Autoshite Lorries

[sierraman]

7 hours ago, ETCHY said:

Yeah but it looks like a block of flats. Proper BL make do & mend job.

It’s embarrassing isn’t it. We can’t get anything right can we… 😂

[yes oui si]

15 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

 I snapped this oddity a few years ago. Hydrocon crane based on an old Albion chassis. 

That's the happiest lorry I've ever seen.

7 hours ago, ETCHY said:

Yeah but it looks like a block of flats. Proper BL make do & mend job.

They're not all bad...

And I'm partial to a T45.

...and none of us should forget what Gandini did for Renault:

[danthecapriman]

The Leyland Marathon does look a bit strange. They were used a lot on the Middle East convoys though so can’t have done that badly.

[ETCHY]

14 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

The Leyland Marathon does look a bit strange. They were used a lot on the Middle East convoys though so can’t have done that badly.

I think in fairness to Leyland Trucks they had a budget of about 25p to carry out the transformation from normal Ergomatic to Marathon so did what they could. The car side was hemorrhaging money, so the truck side were starved of funds.

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Mothers Pride and Co-Op were probably some of the biggest users of them.

Initial Services, too.

[danthecapriman]

4 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Initial Services, too.

Doesn’t it look strange seeing such a truck as the FG wearing number plates as new as that!?😄 they look like antiques. The newest one I’ve seen was an X reg - 1982!!

[artdjones]

53 minutes ago, sierraman said:

It’s embarrassing isn’t it. We can’t get anything right can we… 😂

I used to sometimes buy Commercial Motor back then, and the Marathon got very good reviews when tested. As for looking like a block of flats, early Renault Magnums and Ford Transcontinentals looked pretty similar.

I don't recall any adverse comments on the styling back then.

[artdjones]

4 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Doesn’t it look strange seeing such a truck as the FG wearing number plates as new as that!?😄 they look like antiques. The newest one I’ve seen was an X reg - 1982!!

A friend of mine worked for Initial, and borrowed his van to move some equipment. This would be around 1981. Myself and another lad went with him, and both had to stand on the driver's left, with the sliding door open, as it only had a driver's seat. I was in the middle, and when we braked for a traffic light the man outboard of me had to hastily withdraw his hand before the heavy door slammed into it.

Obviously, no JHA done before.

[danthecapriman]

Sunblest were another big buyer of the FG.

Leyland EA was another ancient BMC/BL product that continued in production longer than it probably should. 
Leyland Roadrunner was another good truck.

 

[ETCHY]

46 minutes ago, artdjones said:

I used to sometimes buy Commercial Motor back then, and the Marathon got very good reviews when tested. As for looking like a block of flats, early Renault Magnums and Ford Transcontinentals looked pretty similar.

I don't recall any adverse comments on the styling back then.

I think the main thing with the Marathon is you can clearly see it's an Ergomatic cab made taller & those two don't look like that. I do actually like the Marathon's quirky looks but it is clearly done on a budget.

Leyland weren't alone in jacking up trucks & reusing panels though. Look at the U.S. Ford H series. I like those too tbh.

[danthecapriman]

7 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

I think the main thing with the Marathon is you can clearly see it's an Ergomatic cab made taller & those two don't look like that. I do actually like the Marathon's quirky looks but it is clearly done on a budget.

Leyland weren't alone in jacking up trucks & reusing panels though. Look at the U.S. Ford H series. I like those too tbh.

Ford C series cab! The original C series wheel arch hole is now a storage compartment on the H series.

Both very cool trucks!

[DVee8]

The Top Gear Trucking hell episode.£5,000 Lorry Challenge from 2008

 

[busmansholiday]

 

No disrespect but don't we already have a thread for this.

 

 

[N Dentressangle]

33 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

 

No disrespect but don't we already have a thread for this.

 

 

Did think we already had one.

Can they be merged?

[mintwth]

10 hours ago, Vantman said:

I am a self confessed Foden licker,the older the better--

 

I'm also a Foden fan.

Managed to get a tour of the factory while they were still going...and to wangle a free mug out of it

 

[Bren]

Listen to it! The driver probably has ear defenders.

[danthecapriman]

21 minutes ago, Bren said:

Listen to it! The driver probably has ear defenders.

