Lawrence Dunbar:
0VTU 291 E, This is what It looked like when I bougth It from Sellers & Kent. Regards Larry (Not My Picture).
I guess that would have been towards the end of the S21 era? What did you mainly haul?
essexpete:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0VTU 291 E, This is what It looked like when I bougth It from Sellers & Kent. Regards Larry (Not My Picture).I guess that would have been towards the end of the S21 era? What did you mainly haul?
Haha, Bob Sellers and Tony Kent were still running S21 cabbed Fodens on bag and tanker work well into the late 1970’s, they also had an S20 cabbed four wheeler with the four cylinder two stroke engine that was carting bags from our quarry when I started there in 1975 so they got their moneysworth from their machinery! We had a couple of their drivers come to us at Tilcon and were chuffed when they were given a five year old S50 halfcab Foden to drive as they had power steering and a proper seat! 
Pete.
Hi Essex. We hauled For Tilcon, North Tyne Roadstone,Plus Fish,Coal,Grain Lime,Slag, Anything that would go into a tipper, We also had artics with tipper trailers,Flats, & Curtainside on all kinds of long & short haul jobs, Regards Larry
windrush:
essexpete:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0VTU 291 E, This is what It looked like when I bougth It from Sellers & Kent. Regards Larry (Not My Picture).I guess that would have been towards the end of the S21 era? What did you mainly haul?
Haha, Bob Sellers and Tony Kent were still running S21 cabbed Fodens on bag and tanker work well into the late 1970’s, they also had an S20 cabbed four wheeler with the four cylinder two stroke engine that was carting bags from our quarry when I started there in 1975 so they got their moneysworth from their machinery! We had a couple of their drivers come to us at Tilcon and were chuffed when they were given a five year old S50 halfcab Foden to drive as they had power steering and a proper seat!
Pete.
I have never sat in one but to be pleased with a Foden half cab!
Thanks Lawrence for the work explanation.
I will have to see if I can find the one and only picture of Dad’s 1973 S80 180.
The only picture I have of Dad’s Foden NHJ850M S80 Gardner 6LXB Foden 8sp SWB 6 wheeler with dropside alloy body. Mum you took better photos than that normally!
In the background you can see the AEC Mercury the Foden replaced, an MF 203 TLB and, just about in the background, a 1955 Chaseside 500. Probably August 1973 on a Saturday as loaded with horse muck for the local mushroom farm. The Foden came off the road a year later and was sold about Jan '75. It was a shade under 10k on the road. Is was sold I believe to a Yorkshire haulier. He arrived in an ■■■■■■ car struck the deal with Dad. With a little fiddling about with timber and concrete blocks, the ■■■■■■ went back to Yorks on the Foden.
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Six wheeler S80 tippers were not that common with owner drivers in these parts, there were a few around but Leyland Reivers were favoured as they were a lot lighter and cheap to repair.
Pete.
Hi Windrush, I agree with you about the Leylands, As you know Im a Foden man, But I did run a few Leylands, This one 6 wheeler was a great motor IMO, 17 Tonnes plus payload, Great on fuel , Maybee a bit slow on the beechams pills,But it did very well for us, I sold it to a bloke from Kent, Who was very pleased with it, Regards Larry,
windrush:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Six wheeler S80 tippers were not that common with owner drivers in these parts, there were a few around but Leyland Reivers were favoured as they were a lot lighter and cheap to repair.
Pete.
Well therein lies the tale. Dad did employ a driver but he hit a point where there was not enough sand and gravel work to run the lorry and pay the driver.
The lorry was too expensive, had a relatively poor payload at around 15 tonnes and was a bit slow. Dad had always wanted to run a Foden with a Gardner, and possibly if it had been run for 5 years plus it might have costed out. As it was if he had kept the AEC Mercury another year and purchased a cheaper truck following it might have worked. TBH running one lorry with a driver chasing work and then spending most Saturday afternoons on checks and maintenance was probably something that, in the end, Dad was glad to see the back of. There was always extra work about with muck-a-way but the body was too light and Dad would not operate a lorry in ■■■■ conditions anyway.
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Sand and gravel rates always seemed to be lower that roadstone and tarmac anyway, when I drove for a local haulier on a Foden six wheeler we kept clear of S&G work apart from a few back loads where we weren’t going out of our way for them. Lastly I drove a 3000 series Foden, originally a 24 tonner but we had it upgraded to 26 tonnes so could just get 17 tonne payload on it, however even then the lads with Ford Cargos at our quarry could get almost 18 tonnes on them so they gained a bit on us. Tarmac (the company) paid 17 tonnes minimum on a six wheeler back then anyway (they stopped that eventually!) so getting your full weight on didn’t matter too much! 
