Boys & Their Tonka Toys

Posted on by
2

2015/02/img_0977.png

You all know I like a mini artic. You all know I like a Mercedes-Benz. You all know I like a little sleeper cabs and you all know I like a bit of retro trucking. Roll these all together and there is only one result….a Mercedes-Benz 814 with an L Cab Twin sleeper. I think the range was called the LN2′ first launched in 1984. This little machine was once the king of the 7.5 tonners and many of us could only dream of driving such a truck but just as many of you were lucky enough to drive one. I remember being aged 17 and parked at McDonalds in Braintree, while all my mates were checking out their new stereos and who had the best pair of 6×9’s, so I wandered across the car park to talk to the driver of an 814 (might have been an 817). I had a MK1 Williams Renault Clio so I had nothing to prove in the car park show down! If I remember rightly the little Merc was white with maybe a red and blue stripe and a small crane mounted on the flatbed body. I think it was from the Nottingham area, although the driver said he spent most of his time doing oilfield work running between Scotland and the Mediterranean. Wow. Anyone know the description of the truck??

2015/02/img_0975.png
As I am now working in the three pointed star stables, classic Mercs come up from time to time and as I spend to much time searching for old trucks for sale across Europe in my spare time, I have recently been searching for a decent 814 L Cab Twin sleeper. The reason I look for used trucks is just in case one day my numbers do come in on the Euro Millions! So I found this little blanco frigo and it got me thinking. From now on take this as fun subject to be enjoyed and for you to add to in a constructive way if possible. If I was to buy an old 814 sleeper, could i convert it to a 6×2, tag axle tractor unit??? I know I’m odd but that’s the way my mind works. I’ll only find a 4×2 truck for sale so to turn it into a tractor I’ll have to get the gas axe out and cut the chassis. I reckon the tag axle should be fairly straight forward, using another 814 axle? Should be possible, shouldn’t it? Then the big thing I would need your advice on would be the engine. Most LN2’s were fitted with a 5.96 litre straight six, a nice little engine I’m sure, but if I’m going so far as to cut the chassis and add a rear lift axle. I want a decent power plant to take me all the truck shows. Can I replace the trucks factory fitted engine with a 5 litre V8 Diesel engine that was once fitted in various big Mercedes-Benz cars? The main reason I’d want to do this would be the sound of course, all show goers know the importance of a good V8 noise. I’m no mechanic but if the engine is just used to drive the mini tractor unit and not used to pull any weight or a load, would the engine have enough guts to power the little unit around? And would it be physically compatible/possible?

2015/02/img_0978.png
All clean comments and thought appreciated as I have a mind full of what seem like crazy ideas and sometimes I like to try and find out if any of them are possible. Just look at that little cab, gorgeous little thing, if any of you have photos you want to share then I’d love to seem them. You can email me at ben@truckblog.co.uk and I’ll post some up on the blog at a later date. Anyway the mechanics among you need to get your thinking hats on please.

2015/02/img_0979.png

2015/02/img_0973.png

Swedish Streamer

Posted on by
1

2015/01/img_8963.jpg

Here we go again more special edition Scanias available in the UK, at least someone in the UK is trying to get a few to British and Irish owners. Any way you probably know who these photos have been sent to me by but I won’t say anymore at this stage. As you can see there aren’t many words that can describe a Tag Axle Blue Stream in my book, so following the rule of “Less is more” please sit back and day-stream, sorry, day-dream about the delights of something blue from Sweden!

2015/01/img_8958.jpg

2015/01/img_8957.jpg

2015/01/img_8959.jpg

2015/01/img_8962.jpg

2015/01/img_8961.jpg

2015/01/img_8960.jpg

2015/01/img_8964.jpg

2015/01/img_8967.jpg

2015/01/img_8966.jpg

2015/01/img_8987.jpg

2015/01/img_89711.jpg

Retro Power Lining

Posted on by
Reply

2015/01/img_88621.jpg
Last week I had an enjoyable couple of days on a course up at Wentworth Park near Barnsley. The idea was to learn all about the wonders and advances of Mercedes-Benz trucks compared to it competitors and even from where I’m standing it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t run MB on your fleet in some capacity. Everyone knows and thinks it’s funny I’m such a Scania fan but I work for Mercedes-Benz, but as my regular readers will know back in the days of running my own trucks Mercedes were the only choice for me. I’ve ways maintained that if I was ever to start again I would have an all MB fleet but have some old Scania or two for the show circuit. The only thing that has changed since my time at Orwell Trucks Mercedes-Benz is that I think if probably have to have an old SK or Powerliner for the show season too.
So imagine my delight when parked close to the entrance of my training course was this delightfully restored 1834LS. The vehicle has been restored by MB and is to be kept and used at various shows, in fact some of you would have seen it at the Retro Truck Show at Gaydon last year.

