Cruising the E65 Towards Brno, CZ

Posted on July 15, 2012 by truckbloguk

This is another one for the mini artic and drawbar lovers among you. I’ve been meaning to put it on for a while now, but one evening while bored I was using the Google Street View and heading down the motorway towards Brno in the Czech repulic and I couldn’t help but notice just how many mini artics or mini drawbars there were. I know the Eastern Europeans are big fans of these mini combo’s, but there seemed to be one every few miles!

I also came across this slight Street View anomaly. I’m 99.9% sure that this is the same truck on the same day, but it is pictured at 2 different places on the motorway. Strange but true!……I can’t believe your falling asleep on me…

Quick Pick of Channel Spotting

Posted on July 9, 2012 by truckbloguk

Although I run this little website for like minded truck types, I honesty still feel self concious (if that’s the right wording) about taking photos of trucks…yes really. I’m not like the Neil Jarrolds or Ferdy De Martins of the world, who happily take photos willy and indeed nilly. For what ever reason i’m still not a confident wagon snapper. Anyway I thought it’d be a let down to my loyal readers if I didn’t take a few photos while sitting in Calais waiting for my boat. The dock wasn’t busy and I was only snapping out the truck window through a handy sized gap in the car transorter next to me, so the photos are not that great, they are a bit dark. The wagon above arrived in Calais, followed closely by a slightly smaller version. Both Scanias are Austrian registered and are used on the F1 Grand Prix circuit. They are used to build the hospitality units that we all see on the TV. I did have a tip off they are just for the Red Bull team, but i’m not sure how true it is, as it seems a little odd for a racing team based in Milton Keynes, UK to exclusively use a truck mounted crane company from Austria. Leave your comments please.

Speaking of F1, parked next to me was the above Mercedes Benz Actros car transporter (you can just the KFL logo behind). This one was parked behind two others and there was also one at the front of my lane. As you can see they are all loaded up with the F1 support vehicles. Each silver Mercedes Benz car or Vito was marked up with its purpose, such as; Media, Medical, Race Support (the 6.3 litre AMG estate!), Extraction (??) etc etc. Very smart.

Being in Calais you’d expect to see a Norbert, but these days you don’t see French registered ones. Just like everyone else ND now uses Eastern European registered trucks. Plenty of other Eastern Europeans about including this odd liveried Bulgarian Scania. Apparently it is supporting the Aston Villa captain who has Cancer or Leukaemia, but is a Bulgarian national hero (I don’t know much about soccer anymore), but Mr Lloydswell Dodsworth filled me in.

Much to my delight there were also a host of little Tonka trucks of all nationalities coming and going. First a very old and over worked Red Atego. I think the number plate looked Hungarian, but what ever it was, it did look like it should be on it’s last return journey to its home land.

This little MAN drawbar was obviously not sure which boat, lane or line he was supposed to be shipping to the UK on as he was already in a lane when I arrived, but over the next 45 minutes, manged to change lines and line a further 3 times. I wonder if he ever got to the UK, or even if he wanted to get to the UK in the first place?! Remember 4 axles, means a GVW of 26,000 kg, according to my some what sketchy, previous research!

An English truck, heading off into France on a Friday morning. It would have to be some thing special and it was. A 7.5 ton Iveco Eurocargo Pigeon Carrier! The truck was a 54 plate and had a sleeper pod on the roof, so it must go a fair distance. Although it would be quite cosy with the 2 drivers in the cab.

Driving on the boat, there were a few more Angleterre trucks heading home. Armoric Freight Volvo and another big cabbed Mercedes Atego, that I want to say was Dods & Brown, but i’m sure that’s wrong. Please correct me.

I saved the best til last. This could be my current perfect truck, apart from, as another well know MAN TGL driver agreed with me, they should have put those fake side panels either side of the fridge unit!

