Quality story that, I’m PMSL at the bloke getting on the boat without his lorry, pure class…
Brilliant tales real you couldn’t make it up stuff
MorganIreland:
I remember Tom fitzsimons rip forgetting to put his truck onto the paddy in rosslare after we had a good few pints in the hotel one Sunday morning, we walked down to the harbor to meet the crew in the bar there, and after few more beers we calmly walked on to the boat, poor Tom , we shared a room, and after the disco and more pints he said I better go down to get me bag out of the truck, it was then he realized what he did!, he was with transcontinental at the time,.,
Yes…Heard of that happening years ago…Imagine the feeling…A few hours into a 22 hour sailing on a Sunday evening discovering this sobering mistake…having to stay on the boat until LeHavre…And then sailing back to Rosslare…To sail back out again…He should have made LeHavre by Wednesday night at that rate…after starting his journey on Saturday…
Riverstick:
MorganIreland:
I remember Tom fitzsimons rip forgetting to put his truck onto the paddy in rosslare after we had a good few pints in the hotel one Sunday morning, we walked down to the harbor to meet the crew in the bar there, and after few more beers we calmly walked on to the boat, poor Tom , we shared a room, and after the disco and more pints he said I better go down to get me bag out of the truck, it was then he realized what he did!, he was with transcontinental at the time,.,
Yes…Heard of that happening years ago…Imagine the feeling…A few hours into a 22 hour sailing on a Sunday evening discovering this sobering mistake…having to stay on the boat until LeHavre…And then sailing back to Rosslare…To sail back out again…He should have made LeHavre by Wednesday night at that rate…after starting his journey on Saturday…
Hi , What happened was we arrived in la harve on Monday but at the time the ship only sailed back to irl on Tuesday !! They had to get someone to drive his truck out through England, Tom arrived back in rosslare on the wed,after enjoying 4 days hard drinking only to head back out straight away to Italy in another truck and back out on the paddy again, the whole crew knew the story by this time, imagine 5 days back and forward on the Paddy, ! only heard he died from a heart attack at his own front door after coming home from the pub in clondalkin recently, sad. Another funny story I still Remember is when Bert Healy took the wrong trailer from the yard and off we headed to Marseilles with what was supposed to be 2 loads of adult nappies for CMF, BUT WHEN HE OPENED THE DOORS IN MARSEILLES HIS TRAILER WAS EMPTY, still remember the look on his face !!, , all the way down the road he kept rubbing it in, saying his yellow transcontinental was pulling like a train ! No wonder !
MorganIreland:
Riverstick:
MorganIreland:
I remember Tom fitzsimons rip forgetting to put his truck onto the paddy in rosslare after we had a good few pints in the hotel one Sunday morning, we walked down to the harbor to meet the crew in the bar there, and after few more beers we calmly walked on to the boat, poor Tom , we shared a room, and after the disco and more pints he said I better go down to get me bag out of the truck, it was then he realized what he did!, he was with transcontinental at the time,.,
Was Bert Healy’s Transcontinental a yellow LHD unit?
Riverstick:
MorganIreland:
Riverstick:
MorganIreland:
I remember Tom fitzsimons rip forgetting to put his truck onto the paddy in rosslare after we had a good few pints in the hotel one Sunday morning, we walked down to the harbor to meet the crew in the bar there, and after few more beers we calmly walked on to the boat, poor Tom , we shared a room, and after the disco and more pints he said I better go down to get me bag out of the truck, it was then he realized what he did!, he was with transcontinental at the time,.,
Was Bert Healy’s Transcontinental a yellow LHD unit?
