Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Heritage Commercials

Lewis firstly had a passion for collecting vintage tractors, but as time went-on his interest in acquiring and restoring lorries grew. He purchased a couple of lorries with the view to restoring them and soon he had well and truly been bitten by the lorry collecting bug. One of his first acquisitions back in 1994, was a 1957 AEC Mercury tanker, TLD 869, which had been new to Shell Petroleum and was still in the livery of BP Oil. This had latterly been used as a bowser at Trewern Quarry, near Welshpool from where Lewis acquired it. A second AEC, a 1961 Mammoth Major Mk.V eight-wheeled dropside tipper, 733 CMJ, that had been new to Roger Constant was also acquired. This was fitted with an AV590 diesel and had last…

Investment guru Warren Buffett has a personal worth of close to £100 billion. The super-shrewd business watcher is chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway. The investment house’s massive portfolio of safe-bet stake holdings includes Marmon-Herrington, the foremost provider of all-wheel-drive systems for original fitment and after-market conversions. Marmon-Herrington’s products may be out of sight under a chassis, but that does not conceal a history that encompasses experimental prototypes that led the way to the Willys Jeep. In the 1930s, Marmon-Herrington engineered the world’s first 6x6s sold commercially and the first big all-wheel-drive oilfield specials. And 112 years ago, the predecessor Marmon Motor Car Company business built the Marmon Wasp, winner of the inaugural running in 1911 of the Indianapolis 500, the 200-lap race on the legendary 2.5-mile banked oval…

Having worked the site to secure pictures of the most interesting trucks, we paused at the sight of a World War One era road sweeper. The over one-hundred-year-old Laffly carried a builder’s plate describing its history as having been constructed in 1910 at Billancourt. This was a D3 model powered by an FB22 four-cylinder inline petrol engine on chassis number 3008 with the modification work being completed by Laffly’s Somua business. Although it was a relatively primitive cleaner, the chain-driven, rolling brush worked very well. It was while photographing the road-sweeper, that an English-accented voice apologised, in good French, for being in the direct line of our pictures. It turned out to be Glenn Harley, one of the guys who we had targeted to find and who was part of…

For years, British operators had struggled with very low powered trucks. When the gross weight in the UK was 32½ tons, many operators ‘limped on’ with 180-200hp engines, and anything above 200hp was a luxury for many. The 1970s saw more power come from abroad and UK manufacturers slowly caught up. By the early 1980s, there were several 300hp-plus engines, but they initially sold in smaller numbers but that changed in 1983 when the GVW for the UK went up to 38 tons, in line with much of Europe. That led to new models with higher power but still 280-300hp was quite often the norm. However, bucking the trend were Scania and Volvo, which developed higher powered larger engines for their homeland Scandinavian markets, but took no delays in offering…

We are not talking about Swedish super-group ABBA however, but the only organisation to make more export revenue for its Government in the same period; Volvo. There had been a few European lorries getting a foothold in the UK truck market throughout the 1960s. Volvo was neither the first one nor only one. There had been other Volvos before this model too, but it was the F88 more than any other single truck, which was to change the balance of Britain’s truck market forever. This was the start; the thin end of the wedge, the beginning of the end. It was a quiet revolution in every sense. Imported to the UK by Ailsa Trucks, the F86 had established a beach-head for the larger F88 to come ashore and both were…

If you have enjoyed this issue of Heritage Commercials and have a passion for the world of of classic lorries, trucks and vans, then why not subscribe? You will save money on the shop price and receive every issue delivered directly to your door! WHY SUBSCRIBE? ➜ NEVER MISS AN ISSUE ➜ FREE DELIVERY DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR ➜ BE THE FIRST TO READ NEW CONTENT ➜ SAVE MONEY ON SHOP PRICES OFFER 1. DIGITAL EDITION 12 ISSUES FOR JUST £32.99 TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE DIGITAL EDITION VISIT: shop.kelsey.co.uk/HCM…

