The truck is still inside Mccreadys at Chesterton and going through a slow refurb.
EVERYTHING WAS GREAT ABOUT ATKINSONS! PERIOD !! Bewick.
Bewick:
EVERYTHING WAS GREAT ABOUT ATKINSONS! PERIOD !! Bewick.
+1
And they’d go up the 1 : 4 Sutton Bank in Nth Yorks. fully loaded. (Very naughty I know but I was young and foolish 
)
8 wheeler, 150 Gardner, 6 speed DB box
grumpy old man:
And they’d go up the 1 : 4 Sutton Bank in Nth Yorks. fully loaded. (Very naughty I know but I was young and foolish
8 wheeler, 150 Gardner, 6 speed DB box
Slater’s Fodens did that daily! 
We followed a loaded MAN eight legger up there a few weeks ago, progress was rather slow haha.
Anyway back to the topic (holy thread resurrection! 
) I had nothing to do with Atkinsons ‘proper’ but, as I posted here a few years ago, we did have a few Sed Ak 400’s and they were OK for what they were. A comfy and roomy cab (that rotted away under you after about six years) and the Eaton diffs on several shed teeth rather easily even on the flat, they were sorted under warranty though. Chassis wise they were not a patch on the Fodens, too many crossmembers adding excessive weight (though we had one chassis rail break in half, the driver complained of wandering steering but got it back to the quarry) and they broke springs like there was no tomorrow, plus they were just too damned heavy! Mine with a Gardner 201 could only manage a 19 1/4 tonne payload, almost 15 cwt less than the Fodens with the same engine/gearbox, and the Rolls 265 engined ones could only manage 19 tonnes! The cab was the best part I thought, I would have liked to have tried a 401 but we soon returned to Fodens once the factory could supply them again.
Pete.
Bewick:
EVERYTHING WAS GREAT ABOUT ATKINSONS! PERIOD !! Bewick.
It was if you had other chaps to sit in the ■■■■ things all week!
Retired Old ■■■■:
Bewick:
EVERYTHING WAS GREAT ABOUT ATKINSONS! PERIOD !! Bewick.It was if you had other chaps to sit in the ■■■■ things all week!
My sentiment completely.
Ross.
Our Atkis all had Bostrom seats and proper bonnet covers, great motors to drive, very reliable and no cab rot on the Atki cabs ! can’t understand the negative comments 
Cheers Bewick.
I often read about Scania being popular because of its badge and heritage, I’ve never been I this camp as I’ve always been a fan of them, from the 111 I had at the start of my career through the various models until the 144, I thought they were more than worthy of the reputation they had. I consider the 143 Scania as the best lorry ever made, I’ve owned and driven them and even though they were left behind and long overdue for replacement at the end of their life cycle, the 143 was still a bloody good lorry.
I think Atkis were the same, their vehicles of the 50s and 60s were indeed a very high quality product and the DNA of those was carried on up until the mk2, yes they were in desperate need of a better cab with bigger power options and on paper the 400 series answered those questions, however it lost the soul of the Atkinson.
Bewick:
Our Atkis all had Bostrom seats and proper bonnet covers, great motors to drive, very reliable and no cab rot on the Atki cabs ! can’t understand the negative comments
I will agree with Dennis that ‘driver survival’ in an accident was usually better than in a steel cab. We had several Fodens involved in bad crashes that practically wrote the cabs off (though they were usually repaired afterwards, unlike a steel one) and no drivers were injured, a lot to be said for having a ‘Plastic Pig’ around you! However I guess over a period of time the internal wooden frames would rot but probably not in the normal life span that an operator like Dennis would run a lorry for.
Pete.
windrush:
Bewick:
Our Atkis all had Bostrom seats and proper bonnet covers, great motors to drive, very reliable and no cab rot on the Atki cabs ! can’t understand the negative commentsI will agree with Dennis that ‘driver survival’ in an accident was usually better than in a steel cab. We had several Fodens involved in bad crashes that practically wrote the cabs off (though they were usually repaired afterwards, unlike a steel one) and no drivers were injured, a lot to be said for having a ‘Plastic Pig’ around you!
Pete.
Spot on there Pete ! if and when we ever had any mishaps with one of the Atkis we always made sure that the driver collected all “The bits” up and brought them home then we pieced them back together and gave them a coat of resin dope, rubbed them down and “hey presto” good as new !! and your right as well about survivability which was proven to be far better in a fibre glass cab ! although thankfully we never had an Atki in a bad smash ! Cheers Dennis.
Only ever drove British motors n all of them had good n bad things about em same as everything in life.The thing for me bout Akky was it were the best looker n still is, whoever designed it got it right theres nothing you could do to it to make it look better cept good paint job.You don,t need to improve classic motors just look at Akkys with add on sleepers not right to the eye, bit like sticking a tea chest onto boot of an E type
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder in my eye never been one better yet,having said that don,t think I,d like to work one for my living now
I worked for Dobson (Edin) Ltd in the 60s the fleet was made up mostly
with Atkinson’s and they were the best back then.
Dobson had a standing order for 4 new Tractor Units a month back then.
I was on General Haulage, Scottish Brewers Contract & Esso Contract Tankers with Dobson in the 60s.
However leading up to the 1970s British manufacturers made very little progress with modernising their trucks.
Then in the 1970s they lost out to Volvo, DAF & Scania. That was the start of the demise of the British Truck Industry.
I started driving a DAF 2800 DKS in 1974 it was like night and day to the Atkinson’s or Foden’s
or any truck I had been driving previously.
It made the job for the driver a lot easier and the comfort was excellent.
The owners benefitted as well as loads were delivered faster.
I drove Atkinson’s for Humber McVeigh’s out of Salford for 4 years,both ■■■■■■■ and Percy’s,neither let me down,a good reliable motor for the day.
David
This one was new to Smiles in 1963, 150 Gardner & a 6 speed David Brown gearbox, IIRC They ran it for 8 years, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
0This one was new to Smiles in 1963, 150 Gardner & a 6 speed David Brown gearbox, IIRC They ran it for 8 years, Regards Larry.
Are you sure this Atki was not a tad older Larry, say late 50’s, as I thought the later rounded cab was in production by '63, just an observation though . Cheers Dennis.
I would have agreed with you Dennis that it looks an old cab for the year - except that I had a 6 wheeler BMC for a while which I think was '62, and the reg was UTY.
John
Bewick:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0This one was new to Smiles in 1963, 150 Gardner & a 6 speed David Brown gearbox, IIRC They ran it for 8 years, Regards Larry.Are you sure this Atki was not a tad older Larry, say late 50’s, as I thought the later rounded cab was in production by '63, just an observation though . Cheers Dennis.
The Mk I cab was launched in 1958 and it’s predecessor (the bow front) remained as an option until 1964.
Lawrence Dunbar:
0This one was new to Smiles in 1963, 150 Gardner & a 6 speed David Brown gearbox, IIRC They ran it for 8 years, Regards Larry.
Hi Dennis, Its defo a 1963 reg, The next one they got was ANL 514 B,With the same cab, the next one was an F Reg Atki Tractor unit with the fibreglass rapround cab, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0This one was new to Smiles in 1963, 150 Gardner & a 6 speed David Brown gearbox, IIRC They ran it for 8 years, Regards Larry.Hi Dennis, Its defo a 1963 reg, The next one they got was ANL 514 B,With the same cab, the next one was an F Reg Atki Tractor unit with the fibreglass rapround cab, Regards Larry.
Fair enough Larry it was a bit like ERF that kept building the older cab model alongside the new one for a while. And Leyland and Albion still built the LAD cab after the ergo came out eh! Cheers Dennis.