LHD Seddon-Atkinson 400s

I have to say, I find these rather endearing. They were displayed at the Amsterdam motor show in ’76 and were ordered by OHS and by various Greek companies.

LHD SA 400 Greek artic.jpg

OHS ran several of them to the Middle East (Kuwait and Baghdad among other destinations). It is a testament to them that a number of RHD 400s went down to the Middle East too with companies like Whittle, Bowker, Creedspeed and Atkins. The back-to-front and U-shaped Fuller RTO9095A didn’t take long to get used to if you had the same truck all the time. I used to drive a RHD one and you eventually fell into the pattern.

The driveline was fantastic, with a 13t rear axle connected to the 9sp Fuller and the big turbocharged ■■■■■■■ NTC 335.

It had a pleasing appearance with a handsome cab and a good ride-height. It’s a shame that none of my LHD pics show them with sun-visors. The addition of a visor and Kaysor to LHD 400s would make all the difference.

On the subject of Seddon-Atkinson 400s, I have found several references on these threads to the NTC 335-powered left-hand-drive ones operated by OHS on Middle-East work, having the standard 9-speed Fuller installed. There are also references to the Greek export version (same as the OHS ones, I believe) also having 9-speed Fullers.

I add below a bit of evidence here to jog some memories. FROM Commercial Motor 23rd Jan 1976. Seddon Atkinson to Amsterdam.
THE first three Seddon Atkinson 400 series tractive units built to Continental specification will be exhibited at the 1976 Amsterdam Motor Show (February 5-14). The truck was shown in prototype form at the last Amsterdam Show in 1974.
■■■■■■■ engines power all :three trucks. Two use the turbocharged NTC-335 which produces 233kW (313bhp) at 2,100rpm while the third has the naturally aspirated NHC. 250 with 170kW (228bhp) available. All three use identical drive-lines through Lipe-Rollway twin-plate clutches and Fuller RTO 9509A gearboxes to Seddon 13-tonne rear axles.
Two of the trucks have sleeper-cabs, each with two bunks, and other standard features include an alarm clock and an overnight case in its- own compartment.
Seddon Atkinson claims that the 3.5m (lift 6in) wheelbase gives excellent trailer matching even with the sleeper-cab models. Kerb weights including fifth wheel, 363 litres (80gal) of fuel, spare wheel; and carrier are 6.67 tonnes (6.56 tons) for the 335-engined unit with the short cab and 6.78 tonnes (6.67 tons) with the sleeper-cab.
The vehicles will be displayed on the stand of Ets Hocke SPRL which represents Seddon Atkinson throughout the Benelux countries.

OHS’s Seddon-Atkinsons were all LHD 400 ‘Internationals.’ There is a brochure called ‘Seddon-Atkinson 400 series International range’, but I’ve not seen one.

OHS’s units were ordered direct from the factory. There were several, delivered in pairs in threes over a long period.

On the OHS thread on Trucknet there are plenty of blogs about these.
Drivers spoke highly of them.

Robert

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One comment on the OHS thread reads: ‘Now what I didn’t realise was that OHS used to run fridges carrying loads of chocolate from Mars and Rowntree, 5-6 loads a week! Who would have guessed that Seddon Atkinsons would be satisfying the cravings of many a sun worshipper in the M/E. This excellent pic shows a couple of Seddon’s having a rest in the dessert en route to Kuwait. I bet the fridge motors were working overtime to keep the temperature down’.

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  • John F Hope on May 16, 2011 at 4:05 pm said:
    ‘I drove one of these Seddons, brilliant truck, LHD, ■■■■■■■■ fuller gearbox, was able to pull Contex/OHS trailers in UK with them, as with the Mack, overlength, so as a Brummie I could load for Midlands and clear at Perry Barr.’

  • Tim Pinney on April 17, 2012 at 12:37 pm said:
    #I also used to drive the Seddons from Rainham to Bagdad. Had many a great adventure, usually after breaking down or waiting for money for the next leg of the journey. Met many really nice drivers. After leaving OHS I went to to work for Funstons Transport…’

OHS SA 400 LHD at Rainham.jpg



Brilliant OHS LHD Sed Atki 400.jpg

Some of the export LHD 335-powered SA 400s that went to Greece. Robert

LHD SA 400 Greek artic.jpg
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LHD Greek SA 400 8x4.jpg

More of the OHS LHD Seddon-Atkinson 400 adventure… Robert

SA 400 detail.jpg

OHS SA LHD.JPG
close in.jpg
OHS SA 400 LHD at Rainham.jpg
Photo8.jpg

More OHS material. Robert

scan0012best job.jpg
Several SA 400s at OHS DETAIL.jpg
Several SA 400s at OHS.jpg
zoom in.jpg

The LHD export version was called the Seddon-Atkinson ‘International’. Does anyone know anything more about these vehicles? Robert :smiley:



SA 400 LHD International.JPG

Slightly off-thread here, but just to get the juices flowing here is a selection of right-hand-drive Seddon-Atkinsons that saw Middle-East service - and they wouldn’t have had the advantage of the big ■■■■■■■ 335 (as far as I am aware!). Robert

CREED%202.jpg



Ashey.jpg
en route to Baghdad 1980.jpg
whit1.jpg
Seddon Atkinsons 005.jpg

not sure about this one…

Any old road-up, to get back to LHD 400s again, here is what appears to be a day-cabbed prototype… Robert

Attached the Seddon-Atkinson “International” perhaps it had something to do with International
Harvester (they had an European-office in Brussels) and the fact that SA would go European?

