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Welcome to the April 2026 issue of Classic & Vintage Commercials, the issue which I always think of as the first one of spring. This year, that’s even more appropriate than usual, because our on-sale date of Friday March 20 coincides with the astronomical spring equinox in the UK. So we really are going on sale at the very start of spring, and the show season.
One event I always look forward to in the first part of the show season is the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society’s London to Brighton run. As you would expect for something which started back in the 1960s, the Brighton Run has, just like our sector of vehicle preservation, changed a fair bit over the years. Last year, responsibility for running it passed to a new team based in the society’s London & South East section, and having found their feet in 2025, this year the new team are making a few changes. Chiefly, the event is moving back to its traditional date of the first weekend in May, which usually coincides with May Day bank holiday. It is also once again going to be a true London to Brighton Run, with a new start-point on Clapham Common.
Since this was announced, a few people have expressed concerns about whether this will work in practice, given that the May Day date was abandoned a few years ago due to congestion at Crawley. The start was moved from Battersea Park to Crystal Palace due to congestion in central London back in the 1980s! Then, in 2024, it moved from Crystal Palace to Brooklands due to ULEZ. And since then there have been added obstacles of 20mph speed limits and Driver Vision Standards for commercial vehicles.
I put these concerns to one of the team involved in both the 2025 and 2026 runs.
The 20mph speed limit . “Where a road run includes travel over a faster road, older vehicle owners often complain of safety implications when they cannot keep up with modern traffic. We should all be familiar with 20mph by now. Last year, sections of the Brighton portion of the route were 20mph. For the London section we feel the lower speed could be beneficial; more involving for spectators and less stressful for the participants, particularly those piloting steam and older machinery.”
The London Driver Vision Standard requirements. The HCVS are directing their members to the ‘DVS Operators Guide’ page 15. Here it states that all vehicles that have a ‘historic’ vehicle tax class and are
not used commercially, are Fully Exempt. TFL state that ‘it would be inappropriate to require historic vehicles to comply with the Progressive Safe System permit conditions’.
The Crawley problem. “This was due to a car boot sale being held in a field alongside the M23 services access road. This field has now been fully built-on and can no longer host events. Whatever date we choose, we cannot prevent other activities along the route. The route no longer passes through central Crawley.”
Returning to London. “It has been a longestablished practice for showmen to set up certain historic fairground sites annually, exercising legal rights granted in charters going back to the middle ages. Village greens have been saved from redevelopment because showmen have attended every year, come rain or shine. Even in COVID they turned up to key sites just to put a stick in the ground, to signify their attendance. Charter Rights override planning decisions. In the same way, we feel historic events like the HCVS London to Brighton run should continue to use London and be seen to be exercising this right, every year. If organisations take the easier option and relinquish our claims to use London, dispensations will be gradually removed and our freedoms will be eroded forever. The HCVS’s principal aim is to ensure the history of commercial vehicles is represented and protected for all.”
Few would disagree that a London to Brighton Run really should start in London if possible. Taking old vehicles into the middle of one of Britain’s premier seaside resorts on a bank holiday weekend gives this event a unique and precious character. It also, of course, presents our hobby to an audience that wouldn’t attend vehicle events. The new committee have clearly put a massive amount of time and effort into checking everything, and are confident it will work. From where I’m sitting, I’d say they’ve got it covered in every detail possible, and have every reason to feel confident.
So I’m really looking forward to being on Madeira Drive on May 3; I reckon it’ll be a good one!
Peter Simpson Editor
6. FORD D-SERIES
New restoration of a lorry with a somewhat mysterious history.
14. NEWS
First show of the year at Malvern, latest from the HCVS…
16. EVENTS DIARY
Summers coming so it’s time to start planning your 2026 trips out!
18. PD’S ARCHIVES
Another fine selection of period images from the past half-century…
22. AUSTIN & MORRIS SERIES III
Start of another two-part Close-Up series, this time telling how BMCstyle badge engineering arrived on the commercial vehicle scene.
28. RUGGED REIVER
Bob Weir looks at a fine Albion restoration from the Shropshirebased Andrew Davies collection.
34. LET TERS
Strato memories, German military convoy lighting explained...
36. SEWER PIPES FROM SHROPSHIRE
Classic spread illustrating how a somewhat delicate load from the past was stacked for transport.
38. VOLVO F12
In the mid-1980s, Roy Phillips drove this lorry as an employed driver. Thirty years later he tracked it down in Ireland, bought it back home to Wales, and restored it!
42. BABY BENDER
Bedford CF-based artic takes centre spread this month.
44. CVC SUBSCRIPTIONS
Save money, and we deliver direct to your letterbox!
46. CARRYING ON
Showman’s Special this month, looking at circus and fairground lorries.
50. MAGNIFICENT MINOR
The Mills Brothers 1972 ex-Post Office Telephones Minor Van may be a low mileage example that’s been in preservation from the moment its working life ended, but a terminally-rotten chassis meant it still needed a full restoration. Peter Simpson tells the story.
54. WAR OF THE ROSES ROAD RUN
David Reed was there, camera in hand.
60. MODEL CORNER
Racing car transporters are the subject this month.
62. SENT TO COVENTRY
Our second period spread this month showing a busy West Midlands suburb in 1973.
64. RENAULT AGC2
Mike Neale finds a French van with a connection to some strange goings-on with cows…
68. KENT & SUSSEX
Pt30: A selection of steamers and early internal combustions powered vehicles this month.
72. COMMERCIAL CORNER
75. CVC FREE ADS
The good stuff starts here…
FAB FORD!
Geoff Walker spent three years restoring this 1971 Ford D-Series SWB 1411 tipper. This is the story, told in his own words...
Until I retired some 12 years ago, most of my working life has been spent in and around the building industry. Roles have included design and contract management but the final seventeen years were spent working for the National House Building Council. However, along with my
two older brothers I have always had a keen interest in lorries. This results from our father being involved with lorries. He spent some time as an employed driver but from the late 1920s to the 1950s he was an owner-driver. When he stopped, due to changing licensing rules, he was operating two Dodge Kew tippers.
So I guess you could say lorries were in our blood. However of our generation only my brother Graham had any long-term involvement in haulage, running tippers working on motorway construction and house building sites. In about 1975 I joined him briefly. I was becoming disillusioned with my
current employment and decided to have a go at something different. I passed my HGV class 1 test (a lot less complicated then of course) and bought a two-year-old Ford D series 2417 six-wheel tipper. A particularly successful venture due to a combination of the work drying up and multiple breakdowns. After a relatively short period of time I sold the lorry (albeit with some reluctance), and returned to the building industry.
Lorries have, however, always been a major interest. As a result, whilst visiting an auction in Colchester in 2012 an impulse purchase of a 1956 Dennis Pax dropside got me into preservation. I restored the lorry and
Superb detailing on the chassis.
returned it to its original Whitbread livery. We enjoyed several rallies and road runs including taking part in the HCVS London to Brighton, before we finally decided to sell it. I took a break and tried a few other interests.
But the lorry ‘thing’ never really went away, and I was soon wanting another project. In 2022, I spotted AKP710K, a Ford D Series SWB tipper 1411 on eBay. It was being sold by Pat Clancey who had intended to restore it but due to health and family issues was unable to carry it out
It was of interest due to my earlier involvement with the D Series, so with my rose-tinted spectacles on I decided to place a bid and bought it.
At this stage I need to say that I am very fortunate to have Paul Garbutt as a friend. Paul is an excellent mechanic and has a haulage yard so with his agreement I hired a low loader trailer which Paul kindly coupled to a tractor unit and drove all the way to Irvine in Scotland, from where we collected the D-Series. It was getting dark when we finally arrived and loaded it together
The two gentlemen responsible; Geoff Walker (left) and Paul Garbutt.
with an additional cab that had been bought as a donor primarily to replace all the cab glass that had been broken by vandals. Pat put on a battery, started the lorry’s engine and drove it on to the trailer. While this was a good sign overall, this movement under its own power was achieved despite the Ford having no clutch, no brakes, and no working throttle.
The Restoration
It was apparent when we got the lorry home that the restoration was going to be a much larger project than first envisaged. The main issue was that the cab was very corroded. The tipper body was however in relatively good condition apart from the wooden floor, and the chassis was, underneath a massive amount of surface corrosion, also very sound.
Like most, this restoration started with a major taking-apart session. The cab was stripped and removed, and we then took it to Dave Weedon at Transport Fabrications near York. Dave, together with his team, did a wonderful job over the following 12 months fabricating and welding in new panels. The body also came off and, along with the spare cab, went into storage. Next to come off were the engine and gearbox. As these were known to be working they were simply checked over, though we did separate the engine and box so we could check the clutch. This turned out to be in remarkably good condition Then everything was cleaned, de-rusted, serviced and painted ready to go back in.
The wheels were removed and all the hubs and backplates stripped
Cab floor covering was renewed during the restoration, along with the headlining.
Tipping ram has been overhauled and is now fully-operational.
With the cab tilted, Geoff checks the engine before setting off for a day’s work…
Geoff demonstrates the tipper-action using cab-mounted controls.
and cleaned, brakes relined and everything painted. New hydraulic rigid and flexible pipes were installed. The chassis was de-rusted using a combination of wire brushes and grit blasting. After that it was prepared, primed and sprayed in black. The rest of the braking system which is air operated hydraulic was checked cleaned serviced or replaced and painted. The original wiring loom was repaired as required. The wheels were cleaned and painted and re fitted with new tyres all round. Finally in this
part, the engine and gearbox were re installed along with a re-cored radiator, ready for the cab’s return.
The restored cab was returned from York in April 2024. We prepared, primed and painted inside, and primed the outside. The underside was undersealed, painted and fitted with new pipework and a new foot brake valve was installed, and the cab then carefully put back in place. The doors were prepared, primed and refitted and the glass from the donor cab fitted all round with new rubbers. Inside the
cab the seats were re-covered and new floor coverings and a new headlining also went in. The steering wheel was refurbished and fitted to the serviced steering box and power steering. The dashboard was restored and now contains a mixture or repaired and replacement instruments, though all bezels have been re-chromed.
The cab was then primed again and sprayed in the finish colour red twopack. As I have so far been unable to track down any early history for this lorry (a subject we will come back to later. Ed) we decided to finish it in as near as possible factory colours of red cab and grey body. To finish it off Eddie Ralph sign-wrote the cab using traditional techniques and the name Graham and I used back in the 1970s. Door handles etc., were all re-chromed. We felt it was important to ensure that we had a running chassis-cab before refitting the body. So we carried out a series of short running-tests around Paul’s yard. Unsurprisingly, this revealed a few issues. The first was that the clutch hydraulics refused to bleed up; this was rectified by a new master cylinder. The engine started and ran well enough at first but stopped after a short time due to the fuel system pulling in air. We eventually tracked the cause down to a leak on the tank feed pipe.
The next and more important problem was the brakes which either stopped dead or more worryingly didn’t work at all. The D-Series brakes are air-over-hydraulic, and several
Front detail. White grille was part of the Custom cab luxury pack.
Geoff at the wheel. Power steering makes life a little easier for the driver, but as this lorry’s load-lugging days are now over, a higher-ratio rear axle would be handy.
Every tipper carries one, but every driver hopes he won’t have to use it.
leaks were found on the air system. We also fitted a new air limiter which improved the pressure considerably. Testing revealed that the air activator was working correctly. But the brakes were still not right. Attention therefore turned the hydraulic side of the system and we eventually traced the issue to the tandem master cylinder which despite having been re-sealed throughout, still was not operating correctly. Fortunately I was able source a new one from Cliff Fletcher and the problem was solved.
Somewhat to the relief of all concerned, our testing confirmed that the gearbox and rear axle were working well and needed no attention.
With a running, moving and stopping chassis cab, I was able to turn my attention to the body. New rear wings were needed, along with a new marine plywood floor, but other than that it needed just prepping and painting prior to refitting. I hoped that the tipping ram would work okay, but unfortunately when we engaged the power take-off with the body back on, a large puddle of hydraulic oil appeared. Accordingly, it had to come off and be sent away to Semtex Hydraulics for rebuilding. Semtex had provided many of the new pipes used on the chassis restoration. They did a great job and the ram now works well with the body raising and lowering exactly as it should.
Three years – almost to the day –after it arrived from Scotland on a lowloader, the lorry was deemed finished. A couple of issues remain. Firstly, and despite everyone’s best efforts, the temperature gauge refuses to work. Additionally, having been specified for power and weight rather than speed, the rear axle is extremely low geared for preservation use, and I am hoping to find and fit a higher ratio differential which would give a bit more speed for motorway driving.
I would also like to know a bit more about the lorry’s early history. KP is a Kent area-code, and the lorry was new in November 1971, but to whom? When bought, the cab had “Phone Hadlow Down 347” on the door. One would expect this to be a huge giveaway, not least because Hadlow Down is the location of Tinkers Park, the Claude Jessup Collection, and plays host to two major local events each year. But despite my son putting requests online, and CVC Editor Peter Simpson trying his various local contacts, no ownership details have yet been found. But surely, someone in East Sussex must remember a SWB D-Series tipper trundling around, or recognise the number Hadlow Down 347? If so, then do please get in touch.
All in all a satisfactory result that I am very proud of. It has, though, been made possible only with help from a couple of very clever and brilliant people. Firstly, as previously mentioned the project would have been impossible without my friend Paul Garbutt who not only allowed me the use of his yard and workshop and yard crane but also provided
Cab interior in prototypical grey.
Tipping body detail.
Badging. D1411 means a 14ton GVW and with 6.2litre 123bhp ‘380’ engine.
Rear view. Tipper body is in very food order, though there has been no attempt to recreate a brand new ex-factory look.
invaluable advice and practical help with much of the work. Secondly my brother Graham who though now in his eighties and despite not living locally helped tremendously with
sourcing parts, some intricate repairs to smaller items such as quaterlights and steps and most of all being at the end of the phone to discuss problems and progress.
The Restoration in pictures
As collected by Geoff and Paul from the previous owner. He was in Scotland, but the lorry appears to have spent at least some of its working life in Kent and East Sussex.
Finally thank you to my wife Cathy for putting up with me going out every day and coming back in a variety of different moods depending on how well the work went that day.
First job, after checking that it was still strong enough to move, was to remove the cab from the chassis. Paul’s yard crane came in very handy throughout the restoration.
