My 141 has a New Home

Posted on March 29, 2011 by truckbloguk

Yes after a good 18 months of being on the open market and hundreds of complete time wasters later, she finally has a new owner. UJN 509V is soon to be based north of the border with her new Scottish owner in Ayrshire. The new owner is a man who loves his trucks and already has a couple in his collection. When UJN reaches her new home she will be re-sprayed in the owners fathers fleet colours, so she will soon have a more traditional livery and first job on the list will be to remove those bloomin rear wings!!! I’ve had enough of them myself, so they were on my list of things to do, to put some new plastic mudguards on. Although i am loosing my lovely truck and I’ll be truck-less for the first time in 14 years, it does help knowing that she is going to a good home and will be well cared for, silly but true!! Any way I’m assured I’ll be kept updated and hopefully will be sent some pictures when she is re painted. As I’ve always said, Old Scania’s never die they just get better. While i go off to find my black arm band, i’ll leave you with a couple of pics i took of UJN 509V sitting in the sun on Friday afternoon, waiting to meet her new owner.

If you want to leave your messages of condolence please do so in the box below or you can email me at ben @truckblog.co.uk

Seddons in the Sand

Posted on March 22, 2011 by truckbloguk

There are many names associated with the golden era of Middle East trucking; Astran, Whittle International, Falcongate, Whitetrux, Carmen, Essex International and another Essex company i know very little about until i heard from my new friend Nazmi. Having been the main coordinator for OHS she knows a thing or 2 about the golden age. Nazmi says;

“OHS Transport Ltd was formed in 1975 , and located in Rainham,Essex, in the same group we had a Turkish Company -CONTEX – and a Munich based German Company-UNITED S TRANSPORT GMBH. In 1978 PIE’S trucking side was bought (with the F89 Volvo’s) . Fleet consisted of MACK – VOLVO -SEDDON ATKINSON trucks., 125 trucks at the time in the UK fleet. M/East Transports started in 1975 and 1976 , Iran-Iraq-Saudi Arabia-Kuwait-Jordan. I was the coordinator (trouble shooter as well) in the group ,worked for the group from 1974 until 1987 .”

Now what i didnt realise was that OHS used to run fridges carrying loads of chocolate from Mars and Rowntree, 5-6 loads a week! Who would have guessed that Seddon Atkinsons would be satisfying the cravings of many a sun worshipper in the M/E. This excellent pic shows a couple of Seddon’s having a rest in the dessert en route to Kuwait. I bet the fridge motors were working overtime to keep the temperature down. Any ideas who’s the yellow Mercedes with the tilted cab is??

As well as fridge OHS also ran normal tilts over land to the M/E as did all the rest, but i bet there weren’t many pulled by Sed Ak’s. Plenty of other English marques, yes, but can you think of other Atkinson’s?? leave a comment or email me the proof to; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Along with the Brits OHS/United/Contex were big fans of Mack’s. A good rugged truck, with a half decent cab and plenty of character! These pics are quality, even a little bonneted Mack made it to Europe.

Is This a Crime??

Posted on March 13, 2011 by truckbloguk

This old girl is going for export. How can this be? This is one of the unsung hero trucks of British haulage, surely we shouldn’t be letting these go for export?? I actually feel like buying her up myself (even though i don’t have the money) just to save her from the export quay. This truck has only done some thing like 17,000 miles in her long and surely important career. An old truck like this could probably tell you a story or two about the “good old days” or give you a great ” i remember when….” anecdote. I think this is a Scammell Crusader, 6×4 tank transporter at a guess, it has a fair monster winch mounted on the back of the cab. Note the twin air intakes on the roof as well. I will definitely be out in the yard on Monday for a closer perv of this old girl, i might treat you to a couple more pictures and i might even start her up!