If I was offered this truck with Euro work or a big artic with Euro work, I would honestly choose this. An MAN TGL LX, 12.250 with a Lamberet fridge body. Spare wheel, long range tanks and still with tyre shine on, this must be its maiden voyage to the UK and hopefully not its last. I think it needs a sun visor though. If I was Neil Jarrold, I would have walked off to find it and take some more pics and I wish I had. I think it was parked behind the Armoric Freight Volvo, unfortunately not on my boat. For any one rich out there who wants an investment, buy me one of these in blue and I will make your money back two fold!

There it goes…..Proof I was taking my pics through the body of that F1 transporter above. I do wish I had the time to spend a Friday or Monday sitting in Calais proper spotting……One day.

SCOOP!! Mercedes Benz Antos – First Release

Posted on July 4, 2012 by truckbloguk

After the recent launch of the New Actros range, we all knew it would be long before the other new models came along. First up is the Antos. This is the first few paragraphs from the press release. There is lots more waffle but all you need to know for now is as follows;

“At the beginning of the week Daimler presented the new Mercedes-Benz Antos, the first specialist vehicle model series designed for heavy-duty short-radius distribution transportation use. The vehicle will celebrate its public premiere at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover in September (I’m already booked to go – Ed). Whether put to use for food, heating oil, building materials or municipal transportation applications, with a permissible gross vehicle weight of between 18 and 26 tonnes the Antos is totally at home in the regional transportation sector. Even though its exterior unmistakably reflects its relationship with the new Actros, the Antos boasts a number of special highlights in terms of its design. In line with its often urban area of application, on the one hand the Antos sports a very friendly look. At the same time, the relatively flat design for short-radius distribution creates an extremely robust and sturdy appearance. The continuous 2.30 metre-wide cab of the new Mercedes-Benz Antos is available in the ClassicSpace design in short (S) and medium (M) lengths. The medium-length variant is also available as the super-flat CompactSpace cab, for trucks with cooling units fitted to the body, for example. The premium cockpit area provides the driver with an ergonomic place of work: the vehicle instruments are clearly arranged and easy to use from an ergonomic point of view. In addition, the modern multifunction steering wheel as well as the generous seat adjustment options help to make the day-to-day work of the driver easier.”

Engine sizes are from 7.7 litre to 12.8 litre and power ranges from 238hp all the way to 510hp if required. One of the most impressive claims of the Antos is that, supposedly you can buy a 40 ton tractor unit with a Euro VI, 428hp engine that weighs in at approx 6,400kg. If you go for the Antos Loader you can achieve an unladen weight of less than 6,000kg. You have to admit that’s pretty impressive. Would the drive axle weights be up to it?? My only thought with such a huge range of variants, will the Antos not contradict the Actros range? I’m sure there’s some one at Mercedes Benz who can explain the differences between the 2 ranges other than the cab type availability. I look forward to the new Construction range which I think will be next year and then the new Atego after that.

My MAN

Posted on June 20, 2012 by truckbloguk

As I have no Internet at home this week thanks to the expert services of a well know British Telecommunications (bugger!) company, I thought I’d just share a quick few photo’s from my days gone album. Back in the day I had a few of my own tonka toys, which I loved and to this day I still prefer a little lorry to those big articulated thingy’s (well nearly). So just a random selection to fill a day and as I have 5 minutes spare in the office before departing. Here is V413 KPU….and if you’ve seen them before, then aren’t you lucky!

Another handball load.

The dock side of Canary Wharf, London.

I knew someone wouldn’t mind me parking on Mum and Dads lawn!

My good mate Howard and I both taking a quick breather on the A1 near Pontefract.

A sunny Sunday in Cornwall.

Another small load for the little MAN.