Yeah spot on, she was 1980 , he bought it in La Harve, some motor, it was like brand new , belonged to an oil company in la harve port, he saw it parked up in their yard one day and went in to ask about it,got it for a grand or two, think he had enough in the running money to Italy to buy her! She was some bus but only did about 4mpg with the big Cat engine, but he could get 100 mph no prob. When he sold it the bloke that bought it asked what it was like on diesel, Bert said it did about 8 mpg, so the bloke bought it , and every second night for a few weeks Bert would throw ten gallons of diesel into it in the security yard in clondalkin !! Poor bloke thought he was getting ten mpg ! It had no top bunk and we fitted one from a Berliet , and the curtains were made from sheets from the paddy! On Her first trip He got a CMF tilt shipped out unaccompanied on the paddy, he came out as a second driver and got a lift up to the truck in the oil companies yard, paid for her out of the float came back to the port in her collected the tilt full of wellmans and headed off in her to italy on French plates that miraculously changed into irish ones along the way ! There was no truck that could out pull it, I’d an f12 and he would pass me and everyone else like we were stopped on the pull on the old road out of Cherbourg, both us had same loads of wellmans most times, Ernie Melina had bought a brand new mercedes 44 and when Bert passed him laughing his head off with the same full load of wine climbing Dijon Ernie was so disgusted he never spoke to Bert again,
MorganIreland:
Yeah spot on, she was 1980 , he bought it in La Harve, some motor, it was like brand new , belonged to an oil company in la harve port, he saw it parked up in their yard one day and went in to ask about it,got it for a grand or two, think he had enough in the running money to Italy to buy her! She was some bus but only did about 4mpg with the big Cat engine, but he could get 100 mph no prob. When he sold it the bloke that bought it asked what it was like on diesel, Bert said it did about 8 mpg, so the bloke bought it , and every second night for a few weeks Bert would throw ten gallons of diesel into it in the security yard in clondalkin !! Poor bloke thought he was getting ten mpg ! It had no top bunk and we fitted one from a Berliet , and the curtains were made from sheets from the paddy! On Her first trip He got a CMF tilt shipped out unaccompanied on the paddy, he came out as a second driver and got a lift up to the truck in the oil companies yard, paid for her out of the float came back to the port in her collected the tilt full of wellmans and headed off in her to italy on French plates that miraculously changed into irish ones along the way ! There was no truck that could out pull it, I’d an f12 and he would pass me and everyone else like we were stopped on the pull on the old road out of Cherbourg, both us had same loads of wellmans most times, Ernie Melina had bought a brand new mercedes 44 and when Bert passed him laughing his head off with the same full load of wine climbing Dijon Ernie was so disgusted he never spoke to Bert again,
Hi Morgan,
Would this have been her…80 D 332?
Riverstick:
MorganIreland:
Yeah spot on, she was 1980 , he bought it in La Harve, some motor, it was like brand new , belonged to an oil company in la harve port, he saw it parked up in their yard one day and went in to ask about it,got it for a grand or two, think he had enough in the running money to Italy to buy her! She was some bus but only did about 4mpg with the big ■■■■■■■ engine, but he could get 100 mph no prob. When he sold it the bloke that bought it asked what it was like on diesel, Bert said it did about 8 mpg, so the bloke bought it , and every second night for a few weeks Bert would throw ten gallons of diesel into it in the security yard in clondalkin !! Poor bloke thought he was getting ten mpg ! It had no top bunk and we fitted one from a Berliet , and the curtains were made from sheets from the paddy! On Her first trip He got a CMF tilt shipped out unaccompanied on the paddy, he came out as a second driver and got a lift up to the truck in the oil companies yard, paid for her out of the float came back to the port in her collected the tilt full of wellmans and headed off in her to italy on French plates that miraculously changed into irish ones along the way ! There was no truck that could out pull it, I’d an f12 and he would pass me and everyone else like we were stopped on the pull on the old road out of Cherbourg, both us had same loads of wellmans most times, Ernie Melina had bought a brand new mercedes 44 and when Bert passed him laughing his head off with the same full load of wine climbing Dijon Ernie was so disgusted he never spoke to Bert again,Hi Morgan,
Would this have been her…80 D 332?
That’s mad, it’s her all right 80D332… Remember him putting the thin black lines on the cab, where and when were pictures taken do you know? Poor girl,She looks too far gone to save!! Great stuff finding pic, pity to see it in this state though, great memories .
MorganIreland:
Riverstick:
MorganIreland:
Yeah spot on, she was 1980 , he bought it in La Harve, some motor, it was like brand new , belonged to an oil company in la harve port, he saw it parked up in their yard one day and went in to ask about it,got it for a grand or two, think he had enough in the running money to Italy to buy her! She was some bus but only did about 4mpg with the big ■■■■■■■ engine, but he could get 100 mph no prob. When he sold it the bloke that bought it asked what it was like on diesel, Bert said it did about 8 mpg, so the bloke bought it , and every second night for a few weeks Bert would throw ten gallons of diesel into it in the security yard in clondalkin !! Poor bloke thought he was getting ten mpg ! It had no top bunk and we fitted one from a Berliet , and the curtains were made from sheets from the paddy! On Her first trip He got a CMF tilt shipped out unaccompanied on the paddy, he came out as a second driver and got a lift up to the truck in the oil companies yard, paid for her out of the float came back to the port in her collected the tilt full of wellmans and headed off in her to italy on French plates that miraculously changed into irish ones along the way ! There was no truck that could out pull it, I’d an f12 and he would pass me and everyone else like we were stopped on the pull on the old road out of Cherbourg, both us had same loads of wellmans most times, Ernie Melina had bought a brand new mercedes 44 and when Bert passed him laughing his head off with the same full load of wine climbing Dijon Ernie was so disgusted he never spoke to Bert again,Hi Morgan,
Would this have been her…80 D 332?