Just look at her, we should start a campaign, perhaps all you truck bloggers need to gang up and we’ll go and blockade the export quay’s of the UK so we can’t loose any more! I’m sure the countries they go to are in need of such a truck and it’s nice that they can keep them going and obviously think that old girl will be strong and reliable, but i cant see them actually looking after her much and giving her the respect she deserves, i think I’m trying to say they just won’t understand the romance associated with a truck like this (GW & RF REF!) Any way good luck in your working retirement and keep up the good work, remember you are British Built!!

Still working?? Looks like it……

Posted on March 4, 2011 by truckbloguk

Another Volvo today. This time a still working one from Holland. This old girl was spotted by Colin Waters 2 weeks ago near Hengelo. She looks in great condition in the sun, pulling what looks like a working tanker of some sort. Just imagine heading off to work in that old girl every day, great!

Mr Cameron Never Owned it!!

Posted on March 3, 2011 by truckbloguk

How about this for a golden oldie. Phil Ascroft of Ascroft Transport fame has had a truck filled life, man and boy. As a good hard working young lad, he used to pack his Hovis don his cloth cab and head off to Cameron’s yard to do all your yard boy type jobs. At one stage Cameron order 4 new Volvo F88’s, a splendid addition to any fleet. Problem being Volvo thought they would supply one in their new 1970’s special desert spec, for all those heading for the Middle East. The desert spec had windscreen guards, light guards, Air conditioning unit, catwalk tank on the chassis to feed the main tanks and i think they also had an in cab kitchenette. Any way Volvo supplied one of these spec motors instead of the standard as they wanted one in company colours to do some promo photographs. Which you would have thought would be fine, but Volvo then tried to charge Cameron for the additional spec. Cameron said no way was he going to pay for extra spec he hadn’t ordered so, this truck was repainted and eventually sold onto an owner driver. So although it was painted in Cameron’s livery it was never one of his trucks. Nice little story that one, thanks Phil. If you have any thing to add please leave a comment below or email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk

Manton European Freezer Freight Part 2

Posted on February 28, 2011 by truckbloguk

After asking if any of you out there had any info about this relatively unknown to me company, as I’m beginning to find i can trust in my readers! I had this cracking response from ex Manton’s driver Tim Speight.
The email read as follows;
Hi Ben,
I worked for Mantons in 1993 to ’95, as a fitter. I am also a close friend of the family. They operate from just outside Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Was run by two brothers until about 2000 and ran approx 30 trucks and trailers including a couple of tankers. Most of the fleet were Scanias, moved on to a couple of Renault Magnums too! They also had a cold store next to the A1 near Knaresborough. Think they only have 3 or 4 on the go now and only one brother running the outfit. If my memory serves me, I actually double manned this unit to Moscow in ’94, with frozen dried egg powder for a bakery out there, this run was done once a month, 17 day round trip and in those days, Russia was just splitting up and was full of bandits, hence the double manning, not stopping once over the border. Brings back memories and I still see the other brother quite often. Thanks for a great photo,
Regards
Tim

Tim you are a top man!! Now here’s a challenge can any one provide more pictures and for a big old pat on the back, can you furnish the UK’s top truck blog (view of Mr Ben Sheldrake not necessarily of any one else any where!) with a picture of a Mantons Renault Magnum???
My only picture response was from Neil Jarrold of www.euro-wheels.com . Neil has a picture of every truck that has ever driven on a UK road (well…..so it seems!) these 2 were snaped in Dover back in the late 80’s early 90’s i should think. If you have a spare day or 2 head over to www.euro-wheels.com and see what you can find.

Picture is Copyright of Neil Jarrold.

New Old Transport (Thats Us!) – 1st on The Fleet is…..