Engine removal, also courtesy of the yard crane. It needed cleaning up and a thorough service/going over, but there wasn’t actually anything wrong with it internally.
The chassis after painting and with axles, pipework and other ancillaries reinstated.
Back from York, the refurbished cab is slowly and carefully lowered back into position.
The chassis after removal of surface rust, and awaiting its first coat of paint. Cab was restored by an outside contractor and, apparently, needed quite a bit of metal replacing throughout.
The cleaned and repainted engine back in place.
Tipper body needed a new wooden floor and mudguards, but was otherwise in pretty good order. Seen here after painting.
New tyres were fitted all round.
Signwriting done properly by
Cab in top coat and being fitted-up. The colour was chosen as one used by Ford originally on D-Series lorries supplied fully painted.
Eddie Ralph.
TRUCKS AT TRACTOR WORLD
As usual, the annual Tractor World event at Three Counties Showground Malvern, which this year took place over the weekend of February 21-22 attracted string support from lorry owners and enthusiasts, writes Peter Love
Although this is a two-day event, with a tractor-stuff auction on the Saturday, Sunday is generally considered to be ‘Lorry Day’ here. With ground conditions somewhat damp, the large areas of hard-standing available here were a huge advantage.
Sunday saw record attendances from the public, along with over 50 lorries and light commercials. Featured were ERF A and B series, EC6, E10, EC11s and 14, Foden Alpha 1, 4000 and others, besides Scammell R100, Scania LB110 Super, R112M and 113, Volvo F7 and F12, Leyland Clydesdale, a lovely Morris Marina 7cwt van, Diamond T, Peterbilt, Mack, Seddon Atkinson Super E, Bedford TL860, various Land Rovers of all types and Ford Transit Mk1 and a Thames Trader from an earlier age.
With the sunshine it was a great start for the season. Kelsey Media we would like to thank the exhibitors, traders and visitors who came to the show and for making the event so successful. If you have not been before do make a date and come next year.
1984
ex
Looking a treat and at the show both days was the Howard Hawkins 1976 Bedford
It was pleasing to see Chris Barnard’s Massey Ferguson coloured 1960 Standard 10 7cwt van within the main show.
Seddon Atkinson with Cummins 401 Super E320 looked a cracking
demonstrator and was a prize winner at the show.
1983 Leyland Constructor sixwheeler looked to be in fine fettle.
The lovely Volvo F7 of Lewis Weaver (a firm supporter of the show) alongside a 1971 ERF with Cummins 220 engine.
TK with beavertail.
Another looking a treat was this early Morris Marina 7cwt van, dating from January 1973, just five months after the Marina van’s launch in August 1972.
PRICE CUTS FROM MACHINE MART
Machine Mart have announced that their Spring/Summer 2026 catalogue is now available and, they claim, it includes over 400 new products and more than a thousand price cuts on existing ones. The new catalogue is bound to whet your engineering appetite!
The new products featured include additions to the popular SSSH Air Max Air Compressor range, as well as vertical air compressors for those garages where space is in short supply. Oh, and Clarke have also launched a new range of self-
KEITH FULLER
journey.
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Keith Fuller last September, after he had done so much to establish what is now a successful family haulage company alongside his brother, writes David Reed.
Keith and his brother Graham first started their own haulage business with just two trucks after losing their father at the ages of 15 and 20 respectively. Determined to provide for their family, they continued their father’s coal business for some time. Through hard work and dedication, they built the
propelled petrol lawnmowers, at VAT-inclusive prices starting from just £229.
The catalogue runs to 484 pages, and is, apparently, “bursting at the seams with power tools, workshop machinery and gardening tools to tackle those spring projects.” But perhaps best of all, they will send you one free, gratis, and for nothing!
All you have to do is log on to machinemart.co.uk, call in at one of Machine Mart’s 65 stores across the country, or call 0115 956 5555 and ask for one.
haulage company together into the successful operation it remains today — still family-run some 60 years later, although now with a fleet of 20 trucks and more than 35 members of staff.
The very Foden that played such a key role at Keith’s funeral has been part of that journey and stands as a powerful reminder of his commitment to both family and company. The Foden eightwheeler, fitted with a Gardner 112bhp engine, has been with the business through many changes, including a relocation, and was proudly driven by Keith’s brother Graham at the funeral. With a lifelong interest in trucks, Graham had always dreamed of restoring a classic vehicle to take to rallies around the country. That was when he first saw the Foden. At the time when Graham first saw the Foden, he was not in a position to buy it. However, he continued to phone the owner regularly to check whether it was still available. Seeing how much the truck meant to his brother, Keith quietly purchased the Foden for him.
True to his playful nature, Keith devised a plan involving one of their customers
TRUST OPENING DAY
West Yorkshire’s Transport Heritage Trust (formerly the Aire Valley Transport Group) is holding a Grand Opening Day on Sunday April 26 at its
Eastwood Works premises in Keighley (postcode BD21 3HD). Though predominantly a bus and coach collection, this Trust’s vehicles also include commercial vehicles, cars and memorabilia.
inventing a story to lure Graham out of the office, allowing Keith to “smuggle” the truck into their yard. When Graham returned and saw the Foden waiting for him, he was completely overwhelmed by his brother’s generosity.
The model S21 Gardner 6LW, 1962 Foden was fully refurbished in 1988 and over the following years has been shown at rallies up and down the country. It has been photographed extensively and featured in numerous issues of this magazine. something that Graham takes great pride in. As Graham explains:
“It’s really hard to put into words the wonderful feelings that Keith’s gesture in purchasing the Foden — my pride and joy — has given me.”
Graham showed his respect and gratitude to Keith by driving the Foden at his funeral, leading the cortege alongside two tractor units from the current FSW fleet.
In the office, Keith never lost his character, from the non-stop banter with the drivers to his wonderful sense of humour. His presence will be greatly missed. He will always be remembered fondly as “Our Kid”.
The event is sponsored by regular CVC advertisers Network Bus & Truck Parts. For more information about the event, and the Trust in general, go to www.avtg.co.uk email westyorktht@ gmail.com or phone 07957 630102.
Graham Fuller's Foden accompanying ‘Our Kid’ on his final
This diary has been compiled using information supplied to Kelsey Media’s events diary partner Publishing-works. To get your event included in this listing, which is shared across all relevant titles within Kelsey Medis, send details to Sue Fixter; sue@publishing-works.com
While every effort is made to ensure information published is accurate and correct at the time of going to press, Publishing-works, Kelsey Media and Station House Publishing are unable to accept responsibility for errors, changes or cancellations. To avoid disappointment and wasted journeys, we strongly recommend that readers check details, and the type of vehicle expected, before travelling long distances.
MARCH 19-22
STEAM GALA
Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, The Railway Station, Haworth, West Yorkshire BD22 8NJ 01535 645214 admin@kwvr.co.uk www. kwvr.co.uk
MARCH 20-22
PRACTICAL CLASSICS CLASSIC CAR & RESTORATION SHOW
NEC, Birmingham info@necrestorationshow. com www.necrestorationshow.com
SPRING STEAM GALA
Bluebell Railway, Sheffield Park Station, Sheffield Park TN22 3QL 01825 720800 enquiries@bluebellrailway.co.uk www.bluebell-railway.com
MARCH 21
RED BY NIGHT
The Black Country Living Museum, Tipton Road, Dudley DY1 4SQ 0121 557 9643 info@bclm.com www. bclm.co.uk 6.30 - 10pm
MARCH 21-22
HAUNTED HERITAGE
Crich Tramway Village - The National Tramway Museum, Near Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 5DP 01773 0854321 enquiry@tramway.co.uk www.tramway.co.uk 10pm - 1am
MARCH 22
THE ESSEX AUTOJUMBLE
Museum of Power, Hatfield Road, Langford, Maldon, Essex CM9 6QA 01621 843183 www.museumofpower. org.uk 10am - 3pm
MARCH 28
LINCOLN AUTOJUMBLE
Lincolnshire Showground, Grange De Lings, Lincoln LN2 2NA 07720 950920 info@lincolnautojumble. com www.lincolnautojumble.com 7am - 2pm
Advances in digital technology that have taken place over the past twenty or thirty years have transformed our lives. Before the advent of digital photography we were lumbered with having to buy lm and frequently reload our cameras. Then we had the uncertainty of getting the exposures and focusing right. There was the long, anxious wait while lms were being developed at the lab. In the case of negative lms we had the cost of printing as well as processing. The individual cost per picture mounted up over time and inevitably there were instances of pictures coming out sub-standard which meant wasted money. All in all it was quite a costly and time-consuming business.
How much easier life has become now we have digital cameras. Accurate metering and focusing, as well as the ability to take large numbers of pictures on one SD card, have made things so simple and taken away all the stress. Coupled with this, digital images don’t take up any space when they are all stored on the computer. Individual images can be printed when required but it’s a real boon to be able to view pictures on screen at the click of a key. The cost savings are massive. Once you have paid out on a digital camera, SD card and battery, every picture you take is free. The pictures here all date from before digital photography but thanks to modern scanners have been converted into digital images.
Taken on a very basic camera 64 years ago, this shot shows a 1959 Leyland LAD Comet tipper belonging to Willcock & Co of Chapel-en-le-Frith. The Peak District was, and is, an excellent place to see tippers at work. Unfortunately I don’t have any details of the owners of this vehicle but doubtless some readers might remember them.
Caught on camera in Shef eld in 1965, this 17-year old Seddon Mk.V coal lorry is a true veteran. KWB986 dates from 1948 so the owners, Brightside & Carbrook Shef eld Cooperative Society certainly got their money’s worth out of it. Presumably it only worked in daylight hours as the headlamps have been blanked off.
This shot taken in Newark in 1964 only underlines my point about picture quality in the early days. Despite all efforts this shot of an Atkinson L1586 tanker of Scunthorpe based C P Marshall (Transport) Ltd suffers with slight motion blur. However it is said that a sub-standard shot might be better than no shot at all! Registered UVP77 it dates from 1957.
Not the most common type of Seddon six-wheeler, this 1974 registered Eastern British Road Services 22/DD6/V8.510 platform lorry loaded with concrete slabs would have taken its power from a Perkins V8. Eastern BRS was headquartered in Derby. The photograph dates from August 1977.
Of more modest proportions is this little Albion Claymore belonging to removals company Taylor Transport of Reading. Dating from 1964, it’s a CL3.AL powered by Albion’s 3.83-litre four-cylinder, under oor engine and has a Sparshatts 1,400cu.ft, integral pantechnicon body. Next to it stands one of the rm’s Bedford TKs which was second-hand from Pickfords.
Now here’s something a little different – a Scottish-built Terex R17 dump truck. Terex Equipment, a division of General Motors, was based in Motherwell and built some pretty impressive machines many of which were exported overseas. Details written on the front bumper tell us that it is 7m long by 2.6m high and 3m wide, weighing 13.6 tonnes unladen.
Once a regular sight throughout the UK, Swift Transport Services, of Northampton, was taken over by Edinburgh based Christian Salvesen in October 1993. Swift boasted a eet of some 700 vehicles and had 22 depots nationwide. They had many blue-chip customers including Ford, Unipart and Lucas. This 1993 registered Leyland DAF 85 artic was photographed heading up the M1 in 1995 – two years after the takeover. Just 12 years later Salvesen was bought up by Norbert Dentressangle and the combined group was then absorbed into American giant XPO in 2015.
One well-known West Country haulage rm who have been going strong for over 50 years is William C Hocking of Roundswell Business Park, Barnstaple in North Devon, the owners of this Volvo FH12 seen at Flitwick Industrial Estate in 1996. Founder Bill Hocking began with just one lorry back in 1974 and now operates a sizable eet of some 50 trucks including 44 ton artics.
When this Foden Alpha Mk.2, A2.4.R curtain-sider joined the eet of Hardstaff Haulage at Kingston-on-Soar in 2004 the old-established haulier was still going strong but all that was to change in 2015. In February of that year came the news that the Hardstaff Group, which included former Foden agents Charnwood Trucks had entered administration. After Foden’s closure in 2006 the rm had switched to running Mercedes-Benz. The company had a long history and went by the name of T Baden Hardstaff. Its concrete barrier division was unaffected by the closure and continues to supply a range of traf c security barriers.
By 1950s standards the Morris and Austin Series III models were very stylish. This is the Morris 5-tonner with factory-built dropside body and BMC 5.1 litre diesel engine.
AUSTIN AND MORRIS SERIES III.
Peter Davies takes a look at the first badge-engineered commercials to emerge following the formation of BMC in 1952.
If we go back in time some 70 years there were half a dozen or more well-known UK manufacturers competing for a share of the light to medium-weight commercial vehicle market. These included Bedford, Fordson Thames, Austin, Morris Commercial, Commer, Dodge and others. While Bedford and Fordson
were generally regarded as market leaders, Austin and Morris were equally significant players with an extensive choice of models in the 2 to 7-ton payload class.
Both the Austin Motor Company of Longbridge and Morris Commercial Cars of Adderley Park had a long history in commercial vehicle
production. Austin, under the leadership of founder Herbert Austin, later Lord Austin, built their first lorries as far back as 1913 although it wasn’t until the late thirties that they made a real impact with their K range of bonneted models for 1.5 to 5-ton payloads and which later evolved into the popular post-war ‘Loadstar’.
In 1950 Austin acquired a former government owned 22-acre factory at Cofton Hackett, Longbridge, to expand their production of commercials.
Historically Morris, formerly Morris Commercial, was perhaps the more important lorry producer having first entered the market with a one-tonner in 1924 to compete with the growing influx of cheap American imports. Led by William Morris, who later became Lord Nuffield, the company produced a wide range of lorries during the thirties and, at one time, had plans to expand into the heavy-duty sector. Originally based in the industrial Soho region of Birmingham, the company moved to Adderley Park, formerly the home of Wolseley Cars, in 1929.
In the early post war period, before the advent of BMC, Austin and Morris Commercial were in effect rivals in the light to medium weight market up to 5-tons payload. One difference was that Austin stuck with normal-control while Morris Commercial launched a forwardcontrol model, the FV, in April 1948.
Lightest model was the Austin ‘303’ for a 2/3 ton payload. The equivalent Morris was simply marketed as their ‘2/3 Tonner’. These were recognizable by their 6-stud wheels.
