Variations on a Theme

Posted on January 24, 2012 by truckbloguk

I couldn’t resist but have a look for a few more video’s of this gorgeous French Scania T-cab. In my opinion these beautiful show trucks always look better out on the open road working. I think it gives you a better indication of a good looking truck, if it still looks the nuts when its working then its better than those trucks look good when they have had 2 days cleaning and prepping in the build up to a show, at the end of the day trucks are built to work. Crikey! I got a bit deep there for an early morning!! Enjoy the videos.

R.F. Interport Movements

Posted on January 10, 2012 by truckbloguk

Not a name i’m too familiar with i’m sorry to say. I have heard the name before but that’s about as far it goes. So this is where you come in. I have had a right good spring clean in the depths of the truckblog email inbox and I came across an email I flagged a while ago. The email was from a truckblog regular, Peter Metcalfe. In his email he informed me that he was involved with R.F. Interport Movements in the 1970’s. Peter’s email read as follows;

“I was involved with a company in the 70’s, based in Astley on the Outskirts of Manchester . The company was called “R.F.INTERPORT MOVEMENTS” whose main traffic was to the Middle East. They had a program made about them on the tractor units they where using on Tomorrows World (BBC) about all the cab fittings made in the cab i.e shower, cooker, sink. We also had a driver in prison for over 18 months for an aaccident he was involved in. So we would get drivers passing him to drop food off to him, as he was left alone. Do not get me wrong everybody seems to crave on the top firms and do not look Into the full running troubles drivers used to get into.The stories I could tell and write on your blog that would put a lot of drivers off driving. But I am sorry I have no pictures of the trucks.”

So that’s your home work bloggers, tell me more, search your archives, find the photo’s and get emailing them over to me, so we can enjoy them on here and also perhaps a few photo’s will encourage Peter Metcalfe to share a few stories of the good old days. I was emailed the photo I have used but I don’t know anything about it, aprt from it’s a DAF with a very nice spread axle tilt, the Middle East truckers trailer of choice! Get emailing; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Manton European Freight Part 8

Posted on January 8, 2012 by truckbloguk

Notice how I have deleted the Freezer part out of the title? That’s because this blog is(Part 8.) not just about Manton’s Freezer trucks. For those of you who don’t know or haven’t read the previous 7 parts. Manton’s were a family firm from Yorkshire who ran a very smart fleet of mainly Scania’s across Europe delivering all types of egg product’s, mainly in frozen powder form. If you search in the search bar to the right for Manton, you should bring up the previous blog’s. This particular part of the series is a bit of a bumper edition. Starting with the elusive and rather fetching Renault Magnum…….

One thing I have not asked Mr Manton is whether this Magnum was the one and only on the fleet? Can you help? I know there was a Magnum, but by the serious lack of photographic evidence, there can’t have been more than a few if that. From the photo we can see it is an “M” reg which means it was new in 1994, according to the DVLA it was first registered on 8th August 1994 and it has not been taxed since 31st November 2006. I have no idea what horse power it was although 385hp were popular I think a 4??hp of some sort would be more likely. The other interesting thing about this truck is it’s a Tag axle. This makes it really quite a rare beast, not just for Manton, but in general. If you know any more about this truck in Manton guise or in it’s afterlife if it had one, please email me or leave a comment. This photo was taken in Spain or Italy.

Another photo of the Magnum, pulling a tanker, a surprise to me too! I had no idea that there was a tanker fleet too. Mr Manton tell’s me; “The tankers were carrying liquid egg to North Italy, then we used to reload apple juice ex Gleisdorf in Austria to Bridgewater“. Below is another photo of one of the tanker fleet. This time a very tidy 20ft tank-tainer on a 30ft skelly trailer being pulled by a twin wheel tag axle flat top 3 series Scania. Brilliant.

The next photo is of a 143 and a 113 Scania loading fruit in Southern Spain for the UK.

Next up a classic trio of V8’s waiting to leave the UK for sunnier shores.

What a line up! How on earth would you pick which one of the 3 legendary V8’s you’d want to drive for a run to the sun?! Mr Manton said; “I found out where the 3 truck’s were….. Plymouth!! All waiting to ship out to Santander, loaded with seed potatoes from Scotland, for delivery to McCains factory in Burgos, Spain. We did a lot of these, and on arrival at the factory, you were then sent to 3 or 4 deliveries to farms around N.Spain.” The 143 Topline Scania in the middle, K414 KNW, is actually the truck that started this whole 8-Part-and-counting story. I spotted this truck in the 1990’s on my local Industrial Estate in Braintree, Essex. To read Part 1 of the story just click HERE.