Although I had the airbrushed Atego, I do think I preferred the MAN. We just had more of a bond and we did so much more together, you know how it is!! Want to comment? please do or email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Dutch Knights of The Road

Posted on June 7, 2012 by truckbloguk

A few weeks back I asked about a German MAN TGL breakdown truck, I got a good email from a Dutch reader, Bauke Van Der Wal. Not only did Bauke tell me all about the Koopmann MAN he also told me about a big V8 Actros that Koopmann run, its worth searching on YouTube for the sound! I have since looked up the Koopmann website and it is so disappointing I wish I hadn’t looked, so we’ll get back to Bauke and Broekhuizen.

After getting through the Koopmann stuff, it turns out that Bauke is himself a Wrecker driver for Dutch firm Broekhuizen from Donkerbroek. Broekhuizen do all types of recovery, both national work in the Netherlands as well as International recovery. A mixed fleet by the looks of it. Bauke drives a few of the smaller trucks, but is currently doing training to enable him to work on the bigger trucks, like the 8×4 DAF’s and Volvo’s. Bauke said in his email;

“I work in the towing and recovery for the company Broekhuizen. I drive the most with the DAF 45 for the short distance and for the long distances with the Mercedes Atego. For the accident recovery when we have to use a crane I drive the DAF 95 6×2. Also I drive as second driver on the big DAF 95 Spacecab 8×4 or the FH16 8×4 when we have a big heavy recovery. I’m in training and learning for the heavy recovery.”

Looks like Bauke keeps himself busy and is quite a keen photographer too, so fingers crossed for more photos to come. It would be good to have a regular Dutch contributor. Any way that’s about for today, but i’ll leave you with a photo of Baukes big DAF 6×2, but see how long it takes you to work out what he’s about to recover, leave your answers in the comment box below.

Thanks to Bauke for the pics and info.

New German Super Model Struts It’s Stuff

Posted on June 4, 2012 by truckbloguk

It all happened so quickly I climbed up the 4 steps to heaven and it was all over in a flash……….the test drive that is! All I can say about the whole couple of hours is; Very Very Impressed….Amazing….Car Class Comfort….actually I would bet if you blind fold some one they wouldn’t be able to tell the car from the truck, the comfort was very lounge like. For those who don’t believe, I drove a well know Dutch truck to Orwell Trucks and it was all to easy to note the new bigger seats on the New Actros and with the 2 large padded arm rests, I was about ready for a doze never mind a test drive!

On arrival when you first see the New Actros you really are greeted by that huge grill, which actually gets more attractive when you see it in the flesh. I think it’s fair to say it’s not as huge as you think it is looking at it in the magazines. Open the door and there are 4 steps up into the cab, which for some is bizarrely a bit of a problem, but until you try it, you don’t realize how little a problem it is. If your planning of spending all day getting in and out the cab then you will probably build your leg muscles fairly rapidly, but it really isn’t an issue. Into the cab, close the door and you hear a solid car like / Swedish truck like clunk. This cab is the biggest of all 7 available, the Gigaspace. This cab is far bigger than the old Megaspace Actros, in fact the next one down the list, the BigSpace is also bigger inside than the old Megaspace. For stat lovers the actual interior height from floor to ceiling in the Gigaspace is an incredible 213cm / 2.13m / 6ft 11inches & 7/8th’s!! If you can’t stand up comfortably in that space in the morning and put your trousers on, you really shouldn’t be driving a truck for a living. There have been plenty of rumours and comments that the truck range will now use the same interior kit as the car range. This to an extent is true. It has been set up to make the interior of all Mercedes vehicles use the same components and unify the whole lot. The dashboard is very easy to use, as you’d expect everything is easily within reach no matter how you have your big seat set. You now have 2 full size bunks in the Actros, as opposed to the old cab which had the big top bunk and the smaller lower bunk with the bulge in the rear of the cab. Actually you can spec the lower bunk with a fold up end section so you can sit up in bed. Along with the usual big pull out draws under the bunk, 3 big lockers and 3 cubby wholes above the windscreen, under-bunk fridge options, bunk options, etc etc you can spec so much stuff it’s pretty endless and makes for one of, if not the comfiest cab on the market.There is also a single occupancy cab, which you’ll have to ask your dealer about, as I forgot to ask mine! Actually just to finish on another brochure fact, the Gigapsace has got an amazing 920 litres more space than the old Megaspace. Big. I would love to do an over night test, Mr Dale if your listening!

