Holiday Truck Spotting Around the Med

Posted on August 31, 2011 by truckbloguk

The office I work in is quite a truck orientated one. Plenty of trucking calendars and photo’s of the fleet on the walls, truck models on the shelves, along with the all truck show trophies. So you’d imagine the boss’s of said company to be fair truck perverts as well. Well the bigger one of the two clearly is, but the quieter one, well you can never be too sure. On the phone his wife claims he is truck mad!!
So while he was away on his annual summer cruise, this year around the mediterranean, I was pleased to see received this wicked little batch of photo’s from the quiet one. I can’t decide whether to go in order of the cruise of whether to start with the best??

The latter option it is. On arrival in most ports on a cruise you get to walk off in to the local town, obviously this means walking through the not always too touristy port area itself. This can be some people’s idea of a good holiday though! This gorgeous truck heading to the twighlight of her years was basking in the mid-summer sun in Corfu. What a find, sitting there waiting out the Bank Holiday. The Volvo F12 Globetrotter is a real dream truck for many of you and from this photo I can see why.

So what else does Corfu have to offer I hear you cry…………….

There wasn’t just one classic truck enjoying the bank holiday sunshine, this SUPER Swede was also in Corfu port. This very well kept <a title="Captains Log: More Corfu by benners10, on Flickr" href="Scania 143 Streamline was busy unloading on the quay right next to the ship. Any ideas what he is unloading? No? nor have I?? Answers on a post card (or leave a comment below!). Once he had done his days work the old faithfull Scania headed round to enjoy the rest of the day off and join the other trucks waiting for the fery to head back to mainland Greece.

Now before the Captain and his ship arrived in the truck holiday destination that is Corfu, they had been in the world renowned Italian city that is Venice. Picture the scene…..The director of a well know company is getting off a beautiful modern cruise ship, with his wife and 2 sons, all looking forward to their trip into one of the most beautiful ancient cities that is Venice, all that history and culture. Oooo I can’t wait, lets have a look at some of the holiday snaps from this gorgeous city…….

The smart German registerred Volvo was weekend in the port. Not sure which was he was heading but looking at the name in the headboard, does suggest a Greek link perhaps. The other 2 trucks were fresh off the Minoan Lines boat from Greece. Both in the colours of Dutch haulier Bolk Transport. The first truck must belong to a regular Bolk subbie, clever aren’t I!?! Great spotting in my book, can’t wait for the next cruise, America perhaps???

Do you want to share any of your truck related holiday snaps, come on you know you want to, afterall your wife will be totally bored of all the “classics” you snapped instead of the sunsets and sandcastles the rest of your family were hoping you’d photograph. My email address is; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Here’s Your New Truck

Posted on August 12, 2011 by truckbloguk

Recently I have been trying to work out how to use Facebook and more to the point get it working alongside the blog. So far I haven’t got a clue. It’s possible to put questions on the TB FB page, so I thought i’d give it a go to see what results I got, you know that modern word “interactive” thats me that is!

Here’s the question: Your new boss is offering you the following trucks brand new as your first truck, which do you choose?

– DAF 3300 ATI Spacecab

– Volvo F12 Globetrotter

– Scania 143

– Iveco Turbostar V8

– Mercedes Benz SK V8

A bit of a retro question as we all seem to prefer the old generation of trucks. All in all i ended up with 48 Votes (at the time of going to press!), not a bad turn out. Please feel free to add your vote below in the comments box below or head over to the Facebook page if your that way inclined.
Can you Guess the results?? I bet you can guess the bottom 2 anyway. Here are the results;

1st – Scania 143 with 48% of Votes
2nd – Volvo Globetrotter with 27% of Votes
3rd – DAF 3300 Spacecab with 21% of Votes
4th – Iveco Turbostar with 2% of Votes
4th – Mercedes SK with 2% of Votes

I think in all honesty I could have kept the vote down to just the top 3 options. The choice between Volvo and DAF was pretty close. I was slightly surprised by the smaller cabbed beating the 2 bigger cabbed trucks to 1st place. This must show that all you old romantics of the road must just prefer the better drive over the better cab for time off. If you took part then thank you and if you didn’t you better had next time!! If youare literate in facebook please click on the link above and click the like button. Also keep your eyes for further questions / votes.