This early Austin brochure gave details of the 303 and 503 models in both normal and forward-control. The 403 four-tonner was dealt with in a separate brochure.
In its original form it had a coachbuilt cab but in 1953 an updated model, the FVS, featured an early version of the proprietary Willenhall steel cab.
Having once been in competition with one another, Austin and Morris were merged in 1952 to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC). From then on, the two makes were progressively commonised in the run up to the launch of the ‘Series III’ models in March 1955. The new range covered nominal payload ratings from 2/3 tons up to 5 tons in both normal and forward-control. A forward-control 7-tonner was added in July 1955 but
this was more widely known as a BMC as opposed to an Austin or Morris.
Normal-control models featured what was basically a modernised version of the Austin Loadstar cab with re-styled front wings and bonnet. Austin and Morris versions were badged as such and had their own distinctive front grille panels. The cab on forwardcontrol models was a version of the Willenhall unit that was fitted to the Morris Commercial FVS. Forwardcontrol models used the same style of front grilles as those fitted to the normal-control versions to distinguish the two makes.
The writer’s first encounter with the new Series III was this 1955 forward-control ‘503’ which he captured on camera in Aberystwyth. It belonged to hay and straw merchants A T Sharp & Son of Wellington, Salop.
The writer photographed this early 1955 Austin 503 tipper near his former home in Cardiganshire. The lorry belonged to D J Herbert of Ammanford and had just tipped a load of agricultural lime at a nearby farm.
Willenhall Cab
The Willenhall cab was a pressed steel structure designed and built by the Willenhall Motor Radiator Co Ltd of Station Works, Neachells Lane, Willenhall. It was originally developed in conjunction with ERF Ltd who funded the tooling costs. ERF, who referred to it as the B330/1/J, needed an all-steel cab to suit export territories, as an alternative to their Jennings coachbuilt V cab. It first appeared on ERFs in 1951 but by 1954 the Sandbach company had taken a big step forward in cab design with the ultra-modern KV ‘Kleer View’ with its wrap-round screen and oval grille. As a consequence
Though Morris and Austin were both part of BMC they each retained some autonomy when it came to marketing and literature. This was the early Morris Series III range brochure. The playful dogs add a light-hearted touch!
The whole range of Morris Series III vehicles is displayed here. A ‘701’ seven-tonner is included but they were more commonly referred to as BMCs.
their demand for the Willenhall cab diminished.
Having tooled up for series production, Willenhall needed to find other customers for the cab and Morris Commercial were to choose it for their FVS. In its earliest Morris Commercial form it featured a beehive shaped grille. Some other manufacturers used the cab too, including Guy Motors for their Invincible Mk.I (originally launched as the ‘Goliath’) and Dennis, who fitted it on their Centaur tractor units.
The Series III Range
Looking at the Austin/Morris Series III range in more detail, there were
models designed for nominal payloads of 2/3, 4 and 5 tons available in both normal and forward-control plus tractor units (referred to as ‘prime movers’ by the makers) for 12 tons gcw or up to 15 tons gcw when fitted with the optional Eaton 2-speed axle. These units were of a similar specification to the 5-tonners.
The lightest 2/3 tonners were on a wheelbase of 11ft 6in. The normalcontrol version took an 11ft 6in body while its forward-control sibling provided increased load space with a 14ft 4in deck length. Both models had 6-stud, 20in wheels with 7.00x20, 10-ply tyres. A choice of power came
This high-angle, three-quarter rear view of a Series III forward-control ‘303’ depicts the conventional ladder type chassis frame and the two large rear windows in the BMC version of the Willenhall cab.
This colour illustration by the writer shows an integral van built on a WE threeton chassis-scuttle for Fry’s Chocolate of Bristol. It was owned by BRS Contracts.
Series III models were also referred to as FE (forwardcontrol) and WE (normal-control). This is an Austin FE three-tonner for London based builders’ merchants Brooks Phillips.
Heaviest of the Morris WE Series III models was the 5-tonner seen here in primer with standard factory-built timber dropside body.
Another large BRS Contracts customer to use Series III vehicles was ‘Bottogas’ whose livery appears on this Austin FE five-tonner dating from 1956.
A complete normal-control WE five-ton tipper was part of the standard Series III range and was in direct completion with the likes of Bedford’s J5S and Fordson’s ET6. This is the Austin version.
CLOSE-UP ON CLASSICS
Chassis-scuttles were available for customers needing bespoke integral body work such as large volume vans and pantechnicons.
By 1950s standards the WE cab interior offered a comfortable driving environment and had the benefit of a dual passenger seat to accommodate an extra crew member.
from BMC’s 3.4-litre, 4-cyl diesel with an output of 58bhp or their 4-litre, 6-cyl petrol engine with 90bhp.
Moving up the weight scale we come to the 4-tonner on a wheelbase of 13ft 4in. The normal and forward-control models took bodywork of 14ft 4in and 16ft 6in respectively. Engine choice was basically the same as the 2/3 tonners. Wheels and tyres were also the same size as on the 2/3 tonners but the forward-control model differed in having 8-stud wheels.
Next came the heaviest models, the 5-tonners, which were based on the same 13ft 4in wheelbase as the 4-tonners and took similar body lengths. However, the normal-control
Series III tractor units, or to use BMC’s preferred term ‘prime movers’, grossed 12 tons or up to 15 tons gcw when fitted with an Eaton 2-speed axle. They were mainly designed for automatic-coupling trailers.
A Morris WE Series III right-hand drive five-tonner in chassis cab form and, judging by the wooden box strapped to the chassis, it might be an export model.
This is a typical Series III Austin-Scammell artic with automatic coupling which in standard form grossed 12 tons. Note the additional kerbside window to aid visibility in busy urban traffic.
5-tonner also had an option of a 10ft wheelbase tipper chassis. When it came to power units there was still a choice of petrol or diesel but the diesel was the more powerful BMC 5.1-litre, 6-cylinder with an output of
105bhp. Standard tyres were 7.50x20 on 8-stud wheels. Interestingly the manufacturers pointed out in their brochure that the 10ft wheelbase tipper chassis could also be adapted for use as a tractor unit.
REIVER RESTORED
Following our feature on Andrew Davies's Leyland Octopus in the February issue, Bob Weir tells the story of another lorry from this remarkable collection.
Shropshire is one of the least populated counties in England.
The economy is mostly based on agriculture and farming plays a big role in the local community. Andrew’s family went into business in 1928, and up until his recent retirement was involved with grain and bulk animal feeds. His company also specialised in the design, manufacture, and repair of
all types of commercial vehicle bodies, including dropside platforms and fourdeck livestock containers.
“My father had been making platform and tipping bodies for many years to use on our own lorries,” he explained. “He bought his first bulk blower on a six-wheel Albion Reiver in 1965. The company fleet gradually converted to bulk blowers and by
Cab interior is as spotless as the rest of the lorry. As was usual with Leyland products at the time, the metalwork is finished in pink primer.
the mid-1970s we were building the bodies in the company workshop.”
The bodies acquired a good reputation, and word soon spread around the farming community. “We were being approached by other animal feed companies to supply bodies, so we ended up building them full time. To acquire the right parts, we bought a stock of bulk blowing spares from a company up in Lancashire that had recently gone out of business.”
By 1984, Andrew and his father had outgrown their original premises and moved to the workshops of livestock container specialists, J. H. Thorne & Son. “By pooling knowledge and resources our company called ‘Bulkrite’ was able to offer a complete service,”
Andrew Davies comes from a family of haulage contractors
Andrew said. “My wife and son were also involved in the business.”
According to Andrew, Albion lorries like the Reiver have played an important role in the family’s history. “We’ve used a number of different makes over the years, and my father was a big fan of Albion,” he said. “Apart from FEA926D we have still got a later Super Reiver (TAW677J) which has been with the family from new and used to work for the company. We still take the lorries to road runs and shows, and they are appreciated by other enthusiasts.”
Reiver Ranges
Reivers were a big part of the post-war family of Albion lorries. The original Reiver model was introduced in the 1950s, and a lot were exported as tippers. A typical six-wheeled tipper in 1956 would have been powered by an Albion 5.5 litre diesel engine driven through a constant-mesh fivespeed gearbox. These models could operate up to a maximum weight of 13.25 tons, with double-drive rear bogie. Edbro was a popular choice for tipping gear, using a 6cu.yd capacity, all-steel electrically welded body.
The ’Super Reiver’ was introduced in 1961. The model was equipped
with the Leyland 400 engine, although specialist versions like the RE229T concrete mixer used the AEC AV505 unit. Super Reiver models had a gross weight rating of around 18 tons, along with heavier rear springs and axles. The specification also included a reinforced chassis frame, larger tyres and full air-pressure braking. This was in contrast to the air-hydraulic brakes of the normal Reiver.
Another notable change was the Burman recirculating-ball-type steering gear, which meant the model was lighter to handle than the standard Reiver despite its greater weight. Both the latest Reiver and Super Reiver used the same Leyland 400-S engine, the
THE RESTORATION
Power Plus 125bhp diesel. The engine had to work harder on the Super Reiver resulting in slightly reduced acceleration figures, despite the Super Reiver’s lower ratio axles. Although the two models were different in several ways, fuel economy was much the same.
Reivers were sold with a Leyland badge from September 1972 and the final incarnation featured the Super
FEA926D in the livery of showman Philip Paris.
FEA 926D when first acquired by Andrew Davies and in the livery of J and A Smith of Maddiston.
Though the lorry looked okay when bought, closer inspection revealed the need for a full rebuild.
Original dash looks neat and functional.
The LAD cab was quite advanced in its day and was designed to give the best combination of driver comfort, safety, and efficient use of space within its intended price bracket
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LAD CAB
LAD cabs were the brainchild of James Milner Phillips, an automotive engineer and businessman. From 1944 he was managing director of Motor Panels Ltd, a major producer of steel bodywork for the UK car industry. Phillips was also heavily involved with Donald Campbell’s high-profile land speed record attempts, and under his guidance the Bluebird Proteus CN7 became the fastest four-wheeled vehicle in the world.
Motor Panels Ltd was based in Coventry. The company had
been part of Jaguar Cars (then SS cars) since the 1930s and was subsequently sold to Rubery Owen. Clients included such well-known names as Alvis, Armstrong Siddeley, Austin Motor Company and Daimler.
Motor Panels Ltd was building lorry cabs by the 1950s, and under Phillips direction developed the MP MK II or ‘LAD’ cab, a reference to LeylandAlbion-Dodge. Albion was already a customer, and the new ‘Vista Vue’ cab offered better visibility, ergonomics and driver comfort. Albion’s parent
G-cab, which became available in March 1978. This had a colour scheme borrowed from the prestigious Rover 3500 saloon, and a redesigned instrument panel featuring a two-man tachograph, air, oil pressure, fuel, and water gauges. There were also warning lights for battery charge, low air, indicators, and main beam. Trailer coupling lamps were fitted where applicable.
Small Beginnings
Andrew remembers the early days of the business when his father was into general haulage. “In the 1950s and early 1960s my father ran five lorries,” he explained. “One of his biggest contracts was hauling steel from South Wales. He also ran a small fleet of buses as a sideline.
According to Andrew, the family’s
haulage fleet peaked in the 1980s. “We probably had fifteen lorries by then,” he recalls. “We ferried a lot of livestock to Shrewsbury auction, and even went south to the ferry at Dover. Other loads included pit props for Derbyshire coal mines, and bulk animal feeds. We had an arrangement with Lloyds Animal Feeds based in Oswestry. We cut back on haulage in the years before I retired as Bulkrite continued to expand. The fleet eventually stabilised at six lorries.”
Although Andrew’s father, Albert, liked the Albion Reiver, he was not keen on the later Leyland version. “He called it the ‘Woolworths cab’ because he thought the design was cheap,” he explained. “That said, we bought other Leyland lorries including a ‘Bear,’ although it was a bit unreliable.”
company Leyland were also interested in using this design for their new generation model Comet.
The result was the first successful ‘club cab’, which was eventually shared across several lorry manufacturers. There were two versions of the cab, depending on the size of the doors. Dodge used the new LAD cab for their model 300, first shown at the 1958 Motor Show. Dodge continued to use the cab until 1966, and Albion until 1976. Over 135,000 cabs were produced in total.
Steel Lorry
FEA926D was registered in West Bromwich in 1966 and was originally new to a steel merchant. “I don’t know the name of the company, but like most commercial vehicles it probably led a hard life,” Andrew said. “The rest of the lorry’s history is a bit of a grey area, but I’ve seen a photo on the internet of the lorry decked out in the colours of showman Philip Paris.”
Andrew eventually bought the lorry from enthusiast John Douglas, based in Cumbria. “I first bumped into John at a rally not long after the millenium,” he explained. “He had seen my Super Reiver TAW677J, which I had recently restored and congratulated me on the result. He also mentioned he had his own Albion Reiver. The lorry apparently needed some work and if John ever wanted to sell, would I be
Flat body has been renovated and looks ready for its first load, though that’s unlikely to ever happen.
On the move. Andrew has fitted a higher-ratio differential to improve the lorry’s cruising speed.
interested in buying it as a restoration project.”
Several years passed from their original meeting, when Andrew got a phone call out of the blue. “I would say this was around 2009,” he recalls. “John was now keen to sell the lorry and wanted to know if I was still interested. I drove up to Cumbria with my low-loader to see the Reiver, which was painted in the livery of Smith of Maddiston and had a flat body on the back.”
J & A Smith of Maddiston Limited was a Scottish haulage and storage company based near Falkirk. At the time of its sale to United Freight Holdings Ltd in 1968, they were operating a fleet of 350 vehicles both in the UK and on the continent.
The Restoration
“I suppose you could say the lorry looked alright, but once we got the Albion back to Shropshire and gave it a full inspection it was obviously going to need a proper makeover,” said Andrew. “The first thing we did was take the body off, remove the axles, and strip it down to the bare chassis rails.”
Once Andrew and his helpers had split the chassis, they sandblasted the inner rails and had them rustproofed. “We pressed some new chassis rails at work, and overhauled the back suspension,” Andrew said. “We also fitted high ratio diffs to improve the cruising speed.”