As for the driving of the new big German, it felt so different from my old Megaspace. The chassis is wider which deffinately gives a more stable ride. The gear shift is a fully automatic box which is very smooth but quick, with a manual overide if you feel the need. One of my pet hates with auto boxes on trucks is that you can sometimes feel like the truck doesn’t know what gear it wants to be in and you feel like you have a distinct lack of control. I regularly drive one autobox that will only change itself down to 10th from 12th when you have almost stopped at a junction. To me that’s all wrong you feel the truck is just coming to stop on nothing more than the foot brake, you know what I mean. Naturally I was sceptical of the Merc box in case it was something similar. Why did I worry. Up-shifts are gentle but quick so no momentum is lost. Downshifts are regular and keep the revs high to aid the engine break if required, unlike others I have previously mentioned you feel the engine is slowing down, which restores your confidence and reduces the need for foot braking. After a bit of dual carriage way driving to get used to the Gigaspace, Rob Dale of Orwell Trucks, gently persuaded me to take the truck and trailer back through Ipswich town on a Saturday morning. Surprisingly or not, I was completely comfortable going through the heavy traffic into town, even with Mr Baker undertaking me on the one way system, I didn’t loose him in the big mirrors. I think a few of the shoppers were a little surprised to see me in their way, but luckily for them I wasn’t about to parallel park any where. With the excellent vision you get from the low dash and windscreen I would give it a go, the wife always said I can park an artic anywhere but can’t park her Audi in a field! Driving was a sheer joy and it really does give a similar ride to the big Swede beginning with an S.

All in all, the €10 Billion that Mercedes Benz have spent on this all new truck range, the first in over a decade, may just be worth it. A ride to rival the Swedes, a cab to match/better the Dutch, winner of the International Truck of The Year Award for 2012 and now Truckblog have given it 10/10, what more could the Daimler folk hope for! I know loads of you aren’t fans of the 3 pointed star, but you really can’t knock it until you have tried and tested it. Please take your local dealer up on their offer and get a demo for a week. This particular truck is the mid range 450hp straight six. There is a currently a 420hp, 450hp and a 510hp variant of the Detroit Straight Six in Euro 5, there will also be a 480hp option at Euro 6. Before my jaunt on Saturday morning AV12 DFF had spent the week on containers with DRS Logistics out of Felixstowe. Rob Dale tells me at the beginning of the week the driver wasn’t keen on trying the new Merc as it was like the old one, how wrong could he be! By the end of the week he didn’t want to move out. 100% converted. Also with Mercedes Benz Fleetboard system programme it tells how how well the truck is being driven as well as all the fuel figures and the like. During it’s week on containers, it had pulled over 20 tons every day, with and assortment of 20ft and 40ft boxes on a variety of trailers and by the end of the week the truck had returned an average of over 9 MPG, not bad at all as the truck is only a month or so old. There are also bulk tippers that have been returning over 10 to the gallon, so why not give it a try after all Mercedes claim it’s at least 6% better on fuel than it’s predecessor. Ooo I nearly forgot, Rob Dale did want me to note 2 small inconveniences drivers have found. The 2 big external lockers are a bit of a struggle for the shorter driver and it can be possible to catch the heated seat switch with your feet. Thats it.

That’s it from me, in short, I was more than impressed. I reckon most of you would be too. Don’t think back to when you last tried a Merc, this is ALL new. So make a date with the new German super model, you might just fall for it.

