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!!

The Latest in Italian Truck Fashion

Posted on February 6, 2011 by truckbloguk

Our good friend the Roving Reporter has been hard at it again, sitting in the sun with a Peroni, truck spotting in the truck heaven that is Fontana Liri. Where?? i hear you cry, Fontana Liri, its a small village between Rome and Napoli. Fontana Liri is the birth place of Mrs Roving Reporter, hence the reason for sitting at a cafe with a beer.
Whilst sitting enjoying the Italian home brew, this amazing piece of Italian fashion appeared across the square, delivering groceries.

With all the flair of your typical Italian this little tilt has all the Italian style you could need. The rear doors with all the stickers and warnings of its transcontinental big brother.

Stainless steel tool box, water tank and tap and also a pair of straight through side pipes, which actually sounded surprisingly good!

Horse power stickers, air horns and an uprated front axle for all those stacked up veggies!

Stainless steel grill and enough guff on the dash to get a GV9!

Even after all that it is still a cracker! Only in Italy would so much love care and attention be lavished on an Iveco!

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!)

Bowse(r) That!!

Posted on February 3, 2011 by truckbloguk

A couple more interesting shots of fuel Bowsers from the Roving Reporter. You’d never have guessed there are so many different bowsers about. These 2 are both different again.

This first one is of a very well loaded Mercedes SK looks old and the tyres look flat at the bottom! Perhaps they have just been slashed by local rioters. Picture taken in Cairo, Eqypt.

This second one is taken in Marakesh. It looks like one of those old bonnetted Renaults, but i can’t be certain. Any ideas what it is?? Email me, ben@tuckblog.co.uk or leave a comment below.

……………just a thought is it an Iveco???????

Tidy Men

Posted on February 1, 2011 by truckbloguk

This is my final piece of evidence for Tonka Toys being as smart as a big old 18 wheeler. I have a long been a fan on the Tonka’s as all you regular readers know and frankly are probably getting bored of it, but never mind i write this not you!! Having owned 3 of my own and also having owned an artic i still have to say having a smart little rigid is better. Perhaps its because they are a rarer beast? Top quality smart artics are becoming increasingly popular so perhaps the sight of a smart little rigid is a nice change. I don’t know what I’m on about or why I’m trying to justify it. My name is Ben and I’m a Tonka-holic!!

First up is this cracking MAN from Sweden. Picture courtesy of Last Bils Foton, excellent website, full of quality Swedish porn (truck variety!).

Next up we have a nice plain but smart Dutch frigo. I’d be interested to know how noisy it is of a night out with that fridge motor right on the cab, surely got to be noisier than having the trailer mounted fridge??? Still nice little truck and probably works just as hard as its bigger counterparts.
Case proven i win.

Model Polizei

Posted on January 28, 2011 by truckbloguk

As all of you international drivers know the German Polizei are very keen to introduce themselves to you. Even in small scale it seems lorry drivers have no escape from the Polizei. These pics were taken by the Roving Reporter whilst working hard in Germany last week (well that’s what he told his lovely wife!). During a few hours off he made the trip to Miniatur-Wunderland in Hamburg. The place is the world’s largest HO Scale / 1/87 scale Layout in the world. From railways, to waterways to carnivals and roadways there is a bit of every thing to look at. Most interestingly are the road scenes obviously.
Some of the trucks actually move around the layout as you can see in the pics. The Wagon & Drag in the top pic is well loaded heading up the hill as you can see, only to get to the top of the hill and come to a standstill where 2 of the German fuzz have pulled over a car transporter, probably just to look at the cars on the load!! Typical but oh so realistic. Like i say its not all trucks but if your ever in Hamburg with a spare couple of hours its surely worth a visit, i want to go! So many models doing all sorts of things, lots of Wiking and Herpa models were used and all to great effect. Lets just hope some where there are some Coppers pulling over an Eastern European with a dodgy truck and no tacho records!!

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!

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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