That’s mad, it’s her all right 80D332… Remember him putting the thin black lines on the cab, where and when were pictures taken do you know? Poor girl,She looks too far gone to save!! Great stuff finding pic, pity to see it in this state though, great memories .
I bought it from Brackens Truck Dismantlers in 2010…I have two RHDs so I bought this one for spares. I was amazed to see after I steamed the green off it that it was technically not too bad underneath the grime and you could see that it had been cared for in its earlier life. The LHD units were a lovely spec truck with pneumatic controlled master switches etc… What I couldn’t figure out is why she had two trailer ‘dead mans’ on the dash…one in the normal centre dash top location and the other on the extreme LH dash top location next to the drivers door?
When I put batteries into it, I was amazed that all the electrics functioned…even the cab light door switch, despite the fuse box being in tatters. Maybe the electrics weren’t so bad after all?
I didn’t succeed in firing up the big 320 ■■■■■■■ as the fuel system was full of water, but it did seem sound. It had the 13 speed Fuller 'box and the 3.5m wheelbase chassis and the modern two line brake system. Nice truck in its day.
It seems to have finished it’s life hauling containers out of Dublin Port.
Hi that’s right, Bert sold it to a guy who was doing containers in Dublin, he only sold her because of diesel consumption, and he bought a man instead, If I remember she had an electric retarder at some stage, maybe that’s what the other lever was for? Yup right about electrics, it was not running when he saw it first but he knew the problem, and sorted it out in few mins,hence price.never gave him any trouble after, she was a Dutch truck before she landed in France . Ned kelly breakers in naas had a transcontinental from the uk that was owned by brinks Matt security and it was fully bullet proofed, amazing yoke, was done the same as a security van, bullet proof glass cab diesel tanks etc, was painted Matt grey. Not sure where it ended up. Must post few pics of my old Berliet Tr280 in Europe , XZR 529 . She broke down once in France near tours, gearbox went, and I got it into a Berliet garage near by to see if I could doctor it, but in their yard they had an old ex French army Berliet lhd, on Algerian plates in army camouflage colours it was a sleeper but had no beds instead it had 3 seats up front and four behind, and a big air con unit on the roof,I looked it over and she had only 90000kms,but they were going to strip it, anyway I asked would they sell it whole instead just gearbox, deal was struck, and I got it for 1700£ in French francs at the time, so I changed the plates over from my yoke ,drained my diesel into it , hooked up my fridge and headed to the paddy, all in a few hours, when I got it home I sold her for £4000 to a cattle man who later stretched it and put a cattle body on it, I went back to tours with a gearbox from Ireland a few weeks later and got my old truck back up and going , hardship but great times.
No…I don’t think she ever had a retarder…The lever is pneumatic.
The TR 280s used to give trouble in the gearbox alright. Did Jim Somers sell you the Berliet?
I went to Venice in John Finlay’s TR 280 in the early '80s…very comfortable truck…very wild man!
Riverstick:
No…I don’t think she ever had a retarder…The lever is pneumatic.The TR 280s used to give trouble in the gearbox alright. Did Jim Somers sell you the Berliet?
I went to Venice in John Finlay’s TR 280 in the early '80s…very comfortable truck…very wild man!
Hiya,
Had it been a tanker or a tipper tractor unit, ■■ have driven stuff with a similar set-up the second
“dead mans lever” operated the power take-off, just guessing !!!
thanks harry, long retired.
Not great pics, but they are all a memory jogger for someone! Regards Chris
FRIKUS-GRAZ, once quite a common site around Europe, probably bought out by Norbert or someone? Regards Chris
Typical ‘Cloggy’, quiet & reserved 
. Regards Chris
Years ago you could often hazard a guess at a Wagon’ country of origin by the way it was painted/decorated etc you could certainly tell the Dutch ones in a crowd 
. Regards Chris
maybe just west of lyon
It’s Lyon, the lorry is heading south on the RN7.