The vehicle was originally sold by Rygor Commercials to a company called Premier Waste. It must have then been returned after contract hire to Mercedes-Benz where it was once again purchased by Rygor Commercials (this was likely to be a paperwork exercise and the vehicle would have stayed at Rygors). In 2003 Rygor loaned the vehicle to SDC, a division of Honda at Swindon, where it was used as a shunter. Then in 2009 it was bought again by MB Approved Used Commercials. Since then the truck has been restored and repainted using genuine parts where possible. I think she’s lovely although I’m sorry to say we didn’t have time for a lesson in driving an EPS gearbox correctly….one day. I have found a nice LHD 1953 for sale in Holland, tempting. The truck spec is listed as follows;

– 1st registered 6 November 1995 (N reg)
– Engine V6 Turbo 340hp
– 8 Speed Split EPS Gearbox
– L Sleeper cab
– ABS brakes
– Drivers electric window
– Electric rear view mirror
– Luxury suspension seat for the driver
– Sunvisor
– 400 Litre fuel tank

What a little gem. I’m back at Wentworth Park in a few weeks so I hope to achieve the EPS training, if your reading Nick Smith?!? Any way this not the only retro truck, there were also two original Long Distance cabbed Mercedes-Benz Actros. Both trucks have genuine mileages of only a few hundred thousand Kilometres on the clock and are in great condition although I had forgotten how garishly awful the original seat covers and door cards were. Any way lots to see on this course so I hope the next one is just as enjoyable.

2015/01/img_8920.jpg

Centurions – Missing in Action….

Posted on by
19

Retro Truck Show 2013 (19)

A little while back the owner of #69 and the owner of #27 and myself (#35 or #89 or #90!) had an early morning get together at the Gathering of the Griffin for a full sit down update on where we are with tracking all 100 original Scania Centurions on, The Centurion List. Now the list itself is getting better and better and the information on all the trucks is growing all the time especially with things like the Scania Centurion trucks page on Faceache. Bearing in mind that I for one was a little jaded, the list run through took a couple of hours, although this could have been due to Neil Jarrold’s interruptions I’m not sure, anyway I will put up the updated list when I can remember how to publish it on here!

Having gone through the list we then got onto what could possible described as “the rumours” bit. A load of info we have but all pretty inconclusive so the best thing is to share it with you and hopefully once again you can fill in some of the blanks and knock some of the useless bits on the head.

Missing Centurions

Not sure how well you can see that but I hope you can. The Peter Roff truck is a very interesting case of Chinese whispers. We have a good idea of the story behind it but we would very much like to hear it from one of you that perhaps knew the Roff fleet or even drove for him at the time. The rest of the lines on the table (not those type!) are a rumour or unsubstantiated fact each, i.e. each line should refer to one truck. Please leave your feedback below as a comment or email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk. I think the Millar Transport truck MDZ 8140 is not a Centurion. I had a fairly good font of Irish knowledge say it wasn’t on the fleet and a second person commented that reg was on a BMW?! All this info you are giving will hopefully end up in a book all about the 100, so anything you can contribute is for the greater good of 3 series Scania lovers, any genuine info on any of the 100 trucks could be of use for that matter At some point I will need to gather high quality photos of each truck, now that will be a challenge!

Click on the link to see the updated Centurion list  – Scania Centurion List
(Updated 10/01/2015)

Retro Truck Show 2013 (4)

Herpa Modelling the UK

Posted on by
3

Herpa UK releases

..and Ireland! – I have long been a collector of 1:87 or HO Scale truck models and I think it’s fair to say that I would need to build a large extension on TBHQ or more likely quadruple its size to get anywhere near to being able to house my collection that is currently in loads of boxes in my parents loft! For me it all started with a freebie model I was sent in the post by Schmitz Cargobull when I was a young teenager. Being impressed with the model I received in the post I started saving my money and I found a postal address to buy from, then I moved onto heading to a wonderful model shop on Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, London by the name of Victors. Then from there I started contact with Mr Herpa UK himself Ernest Springley. I now have 500+ models and in all honesty I don’t really want to add them up as I suspect it’s heading closer to 1000 models and I’ve just started buying more regularly again!

Herpa UK releases
Herpa UK releases

The one bug bare of mine always used to be that there were never many British vehicles readily available, the ones I did learn about became very difficult to track down, until the invention of eBay! I soon learnt that a good majority of the UK models had been orchestrated by Mr Springley and were down to his collaboration and working with Herpa. Since those early days I have now become a real “collector” and among other internet activities, I do trawl through eBay looking for models at least once a week. Usually late at night or when I’m sat on the bog, Mrs Truckblog must think I’m up to something else! Anyway I digress, if you know where to look you can find the right things so I’m lucky enough to have a few rare models these days that Mr Springley has tipped me off about over the years.