Aston Clinton Haulage – Early 1970’s

Posted on June 19, 2011 by truckbloguk

Seeing as its father day……… Back in the early 1970’s before i was a twinkle in my parents eye, my dear Dad worked for Aston Clinton Haulage or ACH as they were known. Based in Aston Clinton Village, long before they moved to Aylesbury. I have often wondered who else knows any thing else about ACH at this time. When i put these on www.trucknetuk.com the photo’s which most people put on were all later liveried trucks, some were F88’s but again they were in a slightly later livery.

Cracking old ERF, i think the old man used to take her out on the road now again. Also note the lifting frame for loading. It seems in the early 1970’s not many people remember or were working at ACH, as i haven’t managed to get hold of or find anyone else who was there!! The only chap i know was there with my dad was Brian Soames, pictured below obviously in high spirits, perhaps it’s the snazzy coloured trailer!! I did manage to find out Brian was last seen working at Norbert Dentressangle in Leighton Buzzard. If you know of Mr Soames please ask her to get in touch. I do love this picture below. I can just see it now heading out of Calais, sleeper cabbed Scania, little GB box trailer full of Britains finest manufacturing, now that is the romance of the road! Is that one of those old Bedford vans in the background, or a Transit.

Now as you can tell from the pics New Holland were a big customer. Combines and balers were regular cargo for ACH and that is were my old man comes in. As far as i understand it, he was chief loader and warehouse man. Eventually my Dad came up with the idea of a frame to put on the flat trailers to enable the smaller balers to be double stacked, obviously after the below photo was talking. The balers don’t way anything so doubling the amount on a trailer wasn’t a problem, it just needed the initiative…………..it’s a pity it doesn’t seem to run in the family!!

I also remember dad saying that a regular Italian reload was washing machines. The chap that used to drive the Volvo below (no name I’m afraid), used to be one of those old legends, who liked to be home for his Friday night pint. Most weeks he’d head off to the continent with what ever the export cargo was, plenty of fags and cash for the Polizei, reload a full hand ball load of washing machines and be back in the yard in time for his pint. Oh The good old days!!

Lovely day cab 110 Scania, that was no doubt a European regular. Hopefully you lot may be able to give me some more ACH info, in my opinion the earlier the better. Please comment below or email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk

Gareth Jackson European

Posted on June 15, 2011 by truckbloguk

Sat in the office at 5pm this afternoon, the day is nearly done, when into the yard rolls this clean and tidy 51 plate Volvo. Looking out the window the cab was shinning in the late afternoon sun, ally wheels, TIR boards, LHD and all the other gentle signs of a hard working European truck. The paint work was immaculate, even a black painted grill, giving the truck a very impressive “plain & simple” look that even got the non-truck perv in the office put of his chair to have a look (he ended up taking the photo’s!). I do like a truck that is understated. I’m not saying that all the show and shine doesn’t work, as you know i had an airbrushed trucked and earned a lot of money out of it because of its appearence, but i still think having operated trucks with both approaches, i still prefer the understated approach. This Volvo was a little ray of international sunshine. I think Mr S Wilson summed it up about right, “It looks like it could have come out of one of those pervy films driving to Qatar!” that is a back handed compliment i think.

I’m hoping that Mr Jackson’s daughter will be emailing over some pictures of this old girl on her trips across Europe. Gareth told me his regular destinations used to be Greece, Turkey and Cyprus amongst others, so there should be some good ones. This is one truck that doesn’t just have that European look it can claim the fame as well……………………..Jackson European is ringing bells in my head but i can’t think why, I’m picturing a DAF, any ideas??? leave your comments below or email me ben@truckblog.co.uk

All the badges…….

Old F6 Reach’s End of the Road

Posted on June 12, 2011 by truckbloguk

Firstly i must apologise for not telling you i was going on holiday. I was informed by those who arranged said break that the house we were staying in had all the mod-con’s including Wi-Fi, so i took the laptop so i could keep the blog updated. The problem being as you probably realised was that there was no Wi-Fi, Internet or any such mod-con’s. Hey ho it was a cracking week, sampling the Yorkshire ales (oh and 42 miles of walking!), so back to the grindstone, and here we go with some thing from the village we were staying in.

