There are as many Books,and DVD’s out there on the subject of trucks and the life we lead, as there are people on here with opinions, but what are peoples opinion about them.
I have many books written by people that claim to be truck drivers, from Britain, the U.S. and Australia, some are well written and others I have stopped reading after a couple of pages. Amazon, Kindle, Lulu, Old Pond, Ninehead, and many other publishers have many titles to offer, I’ve seen a couple of reviews written by people not from our industry, who write from a different perspective. But what do Professional truck drivers actually think about some of the stuff that has been written.
On the subject of DVD’s I have many that have been supplied by Ferdy, some of which are fantastic and other which for various reasons fall by the way side. Of course there are the Holly wood offerings and reality TV programs as well.
What’s your opinion ■■
By the way I am a truck driver and nothing to do with what is mentioned above, just interested in what other people might think
I would be happy to pass on my opinion on anything I have read. So here is a bit of list of what I have read, and seen on DVD / TV
Cola Cowboys, Not All Sunshine and Sand, Trucking Hell, Baghdad Trucker, Truckers North Truckers South, Juggernaut Driver, Transorient I and II, Long Haul Pioneers, King of the Road ( by Alex the guy from IRT )
DVD
Ice Road Trucker ( my kids wanted to surprise me for Christmas, More of a shock really )
Probably most of what Ferdy has ( had ) in his catalog.
Out Back Truckers, Trucker Stobart, Trucker ( Davis Turner) Destination Doha, A few 2 hour adverts by Kenworth Australia Again from the kids for Christmas, Dangerous roads, And of course Worlds Toughest Truck Driver.
I’m not ashamed to say Ive read or seen any of these, I’ve always had an interest in trucks and it is often interesting to see what people from outside our industry think of us, and how they perceive us.
First of I’ll go with Juggernaut in Turkey, I got this one from Ferdy at Top Run, it’s in German and my German isn’t as good as it used to be. Shot in Turkey in the 70’s by Terloops. It starts in Istanbul and interviews a few German drivers on the job, most of the comments from the interviewer are as you would expect, there is good footage shot as the film crew make their way south then east…More interviews with German and French drivers, some footage of the crash between the Volvo F88, Scania 110 with the cab ripped of and the remains of the Turkish bus. The road to Sivas and beyond has good coverage, however the quality of the film is good to start of but in places deteriorates and looks like it is being viewed through Venetian blinds.
All in all very good footage of a road we rarely see on film, good tracking shots of most of the major players of the time, it runs about 40 minutes.
I’d rate it 7 out of 10.
Next up is another one from Top Run called Holland - Pakistan with Henk Sterrenburgh.
It was shot by Henk on Super 8 when he was driver back in the 70’s and as the title suggests covers his trips from Holland to Pakistan, when he was on for Rynart.
For something that was shot on super 8 I have to say the steadiness of the camera work is pretty good, I have seen a lot of stuff from that era that isn’t very watchable.
There isn’t any live sound track and Ferdy has run some period music over the top of it, Some of which is good and others not so much.
The early stuff is in a 340 v8 Fiat 619 doing Holland to Italy and there is a bit of footage of Avandero’s yard at Novara which in the 90’s looked much the same other than being tarred. If any one has ever had a run in with one of those100 foot railway wagons they used to transport by loading onto a truck then there’s some footage of that on it as well. A bit of footage round about Rome and what looks like up by Trento as well. Hand loaded onions right up to the roof, and the old ferry to Hull.
There’s a bit of break where Ferdy has done some illustrations, then it’s on to Iran with a bit of footage of Londra along the way. It was a bit mean of Henk not to give the kid with a camel a bit of cash, but with a Maggie along for the ride as well he was probably saving his money to pay for repairs.
There’s change to a Mack 6 x4 artic which changes to a 6x4 with drag.
If you’re going that way then you have to go via Gurbulak where there has to be footage of the border queue,( well you have to do something if your sitting there that long.) lots of mud and Tonks on the other side of there as well.
We finally get to Pakistan and along the way there’s a bit of footage of the mighty Tahir in the winter, for some reason he’s back in his Fiat, it may of been edited out of order, or may be he annoyed his boss.
Rough roads, Tracks, lack of bridges, and no roads at all, it looks like the final destination is the same place at Lahore where Friderici used to transship for India.
All in all a good bit of footage, I don’t even mind most of the music Ferdy has ran over the top of it.
Destination Doha… If you’re into 1970’s Middle East trucking then this is the daddy of them all.
