What speed did they go at?

mr big:
In 1969 i drove a Scammel Handyman with a Leyland 680 fitted under the bonnet,it had the exhaust coming out in front of the first axle and at night you could wind it up on the m6 and watch a blue flame coming out the pipe.I got followed by the old bill in a jag on the A66 and got done at kendel court 35 quid for traveling at 79mph over a distance of 3 tenths of a mile.

I remember the Scammel Handyman with the 680 fitted. Mine had a gate-change gearbox with a clutch-brake that I couldn’t get used to until another driver told me to use only two fingers to change and not my whole fist. Worked like magic after that.

I never found out what the top speed was but 65mph was normal for me, if you went any faster the engine would chuck out clouds of black smoke.

I was working for Speedfreight of Dargate at the time mainly tramping with a 40ft trailer all over the UK. I think the owner was called Reg Moore and the transport manager was John Snow.

The cab was very noisy and I had to fit some sound-deadening material to the doors and the engine cover in order to make it bearable. But she was a flying machine and ate up the miles with ease. I made good money because we were paid mileage in those days.

Chris Webb:
I seem to remember drivers were getting fined £1 for every mph they were exceeding on the A74,back in the 70s.Anybody confirm this?

i think that was the rule of thumb guide…always best to cop a guilty plea and not have to go to court…i got done on the A74 for 84mph in a transconti at ecclefechan though with a bit of grovelling and forelock tugging it got rounded down to 79 as being over double the limit meant a automatic ban…and to be fair to me,i saw them in the distance fading in and out of sight ,so they said they had been following me for nearly 20 miles till they could get a fix on me as they didnt want to get too close in case i spotted them and slowed down…fair deal all round really,but i got the usual endorsement,and a £65 quid fine so i reckon they had a word in the judges earhole .

i worked for mc neils/arbickle smith for a while and if you were a good boy you got onto the paisley-kellogs trafford park and return day trunk.a wee jaunt in a day cab 88,flat to the mat.a leisurely spot of tiffin for lunch at the kelloggs canteen,then a wee cruise home again,every day…this was when the motorway stopped at carlisle,
anything reasonable would do 75 -80ish without much effort…if it was your normal cowboy outfit,then your looking 85 anyway assuming you were paid by the load/trip…away you went on a sunday with a tin full of sixpences and pennies for the phone box.

I’ve never noticed this thread before, but now that 5Tony5 had kicked it back to the top of the listings i’m guessing it will not be long before a certain “Tubbysboy” contributes to this interesting topic…

You knew you had a good motor when you could tailgate a Parks of Hamilton coach on the flats, but somehow a Murphy International Transcon would still pass you…

M&C steve:
I’ve never noticed this thread before, but now that 5Tony5 had kicked it back to the top of the listings i’m guessing it will not be long before a certain “Tubbysboy” contributes to this interesting topic…

Steve,

As you well remember all vehicles myself and my father operated were always in tip top condition and totally legal.

I remember when dad bought 3 brand new K reg Iveco turbostars. Me and him shipped from Dover to Calais late one Friday night so with the traffic etc getting to Dover the speed limiters weren’t noticed. I followed off the boat and was surprised when he pulled in at the first lay by before getting even to st omer Peaje,

What’s the matter dad, I asked ? Poxy “fiats” don’t do more than 100 km/h, being the answer. Yes mate I know they’ve got limiters on them. I cannot type in his exact words as the language used was what you could call ripe…

He then proceded to find the limiters in both lorries, if I remember correctly they were beneath the rear of the gear stick box inside the cab,both were promptly dealt with and away we went at a rate of knots more fitting to the autoroute.

I think the fastest lorry I ever had was the old strato once fitted with a new gearbox, it would go quite happily of the clock all day and most of the night. Fortunately the tacho, as luck would have it, didn’t always show the correct speed… odd that hey ?

