■■■■ Turpin:
Allways wanted to drive a transcon. But i drove the french version Berliet tr320.
.
Not being picky, but was that really a ‘French version’?
As far as I am aware the Berliet preceded the Transcon and was a totally
different motor, the cab shell only (with a couple of modifications) being
bought by Ford to save designing and tooling up themselves. It is possible
that they were in a bit of a race with Bedford to bring out a ‘heavy’ as the latter
were busy with their TM at the same time. Don’t see many pics of them come
to think of it, I had a couple at Toray, the cab floor had a lip at the door opening
and one of my drivers fractured his skull falling out after tripping.
Stand to be corrected on the Berliet/Transcon point but one thing does amaze
me. I only drove one, at Bulkliners, towards the end of its life and it was very
tired although I could see how it would have been popular. Never noticed the
brakes or consumption being bad but I did notice the sore neck I got from the
cab nodding on the soft suspension. However, in view of all the negative
comments put forward here how come it is looked on with such fond
nostalgia?