Category Archives: Drivers Photos

Big Love for #littlebigcabclub

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Lots of action this week on my favourite subject and Facebook group, the small but mighty #littlebigcabclub – the place for all the lightweight big sleeper cabs. Got to be a maximum of 15 tons GVW and have a sleeper cab, tick those twos boxes and you’re in the club. Ideally you want to be part of the “6 Stud Mafia” that earns you extra cool points in my book. Look at Steve Marsh in the above photo taken by Mat Ireland in Ipswich this week;

  • 12 Tonner
  • 6 Stud Wheels
  • MAN TGL with Hatcher Components Sky Cab

That’s all it needs, add to the mix that Marshy is proper international too and it really doesn’t get any better as a club member. That said it’s not just Marshy flying the international flag, I spotted this lovely little 715 Atego this week in the traffic jam on my morning commute. The little Dutchman has the Atego BigSpace cab and would have come off the Hoek boat in Harwich that morning. Working for the Hizkia art group in the Netherlands, I’d guess it carries a lot of fresh air and the odd piece of artwork all over Europe. It’s also got the best number plate letters!

Further to the above spots, I’ve also been gradually adding more and more members to the Facebook group for the #littlebigcabclub. As I sort of predict, when I add new members they nearly always have a photo to add of a little truck they have driven. These days the more modern versions seem to be 12 tonners, due to the weight of the trucks but from the past they were all 7.5 tonners (without speed limiters!!) although I’m not sure if 8 ton was the going weight in Europe?? Perhaps one of the Dutch can confirm please.

This little German frigo was spotted by Gavin Pearson recently, about to load onto the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone. Looking at the truck it ticks all the boxes, right wheels, right cab, right weight, it’s an 8.220 so has power too and looking at the livery it’s engaged on international courier work, may be pharmaceuticals or samples looking at how small the body is. There was or maybe there still is, a chap here in England that had a little frigo and he used to do European round trips on samples work. That is the ultimate job for me. A 12 ton fridge on European work and I’ll be happy than the proverbial pig in faeces.

When you start your driving career by buying this little DAF 45, is it any wonder why I think they are the bees knees! My fondness of the little lorries even got me a mention in the latest Truck & Driver Podcast, so if you fancy some retro 7.5 ton truck talk, along with all the other new truck chat, head over to your podcast download site and search for “Truck & Driver” or click HERE to go to the Apple Store to download it. Enough little truck chat, if you want to be in the club, then search for the group on Facebook and request to join; #littlebigcabclub – stickers are available!

Pages of Days Gone By

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Who didn’t start their driving career in a 7.5 tonner?? Not many I’d guess. We all have to start somewhere and for most they were happy days, especially pre-speed limiter days. Up and down the country we went, pedal to the metal, usually doing a days work you’d struggle to do half of these days. After my little request to see your own #littlebigcabclub members and your 814’s, an old pal Darren sent me these photos and the anecdote below;

“Hi Ben, G180 SEW was the reg and we brought it brand new, believe it or not I actually drove this on a car licence at 18, I managed to convince my Dad it was legal as it was only a 3,500kg trailer !!
I used to go to London a couple of times a week and drop the trailer at a delivery point in Enfield on the way in and then go into the city with 15+ drops around the railway stations delivering polystyrene cups and lids to the platform coffee shops and then collected it on my way back out. I also went to Cornwall or Scotland weekly. It used to go like a train and was limited to 70mph with the throttle jumping in and out when you hit the limiter! I used to think I was the king of the road at 18 believe me.”

I had a dog and called him BINGO!! That is exactly the little tales I want to hear more of please. We all did it and we all just got on with it as we were green and keen, you could even say keen as mustard. If you get that reference then you are a big fan of the blog! Loving the photos of Darren’s 814. Great to see the before when it was new and then the after, once Darren had added his first pay packet purchases. All 7.5 tonners need an air horn or two and the of course the obligatory, pre-VOSA windscreen flags. I wanted a trailer for mine but never got round to it. How I’d go back and do it all again.

If you’ve got a tale to tell and a photo to share then please please please send me a message or an email. I’ll share what you send and we can all have a little reminisce.

Merry Christmas Bloggers!!

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Re-Post: Centurion List – The Final 4

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J727 TRO – 113M 360
J606 UOE – 113M 360
J5 LOS – 143M 500
J949 EDS – 113M 400

So what will come first 100 trucks on the list or a publisher??!