BX SERVICE VAN The Citroën BX was launched back in 1982 under the Eiffel Tower, it was the successor to the GS/GSA and remained in production for 12 years up to 1994, nearly 2.5 million BX’s in all its forms were produced. The angular hatchback was designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone, it was designed to be lightweight with many features that set the car apart from its rivals, the Citroën Hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension, extensive use of plastic body panels, these included the bonnet, tailgate, and bumpers, and it was equipped with disc brakes all round. The BX didn’t arrive onto the UK right-hand drive market until August 1983. However, it was some four years later, 1987 when the BX Service van began to be marketed. I dropped in on…

Woodlands Garden Centre is hidden away down a quiet country lane not far from the noise and hustle and bustle of Brands Hatch racing circuit and since 30 August 2014, has also provided a home to the Kent Firefighting Museum since it was displaced from the official Fire Services location at Tovil in a cost cutting exercise. It may seem somewhat incongruous to find a museum at the rear of an otherwise ordinary garden centre, but it does contain some absolute gems and unique treasures including a 1897 Shand Maon Horse Drawn Steam fire engine that was delivered new that year to the Bromley Urban District Council Fire Brigade. The unit remained in use until 1919 after which it was purchased by the nearby Horton Kirby Paper Mills in South…

CHARLIE WATERS hc.ed@kelsey.co.uk Heritage Commercials, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent. WHAT IS IT? Mr Graham Ewing has written in asking if anyone can identify a lorry in the book written by Peter Edge-Stenson entitled Road TRANSPORT RECOLLECTIONS: THE EAST MIDLANDS FROM THE 1950S TO THE 1990S. Mr Ewing wrote to Mr Edge-Stenson last year but hasn’t yet had a reply. The lorry in question is one Mr Ewing had seen in Bromsgrove in July 1946. It was badged Armstrong Sauer and had a radiator similar to the current Bentley in the Monarch’s fleet of cars. He thinks it also had Gruss Air Springs. If anyone can identify this remarkable lorry you would make the 90-year-old Mr Ewing very happy. ANICE OLD TRUCK Here’s a…

SEND YOUR STORIES TO THE EDITOR hc.ed@kelsey.co.uk Heritage Commercials, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent. Solway Vehicle Enthusiasts Club Vehicle Show 2023 The Solway Vehicle Enthusiasts Club who raise funds for many worthy causes in Dumfries and Galloway announce their 2023 Vehicle Show at Tinwald Downs Road, Heathhall, Dumfries, on Sunday 23rd of April 2023. Unfortunately, the club lost their regular home when the Lockerbie Truck Park suddenly closed, this forced the club to move the event to Heathhall, Dumfries. Due to restrictions in space, anyone interested in showing their vehicle must book at SVEC2023show@gmail.com There will be a snack bar, tombola, a raffle and side stalls. Free entry to the public and vehicle owners. Make a date in your diary for a grand free…

The Rev. Teddy Boston was Vicar at Cadeby a small village on the A447 on the Mkt. Bosworth side of Hinckley. Teddy was into steam engines, he had a rather large steam engine running on a track around the vicarage grounds. In mid 1970, Teddy organised the Cadeby Steam fair, it was held in a field to the rear of the village on the Sutton Cheney road over a summer weekend. I attended with my wife and baby son on the Sunday afternoon, and was pleasantly surprised to see these lorries on display. The photos (a, b, c, d) show Mike Whittle’s Foden S21 two-stroke locomotive. Mike worked in the garage at A. Fletcher & Co. Ltd., finishing just before I started in 1964. He made a splendid job of…

I was lucky enough to see the two extremes of the DAF product range on a recent trip to Eindhoven in the Netherlands. I arrived (and departed) driving the company’s latest truck, an XD450 tractor unit, and during my stay I had a guided tour of the company’s museum in the city. It was very helpful – my next Classic Trucks of the UK bookazine will be on DAF (quick shameless plug there!) – so it was great to see some of the trucks on show and talk to people about the history of DAF from its early years to the present day. There were also plenty of trucks – and indeed buses and cars (and I admit, I found the cars really interesting as well!) – not to mention…

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