I however doubt if the market was ‘ready’ for this vehicle…or its distributors…Ets Hocké in both
Belgium (Groot Bijgaarden near Brussels) and Netherlands (Waalwijk near 's-Hertogenbosch) with
previous Kemper&Van Twist (remember Seddon-Van-Twist) of Dordrecht (near Rotterdam) tried.

Hocké had good business (even assembly) with M.A.N. and together with Steyr now Seddon Atkinson
was in the pocket of the salesmen…I don not recall Belgian nor Dutch operators with SA but will do
my best to check anyway…some bells are ringing with Transports Lecloux (tanktransport) as they
also were operators of M.A.N. and some exotic makes like White…who can tell.

The brochure is from 1977 and deals with the ‘normal’ specs, ■■■■■■■■ Rolls Royce, Gardner, Fuller.

Enjoy exploring! Strange enough OHS pops up, so no continental references I assume…

The participation of International Harvester in DAF Trucks was far from a success and ended …
with mutual agreement, the Americans again experiencing there is (will be) no exclusive EU-truck?

Scan-SeddonAtkinson-C.jpg

Scan-SeddonAtkinson-B.jpg

Cheers Alexander - what a brilliant response! Robert :smiley:

Thats brought back memorys of looking at my dads truck mag with the whittle trucks in it,i was really young then and them guys were my heroes,did you do that ldd robert :question:

seth 70:
Thats brought back memorys of looking at my dads truck mag with the whittle trucks in it,i was really young then and them guys were my heroes,did you do that ldd robert :question:

No, it was one of Phillip Llwellin’s LDDs. Robert :slight_smile:

Posted on the S Wales thread many months ago but circa 1980 at Bedwas South Wales where a fleet of 7 or 8 where operated, one driven by my father. TWT owner Trevor Taylor used to drive this one I think back in the day. Adrian

VPP 147W.jpg

Seddon Atkinson’s attempt to market its vehicles in Europe makes ERF’s efforts look positively professional by comparison. It is as if someone at Walton le Dale threw a dart at a map, and it landed in Greece. Did they sell any to any other European operators? Was the Greek “operation” an extension of an existing IH involvement there?

I personally liked the SA 400 very much but I agree with En-Tour-Age that
operators were not ready for different vehicles, very much the same “dis-
advantages” as ERF, Foden and even the American makes experienced.

Good components is one thing, back up another…and with in-house com-
ponents (Scania, Volvo, Mercedes, DAF) you had one party to issue.

To my humble opinion NO BeNeLux references for SA 400, but this vehicle
might hit some competition in case of acceptance within fleet owners.

ERF-Continental:
I personally liked the SA 400 very much but I agree with En-Tour-Age that
operators were not ready for different vehicles, very much the same “dis-
advantages” as ERF, Foden and even the American makes experienced.

Good components is one thing, back up another…and with in-house com-
ponents (Scania, Volvo, Mercedes, DAF) you had one party to issue.

To my humble opinion NO BeNeLux references for SA 400, but this vehicle
might hit some competition in case of acceptance within fleet owners.

I agree. I think it was probably only the Greeks who bought them, though it would be interesting to know why! Robert

@Robert…sometimes things remain strange…I recall quite some Swiss companies using
White’s with reefers…why? To show off? Attractive rates as White (as others would) like
to have customer’s-references…or emotional reasons? I have no clue about the Greek and
Seddon Atkinson, but sometimes old contacts/experiences may push to some decisions…

Persons have preferences…business as well, but to buy (with the risk others will raise their
eye-brows) is something else. I recall that many regional transport-companies laughed and
put their finger to the middle of their upper-head in case of the ERF-purchases…but as 25%
of those companies followed…the world for ERF, Foden, SA, White, Kenworth, Mack would
be a total different. I assume En-Tour-Age and Saviem (others…) may confirm

One of OHS’s LHD Seddon-Atkinson 400s. Robert

OHS LHD SA400.bmp.jpg

Hey Robert here a Lecloux Seddon, but never seen a SA cabbed here, but the motorshow
model must have been sold as te Krupp cabbed.They even imported a time Berliet at Hocké.

Cheers Eric,