Last in this mammoth Christmas Annual sized edition of the Manton story, is this photo of a Manton tilt. Another first for my Manton Knowledge book, along with the tankers. This photo was accompanied by this text; “I found this one, of one of our tilts. One of the first 13.6 metre tilts in the UK. We used to run plastic to rome and reload at the same place with plastic bags.”

Thanks to Dave Manton for his continued photo hunt for us all to enjoy. Hopefully the story will continue, so if you have anything to add please email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave a comment. Also do you know of and ex Manton driver by the name of Graham “Walter” Lavington? I am reliably told he has a huge collection of Manton photo’s!!

It’s Benz But Not As You Know It!

Posted on January 6, 2012 by truckbloguk

BharatBenz. That’s the name that all Indian truckers have on their lips…..perhaps.Yesterday a few Indian journalists were given a sneak preview of the BharatBenz. Daimler Truck’s subsidiary Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) revealed the new BharatBenz brand heavy-duty truck. This is the first-ever truck “Made in India”. BharatBenz will enter the ever growing Indian market for medium heavy-duty and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. This PR comes courtesy of Daimler. So you may well be able to see that the the truck has used the Mercedes Benz Atego/Axor cab and mirrors.

Andreas Renschler, the Daimler Board of Management Member responsible for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses, said; “The trucks are based on existing Daimler commercial vehicle platforms. Indian specialists developed the trucks for the local market, where they are also built. This is the most effective way for us to participate in the growth of India’s volume segment. Our product range focuses on quality, reliability, and efficiency and particularly targets the modern domestic segment, which shows huge growth potential and reflects the growing demands of Indian customers.”

You’ll have to wait til the 2nd March before the complete BharatBenz lineup in the 6 to 49-ton range is unveiled. The Daimler PR says; The BharatBenz heavy-duty truck will be built on the Mercedes-Benz Axor platform, and the future light and medium-duty trucks will be based on the Fuso Canter and Fighter series. The new trucks will meet India’s BS III emissions standard this is a similar standard to our Euro 3 emissions.

The PR goes on to say; “The light, medium-duty, and heavy-duty range of BharatBenz commercial vehicles will be manufactured at the new plant in Oragadam near Chennai in Southern India. Construction of the plant on an area of 160 hectares is almost completed, and production trial runs for engines and transmissions have already begun. The production facility has a total dedicated investment of over 44 billion Indian rupees (approximately €700 million). The plant’s initial production capacity will be 36,000 units per year and can be ramped up to 70,000 units per year. By the end of the year, the company’s dealership network will encompass around 70 locations throughout India.”

I often think how resourceful trucks are when it comes to third world markets. We have a range of trucks released over here, then 10 or so years later the same cab / truck is still being released as a new truck some where else in the world. So the Mercedes Axor cab isn’t exactly old but it’s being used in a new guise, apply a new grill (considered to be the face of a vehicle by many!), stick on a new set of badges and Bingo! you have a new truck range. I just thought you might like to read a bit what else is going on in the world of trucks, sometimes to much European stuff need’s to be broken up by a little “World News” and also it gives you some thing new to tell the wife!

Did you know you can still buy a brand new Iveco Turbostar cab?? Now on a Russian built Ural truck.

A MAN’s MAN

Posted on December 30, 2011 by truckbloguk

A few weeks back my bossman had to make a unexpected trip out to the continent in his car. Seeing as there was an overnight stay it would have been rude for him not to come back via the Dutch German border at Venlo to see what was lingering at the parking area. Among other things in the early morning light still yet to open it’s curtains was this flexible MAN. Wearing the colours of Gartner KG based in Lambach, Austria, this MAN was loaded with MEN or should that be MAN’s?!

