tiptop495:
Hey Robert, no mention of the box, if it was a Fuller, details about engine uprade en drive axle changes.
By the way did today about 500km in Belgium and saw only a few Brits en a 1000 Easterns
Eric,
I miss driving in Belgium. There’s a Douane official I should have a drink with! Back in '96 he fined me for not having a Vignette in my window on a Saturday when you couldn’t buy them at the border. He conducted my case in his van, in perfect English, then made me fill in the official form explaining why I hadn’t paid. When I filled in the form in Flemmish Dutch, he laughed his head off and said, ‘Next time we meet, we must go for a drink together!’ Here’s a pic of the lorry I was driving at the time. Robert
0
Amazing how speaking the language makes the difference.
My beautiful 140 had a serious gearbox problem on Bolu. I left the trailer there and went back unit only to Aydin’s at Istanbul. He took the box to bits and it was a bearing problem. Easily fixed with the bearing, but Turkey in '76 was another world.
Eventually I piggybacked the Scania back to the Uk. On the way, someone stole the gearbox! How, I’ve no idea, since we hardly stopped - Istanbul - Garstang, 4 days.
We came back through Yugo, Hungary, Czech, E Germany, then the W German border. This guy must have been in the SS. Wouldn’t speak to us in English. After we finally cleared, thanks to a Hungarocamion driver who translated for us, the German said, in perfect Oxford English, ‘You really must learn German, it would be a great help to you!’
I had a job holding the guy who was taking me home from strangling him!
tiptop495:
Hey Robert, no mention of the box, if it was a Fuller, details about engine uprade en drive axle changes.
By the way did today about 500km in Belgium and saw only a few Brits en a 1000 Easterns
Eric,
I miss driving in Belgium. There’s a Douane official I should have a drink with! Back in '96 he fined me for not having a Vignette in my window on a Saturday when you couldn’t buy them at the border. He conducted my case in his van, in perfect English, then made me fill in the official form explaining why I hadn’t paid. When I filled in the form in Flemmish Dutch, he laughed his head off and said, ‘Next time we meet, we must go for a drink together!’ Here’s a pic of the lorry I was driving at the time. Robert
0
Amazing how speaking the language makes the difference.
My beautiful 140 had a serious gearbox problem on Bolu. I left the trailer there and went back unit only to Aydin’s at Istanbul. He took the box to bits and it was a bearing problem. Easily fixed with the bearing, but Turkey in '76 was another world.
Eventually I piggybacked the Scania back to the Uk. On the way, someone stole the gearbox! How, I’ve no idea, since we hardly stopped - Istanbul - Garstang, 4 days.
We came back through Yugo, Hungary, Czech, E Germany, then the W German border. This guy must have been in the SS. Wouldn’t speak to us in English. After we finally cleared, thanks to a Hungarocamion driver who translated for us, the German said, in perfect Oxford English, ‘You really must learn German, it would be a great help to you!’
I had a job holding the guy who was taking me home from strangling him!
John
Yep! When I ran out of diesel on the autobahn near Berlin (I didn’t realise it at the time, but the tank change-over tap had broken so my running tank had run dry) I summoned the polizei because I was on a dangerous bend in icy conditions. He berated me for not speaking enough German so I calmly listed the countries I drove to (about 30 to 40 at that time) and asked him if he expected me to speak 35 languages. An amusing spin-off tale here was that when I got home the boss rang me and demanded that I explain why there was green diesel in my tank. The breakdown van had rescued me on my DKV card by getting me going with rebateable fuel, without me knowing! I suggested fuller’s earth but the boss was not amused; notwithstanding which, he understood and forebore - just as well, eh! Robert
Jelliot:
Great stuff there Uncle Bob, they certainly seem to like their Iveco’s. Are most of them European imports or do they special build for the Sudan.
Is there a cross border traffic thing going on ( Chad, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia etc ) or are they only operating in Sudan… Must be a couple of days up and down
I thought the only Egyptian crossing as up the Aswan dam on a 2 day ferry…
Photos are good but you need more words…
Jeff…
Jeff…
Sorry the info is a scanty Jeff, but frankly I was on an tour that focused on archeological sites of the ‘black pharoahs’ and explorations of the Bayuda desert and its nomads. My exposure to the truck-scene was confined to the short time I spent on the Port Sudan to Khartoum road. It’s a miracle that I found out as much as I did, and that was partly because I ran over and chatted in Arabic with some drivers while our vehicle was being refuelled. The rest of my info was simply observation.
You are right about the Lake Nasser ferry, but as I stated, there is now a brand new road link bypassing the lake. I think it is on the verge of being opened.
Sudan is a great country so I may revisit it one day and do the bits that I missed. Robert
Ah yes, I used to read a fair bit of EA Wallis Budge… bit of a rambler but made some good points for the time period…
I worked in Sudan for 3 years, few years ago.
Not much time spent in Khartoum, but when passing through on leave one time, i did spot these motors, exported from UK.
Strange thing is that they are old Stillers motors, and i served my time with them years ago.
A very interesting and instructive thread! Up to this morning, I believed that the most recent trucks to be seen on Sudan roards were these antique Fiat 619 centipedes!
details about engine uprade en drive axle changes.
! Robert