market ones had a right hand drive swap too.

I do love the Loadstar, it’s such a great looking smaller truck! They did them as school buses too using the front clip only (bonnet & wings) mated to coach built bus bodies. There’s also a now rare 4x4 version that was often used on site & off road trucks and emergency/rescue vehicles. They’re quite hard to find now though.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I see that this FWD is in another picture in the post from yesterday.

 

Here it is again in 1975 so I'm guessing it was about 20 years old then?

 

Registration plate A950 is now on an Auburn so this FWD is most likely long dead.

But I have found a little more info about this FWD, it was Oslo Sporveiers recovery truck. So it was probably used to tow broken down buses and trams.

 

[danthecapriman]

FWD aren’t a brand I’m familiar with tbh. I assume they’re German or use German mechanical bits?

[Dyslexic Viking]

5 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

FWD aren’t a brand I’m familiar with tbh. I assume they’re German or use German mechanical bits?

No they were an American company. FWD = Four Wheel Drive. They were early users of 4x4, their first car with 4x4 was in 1908 on the model The Battleship, you can clearly see that the front axle is driven.

 

They gave up cars at some point and focused on trucks. The FWD model B was a fairly legendary truck used by both American and British forces during WW1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FWD_Model_B

It's a fascinating company. If you're interested, there's the history about it in the link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Wheel_Drive

[willswitchengage]

So that's where I've seen the new Actros before... "Washing machine"

[martc]

A Csepel D-705 outside the Budapest Transport Company (Fővárosi Szállítási Vállalat) office. Csepel went on to become RABA.

[martc]

Note the arabic script. The Swiss (and Austrians) specialised in cross country, long distance transportation to the Middle East.

 

[martc]

A tracked ZIL 130, 1968.

[martc]

A Titan vf 16.170 prototype for transporting drinks. You can understand why they thought this was a good idea, but, unsurprisingly it was not a success.

 

[martc]

Another in our short series of half-cab lorries, this one is a Multicar M24.

[Cavcraft]

On 01/11/2025 at 23:32, Snipes said:

Spots on display at the Truck Racing, Brands Hatch

 

 

 

 

 

 

-this wasn't on display but a working lorry as part of the attached funfair.

I think that last one (ERF) is an ex-Air Products lorry. They had a yard in Ellesmere Port and a mate of mine and I were changing some tyres there back in the day when one of their drivers  released whatever was in the back of tank across the yard. Some sort of like frozen gas/oxygen bed out, which I guess must have been harmless as the drivers stood there pissing themselves laughing as me and my mate legged it away.

Not tried a 'proper' HGV Cargo, but the old 7.5 tonners were great to drive. The 4 cylinder wouldn't set the world alight but sounded great and drove well.

[Snipes]

8 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

I think that last one (ERF) is an ex-Air Products lorry. They had a yard in Ellesmere Port and a mate of mine and I were changing some tyres there back in the day when one of their drivers  released whatever was in the back of tank across the yard. Some sort of like frozen gas/oxygen bed out, which I guess must have been harmless as the drivers stood there pissing themselves laughing as me and my mate legged it away.

Not tried a 'proper' HGV Cargo, but the old 7.5 tonners were great to drive. The 4 cylinder wouldn't set the world alight but sounded great and drove well.

I think your're right. I half recognised the colours but couldn't think who it might have been.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, martc said:

A Titan vf 16.170 prototype for transporting drinks. You can understand why they thought this was a good idea, but, unsurprisingly it was not a success.

 

Crate fun, tho...