Andrew recalls that the lorries mechanics were fine, although the original Leyland 400 engine had been replaced with a 401. However, they did have some issues with the lorry’s cab. “It had rotted considerably,” he recalls. “It was also wearing fibre glass doors for some reason. I know they used to put them on cement mixers back in the day, but they were also on FEA926D. The roof and guttering all had to be renewed, and I would say the job took the best part of a year.”
Fortunately, Andrew could use his facilities at work to complete the job, which included spraying on a new coat of paint. The lorry was finally ready to roll in 2010. “One of my favourite rallies is the August Bank Holiday County of Salop Steam Engine Show at Onslow Park near Shrewsbury,” said Andrew. “I’d entered FEA926D hoping the lorry would be ready, but there was a lastminute hitch the night before the show. The body still had to be put on. It was all hands to the proverbial pump, but we got there in the end.”
Andrew was pleased to complete the project as the Reiver model has a special place in the family history. “My father bought several of these Reivers in the old days,” he recalls. “We kept them for five years before moving them on. The lorries we were using would have originally been plated at 18-ton gross with eight stud wheels. Before we put them in service my father would convert the lorries to 20-tons gross plate, and tenstud wheels. I decided to do the same thing to FEA926D, so it looks identical to an old Albert Davies Albion Reiver.”
Andrew has handled a few lorries in his day, and says the Reiver is straightforward to drive. “FEA926D isn’t fitted with power steering and is a bit noisy,” he said. “I quite like the constant mesh gearbox, even though you must feel for each gear. The Clayton Dewandre brakes do a job, and overall, the lorry is a decent ride.”
Still a very welcome view for a driver, especially after a night out or three…
STRATO MEMORIES
Having read the excellent February 2026 edition of my Classic and Vintage Commercials subscription I have been compelled to write in. Firstly, regarding the Leyland Octopus from Stoke on Trent Technical College. I remember this fondly from my time there between 1987 and 1990 as an apprentice HGV mechanic, sorry technician!! It was regularly moved in and out of the workshop while I was there, but they never let us loose in it!!
Secondly I was drawn to the Strato write up as my apprenticeship was served in the Seddon Atkinson dealer in Stoke, Mainline Trucks who took over the old Ryland depot. I started in
CONVOY DU
1987 which saw the end of the 2-11,311 & 4-11 range which ironically was a very strong range. As is often the case, they got it right and then stopped making them!! The exception was the International Harvester engine which wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. In fact I remember removing a Harvester engine from an old 300 series six-wheel tipper and fitted a second hand L10 250, which I have to say perked it up a treat.
The Strato was very well received by all who drove them, light, powerful and now a well-appointed cab.
We prepared a few for numerous local hauliers who’s preferred spec was a trip to Cummins West Brom for
I read the letter titled ‘Spoils of war!’ in Decembers edition and have the answer for your correspondent.
The device is part of the convoy system that German and early war French military vehicles carried and used at night.
The system was designed and manufactured by a company called
NOTEK, from where the light gets its name in popular enthusiast culture.
The ‘Helmet’ like piece on the front left mudguard was a shroud that prevented light from being seen by aircraft or observers in an elevated position and was fitted to nearly every German military vehicle.
The system includes the distinctive front light and also a rectangular unit fitted to the rear with a set of six lights which would be seen as a single light source when driving at the correct distance in a convoy thus helping prevent straggling or bunching up, which would be dangerous when the enemy had command of the skies (which the allies did from 1944!)
To request your NEW Sealey hand tools brochure, call 01284 757500
Send your letters to:
Classic and Vintage Commercials, PO Box 1243, Spalding PE11 9HE or e-mail: cvc.ed@kelsey.co.uk
a “tickle”, vertical Eminox stacks, highratio diff and 13 speed Fuller gearbox for the ultimate pulling machine.
Still pulling hard at 80mph these were and remain the most impressive thing I have ever had the pleasure to be involved with. The sound of these engines even just on tickover just makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!! I have still got my old Cummins top-end setting tools, though I haven’t used them for a quarter of a century.
Great times, great trucks and fondly missed, they still don’t look out of place with the modern stuff.
Anyway, great magazine, look forward to the next issue every month.
Shaun Stonier
These were part of a collection of markers including the towing triangle that some of our older readers who drove on the continent might have seen on the roof of German lorries towing trailers and width gauge indicators, which told you if you were going to hit something before you scraped the mudguard and earned the driver the wrath of his Feldwebel (German equivalent of Sergeant!)
The symbols on the left-hand mudguard of the captured (Beute) Bedford MW include the DAK (Deutsches Afrika Korps ) palm tree symbol (without the Swastika as it remains illegal to portray it in Germany), the D shaped symbol of the 21st Panzer Division (formerly 5th Light Division) and the special unit symbol denoting a vehicle of a motorised engineer unit. The J might denote the sub-unit.
Ian Armstrong
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Just read the article about Harris Brothers QL and your comment at the end. Somewhere in the past I was told that QL stood for Quadruple Locomotion as in four-wheel-drive. I don’t know if that is correct but it would make sense!
I have followed the rally and road run scene for over 50years and have taken hundreds and hundreds of photos. Looking back over them made me wonder what has happened to so many of the vehicles that have been on preservation but are no longer seen out and about?
Some obviously get sold and turn up in a new livery, but there must be dozens in sheds gathering dust, surely no one would scrap a restored classic unless something serious spelt its end! this made me think would there be an idea for a feature called “Where are they Now?”
Anyway, thanks for a great read and keep up your comment column.
Martin Caddy
An interesting thought, and one that’s crossed my mind on many occasions. It can happen for several reasons, but in my experience as far as lorries are concerned there are three main ones. The first is
TOO FAST?
In the Papworth archive in the latest issue you showed a Freight Rover fitted with a Rover 3.5 V8 supplied to Cambridgeshire Police.
Prior to my retirement I spent 25 years as a HGV driver with HM Prison Service at the supplies and transport division in Burton on Trent. HMPS operated a fleet of these twin-wheel mini-buses fitted with this engine and a five-speed manual gearbox. They were
Two ERF eight wheelers owned by Nicholas Watts of Deeping St Nicholas. Both have been owned long term and have in the past been seen at many events including Gaydon. In recent years they’ve stayed local and been shown mainly at events on the owner’s premises, but that certainly doesn’t imply loss of interest.
that not everyone appreciates that all vehicles, including fully-restored ones, need ongoing care and attentions, and while the person who carried out the restoration will probably have the ability and resources to do it, a subsequent owner might not.
Secondly, many enthusiasts who tackle one renovation enjoy it so much that they take on another, and once that’s completed attention shifts to the new toy. And finally, none of
issued to the maximum-security estate but maintained in our workshop. We understood that they were allegedly capable of well in excess of 100mph, but I don’t think any of the workshop staff ever dared test this to the limit!
When our vehicles were due for replacement most were disposed of through the auctions but I understand that these ‘Super Sherpas’ could not be released to the auction-buying public and, after being stripped of all security stuff, were sent to be destroyed for scrap. I think this goes a long way to explain why the Cambridge police version has not been heard of again after it’s decommissioning.
Stephen Thornley
Thanks; now you mention it I think I may have heard something like this in the past, though I’m blowed if I can remember where! Ed
us are getting any younger, and not everyone wants to drive long distances once into their 70s. This doesn’t, however, mean that the lorry is no longer cherished or cared-for.
A ‘Where are they now?’ feature certainly sounds a good idea, but I’d like to extend it to include news from owners of old favourites which haven’t been out much recently. Contributions welcome! Ed
BROWN’S
SCANIA
In your December issue you stated that a 110 Scania painted in Carnation Livery had belonged to Road Services Caledonian. It didn’t. It belonged to T. C. Brown & Co of Lochmaben who had many vehicles painted in Carnation livery. We had Albion Clydesdales, Guy Warriors, Fodens, Seddons and an eight-wheel Scammell on contract. Carnation was the main contract of the company. I was employed by T.C. Brown for 18 years.
All success to your magazine. Bruce Emmerson
SEWERS FROM SHROPSHIRE
The dateline is September 1965 and our venue is the Doseley Pipe Company, based in Dawley, Shropshire. Originally opened in 1928 as the Doseley Brick Co. Ltd., the firm switched to salt-glazed stoneware pipework in 1932. Doseley soon became a major supplier, and their pipes were distributed nationally. Pipework manufacture continued until the mid-1970s, by which time UPVC had become the material of choice for underground pipes.
Anyway, ten years prior to that, clay was still king, and we see pipes being loaded on to a flat semi-trailer pulled by a Bedford TK tractor unit. The Bedford carries registration EUX510C. UX was a Shropshire area code, and the 510C number and year letter together tell us that the Bedford would have been almost-new when photographed – C was the 1965 year-letter, and the EUX***C sequence ended at EUX694C.
labour-intensive, though we suspect that having five people doing it was for the photographer’s benefit rather than a reflection of normal practice. Note that it’s big pipes on the bottom, smaller pipes on top, and the use of straw packing in some places but not everywhere. Roping and sheeting a load like this would also require care and skill to secure the load enough to stop it moving but not so tight as to risk compression-damage.
The kilns where, presumably, the pipes were fired can be seen behind the lorry. Today, demand for clay pipe is restricted to repairing existing pipework, heritage-type work and a few highly specialised infrastructure-type projects. Doseley Pipe Company was officially ‘struck off’ at Companies House in 1998.
Possibly of greater interest however is the method of loading; clay pipes are of course delicate, and getting the load on right was a highly skilled business. It was also quite
Today, Dawley is a district of Telford New Town and the pipeworks site is a mixture of light industrial unit and new-build housing. All served, of course, by modern UPVC piping. David Bagnall
VOLVO RETURNS HOME
But in the 1980s, Roy Phillips drove this 1983 Volvo F12 as an employed driver. Thirty years later he tracked his old lorry down in Ireland, bought it home, and carried out a top-class restoration. This is the story, as told by Roy himself…
Iwas born in St Clears which is near Carmarthen in West Wales and still live there today. I passed my Class 1 HGV driving test in February 1983, and two years later I joined O J Williams of St Clears, and worked for the firm for 7½ years. At first, I drove a variety of their lorries, but after a couple of years I was allocated Volvo F12 A229SBX and drove it for 5½ years. A229SBX was almost-new at the time and delivered as a 4x2 tractor unit, but almost immediately sent to Derby where a tag-axle was fitted in anticipation of hauling heavy loads including steel.
O J Williams were a general transport and haulage company with fuel tankers and general haulage using flat trailers. As well as moving steel, they also stored and delivered fertiliser for ICI, and on top of all that they were a builder’s merchants and agricultural tractor dealership.
The business was run by Mrs Dilys Williams, wife of the late O J Williams, along with her son John Williams. The general manager was Derek Kirkwood, and my boss was Vincent Vaughan, the transport manager.
Fast-forward now to 2016, and I was at the All-Wales Truck Show, held
at the United Counties showground. I was there with a group of friends, one of whom mentioned that he had traced one of the lorries he once drove by entering its registration number into Google, and finding photographs of it Flicker.
A few days later I tried the same with A229SBX, and saw pictures of her at a show in Northern Ireland. By this point she was dark red in colour, and I also noticed a Mont Blanc Tunnel sticker on the windscreen.
I later spoke to Ron Wetherall, a good friend of mine who is also a renowned lorry photographer. He
knew who had taken the photo, got in touch with him, and between them they traced the owner. This was a Mr Tom Fitzgerald, based in County Cork in the Irish Republic. Within ten days of them contacting Tom, he was in touch with me. We had a long chat about the lorry and its history, and a friendship was formed. I also found another photo of her on Flickr, in white, with a tanker semi-trailer and a TIR plate on hr grille.
Later that year I was on a motorbike holiday touring Ireland with some friends. We made arrangements to call in and see Tim before coming home. It was the first time I had seen A229SBX in over 30 years. Needless to say I asked Tom if there was any chance that the lorry might be for sale. His reply was that it was not for sale, and then, looking over his glasses straight at me “if I decide to sell her later it would only be to the right person.” We then all had a cup of tea with his family before making our way to the ferry.
We kept in touch and then, two years later, he offered to sell her to me, hoping that I would restore her and keep her. I bought her over the phone there and then. A few weeks later, Steve Roberts and I went over in one of his lorries and piggy-backed her back to Steve’s yard in West Wales. I bought two new batteries for her and a starter motor. With these fitted I started her, she turned over just twice and then started. After letting the air build up I was able to drive her around Steve’s yard.
The Restoration
In terms of actual work, we started with the usual stripdown to a chassis and cab. The chassis was in good condition overall; the only welding needed was to rectify a hairline crack. As expected, the cab needed work, but there were no real surprises; the rot we could see was the rot that there was. Specifically, the panel below the windscreen needed renewing along with the corner panels on each side of the grille. Additionally, there should be an externally-accessible locker behind the driver’s door, but this had been replaced by a fixed panel; the locker was reinstated.
The cab was then refinished in Performance Blue metallic; a finish chosen for no other reason than that I like it.
Extensive work was, however, needed to the cab interior. For some reason most of the original trim had been replaced with wood panelling; this was all taken out and replaced by original material obtained from various sources including Jason Dean in Southampton. The seats were re-covered and new windscreen rubbers fitted front and rear.
The engine, gearbox and axle were good so left alone. The brakes needed re-lining and new chambers throughout, along with new drums on the drive and tag axle. The fuel tank needed a little localised repair, and some fettling was done to the front bumper. Two new tyres went on the front, but at the back there are good part-worn Bridgestones.
All in all, it took five and a half years of Saturday mornings, plus a few holiday days, to restore her to the condition in which you see her today. Of course Covid happened during the restiration; this was a mixed blessing as although a lot of the suppliers and specialists I needed weren’t available, there were times when I could get on with work undisturbed.
My first show was the Mid Wales Crymych Vintage Show in August 2024, followed by three other shows. At the 2024 Mid Wales autumn Fayre Show I was presented with third place highly commended. The 2025 shows started in April with Barley Saturday in Cardigan, followed by the Heart of Wales run from Llandeilo to Pendine Sands and the Tivy Valley Vintage Show 40th Anniversary in May, and the Celtic Truck show, and Camrose Vintage Working Day. We also plan to be out and about a fair bit during 2026.