Posted on February 11, 2011 by truckbloguk

The Roving Reporter has been at it again, not with Mrs Roving Reporter, but with the classic Italian trucks. Another wander about and he has stumbled across a couple of cracking V8’s. The best of which is this lovely Scania 142 that’s still earning a Ciabatta crust each day. Wouldn’t it be lovely to go to work each day in such a classic European truck i thought.
Now this got us talking and we’ve decided if i win the lottery or with the Roving Reporters Pilot wage we are going to start up a Classic International Haulage company, only running classic european trucks at good rates. The 1st of the fleet is this 142.
Now this is where all other perverts can join in. We have decided that if you had a fleet of classics running through France, Italy and Spain (where emissions haven’t caught up, obviously) i bet you’d never be short of drivers willing to work for you. The yard would have a big sign up saying “No Health and Safety here”, No hi-viz required, just good old common sense and a “can do” attitude. Proper old tilts with spare wheels, tilt boards and a bag of sweat, none of those modern easy life Euroliner types. Fancy adding your thoughts to our little company??? Leave a comment below or suggest the next truck for the fleet (think pre-emissions, pre-speed limiters, pre-computerisation!). More of our classic fleet to come, you know you want to sign up and work for us!!

Roving Reporter is Back

Posted on January 26, 2011 by truckbloguk

My good friend the Roving Reporter has been away for a while, out about gather stuff for the blog no doubt. A recent trip to Tampere, Finland found this out old girl ready and waiting to refill the Roving Reporter’s trusty winged steed. This is a cracking old Volvo N10 Turbo, a rare beast in itself, let alone being a plane refueler. I guess Scandinavia is the one place you would find a rare Volvo! Looks in good nick and as with all these refuelers its probably only done a hand full of miles. Note the Michelin Man on the sun visor. Hopefully the Roving reporter will be back again soon with some more well kept trucks from the airport’s of Europe.

And how about this cracking old Mercedes that can be found in Arricefe, Lanzarote. I think we have had a picture of it before but it is well worth seeing again, it really is mint!! Looks like another terrible day, every day is a sunny day for a pilot!

Wilson’s 141 Back on The Road

Posted on January 25, 2011 by truckbloguk

So you have an important delivery to an important customers country home in darkest Sussex. You have an aging Scania 124 that is in need of some tlc or you have a show condition 141 that is always keen to leave the warmth of its shed to put a few more km’s on the clock, oh and you are the boss of said company, which vehicle do you opt for??

Its starts on a misty morning in Suffolk, fire up the trusty V8, wait for the customer to turn up in his Ford Cortina, load up the Yorkie Bars, on with the vests and fake tattoo’s, unwind the keep fit widows and off you go!! Sorry i got carried away there for a minute………………he drives a 3 series BMW.
As it was a bit of a one off trip i thought i better give it a bit of my time, so after checking where said truck was on the tracker, i decided to follow the old girl from the Dartford Bridge down to Junction 5 on the Highway Agencies camera’s, excellent use of government resources.

After the trundle round the M25 the delivery to Sussex lived up to the hype and provided an excellent back drop for a few photo’s just a pitty the sun didn’t break through.

Surely the best classic working truck in Europe?? Can you prove other wise? email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk just to prove he’s still got it the big boss man GW drove the old girl home with out the clutch as an original 30 year old pipe went on the way home, i bet you couldn’t do that in a new £120,000 R620! After the reload at Tilbury it was back to the yard. All in all i wish there were more classic trucks on the road like this, it may go some way to getting over not being able to drive them in anger back in the 1970’s (i was born in 1979!).

Detective’s Required

Posted on January 25, 2011 by truckbloguk

This old girl was spotted a few years back in a lorry park in Witham, Essex. This picture was taken back on 06/10/1996!! Any ideas where it was going, who owned it, past life, where is it now?? With the spare wheel on the back I’m sorry to say it looks like it may have been heading for export, R.I.P. although it looks like it was still taxed and possibly had an O license in the window. I know it sounds stupid but the reg seems familiar, has she been restored by some one since??

Date of Liability 01 01 1997
Date of First Registration 11 05 1981
Year of Manufacture 1981

Thanks to Dumpie Transporton Flickr for use of the photo.

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