In the mean time we are now down to 4 confirmed Centurions we don’t have numbers for and amazing we have 4 empty spaces on the Centurion list. Is it a coincidence or have RP and myself (and all our informants) just about got 96 other trucks right?! Well there is a good chance as all the others are based on plenty of evidence, each number backed by at least 2-3 facts on the truck.

The above 4 trucks are all genuine Centurions, we know that for sure. Amazing we can’t get anyone with any concrete evidence on what number they were. I have even been having contact from Chris Kelly at Keltruck and even he can’t find any evidence of what number J606 UOE was and he drove it out to eastern Europa on an aid mission!

J727 TRO in Cambrian Pet food livery, but it does look a little tired in that photo.

J606 UOE. Well photographed and was a demo, but what happened to it after? Did it end up with a repaint and on the SEAS fleet after they parted company with #100? Just a thought.

J5 LOS. Perfect looking 143, we know a lot about it and have original photos from the owner before and after sign writing but no number!

J949 EDS. Had quite a few owners including Thomas Douglas Haulage from Glasgow. Still no one knows the number.

The remaining 4 numbers in the Centurion list we can’t allocate to a truck or a reg number are: #037 / #043 / #054 / #068.

No need to go over old ground but if you know anything on these 4 trucks or a Centurion number rings a bell as you’ve seen a certificate from Scania in a transport office, please, please let us know. Comment below or email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk

…..now where the yellow pages…. P for publisher….

The Trucks of Steve Jenkins

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There’s nothing I like more than talking to good old boys about their memories of good old days of trucking. In this case my awesome colleague Mr Stephen Jenkins. Steve has been in transport for most of his working career and ever since I’ve known him (probably 4 or 5 years now), he’s been promising me some photos of his owner driver years. If my notes are right, the owner driver years were from 1971 through to 1986. Most of this was on European work, but I know Steve did make a few trips to the Middle East, although he wasn’t a regular.

The first photo he finally got round to sharing is the awesome Volvo F88 above. this was YBE 540K, an early F88 with a split screen and top mounted window wipers. Steve bought the truck and had it painted red, black and white chevrons on the bumper and 4 spotlights under said bumper. Interestingly Steve said that the 4 spots were mounted under the bumper to help with the fog on the Italian mountain passes such as Mont Cenis. The standard lights on the truck from Volvo just weren’t enough to help when the fog came down, put the spotlights under the bumper so they were down as close to the road as possible. Makes perfect sense when you think about it and there was me just thinking it was an early fashion statement! When Steve went to see Ian McKellar about some work, Ian agreed Steve could start working with him as he had a red truck that matched Ian’s colours. The only catch was, Ian insisted a white stripe be painted on the cab. Steve was quite happy with that but only if it didn’t cost him any money, so Ian agreed he’d pay for the stripe to be painted on. Can’t beat a little anecdote.

The list below is of all the trucks Steve owned as an owner driver. I’d very much like it if you could all try and find any photos of the other Volvo’s listed please. I’m sure there will be some somewhere and I’m not just talking about Steve’s loft!

YBE 540K – Volvo F88 240

SLL 62L – Volvo F88 240

OGS 49M – Volvo F88 240

NHL 618X – Volvo F89

KPU 13V – Mercedes-Benz

The Merc below is a 1632 that Steve bought 2nd hand. During his time owning the truck he managed to clock up enough KM, that by the time it was retired from his ownership it had around 1.6 Million KM on the clock. Regular trips to Italy accounted for a lot of the mileage. Even though the engine was a 320HP, V10 with an 8 speed ZF gearbox, Steve was able to get a decent 7mpg out of the big German.

Retro Show ‘22 – The Roundtrip

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The Retro Show ‘22. I thought I’d give you a break from how good it was and you clearly aren’t in the club if you didn’t go. As you will know by now this was the Gr814’s first UK show outing and we made the trip there and back in good company. 1st leg was from Ipswich to Elmswell to meet up with James with EGV and Mat with Jim Cammacks 143. We decided that Elmswell would be a good meeting point as I had an early finish and James couldn’t finish until 1730hrs at the earliest. I also had a couple of jobs to finish so needed a few tools and a couple of nuts, bolts and screws.

First job was to fit the CB in the Gr814, fairly simple ax there is already an aerial and a cable, so I just needed to connect up the power (also already there once I’d looked) and mount the bracket up on the sunroof surround, so it was well out the way. Much to my delight, once it was all in, it worked a dream, good range and clear sound with no effort. Just how I like it! Second all important job, although a temporary fix until he’s painted, was to replace the broken Mercedes-Benz badge on the back. I couldn’t turn up at the show with a broken badge.