As with so many restorations, I have had a lot of help along the way from many people. I would like to thank publicly Steve Roberts for help, advice, and collecting her from Ireland, Kevin Penllain Garage for work and painting the lorry, Jan Wilmot for making the new interior and reupholstering the seats, Jason Dean for finding parts, Craig Wilshaw for welding and fabrication, ‘Shakey’ for advice and loan of his workshop manuals, Will Hughes for help with the electrics and interior, Glyn of W G Tyres in Carmarthen, John Court for pre-MoT checks, Dorian Thomas of Eagle Signs in St Clears for the signwriting and, last
Rear view. Tag axle was added, but when the lorry was still almost new.
but by no means least my partner Jane for all her help and support. Finally, if anyone knows where A299SBX went after leaving O J Williams of St Clears in the mid-1990s, and when, exactly, she went to Ireland, I would be very interested to hear. My email address is davidroy2@aol.com
Roy Phillips (right) with his friend Ron Weatherall, who helped Roy find his old lorry.
At the monthly ‘D’s Diner’ breakfast gathering near Cross Hands (photo, Ashley Lovering).
THE RESTORATION
The author on seeing ‘his’ old lorry for the first time in 30 years.
As expected, the cab needed work, including reinstating this external locker.
Exemplary attention to detail is evident throughout.
Cab interior needed an almostcomplete remake…
Many people helped with this project, including Roy’s partner Jane.
Work started with the usual removal of running gear from the chassis.
Cab painting underway.
Being unloaded after transport back home from Ireland.
Area under the windscreen is a common rot-spot on Volvo F12 cabs.
Chassis, seen here in primer, was essentially very sound.
CHARITY GATHERING & ROAD RUN
SUNDAY 26 APRIL
VILLAGE HALL AREA, THE CAUSEWAY, BODLE STREET GREEN, EAST SUSSEX, BN27 4UB
Please do bring a vehicle along, 350 came in 2025!
Steam & Miniatures, Tractors, Cars of all ages, Stationary Engines, Commercials, Motor-Cycles. In the Village Hall - miniature railways, engineering models and more.
Raising money for: St Wilfrid’s Hospice & Village Hall fund, please give generously. Do come along and join in! Refreshments and good food on site, raffle drawn 2.30pm excellent prizes. All exhibitors to be given FREE drinks and cake voucher.
ALL VEHICLES & SES TO CARRY FULL CURRENT
INSURANCE
Sponsored in 2026 by: H J Pugh. Founded in 1990 by Howard Pugh in Herefordshire, H.J. Pugh & Co have been successfully providing auctioneering, valuation and estate agency services throughout the country. As well as regular sales of preservation motor-cycles, steam engines, tractors, stationary engines, cars, miniatures and commercial vehicles and modern agricultural machinery. They provide a comprehensive sale or valuation of all types of collectables. Please contact: h.biss@hjpugh.com or 01531 631122.
Sponsored in 2026 by: Heathfield Hire. They have been offering a professional, friendly and expert collection and delivery plant machinery and tool hire service for over 40 years in East Sussex and Kent and have branches at Heathfield 01435 864144 and Hawkhurst 01580 753183.They offer a huge range of equipment and offer tool servicing and tool repairs and come recommended.
BABY BENDER
In olden days, before the artic revolution of the 1960s and when rigid eight-wheelers still dominated the UK haulage scene, drivers used the term ‘bender’ when referring to an artic. Typically artics back then grossed between 10 and 24 tons gcw but here’s one from the early seventies with a difference – this little
Bedford CF350 ‘bender’ looks as if it might be punching above its weight but it’s designed for high-volume lightweight loads. The maximum design gcw for a CF350 was 4.8tons. DCY441K was caught on camera in 1973 taking a break at Aust Services on the M48 near the Severn Bridge. Peter J Davies
If you have enjoyed this issue of Classic and Vintage Commercials which incorporates the very best content and archive photos from the world of classic commercial vehicles then why not subscribe? You will save money and receive every issue directly to your door.
Peter Simpson, Editor
CIRCUS & FAIRGROUND SPECIAL
Also in Tillicoultry was E. Pinder & Son’s ERF EC14, X379SSM , new to unknown owner in September 2000. Bob Dickson
ERF EC10 N119DXR was new in July 1996, and was seen in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire. Original owner not known. Bob Dickson
Seen in Stirling was former Shore Porters’ Society, Aberdeen, Scania 114L 340 W651GSA. It was new in March 2000 and the cab is still in the original livery. Bob Dickson
Scania 164L 580 SV51GKK belongs to Big Apple and is used in conjunction with their monster trucks. Seen in Stirling in June, it was new in November 2001 to McCaul Haulage, Aberdeen. Bob Dickson
Big Kid Circus are based near Edinburgh, but tour nationwide. Somewhat unusually, their lorry fleet is MAN-based, though we guess this might be a sign of what’s to come. Anyway, we start with MAN TGA HF56FRP which was new in 2006. Mark Shillinglaw
MAN TEX 18-440 YN58DWJ is a relatively recent addition to the fleet, having been acquired in 2025. It dates from September 2008. Mark Shillinglaw
Something a bit different! Circus Zyair’s 1997 Freightliner Century C12KUS was seen at St Helens Recreation Ground Swansea on October 21. Previously UK-registered P604HAY, it has belonged to Neil Yates Recovery of Rochester and M.W. Hull of Stibbington, Cambridgeshire. Chris Newsome
MAN TGA26.430 SF06LGN was new to W Glendinning Haulage of Leven before passing to fairground operator Michael Stirling & Sons. It ‘ran away’ to join the (Big Kid) circus in 2022. Mark Shillinglaw
Circus Mondao 2006 Volvo FH480 was new to Ferguson of Spean Bridge and subsequently spent time with Barclay of Inverness on round timber work. It was seen at Carmarthen Showground on May 22 2024. An online check has confirmed that it remains active. Chris Newsome
Finally, no feature on circus and funfair classics would be complete without a look at the remarkable old lorries operated by and with Circus Fantasia. These travel throughout the country, and the 2026 tour started at Ipswich in February, and will be heading westwards from mid-April. To find out more, go to www.circusfantasia.co.uk . The website also contains full details of the lorry fleet, and it’s clear that as well as being working lorries, they are also highly cherished. The following photos were taken towards the end of the 2025 touring season, at Abbey Field, Colchester on October 26.
1985 Bedford MJ C142URP, named Why Hurry, was bought directly from the MoD in 2009 and besides transportation is used to tow and winch the other vehicles off muddy sites. John Podgorski
Scammell 20MU Highwayman GXV372 ‘Why Not’ dates from 1944 and was new to Pool Petroleum. It was probably better-known however as Number 5 in Carters Steam Fair where it hauled steam yachts. It joined Fantasia when the Carters collection was sold off in 2023. John Podgorski
1982 Bedford TM6-6 FVL953X is operated by Circus Mondao as a generator transporter. DVLA registered in 2009, it was seen on the Car Boot Field at Burgh-le-Marsh near Skegness. Andy Ballisat
1979 Scammell Crusader UEY446T is said by Fantasia to be “the most photographed truck in our fleet.” Originally an MoD wrecker, it was converted by Fantasia into a box truck. Between sites it carries the seating from the big top and also tows two staff accommodation trailers. John Podgorski
MINOR MAGNIFICENT!
This 1972 ex-Post Office Telephones Morris van may have covered a low mileage and at one time been officially preserved, but it still needed a full restoration when finally sold out of service. Peter Simpson tells the story.
East Sussex based Andrew and Simon Mills are, it would be fair to say, ‘van people’ through and through. They currently own eight preserved ones, and their restorations are always completed to an extremely high standard. But as well as these hobby vans, they also together run Rushlake Green Motors, a van sales business which has been operating since 1967 and which has an excellent reputation for one owner vans from fleets including BT.
These days of course, the stock in trade is predominantly white in colour. But back in the 1960s and
1970s, red and yellow ex-postal vans were the main stock-in-trade. Just up the road, Sussex County Car Auctions at Heathfield had a contract for disposal of London area and South Eastern area Post Office vans, and every week dozens passed before the legendary Pat Palliser’s rostrum. To the extent that a mini-industry dedicated to buying, refurbishing and selling these vans had grown up around the auction. Rushlake Green Motors was one of the largest of these firms, to the extent that their yard-full of red and yellow vans was a location marker given out to
some aeroplanes flying into Gatwick Airport from the south-east.
It was these early experiences which established the present-day enthusiasm for older vans, and it’s also no real surprise that restored Post Office vehicles are something of a speciality.
FGB805L was first registered in Glasgow on September 1 1972. The last Minor Van to leave the Adderley Park factory – a Post Office mailvan rumoured to have been put together using left-over parts – did so in March 1972. There was therefore a gap of at least six months between FGB805L’s manufacture and registration. This
Joint-owner Simon Mills with the late Post Office Telephones Morris 8cwt van he owns jointly with his brother Andrew.
Cab interior. Most of what you see here is original including the seat covers, door trims and heavy-duty Post Office specification floor mats.
wasn’t unusual. At the time, both Post Office businesses (Royal Mail and Post Office Telephones) sent a proportion of new vehicle deliveries into pools where they were stored, unregistered, until needed. The principal Scottish ‘pool’ was at Falkirk, and it seems likely that this is where the van that would eventually be registered FGB805L went before being put into service. Several Minor mailvans and telephones vans were stored until after August 1 1972 and therefore when they were registered, received L-suffix marks. According to the Post Office Vehicle Club six months in storage was “rather longer than usual but nothing special”.
It remained based in Glasgow right up to 1988, though it would latterly have been a locally-based preserved vehicle rather than an actual working van; when its status changed isn’t clear, though it’s widely believed that all the working Minors had gone by 1981 when British Telecom was established. Simon Mills has some Glasgow-based service history up to 1988, at which point the van had just 47,000 miles on the clock. Sometime between 1988 and 2003 it was transferred from Glasgow to the Post Office’s museum facility in Ashford, Middlesex. It remained there until 2003 when, still with 47,000 miles on the clock, it was disposed of as part of BT’s ‘Connected Earth’ auction of exhibits deemed surplus to requirements. A contemporary report in the Daily Telegraph refers to Victorian telephone apparatus being sold. It also mentions a “Yellow 1970s Bedford van” selling for £1200. Was that in fact this Minor reported by someone who wasn’t a vehicle specialist?
At the auction it passed to a new owner in Bedford and spent a further five years in storage before being advertised on eBay, still with just 47,000 miles on the clock. Here it was spotted by the Mills Brothers who decided that it would make an interesting addition to their collection. Accordingly, they made a successful bid and fetched it back to their base. It looked a tidy van. In particular, the gutters on the van body which tend to rust (and are extremely difficult to repair) were mint. As you’d expect given its mileage, the van was also extremely sweet mechanically. And
Cab floor was renewed during the restoration, though thanks to Gordon’s Samuel’s exceptional welding and fabrication skills, you’d never know it.
having gone direct from Post Office Service into official Post Office preservation, it also came with all the post office extras (aluminium ladder rack, rear door hooks, heavy duty cab mats etc.,) present and correct.
Problems Down Under
So, you’re probably expecting the next part of this story to say something along the lines of “with a quick tidy up around the edges and a thorough mechanical service, the van started being shown.” Sadly though, the reality was rather different.
Although the Morris 6cwt and 8cwt ‘Minor’ vans are visually very obviously car-derived, they are completely different structurally. Whereas the cars all had unitary construction, the LCVs had a separate chassis to which the cab and van or pick-up bodies were bolted. To facilitate fitting of special bodies, the vehicles could be bought new as chassis-cab units with or without a cab back.
And it was the separate chassis on this van that caused a major issue. It was full of inside-out corrosion, and beyond any hope of being repaired. As anyone who has owned a Scottish vehicle will know, they do tend to rust quicker underneath than their southern counterparts. Fortunately, Simon and Andrew had a “lovely” replacement chassis in stock; they can’t remember exactly how they came by it, but it was exactly what was needed, and over a period of two years of evening and weekend working, everything was swapped over. Some work was needed to the cab section; the floors, sills and the upper and lower
bay; by the time this van was
colour had
Engine
made, BL’s standard engine
changed from BMC green to black.
Unusually for a Minor van, the roof guttering is original and not rusty!
Interior now carries a fine selection of period postal equipment. Aluminium side storage units and the mesh-screen divider are period correct items sourced and fitted by the Mills Brothers.
Original Post Office specification plate –type specification code M-AE5 indicates a Post Office Telephones van, M-AG5 a postal mailvan, and M-AV5 a standard non-postal van.
Rear door hooks were part of the standard Post Office Telephones specification.
Offside view, showing Glasgow-area location lettering. Doors, wings and bonnet are all original, as is most of the body tub.
Wheelnuts with a chamfer on both sides were also part of the
specification
and telephone vans, to make life a little easier in the workshop.
panels behind the seats all had to be renewed. As with many of their previous restorations, most of the welding and fabrication work was done by Gordon Samuel, who Simon describes as an “ace welder.”
The body tub was generally good apart from requiring a new rear crossmember, and the doors, front wings and bonnet are also all the original items. The cab interior is also pretty-much 100% original, including the seat covering materials. Within the body, the load racks/benches along both sides that the van came with were incorrect, but a pair of the
correct aluminium racks were sourced and fitted. They also found and fitted a replacement original aluminium grille that goes behind the seats; these were usually removed from vans when they left Post Office service. They are also now very scarce because they were difficult to get out without bending right out of shape.
Simon painted the van himself in the original golden yellow, and the Post Office Vehicle Club supplied original-pattern transfers. Being a Scottish Post Office van, this one should probably have the Scottish Crown rather than St Edwards
Crown. However photographic evidence suggests that despite a 1955 edict that workshops should change all the crowns, a lot didn’t bother, and many vans, telephones vans in particular, retained the St. Edward’s Crown. Changing the crowns on telephone vans didn’t have the same significance as putting a Scottish Crown on mailvans because the EIIR cypher was incorrect north of the border, as Queen Elizabeth I had never ruled over Scotland, and Queen Elizabeth II of England was only Queen Elizabeth I of Scotland. Google ‘Edinburgh Pillar Box Wars’ if you want to know more about this...
Since completion, FGB805L has completed around 6000 miles in preservation, and appeared alongside other vans in the collection at events such as the annual Post Office vehicles show at Amberley Chalkpits Museum and events organised or supported by the HCVS London & South Eastern branch, of which they are strong supporters.
