robroy:
I learned on one of those Dodges.at a training school…nasty horrible bloody things.Used to have to aim it in the direction you wanted to go, and then try and hold it in a straight line.
The gears were alike to a stick in a bucket, hope for the best to get in without a crunch of grating cogs, and listen for the sickening thud when you split the gears.
How the hell I managed to pass a test in it with all the pressure, I’ll never know.
I reckon the examiner felt sorry for me.
The Dodges were popular with the training schools in the seventies. Tyneside Transport Training Group had both rigids and artics and I did my Class 1 in one in 1974.
IIRC the cabs could tip under severe braking conditions
A couple of years later I was going on a course to MoTEC at High Ercall (RTITB, Mr Bewick’s favourite organisation)
Tyneside Training had a six wheel Dodge tipper that had to go down there and my Dad who was a founding member of the group volunteered my services. Went down on the Sunday to start the course on Monday but the b****y thing had low speed diffs so a max of 41mph from Tyneside to Shropshire, thought I was never going to get there.
Tyneside