I remember seeing this live when it first aired on BBC 2 back in the 70’s.
As far a the technical stuff goes it was made by a top BBC film crew and is as good as it gets.
It follows 3 Astran trucks with 4 drivers form the Astran depot in Kent to Doha. The original idea was to go to Tehran or possibly Pakistan, but there were a lot of Visa problems, but with the help of the local TV company at the other end the deal was secured.
Some of the stuff was staged most of it wasn’t, but what ever it was the footage is spot on. Brake downs, stuck in the sand, and surprisingly border crossings are covered as well. ( Any one why has done it will tell you that Middle East border crossings are not a place to be waving cameras about ). 2 Scanias and lent Leyland Marathon, head of on what for some would be an adventure of a life time and other just another day at the office. What ever comes at you, you have to take it on and deal with it, probable the best part of a week if nothing goes wrong before you can even contact the yard. Some bottled it some lived for it.
In 2 parts it has to be the best by far.
I have 3 different versions of this documentary, one form a dubious source on VHS, one that Ferdy released before Old Pond got the rights to it and of course the Old Pond version as well. Not to count the version that was burnt into my mind when I first saw it.
Interestingly I prefer the version the Ferdy did as at the end he added a fantastic photo gallery, top photos and rare shots of some Astran trucks, and an outstanding gallery by a Friderici driver by the name of Daniel Fremond who drove a 123 Kenworth 6x2 with drag.
What ever version you get well worth a top 10 out of 10
What a cracker… Set and shot back in the the 70’s, probably the first of the anti truck campaigns by the investigative journalists that seem to be crawling over every channel now a days.
Scottish drivers are obviously running bent, so the TV crew secretly film them, and just to drive their point home they recruit a driving instructor to drive a fully loaded truck and trailer at legal speed, from Glasgow south as far as he could go.
Probably the only guy ever to drive down the A 74 at 40 mph, he only manages the midlands before his time’s up, and just to make sure we get the message he tells us that he’s also Exhausted and cant possibly go any farther.
Meetings with unions and well known Scottish haulage companies of the time, form the journalists point of view it tars the haulage industry as a bunch of cowboys. But more to the point, reading between the lines it only goes to show how draconian and outdated the transport laws actually were.
From a technical point of view the footage is well shot.
Get out the flat cap and wave your fist at the big smelly lorry from the protection of you Austin 1100. Tea and crumpets on the picnic rug at the side of the road, as you swat flies.
5 out of 10 just because I remember the A 74 as it was back then.
If any one else wants to have a rant please join in…
Seen the first few you mention and pretty much agree with you.
I haven’t seen limits of the law will try and find a copy of that.
I have 2 old videos produced by the British Transport Film which both have 3 separate films
on them,one is called 50s road hauling and the other giant loads on the move.
Giant loads on the move for me is brilliant very enjoyable and personally I would rate 8 out of 10
50s road hauling is not as good as but still very watchable 6 out of 10
At the end of the day its a personal choice what you may really like someone else might hate but
I found them very intresting and great to see some old motors on them.
Deanb that is exactly my point, it is very much a personal choice . I lent my copy of Destination Doha to a mate who told me he only watched a few minutes of it as he doesn’t like old Scanias. I have some DVD’s which I have only watched once as they weren’t my subject matter either, but others have raved on about then. Personal choice!!!
I’m polarized about Ice road Truckers, and it’s spin offs. I love watching stuff about trucks, but I cant stand the way it was put together.
Limits of the Law…
I remember watching that when it was broadcast. World in Action if I’m not mistaken. Was sat watching it with my Dad when during the introduction to the programme there were shots of various lorries. And to our surprise he’s driving one of the lorries! As he passed away some 7 years ago now, I would dearly love to have a copy of that. Any ideas where I could locate one?
strawman:
Limits of the Law…
I remember watching that when it was broadcast. World in Action if I’m not mistaken. Was sat watching it with my Dad when during the introduction to the programme there were shots of various lorries. And to our surprise he’s driving one of the lorries! As he passed away some 7 years ago now, I would dearly love to have a copy of that. Any ideas where I could locate one?
Best Regards
Iain
E bay I got mine off there from a guy called oiltruckie, he’s not got it for sale at the moment but he is selling Truckers,Truck drivin’ man and a couple of others.Try sending him a message all his stuff is top quality
Cola Cowboys. Now part of the Old Pond catalog.
regarded by some as the epitome of the Middle East driving books, it was at the time of it’s first release a true pioneer of trucking books.