I think what caught the boss’s eye was just how adjustable this truck is. Now seeing as I am writing this and we are not actually stood next to the truck, it’s very difficult to show you just how many parts of both the truck and trailer can be moved in order to accommodate what ever vehicles / load is required. The rear truck’s front axle is on a bed that extends in or out, it retracts back so the rear lights are almost flush with the red side skirt of the trailer, make sense? You can also see that all the wheel wells have small inserts to help raise or lower the vehicle. The rear axle of the front truck on the trailer is on a highly maneuverable ramp as you can see it can raise right up, sort of as it sits now or it will also fold right down and sit flat on the trailer. In turn the front axle of the front truck on the trailer is also sat on a hydraulic ramp that can be raised or lowered. Are you getting the all the raising and lowering!? Also not the slight spacing between the first and second axle, also for a wheel well. All in all with all that raising and lowering, I don’t think there will be many vehicles you can’t load.

You can see the front ramp on the trailer clearly in the above photo. Also note just for extra flexibility the wheel chocks that are secured into set of holes on the ramps depending on what is required. Now as for the rear of the truck, it looks like the rear section slides up and down to different heights and / or it tilts. There is also has retractable ramps either side of the marker board.

The truck and trailer have been expertly built by German company FVG Fahrzeugbau GmbH and you can actually see one of Gartners trucks in the gallery pages. I think it’s pretty damn clever how they manage to build a truck like this and fit everything in to such tight dimensions in order to maximise the load capability (that’s a bit technical for me – sorry!).

The other thing we were trying to work out is where he was taking his load of MEN. It looks like the truck is Polish registered and the trailer has Austria plates on so no real clues there. The trucks could have been made in Munich or Salzgitter in Germany, Krakow, Poland or a good guess would be Steyr in Austria as I think they make small trucks, such as the MAN TGL there, but I could be wrong. I can only think he would be taking them to a port such as Rotterdam or Zeebrugge to ship them to the UK as all 3 trucks on the load are Right Hand Drive. Any way that’s enough from me, smart truck, good photo’s and plenty to chat about amongst you techno-phobes!

All that is left to do is apologise on my bosses behalf to the driver for making him jump as he opened his curtains. The boss was busy taking photo’s and having a nose round thinking the driver was fast asleep, so when the driver drew his curtains he obviously thought, “I best be off!” so he hoped in his seat and buggered off down the road……..he must of stopped down the road to do his daily walkround checks!

Axel Dubois Thermo Transit – Belgium

Posted on December 17, 2011 by truckbloguk

A few weeks back while I was traipsing through the undergrowth of the Internet at endless truck photo’s I came across what I can only describe as an almost perfect truck. you know how in your head you have a picture of what your perfect truck would be, the colours, the truck, the wheels and accessories, if you had your own truck you know how you make it look. Having had my own trucks before, I have a rough idea of what I like. Blues and whites for colours, with a few accessories but nothing over the top. I have owned an airbrushed truck before and in all honesty I don’t think I would do it again. I’d rather have a simple but affective paint job. I also like painted accessories rather than stainless steel ones, things such as light bars and I even tend to favour a painted wheel at the moment over a shiny set of Alcoa’s. Having said all this you will now have a better idea of why this truck seems to be almost my perfect truck.

As you can see it has everything I like. Even better that it’s on a V8 Scania! The truck belongs to a small Belgian haulier who goe’s by the name of Axel Dubois Thermo Transit. Where to start??! The simple but stunning paint job, the painted light bars, cab steps, grill and wheels, the few spot lights, grill lights, the light box on the headboard and the aftermarket sun-visor. All in all I don’t think I can say much more other than it is virtually perfect. Even coupled to it’s plain-ish white fridge trailer it still looks good. I guess some of you prefer a painted trailer rather than the white. I can’t say I disagree, but in some case’s such as this I think the plain trailer makes the tractor unit stand out more. On the other hand if you painted the trailer the same scheme as the cab it would look very very impressive, but would it be too much?? They do say you can have too much of a good thing! The truck runs all over Europe pulling it’s fridge trailer mainly, but I have seen photo’s of it pulling a Euro-liner as well.

The other thing I really like about the paint job is the big star on the side and the smaller stars dotted about on the midnight blue part of the cab. When I had my airbrushed Mercedes Atego I had stars and planets painted in the background and I think it looks good. It breaks up the big expanse of one colour. Also note the little Polar Bear and the painted A-frame holding the air lines. The painted wheels look great, although I do wonder if Mr Dubois had as much trouble making his white nut covers as I did when I was making white ones for my old Scania 141. At this point I would like to thank Patrick Pawluk from www.padborg-express.com for allowing me to use the above 2 photo’s. They are both Patrick’s own. To see more of his handy camera work go to Padborg-express.com when you have finished reading this. I don’t know who’s the next 3 photo’s are, so apologies for not crediting you if they are yours!