Once my jobs were done, Mat had had a good wipe around to try and degrease and JC had finished the day job, we just had time for a roll call photo before hitting the road. The 4th member of the convoy was already flying along to the sound of Karen Carpenter and her siblings, so we decided to meet up at Rothwell Truckstop on the A14, just west of Kettering. After a pasty and a bottle of Coke, we left Rothwell with Brian Potter leading the way in his drop dead gorgeous Swedish beauty. Sadly MDF soon realised why I was in front on the way up. Sadly unlike my hero the Duck, I did have everyone following me, I wasn’t just in front as the Gr814 is somewhat relaxed about speed. I think a sound investment maybe a new diff to give me a little more than 50mph. Although it wouldn’t have been to much of a problem if JC had driven EGV rather than trailered. Anyway a steady 50 is good for the fuel gauge

Once on the way to Gaydon, we planned on A14, M6, A46 and M40. Sadly as already of a Friday evening the authorities had better ideas and we were diverted off the A46 into Coventry. Amazing although a royal pain in the ass, it did provide some awesome memories of perhaps a time when dual carriageways were few and far between and we would have regularly been followed through towns by gorgeous old Scania and Volvos. It provided some great photos of the mind of nothing else. Once back on the A46 it was a simple run down to Gaydon. As the time was getting on we were a little unsure if we could get in the gate or not. But we didn’t need to worry as Lee Herbert and his team were more than accommodating and let us all in, unload the 141 and park up ready for the morning. Perfecto.

As for the run home, a real lovely run back in the sunny Sunday afternoon sun. Although I did manage to leave the show and drive up the little hill past all the photographers with my fuel cap dangling on its chain. Bugger. A change of route to go home, down the M40, A43, A421 to Buckingham, Milton Keynes and onto Bedford. We then picked up the A428 back to Cambridge. A nice run and chosen as we all potentially needed fuel on the way home. Once nearly back at Cambridge we headed our separate ways as JC wanted to get back to Elmswell and get EGV unloaded. I then headed down the M11, across the A505 and then down the A1307 to Haverhill and the back roads back just bear Colchester where I live. May was going to follow me but day dreamed on to Bury St Edmunds and then back down to Sudbury and Halstead.

The little Gr814 didn’t miss and beat and to be honest is a real pleasure to drive. It’s actually not any where near as bouncy as you’d think and by the time I got home, I’d proper settle in and it looked like I’d been away for a week towel hanging up to dry, bags on the top bunk, bedding on the bottom one, music on and CB there incase I needed a road report Roger. 300 plus miles covered and I’d happily do it all again, perhaps a little more speed and few less revs would be nice but you can’t have everything! Hopefully way before the Retro Show ‘23 I’ll have the paint done and the other bits and bobs and he’ll be finished. Top round trip, top show and top mates.

TB Hits the Big Time

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Sad times when one of Englands best known hauliers and most followed on social media, calls time and decides to close the gates for the for good. I am pleased to say that it’s due to retirement rather than anything else, although it could be a timely decision the way things are heading at the moment. Hopefully one way or another you have followed Pete White on his trip to Italy and back over the last 8 days, I think I have shared them all on the TB Facebook page. Much like many a transport manager, you might know all the routes, all the deliveries and collections and you might have even done trailer changes in France, but so often transport managers don’t get the opportunity to do a full round trip. Pete White wanted to not be one of those and took the opportunity to do one of the firms last runs to Italy. Great idea. Please read all of the daily updates on the TB Facebook page or the Whites Transport Services page as they are well worth the read. More importantly than all that, Jase who used to drive the red Scania that Pete took on his trip was a lucky recipient of a TB sticker and I was most chuffed to have featured in one of the daily updates this week. As you will see in Pete Whites photo above, the TB sticker has clearly been on the move with one of the best. It’s an honour to have served you Whites Transport and I wish you all well for the future and I wish Ray White a happy and long retirement.

Greek Express by Mat Ireland

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Ah Greece. Greek salad, sunshine, Mythos beer, and of course, classic trucks! So many reasons to love the place! My girlfriend and myself have a once yearly job where we take two dogs down to Athens to go onwards to their owners residence on Mykonos island. Being a transport historian and enthusiast (I much prefer this to anorak!) means that I always arm myself with my camera before the trip, as you never know what you will find, but you will always find something old!