Franklyn Wood hitched a ride with an Astran driver, Trevor Long by all accounts although he doesn’t get much of a mention, and they did a trip to the Gulf.
I bought my original copy at Southwaite services when it first came out and read most of in the lay-by opposite the pub on the A45 just of the M1.That copy disappeared a long time ago so I got a release from Old Pond, and I believe original copies were changing hand for considerable amounts of cash.
Defiantly written by someone other than a truck driver who is trying to make sense of it from both sides.
By reading the book it’s easy to see that MR Wood did a lot of research at the Astran office and payed attention to what is chauffeur was saying, as the book describes well what was going on both in the truck and the countries they passed through. Even if most of the stories are 2nd or 3rd hand, not as the writer is making out that they all happened on the same trip.
The book sets a good pace, however I found it a bit wordy, why saw something simply when you can show of your better vernacular and write half a paragraph. It runs to 300 pages and could easily of been covered in about 250.
Having said that it does give a good feel of what went on, and hats of to Trevor for having someone in your truck for that long a time, I know I don’t like sharing my tin box with anyone.
Right from the start I would like to say that I apologies for this next one, but sometimes when things get under your skin and annoy you so much you just have to say something about… Worlds Most Dangerous Roads…
I was surfing through the TV the other day and came across this pile of S@#t. If it was on pay for view I would of canceled my subscription, how it ever got past post production I will never know.
If someone was to present this idea to me, I would listen as it actually sounds quite good.
B grade UK actor takes a mate to far off lands, hires a 4x4 and goes up into the mountains to drive on the worlds most dangerous roads.
It’s embarrassing to say the least, I don’t know if the guy is deliberately trying to make him self look like an incompetent fool or not, but that’s how he came across.
Example… Driving their hired 4x4 in the Andes in South America they come across a narrow bridge with a tight left handed entrance to get on to it. They don’t manage with out ripping half the side out the hire car, lots of shunting back and forward, both getting out many times to have a closer look, I’m sure you get the picture.
Waiting to come over the bridge from the other direction after they have finally got out the way are a couple of F12 6x2 tag rigids’ both with fully loaded double height cattle crates which both just trundle over the bridge with out incident and get on their way as they have done day after day.
If you are curious about what roads and topography look like in far of distance place then only for that reason is it interesting.
The quality of the footage is good and what you can expect from modern day digi cam filming.
For the simple reason that I saw the aforementioned Volvo F12’s I’ll give it 0.5 out of 10
I would like to get hold of some of these DVDs. Was Limits of the Law the one in which the TV car chased a Scania 110 down the motorway, then lost it somewhere in the Midlands? There was another one, in which an owner-driver did Continetal work in a Transcon, using forged permits- what was that called?
[zb]
anorak:
I would like to get hold of some of these DVDs. Was Limits of the Law the one in which the TV car chased a Scania 110 down the motorway, then lost it somewhere in the Midlands? There was another one, in which an owner-driver did Continetal work in a Transcon, using forged permits- what was that called?
A run for your Money was the one with the bloke in the Transcon
I know there are various reviews dotted around on here, but there doesn’t seem to a thread dedicated to them. My idea is to review everything on one thread and get peoples opinion on pretty much everything that has been released.
In Limits of the law there a a section where they try to follow a Scottish Scania, and eventually pick him up in the midlands, but they keep losing him. At the end of the section they mention that they had 3 film crews on the job and the driver made it back to the depot after doing a 22 hour shift, however they don’t mention if he had a rest, as that part wouldn’t of fitted well with their angle of attack.
If I remember right Motherwell south on a night shift in a fully loaded F12 I could get to Keele easy in 4.5 hours, so to do a drop and couple of collections and back to Motherwell in 22 hours would easily leave enough time for a good bit of head down. No speed limiters back then.
I have got Run for you money, opinionated Dude in a Transconti doing Tireste, and On your bike as well, I think it was an Owner driver for Brit Europeen in a Turbo Star but I’ll have watch them again before I write them up.
strawman:
Limits of the Law…
I remember watching that when it was broadcast. World in Action if I’m not mistaken. Was sat watching it with my Dad when during the introduction to the programme there were shots of various lorries. And to our surprise he’s driving one of the lorries! As he passed away some 7 years ago now, I would dearly love to have a copy of that. Any ideas where I could locate one?