The trailer is also simple but effective. Lots of marker lights but not they are not over the top, the LED rear burger lights are great and oh so red when you see them in the dark. In these 2 photo’s the truck has a set of ally wheels, I wonder which came first the painted or the shiny? Did / does the trailer have painted wheels? One of you must know the answer? Leave a comment or email me: ben@truckblog.co.uk

All in all I think i’d be hard pressed to find a truck better suited to my requirements, unless of course I ever get round to owning my own truck again. I just hope Mr Dubois isn’t one to keep adding little bits to the truck. When you find drivers who keep adding bits to their truck, eventually it becomes to much and it starts to look too busy and over the top. If it stays like it is, then perfect! I best get pally with Axel Dubois so I can copy the paint job!! Would it suit my little 12 ton MAN TGL LX?? I’d be happy to try and find out that’s for sure………..As it goes I have sent Mr Dubois a friend request on Facebook, but had no acceptance yet, then again can you blame him??!!

Still No Activ Update!!

Posted on December 16, 2011 by truckbloguk

One of my drivers was told by the staff at Bremen based Activ Cars that they’d send soe photo’s to the blog soon………..nothing yet!

After a delivery not far from Activ Cars base in Bremen one of our drivers had 30 mins to spare so he called in at Activ HQ. After a lengthy conversation they decided that he’d be allowed to take some photo’s all the great blog cause, only for the decision to be overtuned by the boss as all the Mercedes trucks were all dirty and they would email over some new fleet photo’s once they had a few trucks back and they had been washed and brushed up. Now I suppose it could be true that at this time of year it can be difficult to get any fleet clean, so i’ll keep my fingers crossed for a Christmas holiday surprise! My driver did say there is an English man working in the office who seemed quite keen on the blog so hopefully one of these days he’ll make contact!!

For now i’ll just have to make do with the few photo’s they emailed a few years back, how hard done by am I!! If any of you have any contact with Activ Cars (they do come to all Airbus facilities in the UK each week) drivers or vehicles then email over your Activ Spots; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Happy Christmas To Me!!

Posted on December 11, 2011 by truckbloguk

Yes I treated myself to a little piece of Essex for Christmas. Well being an Essex boy for 30 of my 32 years I feel I am an honoury member! A few months back Ben Lord of Speedbird Promotions (the UK arm of Dutch model experts Tekno) sent out the details of impending release of an Essex International Scania 141, along with the related trucks of Kerbey Motors, a Scania R580 which is available now and a Scania 143 Streamline which is due for release in February. Either contact Kerbey Motors or Speedbird / Tekno UK and treat yourself.

This truck is based on VVW 909S, a Scania 141, restored and put on the show circuit by Michael Lacey and his uncle Bim Mountain. Michael’s father used to work for Essex back in the day. The model itself is a good replica, as you’d obviously expect, of the real truck, down to the smallest details. There is even a Michelin Man and a European Duck to stick on the roof and a nice acrylic blue sunvisor! If you would like one of these models, there are only a few left, so be quick. Get onto the Speedbird Promotions website and get it ordered!!

As for my model (certificate number 70) it will be joing my Tekno Astran 111 and at some point there will be a Middle East reunion on my kitchen side, if at the time i’m home alone I may even use my son’s sand pit, just for authenticity reason’s of course!! Below are the Tekno drawings for your enjoyment.

Just as a side note, if anyone has any Essex International Stories or photo’s they want to share, then please get emailing the blog; ben@truckblog.co.uk

The Original “EDZ 450”

Posted on December 6, 2011 by truckbloguk

A few weeks back I put some photo’s of MW Taskers new Scania R560 here on the blog. Everyone said how good the truck looks etc etc, but a few of you asked why does a brand new truck, deep in the heart of the Suffolk countryside, have a set of Northern Irish numbers plates, EDZ 450?? and why does the second truck on the Tasker fleet have a similar plate? Keep reading and I will explain all. Firstly here is a photo of the original EDZ 450, a real, true legend of the international trucking world!!

Back in 1995 a certain Michael Tasker was on the look out for a 2nd hand left hand drive V8 to purchase. What should he stumble upon, but what appeared to be an ex Ralph Davies Scania 143 450hp. Scania, check. V8, check. LHD, check. Tag axle, check. Ally wheels, exhaust stacks, extra lights, check check check. Perfect. So off to Holyhead to view the truck.