The Detroit Diesels do sound absolutely amazing. I’d love to drive something like that for a living, just for the sound alone😄

[HillmanImp]

https://web.archive.org/web/20060714175541/http://www.autoshite.com/first-id-102.htm

 

[artdjones]

44 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

The Detroit Diesels do sound absolutely amazing. I’d love to drive something like that for a living, just for the sound alone😄

I worked at a Boots warehouse from 1978-80. The first four days of the week we would get a trunker delivery from the Beeston site, which would be brought down by an old school company called Stirlands, who operated a fleet of red Atkinson Borderers. The Friday delivery was brought from a site somewhere in East Anglia. The driver was an eccentric wild man type. The tractor was a Bedford TM painted in light blue and bright red, with chrome coach wheel trims and chrome exhausts. And with a Detroit Diesel. Which was noisy enough to hear the moment it turned onto the estate, as it was very loud and also quite high revving.

[808 Estate]

Scammel Explorer for winz and dominating Sainsburys car park.:D

 

[Vantman]

Blundells of Canterbury recovery fleet in the 1960s/1970s, i never got to drive either of them as i worked in the parts department at the time.

 

[bunglebus]

On 05/01/2026 at 16:25, HMC said:

there was one of these on wasteland on the outskirts of bolton in the late 1980s. I was fascinated by the cab glazing and the wipers.
 

One of those, without the windows in the body, was our scout transport when I was 10 or so. I say one, but I distinctly remember a second one arriving to replace the first which was presumably FUBAR. 

No seating in the back, we all just used to rattle around on our way to camp at Thriftwood or wherever.

I don't really understand lorries, I just like the styling of older ones like those, Ford D series and Fodens - partly because I liked the Matchbox versions. Foden especially with the split screen and V shaped front which reminded me of VW buses

 

[green200b]

A Kenworth truck like this is the epitomy of awesomeness for old trucks, in my opinion. Short of a hot rod or supercar, this was the coolest thing on the road for me when I was a child in the 90s.

[matt79]

AWD must surely be prime Autoshite truck contenders, producing trucks from 1986 to 1992 based on already outdated - at the time - Bedford models

 

 

[Knotty Ash Towers]

Argyle Christina, built in Scotland in small numbers in the early 70's.

https://truckinfocus.com/magazine/article/the-brief-history-of-argyle-trucks

[EyesWeldedShut]

9 minutes ago, matt79 said:

AWD must surely be prime Autoshite truck contenders,

Ran a 1989 7.5 tonner AWD TL - they chucked in a better* engine (Perkins Phasor 155BHP) and an improved* gearbox (5 speed Spicer), and ... low profile radials (phorr)   but they neglected to do anything about the sound proofing - it would hold 60 mph fully laden but you'd be deaf and hoarse at the end of the drive. Handled like a TL on steroids , took TL parts (mostly),  binned it around 2013 when sourcing a new master cylinder/rear shoes and drums became just the final straw - it was barely squeaking through plating due to the steering kingpins by that time too.

I never saw another civilian registered AWD anywhere - ours was a Marsden VanPlan coachbuilt chassis identical to the 1980 Bedford (still alive and kicking) below. Fixed cab, shark gill access doors to engine, steel frame to hold up the BIG luton. That had space for a double mattress up top and you could sit up in bed for a cuppa. 

Proper dinosaur lorry.

 

[artdjones]

Another rare truck, a Dennison, built in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin . Dennison were successful trailer manufacturers, and built about 250 lorries from 1979 to the mid 80s.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Problem. Ford didn't produce a 6x6 D Series. Solution:

https://tractors.fandom.com/wiki/All_Wheel_Drive_Co_Ltd?file=A_1960s_AWD_Ford_D_Series_6X6_Dumptruck.jpg

AWD of Camberley would sort that shit aht for u, innit:

 

[DSdriver]

33 minutes ago, matt79 said:

AWD must surely be prime Autoshite truck contenders, producing trucks from 1986 to 1992 based on already outdated - at the time - Bedford models

 

 

I worked for a studio where we were producing ads for Bedford TJs in the late 1970s. The were flogging them to West Africa. 

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, DSdriver said:

I worked for a studio where we were producing ads for Bedford TJs in the late 1970s. The were flogging them to West Africa. 

TJ’s were sold in the UK until the mid 70’s, by the end it was big fleet operators still the main buyer like The AA and Post Office Telephones. 
They continued to be built as an export model though by Bedford and its successors until… 1998!! They were/are very popular trucks in certain African countries, India and Pakistan.