Truckfest Peterborough – 2012

Posted on May 14, 2012 by truckbloguk

Where to start?? Well it started as a shambles really. I, in my wisdom decided to go round Peterborough so I could enter from the North side, as I have spent the last 15 years arriving from the South. My advice? stick to what you know. The main car park fields were waterlogged so we were all being stuffed into every available gap. Then we were all directed to the gate directly across the swamp like car park. Having waded across with a number families and countless others loosing wellies and shoes to the mud, we got within 100 yards of the gate only to be told we had to walk back round to the other gate passed where we had just come from. Approx 100 others did this exercise round to Gate 5 but then no one else joined the queue….I think we were had. We then queued on the main road into the Showground for 40 minutes then we were finally allowed to enter. Of course for this privilege of no one knowing what was going on I was charged £17 entry, what do you get for your £17 entry? a free cuppa? a free programme?? A voucher for a burger??? Nothing. I think it’s high time that Live Promotions re thought their pricing. £17 is more expensive than my local world class Zoo!

Enough moaning, its the same every year. Next up and one of my main targets was the New Mercedes Actros. I was not alone, by 0915hrs all doors on the available Mercs were open and rapidly filling with people and potential buyers, young and old! I lined up and got myself in the Gigaspace. Gorgeous. For those of you who are sceptical of the new Big German having seen it in the press then let me assure you that in the flesh you’ll be impressed. Now that Mercedes are trying to use more car components in the trucks, the interior is looking very plush and is very similar to the car range. I learnt this thanks to the very helpful Nigel in the cab; The Bigspace cab is the same space as the current Megaspace but the Gigaspace is bigger still than both the Current Mega and the new Big. Crikey i’m all spaced out!! On the outside the big grill is very imposing but very smart. I really look forward to seeing the smarter fleets getting these trucks in their liveries. Firms like Pulleyn, Stobart (we’ve seen these already) and the likes of the Formula 1 Teams I think these smart Mercs will excel in promoting the image of who ever they are pulling for.

As for the rest of the trucks on show it was very difficult to decide what was best. As well as a few new trucks and some old favourites, some of the best trucks on show were the increasing numbers of retro trucks. I know we now have Retro Truck Shows, but the quality of these old girls is pretty amazing and nice to see. A number of F12 and F16 Volvo’s, some glorious Scania’s, 142’s, 143’s and of course a couple of 141’s. As well as a very British and very very tidy Seddon Atkinson that was getting lots of attention. Well done who ever owns it.

The usual displays occupied the arena. Arrivals of soap stars, motorbike displays and of course the ever impressive monster trucks. Good fun although no roll overs this year (a little disappointed!).

Along with all the big boys, there were also a handful of my favourites, some little Tonka Toys. I found Lewis Blakeys stunning DAF LF from Frank Hudsons fleet. Also I came across 2 other Hatcher cabbed DAF LF’s. One from H. Askeys fleet from Sheffield and one from AAA Couriers of Bradford. This driver was looking forward to a trip to the Champions league final in his smart little DAF.

There were obvioulsy many others around the Showground. A few more stunning big Scania’s, including the James Bond 007 themed R730 that belongs to scrap metal firm J Davidson. Loving the bullet holes and surely the best number plate at the show! Davidson’s R730 traing vehicle was also very clean and attracted plenty of photographers!!

Possibly the smartest tanker you’ll ever see. The driver must have forearms like Popeye, with all the polishing they must have done to get a ladder to look that shiny!! A real credit to the driver and the company and all on an 08 plate.

Other than that it was an ok show. I did miss the lovely Lisa Kelly from Ice Road Truckers. The weather stayed nice on Sunday which made a change. The only thing missing or so I though was the customised fleet of Coles & Sons of Banbury. Unusual not to have any trucks at the show. Well I was wrong. The one truck I missed was this stunning new addition to the Coles fleet. Matching the coolness of the figure painted on the side, Marlon Brando, this Scania oozed class. I’ve long been a fan of painting trucks and parts rather than shiny shiny. So it was a pleasure not to see a piece of stainless steel in sight. I absolutely love it. Coles Custom is as cool as it gets in my book and I was told it’s not even a V8! Brilliant, well done Coles I hoped you got your reward.