I also remember driving for a certain tipper firm near Chelmsford and being overtaken down the A12 while doing almost 70 mph in an artic Foden, by the owner of the same firm, on arrival at the plant I was greeted with the words, good morning mr hart, why on earth why you driving so slow ? By the same boss… maybe my memory ain’t what it used to be as maybe he also used riper language than that…

Now I’ve started rambling on, I’ll carry on. On one of the last trips me and dad did double manned we came back from Oporto loaded with shoes and averaged 59 mph back to Calais, this in the days when the Salamanca bit was still single track, had to stop for oil round Paris as the old ■■■■■■■ had just about had enough of humming’

Happy days, and more so for the “mechanic” that used to bodge the lorries back together once they’d arrived in Braintree, while charging through the nose !,

dave docwra:
You knew you had a good motor when you could tailgate a Parks of Hamilton coach on the flats, but somehow a Murphy International Transcon would still pass you…

i do remember a time when 1 of parks lifted a load of punters from glasgow,then headed down to forton for a pee stop…wherupon the entire load of passengers got off,and refused to go back onto the bus until someone came from parks with another driver a he had been flat to the mat the whole way down and scared the crap out of them …

dieseldog999:

dave docwra:
You knew you had a good motor when you could tailgate a Parks of Hamilton coach on the flats, but somehow a Murphy International Transcon would still pass you…

i do remember a time when 1 of parks lifted a load of punters from glasgow,then headed down to forton for a pee stop…wherupon the entire load of passengers got off,and refused to go back onto the bus until someone came from parks with another driver a he had been flat to the mat the whole way down and scared the crap out of them …

Lol,lol,lol

David

Used to drive a foden …aye I know but this ? master was a flyer had a 9 spd fuller ■■■■■■■ engine pulled tandem trailer 9always light loads(beds etc) it was a coach catcher …used to let the coaches on the way to blackpool pass by on the M6 see the boobies etc then cruise past and repeat . fastest buggy though was an ex owner operators motor I had as a spare out here on the prairies an old 1990 s Mack vision(usa specs set up) with a 460 and 13 sp fuller pulling a b train .I chickened out at close to a ton and a still had a split to go.(wanted to see what it would do)…remembered I had remoulds on back trailer

I’m sure I’ve told this on another thread, but what’s the point of getting old if you can’t tell a story again?

In Saudi in about 1980, they introduced Saudi plates and Saudi Licences - even for foreigners. (Before that we ran on UK plates and licences) I went through the pain barrier of getting a driving licence. ( I don’t remember taking a test, I think it was more bureaucracy than actually testing your ability to drive) and got my 110 put on Saudi plates.

At Caravan trading, we had a contract with an American company in Riyadh called MSI. What they did is lost in the mists of my memory, but we pulled plenty of their trailers and containers off the port and delivered them to Riyadh. They had a couple of normal control Kenworths, imported from the States, and ran back and forth from our yard in Dammam.

This is a pic of one of the Kenworths (this was an old one - maybe 7 or 8 years old, imported from the States - pulling out of our yard. This was a 40’ on one of our trailers. Note the distinct lack of twist Locks! We carried thousands of containers chained on like this and never lost one. I liked those American trailers. No rope hooks, but then, we hardly ever roped and sheeted. I liked the wheels, on spokes, like Trilex, but all one piece. So much lighter to handle.

They employed an English lad, John Woodhead, from the East Midlands, Nottingham I think, as one of their drivers. He was a motorbike fanatic, and was killed ironically, not on the ultra dangerous Saudi roads, but on his bike while on holiday back in England. Someone pulled out from a junction without seeing him on the main road.

MSI replaced him with a Philippino driver. He had no Saudi licence. They gave him a new forward control Kenworth with (IIRC) a 450 ■■■■■■■ + fuller. The problem was without a Saudi Licence, you weren’t allowed on the port by then.

I took his unit and went into the port to collect his trailer. I got it up to 90 before slowing down to enter the berth to collect the trailer. Some machine, some memory!

John

Tubbysboy:

M&C steve:
I’ve never noticed this thread before, but now that 5Tony5 had kicked it back to the top of the listings i’m guessing it will not be long before a certain “Tubbysboy” contributes to this interesting topic…

Steve,

As you well remember all vehicles myself and my father operated were always in tip top condition and totally legal.

Happy days, and more so for the “mechanic” that used to bodge the lorries back together once they’d arrived in Braintree, while charging through the nose !,

As i suspected Mr. Hart replied with some of his better memories of times gone past. Tubby ( Mr. Hart senior ) was well known for not liking to ‘hang around’ once he was loaded and ready to go, it was indeed a very sad day for him when the hated speed limiters became law.

