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

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.

Geoff Gilbert comes to Truckblog

Posted on February 24, 2011 by truckbloguk

I’m hoping this wont be the one and only photo i get to put on here of this classic haulier. They must be on he list of well known international hauliers, sadly no longer with us. I remember keeping an eye out for them as a boy and also used to enjoy a the odd chat with a driver or 2 on the Euro Tunnel. I think the last chap i spoke to was nearing retirement and often took his wife with him. I remember the meeting as he had reloaded 24 ton of chocolate from Switzerland, now that is a tasty reload! This picture comes courtesy of one Colin Waters an ex GG driver. I asked him to have a hunt about to see what he could find in his loft and this is all he could find, but he is hoping some of his old GG colleagues may come up trumps. This was GIL 8217, Colin’s regular steed, this was a local delivery out to Schipol Airport, excellent timing with the plane going up, i never realised Mr Waters was such a David Bailey!!

From Big Trev Himself

Posted on February 23, 2011 by truckbloguk

Having a few emails from Trevor Dodwell on other matters so i thought i’d give him the wonderfull opportunity of contributing to the best truck blog in the world (this one not BigLorryBlog!). He says he will send more but sent this cracker to start with. Trevor’s legendary 143 Streamliner, one of the best and last fully Astran liveried trucks. Not only was the truck a beauty to drive but Trevor say’s the trailer had all the bits and bobs you need for driving the long dusty roads to the Middle East. He say’s “The trailer’s extra accessories included: Angle fridge, full fitted kitchen with running water and diesel capacity on the whole vehicle is 2,100 litres to fill it up in Saudi cost less than a hundred pound.!” Thats a £100 total not per litre like it is here currently!! Great pic Trev, keep sending them…….

Manton European Freezer Freight

Posted on February 21, 2011 by truckbloguk

This beauty was spotted one evening on Springwood Industrial Estate, Braintree back in the 1990’s. This must be, along with the F12 Globetrotter, one of the all time greats of European Trucking! Just look at her sitting there enjoying the evening sun after another hard days work. After market fuel tanks, tag axle, 420hp V8, 2 yes just 2 spot lights and just enough dirt to make her look well worked. Other than that does anybody know any thing else about this lot?? I have no idea about them at all, i dont even know where they are from, email me ben@truckblog.co.uk . So much of a european legend is this old girl i think she will have to be added to our transport company of classic trucks.

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!!

Naming Ceremony

Posted on February 4, 2011 by truckbloguk

The 1st of Wilsons new R480 Scania’s is nearly ready for the road. One of the last and obviously most important jobs is left to do is the name. Graham Wilson has a short list of 4 names but is unsure which one to go for. All Wilson truck names start with “European …….”
This is the shortlist;
– European Sovereign
– European Star
– European Centurion
– European General
Do you have a preference?? Leave your comments below (rude ones not appreciated!)

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.

The Black Amber

Posted on January 23, 2011 by truckbloguk

The wife says it sounds like some sort of rare spider. She is right about the rare bit, only 100 are available for purchase world wide. Its not a nasty breed of snake, its not a new variation of a well known Ozzie lager, it is in fact the next Scania special edition, designed by Svempa. Available in any of the V8 variations The Black Amber is another quality beast from Sweden.
As Scania’s 2011 special edition, here are few things from the Scania press release to wet your whistle;
Exterior
• Black Amber metallic finish on cab and air deflectors
• Paintwork decorated with black carbon ‘flames’ with light amber outlines
• Front grille and front air scoops in Black Brilliant
• High-gloss Piano Black side and front mirrors, windshield panels, door hinge panels and emblem in front of door handles
• Visible chromed bolts for various external attachments
• Xenon spotlights in sunvisor set in Piano Black trims
• Black anodised boarding steps
• Aluminium wheels painted in Black Brilliant with chromium ring and nut caps

Exterior on tractor units

•Black Amber metallic finish on sideskirts and rear-mounted battery case
• Chromed step to catwalk
• Polished stainless steel exhaust tailpipe, bolted exhaust panel in metallic finish
• Catwalk painted in Black Brilliant
• Piano Black V8 panels on bar for trailer connections
• Brushed aluminium strip and V8 badges on sideskirts
• LED safety brake light at rear edge of top side air deflector
• Dual LED working lights
• Orange LED side marker lights on catwalk

Interior

• Black leather seats with carbon black centre sections and orange V8 symbols
• Black perforated leather steering wheel with Black Amber inserts
• Red LED safety light on door panel
• Black leather centre floor mat with Black Amber V8 trim strip
• Black Amber rear wall panel, signed and numbered
• Black bouclé driver and passenger floor mats with black borders
Multimedia
• Radio with DVD and navigation with pop-up monitor
• 22” LCD TV
• Sound system: 6.5” speakers, active 8” subwoofer, 350 W peak music output
• Quadbox for controlling up to 4 cameras
• Rearview camera with long- and short-range lens system

The exterior may be stunning and will definitely make you one of an elite club, but the interior makes me think i’d never want to get out of the cab. The big seats, the multimedia package that will rival any youth in your local McDonalds car park, it just looks perfect! Right after i have written this i am off to check last nights Lotto ticket!! Released back on the 17th of January i hope there is one left for me.

And of course dont forget your edition number plate…………………………

All pictures and information © Copyright Scania 2008 All rights reserved. Scania AB (publ), SE-151 87 Södertälje, Sweden, Tel: +46-8-55 38 10 00, Fax: +46-8-55 38 10 37

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