For this blog, I have decided to stick to the #littlebigcabclub stuff so beloved of Ben and myself. My first ever ‘truck’ was a Mercedes 814, followed by a rocket of a 817, so seeing these brings back many good memories. An awful lot of petrol stations seem to have one stationed there, even in the bigger towns, so I guess they are used for bulk deliveries to customers locally, I will have to try and find out.
Anyway, I present to you, some of my findings from our Greek trip, enjoy!

As Old As The Greek Gods

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It must be holiday season?! A week or two back a good customer of mine, had some time away in southern Greece, Kalamata to be exact. Kalamata is the kind of place that still seems a little bit more relaxed about modern life and a delightful place to go for some downtime and old school truck spotting. I am so very pleased that’s it’s not just me that spends holiday time looking for trucks native to where ever said holiday destination is.

What else do all of our better other halves enjoy more than spending time with us?? Yep you guessed it, truck spotting or if you’re in Greece, Malta or anywhere else not plagued by Euro emissions legislation, old school truck spotting. It would seem this particular busman’s holiday maker came across a parking area that can only be described as gold dust to us few Merc fans. The beauty of Greece is the serious lack of rust and rot on these ageing machines. Up here in Northern Europe the humidity and moisture takes hold of anything that is 20+ years old and you have to say goodbye to your old favourites. Judging by the condition of this group of transport OAP’s (old age pensioners / senior citizens), they have clearly been worked hard during their lives in the sun but there is not a lot of rust or ruin. Battle scars are of course acceptable and par for the course.

This little lot all seem to have similar bodywork, dropside types and or tippers. Even the mighty F16 looks like it may be pulling a tipper of some sort. Perhaps someone can tell us what Kalamata is known for? Olives? Watermelons? Other Fruit? Must be something like that, as is the way with Greece, supplying the rest of Europe with these delightful summer commodities for us to enjoy.

If you are off on your holidays or should a I say, treating the other half to some top spotting, these are the kind of holiday photos we do want you sharing. Better still if your away slightly off the beaten track, then if you do come across anything you want to share then please email me with a few pics and some details of where you are and what you’ve found, just incase we can’t work it out. Thanks to Peter for this episode of Holiday Haulage.

My email address is: ben@truckblog.co.uk

Fun in The Spanish Sun

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What do you do with yourself when you’ve run one of the UK’s most well known international family firms? What do you do when you really are a proper truck spotter? What do you do to satisfy your romance with the open road?……. Got it! Early retirement, but a pad in southern Spain and insist on driving out. Yes the life we’d all like to live but most of us aren’t quite there yet!

The thought of driving out to my holiday home in Spain would be a pleasure especially when it would mean a drive from north to south and being free enough to stop off as and when you want too. This particular trip is the regular route of a certain GW who has well and truly earned his little Oasis in the Spanish sun. None of this Dover Calais lark this time round, the much preferred and slightly more enjoyable boat from Portsmouth to Bilbao with Brittany Ferries is a great way to start. The first bit of truck spotting starts as you pull in the dock at Portsmouth and you’re greeted by a very clean and tidy Jan De Rijk, with a very well sheeted load. A nice race transporter being pulled by the ever posthumously popular Renault Magnum. A truck that seems to be gaining popularity now that we don’t see many about. Onto the boat and a beautiful sunset to finish the day off.

Arrival in Bilbao sees a dock filled with LKW Walter trailers and a quick fill up sees a tidy 6×4 Globetrotter with a double stack of 4 axle trailers. Right up GW’s straße! The route from the UK and Bilbao is loosely; Portsmouth, Bilbao, Burgos, Madrid, Albacete, Murcia and finally onto Mi Casa. Day 2 ended south east of Madrid. Plenty of abnormal loads on the move, with a lot of LASO transport moving various wind turbine parts.

Along the way nearing the end of the journey, there was a quick stop made at a Salón del camión Español at Torre-Pacheco near Cartagena. A gathering like this is a gem of a find and looks like a decent show. From the pictures I think it is fairly obvious that the Spanish have quite a thing for Volvo’s and with more than a couple of decent examples on show, a classic Volvo in concours condition is not uncommon.

The romance of the open road. If you’ve had a lifetime (how ever long that’s been so far!) in transport, no matter what anyone says, it never seems to leave us. GW you are more than welcome to update us on the homeward bound leg whenever that may be.