This photo belongs to the worlds photo library of trucks that you’ll find on www.euro-wheels.com , the one and only Neil Jarrold doesn’t miss a thing so I have to thank him very much for letting me use his photo of the Super Swede from Oxfordshire. There will be more of my finds at Truckfest on the blog in the near future. For now if you want to see a few more of my photos then click HERE.

The Making of an Airbrushed Atego

Posted on April 11, 2012 by truckbloguk

Have you ever wondered about having a bit of a customised truck? Something with a bit more than just a coat of white paint? Yea I did too once, but I wouldn’t do it again. Really I wouldn’t. I was doing well with my company and I doubled the fleet size to 2 trucks! I wanted to have the shiny wheeled slightly customised truck so it would stand out from the crowd. It started with the plain white Mercedes Atego that you see above. I spotted it on the A12 on my way back to Braintree one day. It was on it’s way from the dock to the bodybuilders, Colliers Truck Builders of Maldon (Essex) on the back of a Brit European truck. As it goes I went back and found the truck parked up for the night near Maldon, the driver let me even climb up and sit in it!

Here she is nearly finished, as you can see its all plain factory colours, so next it’s off to the paint shop. I had always wanted the truck to be metallic blue, but I still had no real idea of what artwork i’d have painted on. I found an airbrush artist in Colchester called Simon. Simon had painted artwork on a few trucks, some of you may remember a fleet of blue DAF’s that used to do container work I think, that had airbrushing on. I had a few meetings with Simon about what we could do. I had already wanted a few ladies painted on the truck – Why? Coz I was a young man! So I had to painstakingly find a few pictures of some attractive women, god that was a difficult job!! that was one side sorted. For the other side Simon had suggested some sort of sea/sky theme due to the blue. I had also wanted to only use white paint for the artwork as I’m not a fan of a million colours on a truck, although some trucks still look amazing (Coles & Sons that is!). Simon showed me some metallic fish artwork that I actually liked the look of. They were robot like fish that were originally done in silvers as they were supposed to be made of metal. The artist’s name was Soroyama.

Next it just left the 2 front corner panels of the truck which Simon suggested could again be anything, I only came up with a CD cover I had, the other side was left to Simon. All in all it took 2 weeks to complete the whole painting exercise. As you can see Simon worked round the whole cab of the Atego panel by panel. I stood and watched for a while and I was just totally transfixed, watching stroke by stroke as the artwork appeared before my eyes!

The front panel with the big shark bursting through was obviously going to get plenty of chips, even with 3 coats of lacquer. To get over this for shows and what ever else, I had a second front panel made up and painted and I still have it now. The only bugger is, it’s bubble wrapped in the top of the garage! But at least I still have part of the truck. So how did it all turn out?…….

It’s quite a job to get the whole thing sorted. Finding a paintshop willing to spray the truck, and keep it in a dust free workshop while the artwork is applied, then add a few coats of laquer. Lucky for me Simon used his contacts and this was sorted. Trying to think up pictures for each panel was a total headache, but in the end the only bit I wasn’t that happy with was the front corner panel with the starfish. The rest was as I hoped for, including the planets and stars on the driver side. I loved it.

More importantly was it worth it? It’s a cost that is a gamble, will you ever earn back what it cost to have your truck painted? I think it cost me around £2,000 for the artwork including the laquer. Lucky for me at the time I could afford it, but I was even luckier to get some work that paid more than double what it cost me to have done. I was at a regular customer of mine and they had a visitor who loved the little airbrushed Atego and I ended up doing a lot of work over the next few weeks that easliy covered the cost of the artwork and I wouldn’t have got the job if it wasn’t for the artwork. Other than that having such a truck means lots and lots of people taking photo’s but better than that at some regular delivery points it meant the unloaders wanted to chat and talk to you about the truck. In turn this lead to being able to jump a certain amount of unloading queue’s, a direct result of having the artwork done. All in all I would reccomend doing it once, but after that? I don’t think so. Great truck though, it did earn it’s keep and more all due to it’s artwork.

