Hi Carl,
Excellent stories about the breakdown wagons, I remember them all!
It was nice to see you mention my dad and uncle Jim. Its great to hear your stories and I wish I had been able to ask my dad more before he died at only 52. He enjoyed working on the wagons down Marmaduke Street and Green Lane. He was a quiet man, but when he was with your dad, they would talk for hours and always having a good laugh!
Uncle Jim was star, very knowledgeable in many ways, could fix anything and loved history. However, he was steady away when driving, I don’t think he ever went more than the 20mph limit from his early driving days!!!
Don’t forget to mention the LWB Land Rover pickup which you used for towing the vans. I remember this when this was brand new and is one of the main reasons I have been into Land Rovers ever since. I remember Saturday mornings and it being used to tow wagons from the waste ground at the end of Marmaduke Street along to the garage for repair, Dad would borrow it at dinner time and take me home with me always saying “put the whirry light on!”
Dad took me to see the Bedford RL when it first came and can recall it having the crane fitted and the bodywork modified to suit, it really looked well when it was done.
I do remember my dad and uncle Harry talking about poor Kenny and the ride back with Scammell, with you having to go down and swap seats!!! I loved that motor, it looked such a beast and wished I had taken a photo of it. I seem to think it had a notice screwed to the inside of the passenger door saying something like ‘no unauthorised passengers allowed in this vehicle’.I have always liked anything to do with heavy haulage from a very early age, with another of my uncles, Phil who worked for Bakers of Southampton, they having a removals side to the business, but also specialised in heavy haulage and ran a lot of ERF’s plus few Scammells.
The Bedford TK breakdown was on a different scale to the Scammell, but still looked just right, was it white and blue when you first got it?
This is why I have always like Scammells, Bedfords and Land Rovers.
Keep the stories coming Carl.
Best regards,
Mark