The little village of Carperby, Near Leyburn, North Yorkshire is where i found this old girl, living out her last few days enjoying the views of the Yorkshire Dales. If you are like me, you must be if your reading this, then you will often spot old trucks like this sat about, rusting away. In fact there is a topic on TrucknetUK called “Resting Place for Old Trailers” along the same lines. How many old trucks are sat on farms across the country just rotting away after a long hard life on the road? This old F6 got me thinking how it ended up in Carperby. Now bear with me on the detective trail. Firstly i don’t know if the farm yard belongs to the Robinson family or not, so that could be a good link. I’m guessing that it was a cattle truck as it is a cattle farm and the remaining bodywork suggests that or perhaps a hay wagon?? Gainford itself is just West of Darlington on the A67, so not just round the corner. Perhaps you know Robinson of Gainford? Photo’s? or perhaps you have an old truck just rotting away near you? email me with any thing, ben@truckblog.co.uk and after all the feedback on the Manton Freezer Freight posts i put on here, you lot will probably know some thing. I have no idea on the reg as there were no plates. I’m guessing its some where around an A, B or C reg. Over to you…………….

Roving Reporter’s Personal Best

Posted on March 31, 2011 by truckbloguk

Our good friend the Roving Reporter has beaten his personal best. After another recent trip to the in laws in middle Italy, he managed to venture out for a few hours to do some top spotting. Based at Fontana Liri between Rome and Naples, our Pilot friend venture’s out and about to pass the time perving over Italian metal of all kinds. There are more than enough old V8 Scania’s to go round, as well as all the others, Volvo, DAF and of course Iveco. As well as some foreigners such as this cracking F16 wagon and drag. What a great find and not a bad picture either!!

I have to say that for some reason i have a soft spot for an old Turbostar. I know its an Iveco, but they were from a time before i could drive, there fore they are pre my dislike of the Italians favourite. This old girl below, is still earnng a crust and i think with a bit of a shine up she’d look pretty good. I think we’ll have to add the Turbostar to the classic fleet, but only one of em mind! Did they do a V8 version of the Turbostar? Can some one let me know, ben@truckblog.co.uk or comment below.

As you can always expect in Italy you will always find a load of old Scania’s. From 2 and 3 series right through to new R serie’s they just love them. Still very popular are the 3 series Streamliner’s. Got to get one!

If you get through to my Flickr Photostream you’ll see plenty more of The Roving Reporters pictures from this trip. I will do another post with some more of his quality pics. I’ll leave you with the Pilot’s own words;
“The trucks on the dual carriageway were taken on the SS16 between Bari and Foggia. The single road stuff is on the SS372 that cuts through the mountains and is a link from the southern Adriatic side of Italy to the western coast to link up with the Roma Naples autoroute. Pics taken to the west of Benevento. Need to dedicate a few days to some more photography trips. Need a bike as a chase vehicle as overtaking them and planning a quick pitstop and getting a shot was fun. Need a lot of patience to hang about in a layby. Missed loads of good opportunities that I won’t repeat again for instance I overtook 3 old 142s/143s steaming up a hill and reckoned at least one of them would take my route off the autostrada. fat chance! Some drivers must’ve wondered what a tired looking pilot in a ropey old Merc Estate was blasting past them then taking pics but most flashed and waved. The scoop has got to be the Bubble’ F16 parked up no doubt heading for Bari/Brindisi for his ferry back to Zorba land.”

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

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!

Cruising i80 Nevada, USA

Posted on December 18, 2010 by truckbloguk

Now the other day i was out for a drive, cruising down the i80 in Nevada…… After a few comments of previous pictures here are a few more Google Street View shots from the dusty highway. I think its fair to say the Volvo VN’s are becoming very popular in the states. You can understand why, as most drivers in the US openly admit that European trucks are better built and have better ride and finish, but they wont have them because they don’t have the long bonnet. But since Volvo solved that little problem and started building the VN series back in 2002, there has been no stopping them. I think i am right in saying they are now top of the sales charts for the US. Have a look at this little selection (of mainly Volvo’s).

Just look at the long long road with the backdrop of the Nevada desert, not quite the same as the M6 now is it! This Gold Freightliner makes for a nice but modern change, a popular truck with the fleets as i imagine its a little cheaper but still is a good truck for operators and drivers alike. Note the white wheels, definitely a fleet truck! Smart none the less.

These final 2 trucks are both Freightliner and Volvo, owned by Interstate Distribution Company based in Tacoma, Washington State. I think you’ll agree that both trucks look smart, but the Volvo is slightly better or is that just my European bias coming into play?? Just look at that scenery!

That’s about that for this one, but if you have any comments please leave them below or email me at; ben@truckblog.co.uk ……..Untill the next Interstate cruise…………..

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