Holyhead?? Yes the truck was, at the time, owned by an Owner Driver in Holyhead who went by the name of ED. Are you working it out for your self?? Yes you guessed it, the reg number came from it’s Holyhead owner. EDZ 450 translates to Ed’s 450hp Scania. Thats it. Simple when you know isn’t it?! No real reason for Tasker to have the plate except that it was the reg on the truck when he bought back in ’95 and has kept it on a truck ever since. The simple reason for Tasker’s second truck to have the plate HDZ 450, is purely and simply that is was the closest match to EDZ. So now you know why a Suffolk owner driver has always had a Northern Irish plate. Do you know who owner driver Ed from Holyhead is or was? Then email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave a comment.

The next part of the story was a little rumour that Tasker can’t quite remember the details of. The faded memory is that this truck never actually made it on to the Ralph Davies fleet. Is it possible it was fully specced up but the order was cancelled and the truck was sold on. To me, i’m not sure I can quite believe it, but every story has to start from some where. If the truck was finished to Ralph Davies spec, including stacks, lights, wheels, why at that late late stage of new vehicle delivery would it have been cancelled?? No ideas? no me either. Can you help shed any light on the rumour? is there any way of telling if it ever was a Ralph Davies truck? Please feel free to leave your comments or email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk and in return i’ll leave you with a photo of the latest EDZ 450.

Deutrans Volvo F88

Posted on December 2, 2011 by truckbloguk

Back in September 2010 I popped off to Hanover for the day to the IAA Show. A good day a out Hanover’s equivalent of the NEC. One of the halls had a load of old classics in, so as you can expect I had a wonder round and came across a Deutrans Volvo F88. I had only ever seen models and photos of a Deutrans truck, so seeing one in the flesh was fairly impressive, with the bright orange paint work. It was only recently that Neil Jarrold from www.euro-wheels said; “I’ve got an original just like that” So here it is;

Not knowing a lot about the company I have just been on the Deutrans Website, which give’s a lot of info and some good photos too. This little statement is from Wikipedia, so is free for you all to find;

“After the Second World War, the Soviet military administration in urgent need of a shipping company that took care of reparations and the removal of all foreign trade shipments between the Soviet occupation zone in Germany, later, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Soviet Union safe. Therefore, the “Derutra” on
26 March 1946 in East Berlin re-established. She acted initially as a carrier, ie they vermakelte freight orders to the now established state-owned road transport companies. The vehicles had to be satisfied with what had been left intact the machinery of war or give up what the Soviets from their military stocks were
prepared. By 1950, the VVB (combination of state-owned enterprises) established German shipping. Her were under the VEB (state-owned enterprise) German shipping in the various districts, which in turn has its own fleet. The German shipping was responsible above all, the inter-zone traffic and the handling of shipments into the so-called non-socialist countries. But in all activities, the problem of obtaining suitable truck. The commercial vehicle industry in the GDR was still in its infancy, and until 1952 was the first with the IFA H6 serious truck on the market. But in
1959 the Schwerlastwagenbau in the GDR was completely suspended. So there was only the import, and if possible from the “brother countries”. But besides the Skoda from Czechoslovakia and the rest of the Eastern bloc could offer no useful first
truck.

But first, 1954, the DEUTRANS – International Freight
Forwarding was founded. This acted as a pure forwarder and instructed the
state-owned road transport companies, the German Reichsbahn, but also shipping
with the transport execution. They tried to handle the bulk of the shipments by rail.
In the 1960s, but also had to recognize the GDR leadership, that you do not follow the
international trend to road transport could be closed longer. The procurement of
appropriate vehicles proved to be a serious problem in terms of foreign exchange
for the chronically strapped East Germany. That each invested would pay more
than market value, could anyone seriously imagine that time. First they tried to conduct
business on the basis of compensation. The East German industry would
actively trade relations with Sweden. What could be better than to swap
machines for Swedish Volvo Truck?”

That was all translated from German I think, so apologies for the slightly dodgy grammer! No different to my normal standard!! Hopefully this may spark a few response’s to Deutrans, if you have any thing to add please email me ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave your comments here. Another good photo from Neil Jarrold, head over to www.euro-wheels.com to see many many more!!

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