Finally, and despite the current preserved fleet numbering no fewer than eight vans, a ninth is underway. The vehicle in question is a 1989/90 G registered ex-BT Mk3 Transit, spotted by a friend at auction. This one spent its working life in and around London. In contrast to the Minor, and unusually for a 36-yearold Mk3 Transit, this one is “like new underneath.” We can barely wait to see it finished; it’ll be a good one for sure! Thanks to the Post Office Vehicle Club (https://povehclub.org.uk/) for help and background information in producing this feature.
Post Office
for postal
Rear view, showing the Post Office specification ladder rack to good effect.
Reproduction period posters for both sides were found in another van that was being raided for parts.
ROSES IN THE RAIN
Wet weather conditions on the first day failed to dampen enthusiasm, as David Reed reports
Last year’s War of the Roses Road Run took place in late September with another two-day event that took in parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The two days certainly saw some contrasts, with heavy rain accompanying the vehicles to the outskirts of York, where the drivers enjoyed a visit to the Elvington Air Museum. Sunny conditions on day two saw the vehicles head west to the British Commercial Vehicle Museum at Leyland.
As in previous years, the Coniston Hotel Country Estate & Spa near Skipton was the base with Robert & Beverley Wellock doing a fine job at the heart of the organising team.
The event attracted around 50 entrants, including a significant number from Scotland. Here are some of the vehicles that took part.
1958 AEC with Park Royal cab was restored by H. Bannister Ltd for whom it has worked part time from 1992 carrying animal feeds with a payload of seven tonnes. Prior to this it was with a Sheffield steel company.
1984 Seddon 401 originated in the Swansea area, being bought by Mervyn Edwards from Fred Edwards of Abermule in mid Wales where it had stood in the bushes on his farm, in 1996.
1983 ERF C Series was new to J A Field of Cranleigh. It was taken off the road in 1988 but kept taxed and MoTd until 1990. It then sat in a barn for 30 years, being bought by Jason Tetley in 2001 and painted in his father’s Tetley Transport livery.
1979 Leyland Clydesdale was new to a Shropshire farm and used to haul grain from the fields and take sugar beet to Norton by Bridgnorth. It was bought in 2016 by Paul Marsh with Micky Perrins of Wolverhampton doing a lot of the restoration, and Steve Evans doing the signwriting. Later sold by Paul, it is now in the colours of Lawrances Transport Services of Billingshurst.
1984 Volvo F12 was with Foundry Commercials of Llanybydder, Carmarthenshire but by around 2015 was owned by Justin Warrior. It then passed to James Richardson of Pocklington and was restored.
ERF B
1979 ERF B Series was new to Munro Transport of Aberdeen. In 1985 it passed to travelling showman George Irvin who stretched it to a six-wheeler and used it to tow his ghost train ride. It carried the headboard ‘Me and My Boy’ but in 2003 was laid up. It was bought in 2018 by Robert Watt and returned to a four-wheeler.
1979
Series. It was new to Frank Tucker hire fleet of Exeter, then to Simpsons of Devon for round timber haulage. It was stored in 1992 until bought in 2008 by Phil Comber of Uckfield, East Sussex.
2002 Scania 124L 470 was in the ownership of T Alun Jones of Welshpool before passing to present owner Paul Marsh.
1988 Volvo F12 was new to Hauxwell International, being bought by present owners Stuart Holt of Howden when it was six months old. Used on general haulage until it was retired in 2009, it now goes to shows at home and abroad.
1979 ERF B Series was new to Eaton Bray Transport at Leighton Buzzard, then passing to R K Browning, before being absorbed into the Cyril Knowles fleet. After another couple of owners, it passed to Graham Baker in 2002. Since then, it’s belonged to the late Vic Harvey, John Thomas, Lawrence Parrott and finally present owner Tony Knowles.
1988 ERF E6 worked for newspaper and comic publisher D C Thompson of Dundee before passing to an unidentified second owner. It was bought by Ian Townend of Steeton in 2023.
1989 Seddon Atkinson Strato 325T3 is an ex-Esso fuel tanker fitted with a day cab when working, but now carries a 2004 DAF sleeper cab. It then passed to Marsafe Transport of Aylesbury, being bought by Darran Clark of Broughton near Brigg in Lincolnshire. A past CVC cover lorry.
1995 ERF EC10 was new to Strathclyde Commercials. It wasn’t used much and later passed to Graham Calvin who had it for 17 years. It was bought from him by Kevin Casseldine in 2024.
1990 Volvo F12 was with Dave Pollard and later Burlinghams Transport. It passed to Simon Tootell in June 2025.
1992 ERF E14 was an ex-United Molasses vehicle and was bought in 2012 by Robert Watt of Biggar. It is seen in the livery of Tennant of Forth.
1994 ERF EC10 was originally registered L621BDG and new to C Butt Ltd of Northampton before passing onto the fairgrounds. After another owner, it was bought by Ian Stewart of Motherwell in 2022. One of three EC10s on the run from this collection.
1983 Ford Transcontinental was new to Birds Eye in Grimsby as a four-wheeler, being extended at some point to be used with low loaders. It has had at least four cabs during its life. It was originally restored in 2005/2006. It passed to Ewan Canera of Inverness in January 2016
1993 Volvo F10 Globetrotter was new to London Rubber Company, later passing to Stagetruck and working on the Continent for the cable channel MTV. It was bought by Matthew Kibble from E M Rodgers of Northampton around 2008.
1994 Scania 143m 500 was bought by Matthew Kibble from CRW of London around 2014. Since then, it has been rolling-restored, being painted around 2016. It also needed a new interior which was fitted in 2020. It made its rally debut in 2021.
1980 Volvo F717 was new to Greens of Soham and used on agricultural produce. It was retired and barn stored for 20 years. It then passed to A & N J Turner, also of Soham, and was restored in their workshops. It later passed to Stuart Holt.
1995 ERF EC14 was with Howard Shipping of Birmingham, passing to Terry Godfield at Metford in Suffolk. It was bought by Robin Johnson of Carlisle in 2011.
Several vehicles travelled down from Scotland for this event. One such was this 2002 ERF ECX, seen in the livery of Ian Wright Transport of Eaglesfield, Lockerbie.
First owner of this 1977 Volvo F86 is not known, but by the mid-1980s it was with Readers of Brandesburton and being used for taking trailers to test and general duties. It ended up being parked in a shed for restoration, but that never happened until it passed to Phil Drewery of Hull in April 2021.
1971 Bedford TK was restored in 2017 by the late Miles Fox, making its rally debut in 2018.
1978 ERF B Series was new to Ian Carlton of Moffatt as a bulk blower and was used to transport animal feeds, and his first new lorry. After working until around 1992, it became a showman’s vehicle being fitted with a Luton-type body. After changing hands a couple of times, it was bought by Ian’s son, Wullie Carlton in 2006 with restoration taking nine years.
1972 Foden S39 with Leyland 680 engine was new in Aylesbury on tipper work. It then passed to Chris Balls in 2007 who is only its second owner. It was subsequently given a full nut and bolt restoration by Steve Mayle, making its rally debut in 2017.
1967 Bedford KM started life with Nitrovit in Kent before passing to a farm near Canterbury. It then moved to Banbury to move tractors, but turned out to be too big for this task. It subsequently passed to Philip Wood of Ellerker, East Yorkshire and was restored over a five-year period.
1969 Atkinson Mk 2 with David Brown box and Kirkstall rear axle has been with Alan and Martin Atkinson of Preston for a number of years, and was originally fitted with a sleeper cab.
1978 Leyland Marathon 2 with TL engine and sleeper cab was originally a demonstrator before being bought by Adams Bristow. After working, it was stored in a shed for 30 years waiting to be restored. It never happened, so was sold to Robert Deliea, before passing to Andy Francis in 2024 and being restored at K B Coaches.
1993 Volvo F12 Globetrotter was new to V G Mathers of Aberdeen and used to transport fish to London and bring meat back as a return load. It was later used to transport oil rig parts around the country. It was bought by Robert Hymas Ltd in 2020 and restored over a three-year period.
British Racing Car Transporter Models
Mike Neale begins a two-part look at miniature versions of some rather specialist car transporters
Despite not having a huge enthusiasm for racing cars, I find the often unique, commercial vehicles that transported them fascinating. For more, 1950s/60s paddock scenes hold more interest for me than the track. Fortunately, a few model manufacturers have catered to that interest over the years.
Ecurie Ecosse
Possibly the best known British Racing Car Transporter, thanks to Corgi, is the Commer TS3 Ecurie Ecosse Transporter built in 1959/60 with bodywork by Walter Alexander of Falkirk, lorry and bus coachbuilders. This one-off had a large cab for the crew with a small workshop behind, making its debut at Charterhall racing circuit in Scotland in May 1960 carrying two Jaguar D-Types on top plus one inside. It was fitted with a Rootes two-stroke TS3 3.2-litre diesel engine. A hydraulic ram located under the floor raised and lowered the upper ramp via cables. The real transporter, registered VSG7, was sold by Bonhams at auction for £1,793,500 inc. premium in 2013, a record as the most expensive historic race car transporter ever.
Fortunately, the models are a little cheaper. Corgi Major Model 1126 first appeared in October 1961, a 1/48 scale diecast Ecurie Ecosse transporter in a dark metallic blue, close to the colour of the real thing, as well as in an inauthentic light metallic blue. It was also issued in Gift Set 16 with three Corgi racing cars, also somewhat inauthentic, not being Ecurie Ecosse cars – they were a BRM Formula 1 racer, a Lotus Mark Eleven Le Mans racing car and a Vanwall Formula 1 car. Corgi didn’t make a model of a Jaguar D-Type or C-Type, however. The height of the Corgi transporter is perhaps a bit low compared to the real Commer.
The dark blue version has recently been re-released by the Corgi Model Club, an eagerly awaited model in the series, a replica of the original, now made in China. See https:// corgimodelclub.com/ for more details.
SMTS made a nicely detailed white metal model of the Ecurie Ecosse transporter in 1/43 scale, so a bit bigger than the Corgi model, as well as suitable Jaguar D-Types to accompany it.
More recently Spark Models made a 1/43 scale resin model, visually similar
to the SMTS model, although lighter in weight of course, and fractionally larger, despite being stated as the same scale (I’m not sure which is the most accurate). Spark also did a 1/87 version.
If those are not big enough for you, then a 1/18 scale version was produced in 2020 by CMR (Classic Model Replicars), who also made Jaguar D-Types in that scale. It had an opening tailgate, separate loading ramps and a good level of detail.
British Motor Corporation
In the mid-1950s, BMC decided to go motor racing to promote their cars. Marcus Chambers of the BMC Competition Department commissioned a Morris Commercial FV Series 2 racing support vehicle from Appleyard of Leeds, registered LBL40S, to accompany the MG works team of prototype MGAs to the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Originally petrol engined and limited to 20mph, it was later converted to diesel. A recreation of the real vehicle, registered LBL408, exists in the original, very dark green livery.
Matrix produced an excellent 1/43 scale resin model of it in 2022, a limited run of 408 pieces.
Original Corgi Gift set 16 with Ecurie Ecosse transporter and 3 (unrelated) racing cars
An original light blue version of the Corgi 1126 Ecurie Ecosse Transporter
New Corgi Model Club reissue of the Commer Ecurie Ecosse Transporter
SMTS 1/43 white metal handbuilt Ecurie Ecosse Transporter carrying one of their D-Types
Big 1/18 scale Commer Ecurie Ecosse Transporter by CMR
1/43 JW Automotive Engineering Transporter on an AEC Regal chassis by Spark
Ford Thames Trader Mk2 Van of Ferrari Maranello modelled by ABC Brianza
Later, a few Morris Commercial FF-K Mobile Training Units were built by Marshalls of Cambridge, designed by Pininfarina, some used by the BMC Competitions Department. Oxford Diecast modelled this in 1/76 scale. It would be great to see a 1/43 version.
Cooper
In 1965, the Cooper F1 racing team was sold to Chipstead Motor Group. They commissioned a new transporter, bodied by the Tiverton Body & Container Co. on a Guy Victory bus chassis, to carry V12 Maserati engined Cooper T81 racing cars in the 1967-68 seasons.
Spark made a 1/43 resin model of this about ten years ago, in dark green Cooper Car Co. Ltd livery.
JW Automotive Engineering
JW Automotive Engineering commissioned a race transporter on an AEC Regal VI bus chassis, delivered in 1968 in light blue & orange of sponsors Gulf Oil. Left-hand-drive, during its life it carried registrations
Matrix Models 1/43 Morris Commercial BMC Competition Department Transporter
1970 Leyland Tyrrell Transporter in 1/43 scale by Spark
Team Surtees Ford D-Series by Jade Miniatures (photo: Grand Prix Models)
KKX328G and 1129BH. It transported Ford GT40 and Ford Mirage cars, and later Porsche 917 racing cars.
This too has been modelled by Spark in 1/43 scale, with the KKX328G registration.
Tyrrell
In 1970, Ken Tyrrell commissioned a transporter on a Leyland Leopard bus chassis, registered BPE112H, again left-hand-drive. Another real vehicle which survives, it can perhaps be described as “functional,” with its plain, rectangular box shape.
Again modelled by Spark in 1/43 scale, in two slightly different versions of the livery, both blue. The first had a white side stripe and Elf Team Tyrrell lettering, with drivers Jackie Stewart and Francois Cevert (who had joined Stewart at Tyrrell in 1970, but died in a crash in 1973 aged just 29) named on the side. The second had a diagonal yellow stripe, with Patrick Depailler and Jody Scheckter named on the side, as it was in 1976.
Ferrari Maranello Concessionaires
Ferrari Maranello Concessionaires
Ltd. of Wellesley Road, London W4 commissioned a Ford Thames Trader Mk2 van in 1964, registered APR 654B, to carry their racing Ferraris. Italian artisan model company ABC Brianza made a 1/43 scale resin model of this vehicle, model ABC64, limited to 500 pieces. Separate ramps allowed a suitable Ferrari model to be loaded into the back. They are, sadly, difficult to find.
Surtees
Team Surtees used a 1976 Ford D-Series Transporter for many years, initially in purple with a white arrow side flash outlined in gold, with a few repaints over the years. It looked rather like a long-wheelbase removals van.
French competition car specialist Jade Miniatures made a 1/43 resin model of this, sold as a kit or a handbuilt model. These are still available to order from Grand Prix Models, who kindly provided the photo. See https:// www.grandprixmodels.com/.