Pete.
windrush:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Sand and gravel rates always seemed to be lower that roadstone and tarmac anyway, when I drove for a local haulier on a Foden six wheeler we kept clear of S&G work apart from a few back loads where we weren’t going out of our way for them. Lastly I drove a 3000 series Foden, originally a 24 tonner but we had it upgraded to 26 tonnes so could just get 17 tonne payload on it, however even then the lads with Ford Cargos at our quarry could get almost 18 tonnes on them so they gained a bit on us. Tarmac (the company) paid 17 tonnes minimum on a six wheeler back then anyway (they stopped that eventually!) so getting your full weight on didn’t matter too much!
Pete.
As a 6wheeler the s39 soldiered on for quite a while as a mixer/tipper chassis due to the weight advantage . The s80/83 was always a bit heavy as a 6 wheeler , and as you mentioned Ford Cargos with the ■■■■■■■ was the option for ODs .
rigsby:
As a 6wheeler the s39 soldiered on for quite a while as a mixer/tipper chassis due to the weight advantage . The s80/83 was always a bit heavy as a 6 wheeler , and as you mentioned Ford Cargos with the ■■■■■■■ was the option for ODs .
[/quote]Yet the S80/83 as an eight wheeler was quite light Dave. Tarmac had a lot of the six wheeler S80’s but until the 3000 series came out OD’s tended to shy away from Foden. Of course Paccar were in charge then so the heavy worm diffs had gone and the Fuller box and Eaton axles were standard across the range, also alloy chassis X members made the chassis a lot lighter. My last gaffer bought a new one in 1989 with the small C series ■■■■■■■ and small synchromesh gearbox, the box was the weak link and I think he had four of them before he admitted defeat and fitted the larger constant mesh Fuller box! He ran it for 14 years until he retired and then an OD from Cliffe Hill had it. Dale Transport from Parwich ran a lot of them.
Pete.
rigsby:
windrush:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Sand and gravel rates always seemed to be lower that roadstone and tarmac anyway, when I drove for a local haulier on a Foden six wheeler we kept clear of S&G work apart from a few back loads where we weren’t going out of our way for them. Lastly I drove a 3000 series Foden, originally a 24 tonner but we had it upgraded to 26 tonnes so could just get 17 tonne payload on it, however even then the lads with Ford Cargos at our quarry could get almost 18 tonnes on them so they gained a bit on us. Tarmac (the company) paid 17 tonnes minimum on a six wheeler back then anyway (they stopped that eventually!) so getting your full weight on didn’t matter too much!
Pete.
As a 6wheeler the s39 soldiered on for quite a while as a mixer/tipper chassis due to the weight advantage . The s80/83 was always a bit heavy as a 6 wheeler , and as you mentioned Ford Cargos with the ■■■■■■■ was the option for ODs .
I seem to remember Fodens actually produced a light 6 chassis in the mid 70s where everything spec’d was lighter weight including bought in axles and gearboxes.
The driver of S39 8 wheeler local to us hated the thing.
Yes Pete, it was ‘the lightweight model’ for mixer/tipper applications. A light S39 cab, Stopmaster brakes, hypoid diffs and taperlight springs. Tilcon had a lot of them for mixers, the brakes were nothing special though. 
We had a few mixers at our quarry but they went elsewhere for servicing/repair so we had nothing to do with them, we already had around fifty eight wheelers and about the same number of cars, vans and Land Rovers to look after.
Pete.
Pete do you know the correct colour name for the Tarmac Olive Green livery, someone was enquiring for a model he was building, actually he was after the paint code but back then I think most companies used paint colour names when ordering tins for repaints but you possibly know a code or even the colour name that was used. It did seem there was some variation in tone going off old pics he showed ranging from a darker Brown/Green to a Light Green with the more Olive colour between. Maybe different colour choices were made over the years. Cheers Franky.
Frankydobo:
Pete do you know the correct colour name for the Tarmac Olive Green livery, someone was enquiring for a model he was building, actually he was after the paint code but back then I think most companies used paint colour names when ordering tins for repaints but you possibly know a code or even the colour name that was used. It did seem there was some variation in tone going off old pics he showed ranging from a darker Brown/Green to a Light Green with the more Olive colour between. Maybe different colour choices were made over the years. Cheers Franky.
I haven’t a clue Franky as fortunately I never worked for that shower of sh*t, I’m sure that somebody on here will know though. Sorry that I can’t assist.
Pete.
No probs Pete I thought it was maybe you worked for them I’m sure someone on here did, there was a lot of pics put on a while ago but can’t recall by who, cheers anyway. Franky.
Dutch Foden.
Oily
oiltreader:
Surprise to me… a Foden threshing machine.
Oily
Foden started out as agricultural engineers, Edwin Foden was an apprentice to Plant and Hancock who were agricultural engineers and later became a partner. When Hancock retired Edwin took over the company and they later started making their own steamers to power them when they found the ones they bought in to be unreliable.
Pete.