Best Regards
Iain
E bay I got mine off there from a guy called oiltruckie, he’s not got it for sale at the moment but he is selling Truckers,Truck drivin’ man and a couple of others.Try sending him a message all his stuff is top quality
A pack of lies, exageration and out and out bulls**t from cover to cover.
I did the job from 73 to 84 and, for me, this sad excuse for a ‘book’ dishonours all the hard-working, professional drivers who ran up and down the road doing a tough job year in, year out.
Long Haul Pioneers, though, is a completely different kettle of fish. Properly researched and very well written Ash does a first rate job in telling ‘our’ story. Thank Heaven that someone could be bothered to do it and us justice.
Interesting comment Dave, good to hear it from someone that did it at the time. I didn’t get onto the ME work until 96 97 alas it was only a couple of trips. and none of was like what I had seen, not that I was really expecting it. I had heard form some guys doing it in the early days that Cola Cowboys was a bit of an exaggeration, and I can see the book from the writers point of view as well. Many times I have spent long hours talking to and trying to explain to journalists what is going on and when you read what most of them have written I think to my self. " He must of interviewed someone else because my life is nothing like that."
However from a writers point of view some of them think if you write about something that the general public doesn’t really understand then it has to be interesting enough enough at least to catch the editors eye or it will just end up in the bin. A 2 week trip in a truck and probably a month in front of a type writer with the prospect of a bin job is nothing to look forward to.
A journalist once told me that the main aim is to write from a point of view that the reader is a novice and has has no idea what you are taking about, so it’s your job to explain the details, what is going on, educate, and try to engage the reader until the end of the piece.
I know most or all of the stories are second or third hand, as I know some of the people that claim they relate to them. The book like the doco Destination Doha did open a lot of doors for other to follow. But as I mentioned before it’s only a 6 out of 10 from me.
I will do Ash’s book a bit later on but remember that Ash not only wrote the the book as a fan of Astran, did, as you mentioned do a bang up job on the research, but also wrote it from the point of view that he knows the job from the inside as well. He could therefore bring a lot more to the table than some mo that hitched a ride in a truck writing down short hand as they bumped their through Eastern Europe.
If you are some body that lives and works in an office or city seeing and going to the same places everyday it must be a big shock to your system what we do, or did. For us we took it for granted because that was the office and that was where we lived. I can only assume the Mr Wood was well out of his comfort zone, not only traveling and living in a truck but also actually seeing the things that most of us saw along the way.
I though it would be a good idea to take one of my girlfriends on a trip to Ankara, and she was appalled that I could continuously drive through areas of abject poverty on a regular basis and seemingly do nothing about it, so much so that when we got back she dumped me and joined the International Red Cross when we got back.
A Run For Your Money
This is the one about a guy in a Transconti with a dodgy mo doing Italy in the 70’s
Inside Story doco, the star of the show is Bob Mc Angus, AKA Super Tramp or Road Runner and his Transconti with a container that he is delivering to Trieste for onward delivery by ship to Doha. The name on the door says Armstrong International Charter Transport. but Bob insists that he’s a owner driver.
If you read my last post I mentioned that a good journalist explains to the reader or watcher in terms that the reader or watcher is a complete novice, and there fore must tell in a very basic way and exactly what is going on. Mr Bob and his dodgy mo do it to a tea.
Driving through Belgium and down through France he explains everything for a T form, Carnet, TIR, and Authorization to which countries police force is open to bit of back hander and how many ■■■■ you should give to a border guard for not stamping your permit. He goes into the permit system and gives his opinion on why it fails, and openly shows his collection of dodgy permits. He also explains why driving a container truck he’s King of the Road and if you have a tilt your not much more than pond scum. ( I think I’ll slid back into my hole now )
A bit of a “Hello Darling” to top heavy blond as he goes round the Peripherique ( I don’t know why he didn’t go via Reims ) then down Auto route to Macon and over the bridge. From there on it’s national to the Blonk cause it’s long before the stilts, then it’s a bit out of sink as he’s down past Aosta before goes up the cliff just after Lafayet. A bit in the Autoporto, then suddenly he’s in Trieste docks. I assume he went back a different way as some of the climbs look a bit like the Mont Cenis, not that I would know as it always had 17 ton limit on it when I was doing it.
As you would expect from a Brit doco it’s well filmed and there was obviously a chase car as there’s a fair bit of panning shots on route.
The version I have isn’t the best of quality but I can see the original was good.
Euro Trucking 101 would describe it nicely. A bit basic but it gets its message across very well.
7 out of 10. Worth 40 minutes of your time if you ever get the chance.