Herpa UK releases
Herpa UK releases

Nowadays I want to get ahead of the game so I’m playing a little bit of catch up and trying to get hold of as many of the recent models that have been produced so I won’t have to hunt around for them. All the above have been release in Herpa’s standard range which mean’s that they aren’t produced in a restricted run or in an “exclusiv” silver box. It’s not just a case of producing what they fancy, there is consultation and permission granted by the company whose livery is to be used and a lot of hard work put in by Mr Springley getting the model looking as life-like as possible and I have to say they look pretty damn good. Some of you prefer the larger 1:50 Scale models and I don’t blame you they are bigger and can achieve slightly more detail than the smaller, but the downside being the size and the higher price tag. As a collector I still prefer the smaller scale and I will continue to collect, but now I’m even more inclined to collect as more British liveries come through.  All new releases are listed HERE on the Herpa website each month.

Mr Springley is always open to ideas for potential new models and all company names are considered. Mr Springley has spoken about the potential for a classic range with companies from the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s but these will need more international appeal as they will need the appeal to sell on the continent to encourage Herpa to produce them. If you have any ideas then please feel free to leave them as comments below and they will get passed on. Obviously some of the more famous names such as Astran have been suggested already but again leave any suggestions below.

The next model to come along is this Mercedes-Benz BigSpace in the livery of Irish haulier Dixon Transport. Due to be released in a few months time it will be yet another quality model that recreates the real life truck almost identically apart from a few centimetres!

Dixon Big Space

TB Readers Best UK Show 2014

Posted on by
Reply

IMG_0919.JPG
I thought this year I would put it to you readers, to see what was your favourite UK (that’s in the UK) truck show that you attended. I gave a list of options and also the “Other” option where you could name your own show if required. It is a little worrying that a couple of you put Truckstar Festival, Assen, Netherlands, Europe as your best UK truck show but I guess those votes may have been cast by fans of twat sat nav who haven’t realised there is a sea between us and the Netherlands. As with all votes not many took part but there were over 100 participants which gave a good average. The results for best UK truck show in 2014 were as follows;

1st Place: Retro Truck Show @ Gaydon (74% votes)

2nd Place: Truckfest Peterborough (8% votes)

3rd Place: Peak Truck Show Uttoxeter (6% votes)

I think it’s fair to say in this particular Poll the Retro Truck Show is a run away winner. I don’t know if it’s just the readers on here or what but even so 74% of votes to just 8% for 2nd place is what some would call a landslide victory! For me the Retro Show was a great show to visit. All the trucks of my childhood, Scania 2 and 3 series, Volvo F’s, ERF’s what more could you want. A family BBQ type atmosphere? Check. No stupid irrelevant market stalls? Check. People just talking trucks and drinking beer? Check. A few brand new trucks parked next to their ancestors so you can compare and contrast? Check. What more could you want? Classic Amercian trucks?? Check. Retro trucks from the Continent? Check. The list is endless. Hopefully the 2015 show will be just as good if not better, with a couple of new top sponsors I would expect the show to be near the top of next years Poll too. The photo above and the amazing line up below are just a couple of examples of the fine trucks on show at the Retro Truck Show held in September.

IMG_0921.JPG
Not only are there all types of truck from the UK but there is an increasing presence from the continent. It seems that our European friends are just as keen to preserve the trucks from the golden years as we are. For me there were 2 German trucks and a Belgian that caught my eye in particular this year. A Scania 141 in full Middle East spec including Arabic writing on the front and chunky grip desert tyres. This truck has the look, although it is clean it’s not over polished or tyre foamed, giving it that “just got back to the yard” look.

IMG_0922.JPG
The other German was a big 3 axle MAN 20.361 with a silo trailer. The trailer looked like it might have done a job to pay for its trip to the show, even so the truck was just what retro trucking is all about. Well preserved, could still earn a penny or two, no shiny wheels, just an everyday workhorse that has been lived and restored by a truck lover like all of us!

IMG_0923.JPG
Finally the Volvo F12 Globetrotter. A truck that has been there and done it in all cases and liked by most if not loved. I remember seeing trucks like this on the motorway when I was a young’un, the yellow headlights and a Les Routiers sticker were always a true sign of a continental trucker! However you look at these trucks there will be a few that bring back happy memories I’m sure. The premiss of the show is all trucks manufactured between 1960 and 2000, with special entries to anything newer being arranged by the show organisers. A worthy winner of best show for 2014 and I look forward to going again this year. Definitely a fun show with something for everyone.

IMG_0924.JPG
If your running a truck show in 2015 or you know of one that others need to know about, then please send me a flyer in .jpg or .pdf format and I’ll add it to the new “Truck Shows 2015” section on the Truckblog website. The more I’m sent the more shows we’ll all know about which can only be a good thing. It seems to me that smaller higher quality shows organised by truck people for truck people are becoming much more appealing that the huge truck festivals organised by promotional companies to make them money.

IMG_0920.JPG

IMG_0925.JPG