Next month I’ll look at transporters used to carry Lotus racing cars.
Guy Victory Cooper Transporter in 1/43 scale by Spark Models
The 1976 livery on Spark’s Leyland Tyrrell Transporter
Ecurie Ecosse comparison: (L to R) Corgi Model Club, SMTS, Spark
SENT TO COVENTRY
Our second trip to a street scene of the past this month takes us to Coventry – specifically Earlsdon Street, and the date is October 31 1973. That’s now a little over 52 years ago, and it’s a pretty typical local shopping street of the era; independent shops and not one but two local bank branches. The NatWest can be seen clearly, but four shops down there is also a local branch of the Midland Bank –now part of HSBC.
In terms of vehicles, the three commercials comprise a petrol-engined Ford Transit with gown van bodywork, a Mk1 Escort van liveried up for the local butcher, and further down the road, there’s a Bedford CF pick up of some kind. All these are entirely typical local business vehicles of the time. The local car making-industry is represented by a Triumph GT6 fastback and Spitfire and a pair of Hillman
Avengers which at the time were being made at the huge Rootes factory at Ryton-on-Dunsmore. Also of Rootes Group manufacture (though actually made in France) we can see a Chrysler 180 behind the GT6.
There are also a far few Fords about including, behind the Transit, a Mk1 Consul/Granada which cannot be more than a few months old, as the model launched only in late 1972. GM/Vauxhall is also represented by an HB Vauxhall Viva and heading away from the camera, an FD Victor.
We have to admit to being slightly intrigued by Peggy Seager Fashions. As those of a certain age may recall, Peggy Seeger is Pete Seeger’s sister and along with her husband Ewan Macoll was a major part of the British folk music revival of the 1960s. Was that name, with the slight spelling change, chosen intentionally, or was it just coincidence? Mirrorpix
NO LAUGHING MATTER
Mike Neale tracks down a French family heirloom in the shape of a 1938 Renault AGC2.
Some of you may have heard of The Laughing Cow cheese spread (“La Vache Qui Rit” in French). Perhaps less well known is competitor brand The Serious Cow (“La Vache Sérieuse”).
The Laughing Cow brand was introduced by la Société Bel in 1921, based in Lons-le-Saunier in the Jura area
of France. Five years later, la Société des Frères Grosjean created their serious rival product, also in Lons-le-Saunier. Bel considered this a fraudulent imitation of its brand and claimed it was unfair competition, and a 33 year long legal battle between the two firms followed, dubbed the War of the Cows. Honestly, I’m not making this stuff up.
French radio adverts for The Serious Cow could be heard during the Tour de France in the 1950s, with the slogan, “Laughter is unique to man! Seriousness is that of the cow. The serious cow. You’ll find it in serious houses.” Bel responded with their own new slogan, “Laughter is unique to man… and to the laughing cow.”
Things finally came to a head with a decision by the appeal court in Paris in 1959 forcing Grosjean to rename their cheese “Le Grosjean” or “La Vache Grosjean,” later adopting the name “La Bonne Vache” (the good cow). The brand was acquired by Nestlé in 1969, then in 1985 by Besnier Group, which became Lactalis in 1999. They abandoned the brand name as one of Lactalis’ shareholders which owned 24% of the firm, was… Bel, who thus had the last laugh. The Laughing Cow had won the war.
The 1938 Renault ACG that you see here was owned by Marie and Roger Vandevelle, grocers and cheesemakers in Chalonvillars, Haute Saône, France. The signwriting was not principally
The other side of a livery that is certainly eye-catching!
promoting their own name, but more prominently one of the products that they sold, the van having been painted in the later “La Vache Grosjean” livery towards the end of the 1950s. They used it for deliveries to local villages and markets during the 1950s and 60s. It was then taken off the road and put in a dry barn, where it remained for 50 years, as the family saw it as part of their heritage.
The French Coventry
When their granddaughter Isabelle acquired the farm and the barn, she decided that the Renault’s historical and sentimental value meant that it should be brought out of its long hibernation. She therefore approached the Berliet Foundation, which preserves
all types of cars and trucks that were used in France. It has, however, a special interest in those built in Lyon, which was perhaps France’s equivalent of Coventry. Its interest also extends beyond Berliet vehicles, as the foundation’s president, Philippe Brossette explained.
“We have around 300 cars and trucks dating from 1895 up to the present day, from 31 different brands. There were just under 100 vehicle manufacturers around Lyon before WW1, but after the war only 13 remained. The idea is to tell the story of the cars, lorries and the people who built them – why they did it, what the market was like and how they did it.”
The collection is not open to the public, although it is possible to visit
Side view, note exhaust emerging from this side, because France drives on the right.
Stylish grille and headlights, along with rather prominent (and, we can’t help thinking, somewhat damageprone) front wings.
as an individual by joining the Berliet Foundation Friends Association, which includes an invitation to an annual friends’ event held one Saturday afternoon in Spring. Guided tours for groups of at least 15 people are also available.
“Marius Berliet, a silk weaver who repaired machinery, read a book on ‘how to build an engine’ in 1894, and so decided to do just that,” Philippe told me. “He got some money from his uncle and built his first car in 1895, which was a one-cylinder car. His second was a two-cylinder car.”
I asked if his third was a threecylinder car, but apparently not. “Marius went on to build thousands of cars, and in WW1 concentrated on manufacturing shells and trucks,” Philippe continued. “Berliet sold 15,000 trucks to the French army, and also built tanks under licence from Renault. Car production ended in 1939 and didn’t resume after WW2, as they made big cars and the country was poor, but truck production continued.”
The Berliet family exchanged shares with Citroen in 1967, which at that time was part of Michelin, and manufactured Citroen trucks. In 1975 the French government gave money to Renault to buy Berliet, becoming Renault Industrial Vehicles after absorbing Saviem, and the Berliet name disappeared in 1978.
The Berliet Foundation was created in 1982 by the late Paul Berliet, Marius’ son. Philippe Brossette took over as president of the foundation in 2009 after he retired, having joined Automobiles Berliet in 1968, carrying on into Renault Industrial Vehicles, becoming Commercial Director from
Cab interior is, of course, the very definition of basic.
1983-93 and later as VP of Product Planning of the Volvo Trucks Group (Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks, Mack Trucks and Nissan Diesel).
Renault AGC2 background
The normal control Renault AGC2 was in production from November 1937 to March 1940, with a total of 6256 being built, of which 3445 were civilian versions. Trucks were more common than vans. All those built after November 1939 were military trucks. Large numbers were supplied to the French army, with many of those, as well as privately owned ones, being commandeered by the Germans during occupation, with many meeting their end during the war, so survivors are now rare.
The payload of the van is 1500kg, though 2000kg versions were also produced. It has a four-cylinder 2.4-litre ‘Type 85’ petrol engine, as also fitted to the Renault Vivaquatre car, of 11CV in French horsepower rating, with a bore and stroke of 85 x 105mm. A four-
speed gearbox is fitted, with synchromesh on third and fourth and a dry plate, single disc clutch. The maximum speed when laden is 70kph (around 43mph). A servo assisted mechanical foot brake operates on all wheels, whilst the handbrake operates on the rear wheels. Twin rear wheels are fitted.
When the van arrived at the Berliet Foundation, it didn’t look too bad. However, whilst the cab is all-steel, the rear body is metal clad over a timber frame, the latter having suffered the ravages of time underneath.
Sympathetic Restoration
The foundation’s technical team, headed by Maurice Chevallier (no, not the legendary French singer and actor – he died in 1972) and Jean-Claude Olagnon, therefore made the decision to remove the body from the chassis and then strip the metal from the timber frame to assess its structural condition.
The chassis and axles were sent away for sandblasting, whilst the engine, gearbox, transmission, brakes
The serious cow is seriously pleased to be next to the Renault.
Owner’s name was a relatively discreet part of the livery.
Timber panelling separates the cab from the rear body.
and electrical equipment were carefully cleaned and repaired by mechanic Jean-Claude. Fortunately they didn’t need to do very much mechanically. Meanwhile, the timber frame was entrusted to automotive carpentry apprentices at the Production Boisard school in Vaulx-en-Velin, under the supervision of their teachers. The school was founded in 1882 by Canon Louis Boisard, an engineer from Lyon, to educate young people in a profession. Apprentices spend one third of the time in theoretical lessons and two-thirds undertaking practical work for clients. The Berliet Foundation has worked with them for about the
Twin rear wheels, with a spare slung below the van body.
past 15 years to renovate timber elements on their vehicle restorations.
The delicate operation of renovating the wooden structure and returning it to the chassis involved numerous adjustments and several return trips were made from the school to the foundation’s workshops. Replacement metal panels were cut where needed by sheet metalwork expert Maurice and fixed to the timber structure, with a joint paste putty used to waterproof the bodywork, whilst the bonnet, wings and other metal parts were cleaned and renovated or remade to match where necessary.
The bodywork was repainted in blue and yellow and the 1950s la Vache
THE RENOVATION
is even bigger!
Grosjean livery that it had arrived in. The dashboard, interior trim and upholstery were all restored to the same high standard.
The finished vehicle was displayed at the 2024 Retromobile show in Paris as part of an outdoor exhibit about farming, which included a line of tractors and, of course, a suitably serious looking full-size plastic cow.
Thanks to Philippe Brossette for taking the time to describe the work of the Berliet Foundation and the history of this rare Renault. For more information, please visit https://www. fondationberliet.org.
The ‘serious cow’ on the back doors
Emerging from the barn after a 50-year slumber.
Body removed from the chassis and the metalwork stripped from the wooden frame.
The 1950s applied livery was still in place as found.
New timber framing being offered up by the Production Boisard school apprentice and tutor.
Original 2.4-litre ‘Type 85’ petrol engine after refurbishment.
The new wood frame taking shape at the Production Boisard school.
All photographs courtesy Berliet Foundation
KENT AND SUSSEX TRANSPORT
PART 30: Les Freathy marks his long-running south-east series reaching a significant number with a look back at the early days of steam and internal combustion powered commercials…
A chain driven Garrett Suffolk Punch tractor owned by contractor R.A Dagnall based in Canterbury. Note the 12mph speed limit.
Another of the old adverts I love to collect this one dating from January 27 1920 showing a Tilling Stevens 2-3 ton lorry built in Maidstone.
Brand new Sentinel S4 steam wagon. soon to be heading down to customer H Sarjeant and Sons based in Dover. This vehicle has a speed limit of 30mph.
Sentinel Super on a lengthened chassis. Note the added rear axle has single wheels whilst the driven axle has doubles. The vehicles were owned by the Wingham engineering company and hired in the livery of old-time brewers George Beer and Rigden Ltd., who were based in Faversham.
Garrett No 354335 built in 1930 and operated by Nyewood Bricks and Tiles based in Rogate Sussex.
On a much lighter scale now and a Morris Commercial 1 ton van featuring a high body to transport customers goods cleaned by the SOLVO Laundry from Hove in West Sussex.
Another Sentinel S4 built on the same lines as the H Sarjeant vehicle, this one in the cream and green livery of Simpson (Rye Harbour) spent its working days transporting the many different concrete products that were produced at the Rye Harbour works. No relation whatsoever to our Editor!
Back to Kent now and a Sentinel DG6 in the early fleet of local Folkestone area quarry owners C.J.Nickolls who were based in Cheriton. Besides transporting quarry material the company also used the vehicles for general transport duties, I don’t think this DG6 has tipping equipment as a full load of sand or gravel would have been hard graft to load/unload.
One can just imagine this little Ford Model T based truck delivering and collecting around the Maidstone area back in the day! T Ayliffe from the villages of Leeds and Langley are a company I am not familiar with.
Foden Speed 12 No 14028 registration KJ 3055 built in October 1931 and operated by local South East quarry contractors Albert Chapman whose head office was in Ashford. The company had several quarries around the South East including one at Dengemarsh Road, Lydd where I can remember the later maroon and red ERF tippers. They also operated a sand quarry at Fairlight, near Hastings, which our Editor recalls. The company were later to become part of the Brett group.
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Now that spring is here, Britains fairground fleet will be going out on tour. While numbers are dropping, there are still a few golden oldies from the 1970s and 1980s left. We meet one such, learn its story, and a little about what running a 50-year-old lorry in this way really involves.
BEDFORD A TYPE
Mike Neale tells the story of an unusually rare Bedford…
FATHER BROWN VANS
The story of a pair of TV stars…
FACTORY FRESH
New short series featuring a collection of factory images we have just come across…
PLUS: Our comprehensive Events Diary listing running to the end of July, Pt2 of Peter Davies’s look at some badge-engineered BMC commercials, another splendid street scene from times past, all our usual features and, of course, a few spring surprises!
