I was trying to reckon up how many Gardner engines we ran over the years and I got up to the high 30’s and there will be,no doubt,one or two I missed ! There was one 6LW and a couple of 150Lx’s the rest were mainly 180LXB’s as well as circa into the teens of 8LXB/C’s.The Gardners gave us excellent service during the years we ran them and ,of course,we did re-build quite a few albeit after high,trouble free,mileages.However I have got to say that with the introduction of the Scania into our fleet both trouble free higher mileages,and increased reliabilty was the order of the day.Driver acceptabilty improved and fuel consumption was similar and possibly better,the halcyon days of the legendary Gardner had definitely come to a grinding halt.But in their time the Gardner was indeed the benchmark that all others were measured against and when pitched against the Leyland ,AEC,Meadows and Foden engines there was,during that era “no contest” the Gardner was king !!All good things come to an end at some time.While we are on “all things” Gardner,does anyone remember the “chinese” gent that was in the Service Centre at Patricroft ?PS If all good things were never to come to an end “Saviem” would still be CEO of that obscure French manufacturer and he would be at a small family owned Parisien restaurant this evening regaling some African Potentiate and his entourage with some Bosting “Tales from The Black Country” Cheers Dennis.