If you’ve seen this truck recently or you have a photo of it any where i’d love to see it, so please email me a copy; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Exit Douvres….

Posted on March 4, 2012 by truckbloguk

….It seems all the Brits finally have! Having friends in high places can be handy some times. A last minute call and I was off to Dover and Calais on Saturday morning (yesterday). The purpose of the trip?? not sure really just a bit of a boys day out and also a free P&O Ferries ticket helped. Saturday mornings aren’t great for truck spotting on either side of the channel, unless you are a lover Eastern European trucks, not a lot else really. A few Greeks (one above), a Portuguese version of Steve Marsh, a Mallorcan Volvo and some very disheveled Seafrance boats! Also not to mention that All 4 Trucks must have had half the fleet of an ex Hungarian State owned company, who now run yellow and blue trucks instead of green and yellow! There must have been 100 of them if not more.

Once back in Dover there were only a handful (and no more) of British trucks arriving back on the lunchtime boats. So few in fact I will put them all on here. The best part of the spotting was the new exit lane from the Port for those heading for the M20. It comes out from the Port towards the round about, but just before it bears left round the back of the BP garage and under Jubilee Way, then out to join the road towards the M20 through Dover. The main idea being that it means all traffic exiting the port can keep moving and not have to get caught waiting at the roundabout. But it means that you can stand next to the new concrete wall next to the slip road and get a great view as the trucks are accelerating out of the Port. If you know the area you can probably picture what i’m talking about. Pity they haven’t built a windbreak from the channel wind though!!

First up is this red DAF, pulling a plain blue curtainsider. Looks quite like an owner driver to me, do you know who’s it is?? Email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave a comment below. It’s relatively new as it’s got a Mont Blanc Euro 5 sticker in the windscreen.

Next is Sims Worldwide Logistics from Manchester. A fair trek home on a Saturday afternoon, but i’m sure the Merc will make it a comfortable ride for the driver.

A Brinor subbie, with a trailer that should be next of the refurb list! More curtain patches than a curtain shop, very loose back doors and wheels with more rust than bag of rusty nails! Anyone know about the MAN and the subbie??

This DAF looks like another well travelled owner driver. But could be a tricky one to work out; RHD, Dutch plates and UK – Swiss written on the trailer. Wheel trims, trailer toolbox, spare wheel carrier and bumper mudflap, well loved by the looks of it. Actually it has that classic long distance owner driver feel……in my opinion any way!

A very corporate but smart Interdean silver Mercedes drawbar. A light blue Scania horsebox? Yep your right, Parkers it is. Not one of the customised ones, but none the less, i’m sure it works just as hard. Note the additional lashing rings under the front bumper. Are these because its a horsebox or because the front grill has spotlights fitted?? Leave your thoughts below.

Saw a couple of PTM International trucks throughout the day, but I only snapped this one. Does any one else get the feeling that DAF’s are the UK international hauliers truck of choice???

Finally under the rear outdoor deck on the Pride of Britain, was this well know Scottish haulier, Scotlee. The big ScotsMAN sitting quietly in front of the ever humming fridge unit.

So that was my spotting day out. Thoroughly enjoyable and I have found some good spots to get some snaps, but I can’t help but feel that i’m at least 20 years to late!!

T A X I !!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on February 5, 2012 by truckbloguk

A very good man by the name of Michael made me aware of this little video and I can tell you it’s cheered me up no end, after todays Dover truck spotting trip has been snowed off. Who would of thought the Germans had such an ironic sense of humour, I mean sending the New Actros to the MAN factory to pick up some one who has called a taxi, thats just genius!

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