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Trucks/Lorries
ALBION CLYDESDALE
POA. Albion C lad cab like new no rust been in a shed for 40 years not on a chassis comes with 2 chassis and a lot of new parts best offer secures. Please call 01974 821788, Ceredigion 11727
ATKINSON 220 CUMMINS
£3,000. Needs new wood frame. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
ATKINSON BLACK KNIGHT WITH DRAW BAR TRAILER
POA. 1967, taxed to September 2026. Immaculate show condition vehicle. Please call 07730 487216, South East 11809
1995 M REG SCANIA P93M 220
£16,000. 1,529000km. Refurbished 2015 and dry stored since. MOT April 2026, new clutch fitted, many spares to accompany vehicle. Runs and drives perfect. Please call 077250 38599, North Wales 11353
BEDFORD OY
£4,000. 1944 Bedford OY good running order comes complete with rails and floor to make a 3 or 5 man band stand. Also ramps and winch to take tractor to ploughing matches. Please call 07901 240140, Northamptonshire 11749
DAF XF95 2005
POA. MOT June 2026, 1 owner from new, full service history, in preservation for 13 years, as new condition, too many extras to list. Please call 07880 740638, South East 11806
ERF E8
£11,000. Miles - 157, 940km. Fully restored 1988 ERF tractor unit, runs and drives excellently with no work needed, excellent condition. MOT July 2025. Based Northern Ireland, County Armagh. Port delivery can be arranged. Please contact 07799867004, alternatively email ryanstewart094@gmail.com for further enquiries/ photographs. Northern Ireland 11680
ERF C SERIES
POA. 1985. Offers. 300 Gardener engine. For more info phone Jean or John after 7pm. Please call 01283 840578, Staffordshire 11742
ERF
£3,500. 1985. Low mileage. 3 axle riged tult liner body. Runs, drives well. Needs MOT. Unfinished project due to ill health. All parts in truck, to finish. Gardener engine, needing battery. Please call 01283 840578, Staffordshire 11794
FORD THAMES 6D
£4,250. 1963. 22554 miles. Dropside tipping lorry dry stored 40 years good runner. Also Bedford CF pick up twin wheeler drop side 1986 38000 mile from new £5000. Please call 07759 473380, Lincolnshire 11739
LAND ROVER 88” 2A
£14,000. 1970. 23,780 miles. Galvanized chassis, 11 inch brakes, 3.5 diffs, power steering, 2.4 VW diesel, overdrive, rear seats c/w seatbelts, much more. Tax and MOT exempt. Please call 07831 261303, Staffordshire 11799
SCANIA 124 2004
POA. MOT June 2026, 1 owner from new, full service history, in preservation for 14 years as new condition, too many extras to list. Please call 07880 740638, South East 11804
VOLVO FL7
£7,000. 1996. 82000 miles. 4x2 day T/Unit cab tipping gear in V.G.C. Also Bedford TM. T/Unit day cab two stoke detroit diesel 1981 new cab nut bolt restored £18000. Please call 07759 473380, Lincolnshire
Vans
FORD ESCORT COMBI VAN
£6,000. 1987. 180,000 miles. For spares or repair rebuilt body 6 years ago engine needs sorting. Please call 07810 247941, Norfolk 11726
FORD TRANSIT 85 T260
£500. 2004. 2.0 litre Diesel, very reliable van, needs welding for MOT, 144,000 miles, tyres are in very good condition. Please call 07774 678148, Buckinghamshire 11606
PEUGEOT
£1,695. Expert diesel unsignwritten 5-speed 2008 middlesize panel van, no accidents, MOT November 2026 new battery, new starter motor, great van, can deliver anywhere. Please call 07793 057069, South West 11760
VW SPLIT SCREEN KOMBI BUS
£14,500. 1975. Imported from Brazil in 2024. LHD. Original mini bus interior. 1600cc engine which is clean and runs nicely. Recent work includes some welding around jacking points, electrical work to lights, new alternator, new tyres, and new door locks. Bodywork generally solid but some rust, mainly to barn doors. Please email martinrblack@gmail.com. Please call 07850 366000, Wiltshire 11778
VW 1980 MODEL CAMPER VAN
£2999. Brand new engine and only 500 miles on the new engine. It has been in the family for over 20 years and my dad spent over £14000 doing it up before he sadly passed away last year. There is a seal missing on the carburetor so we will accept £2999. The van is presently stored in a barn in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. Please call 07867 645192, Worcestershire 11215
Parts
B.M.C. AUSTIN A35 PARTS
£750. 1960. BMC A. Series 950cc short engine. Rebored with +30 pistons. Reground crank. New timing chain and tensioners. Photos available collection only. Please call 07415 693986, Cleveland 11819
BMW 116D PARTS
POA. 2011. BMW 116D Performance Edition breaking for parts. All parts available, alloys, 6 speed box, (white) body no rust. Pics available via Whatsapp. Please call 07845 287602, Co Durham 11818
ERGONOMIC ROOF NAMEBOARD
£220. Believed to be for a Leyland, AEC or Albion Ergonomic cab, in very good condition including illumination. Located South Northamptonshire. Please call 07746 185304, South Northamptonshire 11802
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MG ZS 180 PARTS
£15-£20. Brand new Mahle air filter £15, used filter box in good condition but without pipes £20. Including postage. Please call 07733 393484 or email pmkuruber.2345@gmail.com. South East 11801
VAUXHALL CORSA MK1 PARTS
£50. Corsa MK 1 front passenger door 4 door car. Plus 2 front seats. Bury area. Please call 07835 651411, Lancashire 11816
POA. Please contact Trevor for details. Please call 07971 257428, South East 11782
FORD ANGLIA 105E/123E REAR DOOR CARD ARM RESTS
£40. In good condition, I think these were for the Australian Anglia’s. Cash on collection from South Hertfordshire. Please call 07860 246900, South Hertfordshire 11770
FORD ANGLIA 105E/123E RADIATOR
£85. In good condition, I have a picture of the back. Always handy to have a spare. Cash on collection only from South Hertfordshire. Please call 07860 246900, South Hertfordshire 11761
MG MGF HARDTOP
£100. MGF Hardtop in black. Excellent condition, roof lining sagging a little. Please call 01704 821556, North West 11773
FORD MK3 ESCORT /MK4 PARTS
POA. New parts for project Mk3 Escort new carburetor/ new rear Girling shocks/ 1 single shock front told its Rs grey/ secondhand heater / column switches/ brake master cylinder told numbers are RS /some rare Nos parts bumper lamps /some fixtures for plastic bumpers/ few secondhand parts mostly new. Want to sell as job lot, not individual items. Have some new radios/ and little use radios. Also couple of full crates of new car entertainment aerials & wiring kits/ boxes INCAR retro radio/ 8track wiring kits etc Mercedes & Jag electric aerial’s. Sensible offers. Please call 07459 608118, Greater London 11762
STROMBERG TWIN CARBS 125CC
£40. Stromberg twin carbs 125cc stripped apart but min wear. Can post. Please call 07948 832015, Humberside 11752
MG F/TF BLACK LEATHER SEATS
£200. Two seats in good condition, complete with runners. Seat bolsters in good condition, not split or torn. Asking £200.00 o.v.n.o. More pictures available. Please call 01628 674783, Berkshire 11746
VAUXHALL CAVALIER MK 1
£250-£400. Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1 upper nosecone £400 and a 2 litre back axle with extension £250 ONO plus other Manta B Cavalier Mk 1 parts. Please call 07707 817684, Yorkshire 11756
BEDFORD
CF FRONT
PANEL (NEW OLD STOCK)
£50. New old stock part no 91089033. Please call 07903 378340, County Durham 11689
MORRIS EIGHT PARTS
POA. Morris Eight, Duckhams Morrisol ‘Sirrom’ oil can and bracket, wiper blades and arms, pedal rubbers, cork halfshaft oil throwers. 4. H.T. connections, 6 volt bulbs, offers, money for local hospice. Please call 07927 394894, Essex 11705
BEDFORD TK /TL? NEW OLD STOCK PART NO 910797?7
£65. New old stock part no 910797?7. Please call 07903 378340, County Durham 11688
BMC AUSTIN METRO PARTS
POA. 1980 onwards. Metro front panels and headlight mounts. Tel for details. Please call 07860 379440, Essex 11693
4 INCH FOSTER
POA. Really nice miniature ready to rally. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
GARRET 6NHP TRACTION ENGINE
POA. Part exchange any vintage vehicle or miniature steam engine. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
RUBBER TYRES PERFECT FOR STEAM ENGINES
POA. Rubber tyres perfect for steam engines - supplied and fitted. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
FOWLER TRACTION ENGINE WHEELS
POA. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK ALLCHIN 8NHP ROAD LOCO
POA. Part exchange any vintage vehicle or miniature steam engine. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
FOWLER 3 SPEED BELL FLYWHEEL AND 3 SPEED CRANKSHAFT
POA. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
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FOWLER BB1 PLOUGHING ENGINE CRANKSHAFT
POA. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
NEW BURRELL TRACTION ENGINE TENDER
POA. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
ROLLS ROYCE 1910 SILVER GHOST LAMPS
£2,000. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
COLCHESTER BANTAM 800
£2,500. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
FOWLER BB1 BLOCK CRANK AND MOTION
POA. Fowler BB1 block crank and motion P/X exchange any vintage vehicle or miniature steam engine. Please call or text Ben for further info: 07308 685169, UK
AXMINSTER SIEG X2
£230. Axminister Mini Milling Machine modle sieg x 2. Only used as a drilling M/C has fault on electric, hence £230. Please call 02392 367704, Hampshire 11820
2 JAGUAR SIGNS
£50. MNF in ally Jaguar and Approved Garage Services size 13x7 inches and 9x7 inches, £50 pair post free. Please call 07968 659967, Surrey 11823
250 JDC MAGAZINES
£50. 1982 to 2008, collect West Midlands. Please call 07966 516415, Walsall 11825
CLASSIC FORD MAGAZINES
POA. In need of new home. From issue 1 June/July 1997 to December 2022. Sorted by year but missing from October 2007 to July 2009. Offers invited. Please text 07711 946162, Buckinghamshire 11747
CORGI MINI POP ART NO 349
£1,950. This corgi mini pop art is in super condition still in its original box with its corgi club leaflet excellent opportunity at a bargain price. Please call 07395 356562, Newcastle 11687
DINKY CORGI MODELS
£48. ABC Camera van satellite dish camera man Ford H Cab with original mechanic both near mint condition. £48.00 each inc p+p. Please call 07786 385415, South East 11805
ESSO SIGN ESSO OIL DRIP LADY AND MAN HAPPY MOTORING ENAMEL SIGN
HOT RODS, SHOW RODS, RAT RODS, CUSTOMS AND A FEW CLASSICS MODEL CARS
POA. Hot Rods, Show Rods, Rat Rods, Customs and a few Classics. Fantastic collection of plastic model cars. Approximately 130. Must go. Call for details. Please call 01884 254099, Tiverton 11803
£250. 1950s/60s. Good condition for age, some weathering and rust. For collection from Hounslow, SW London. Please call 07831 748762, SW London 11788
PRIVATE COLLECTION OF 27 YEARS OF ASI MAGAZINES
POA. La manovella 1998/2025 approx. 310 mags. + Several years of Alfa Romeo owners club magazines & more. Interested; giorgiogiusto@hotmail.co.uk. South East 11784
2 ESSO OIL DRIP LADY AND MAN MONEY BOXES
£50. Slots in back heavy, cast iron. £50 pair. Please call 07946 747481, Surrey 11798
BBURAGO FERRARI
TESTAROSSA AND JAGUAR E CABRIOLET MODELS
£20 each. Bburago Ferrari Testarossa (Code 3019) and Jaguar E Cabriolet (Code 3026) 1:18 scale models. Please call 07712 527102, Surrey 11789
ESSO 2-GALLON PETROL
CAN
£75. 1930s-50s. Repainted. Green and red. For collection from Hounslow, SW London. Please call 07831 748762, SW London 11786
SHELL AVIATION SPIRIT 2-GALLON PETROL CAN
£85. Shell Aviation Spirit 2-gallon petrol can. 1930s-50s. For collection from Hounslow, SW London. Please call 07831 748762, SW London 11787
DAF LORRIES AND EUROPEAN TRUCKS BOOKS
£4.95 each. Clean unmarked pages. Both in excellent condition. Please call 07399 359072, Canterbury 11769
3 FILES OF ROVER P5 MAGAZINE
£50. 3 files of Rover P5 magazine, take five Sept 92 - July 94, Sept 94 - July 96 Sept 96Nov 97. All in leather type folders and in A1 condition. Please email gazza-hill@outlook.com, Staffordshire 11797
2 12 INCH WALL CLOCKS
£80. 2 12 inch wall clocks Esso Tiger & Michelin with hanging brackets £80 pair or £50 each. Please call 02083 997541, Surrey 11754
£1,000. On certificate. Please email meblsj@ outlook.com. South East 11764
JAGUAR AND FORD BOOKS
£10-£100. Jaguar S Type 3.4 3.8 models workshop manual £10. Ford classic Cortina service manual £10. Rare Fia Motorsport year books 1970-74 £100. Please email naylordavid2@sky.com. Please call 07754 672030, Cambridgeshire 11771
AEC RADIATOR
£300. 1936. Restored cosmetically for display. All complete. Also AEC MKIII radiator for display only and a Scammell R8 Grille. POA. Please call 07870 757409, East Midlands 11730
Wanted
ALBION L.A.D. CAB WORKSHOP MANUAL
Wanted. Albion L.A.D. cab workshop manual. Must include wireing diagram. Smiths temperature gauge “capillary type”. Please call 01466 792123, Aberdeenshire 11741
BEDFORD S-TYPE
Wanted. Bedford S-Type. Any condition must have plate and reg. Please call 07860 393980, Suffolk 11810
BEDFORD RASCAL PICK UP OR VAN OR SUZUKI PICK UP OR VAN
Wanted. Bedford Rascal pick up or van. Suzuki pick up or van. Good or bad. Cash awaiting. Please call Joe after 7pm. It’s urgent. Please call 07851 710300, Bedfordshire 11646
ENGLISH, EUROPEAN, AMERICAN TRUCK SALES BROCHURES
Wanted. English, European, American truck sales brochures all years, makes, models, write to Richard Zajac, 189 Rawson Street, Auburn, 2144 New South Wales, Australia. 11711
FORD THAMES 400E CAMPER VAN
Wanted. 1960s. Must be V.G.C. Please call 07717 338587, Staffordshire 11795
JENSEN TEMPO VAN
Wanted. 1960’s. A Jensen Tempo, vanminibus, camper, any variation of body any condition “nice and bad the better for K and R Walsh brothers to restore can collect. Please call 07979 746735, Manchester 11738
LOOKING FOR A SMALL MOTORCYCLE 125CC TO 200CC
Wanted. For local journeys- price open to offers but reasonable as I’m a pensioner and not that well off. Location of bike and must be delivered to. Text only. Please text 07790 512582, Shrewsbury 11704
LOOKING FOR A LATER MORRIS MINOR VAN
Wanted. Looking for an immaculate, factory standard example of a later Morris Minor van, I’m based in Lancashire, please email me images at iancoop1971@aol.com. Lancashire 11783
MORRIS/ AUSTIN VAN OR PICKUP SPARES
1968. Spares required. Lock assy door RH 24G1449. Or lock and remote control assy 24G1451. Would consider complete drivers door. Please leave a message if out. Please call 01305 767441, Dorset 11812
OPEL MANTA B HATCH
Wanted. 78/88. Opel Manta B or Vauxhall Cavalier Sportshatch body shell. Don’t mind complete car needing work. What have you got? Please call 07707 817684, Yorkshire 11757
OLD DAF AND VOLVO TRACTOR UNITS
Wanted. Old tractor units/ others considered. All makes considered. Please call or WhatsApp 07786580969, South East 11281