Going by your two quotes above, it would appear that the bodges made to your trucks were of the highest quality !!!

Pity there are so many miles between us mate as it would be great to meet up and discuss old times over a beer or 10.

Regards Steve…

These 2 trucks the KW mine and the Ford were both capable of speeds in access of the 100km limit for road trains the KW was 117km at 2100 and the Ford out of sight if Joe[ex Kentish town BRS now sadly deceased] decided to leave me. I rarely drove above 90kms/hr but would get abused by Joe if I was holding him up,mobile road block springs to mind as a favourite of his.
I might add that was loaded 2 trailer speeds,the KW powered by a 19litre ■■■■■■■ didn’t drop off much with 3 trailers
I never saw Joe with 3.The Ford had a 3406 B Cat.

Cheers Dig

Pre limiter having a fast motor gave you freedom to organise your day as you saw fit , stop for a brew or a meal when you were ready . We were running to northfleet regularly and it was an easy day , back empty . Then the firm expanded and they set on 2 ex forces drivers . We were paid by the load and in a short time they were knocking the run off flat out and coming back for a local . Job knackered , lorries flogged to death .All they could see was the wages . Speed could be a double edged sword , and i suppose such things brought about the speed limiters .

I’ve done 175 km/h according to TomTom in my -04 FH16, without trailer ofcourse, in controlled circumstances…

so whats the controlled circumstances part…eyes front…foot down.and bumhole twitching like a rabbits nose? the only control there is not needing a nappy once you stop…

dieseldog999:
so whats the controlled circumstances part…eyes front…foot down.and bumhole twitching like a rabbits nose? the only control there is not needing a nappy once you stop…

Quiet road where you dont see cops very often. It was just to test how fast it goes when max rpm was raised to 2700 rpm.

V8Lenny:

dieseldog999:
so whats the controlled circumstances part…eyes front…foot down.and bumhole twitching like a rabbits nose? the only control there is not needing a nappy once you stop…

Quiet road where you dont see cops very often. It was just to test how fast it goes when max rpm was raised to 2700 rpm.

Forest road from irun up to Bordeaux was always a fair testing ground…

Everywhere in France was as long as it was dark, it seemed as if les flics were solar powered.

M&C steve:

Tubbysboy:

M&C steve:
I’ve never noticed this thread before, but now that 5Tony5 had kicked it back to the top of the listings i’m guessing it will not be long before a certain “Tubbysboy” contributes to this interesting topic…

Steve,

As you well remember all vehicles myself and my father operated were always in tip top condition and totally legal.

Happy days, and more so for the “mechanic” that used to bodge the lorries back together once they’d arrived in Braintree, while charging through the nose !,

As i suspected Mr. Hart replied with some of his better memories of times gone past. Tubby ( Mr. Hart senior ) was well known for not liking to ‘hang around’ once he was loaded and ready to go, it was indeed a very sad day for him when the hated speed limiters became law.

Going by your two quotes above, it would appear that the bodges made to your trucks were of the highest quality !!!

Pity there are so many miles between us mate as it would be great to meet up and discuss old times over a beer or 10.

Regards Steve…

Your right there Mr. Gray,

A few beers would get the whole job sorted out… as it used back up the flock of a Monday or Tuesday or whatever night of the week…

I could also relate, especially on this thread, about the flat spot that old 916 of yours had…

Another fond memory of gentle economic driving I have is doing a couple of trips in a 530 scania from purfleet, might have made a match for the strato…

By lord did it hop on once the offending fuse was removed… I seem to recall irun to Calais was a “legal” drive using the nationals from tours onwards…

Isn’t it funny how we only remember the good bits of it all ?

Slowest 49 mph fastest 65 mph, don,t seem to remember spending anymore time at home or more money in my pocket with the fast un.

I remember probably in the early nineties going north on the A1 about two in the morning in a Ford Cargo recovery truck doing about 65 and thinking how well I was doing, when almost out of the blue these two headlights started catching me really quickly, next thing a Norbert Dentressangle artic shot past me with another of his mates right up his chuff catching his draught !!! I didn’t even get chance to see what make they were. They must have been doing at least a good 85, nearly blew me off the road, never saw them again.