Kammac in the 8os

I was wondering if anybody had pics of a Kammac F10. A964OUG. She was bought new to Hayes in Ellesmere and then on to Kammac and ended up in Whiteline before travelling to Ireland. Thanks.

seen coment about names on Kammac trucks, the ones drove were, Houston Oilers B reg F10 (b947 UNF) was on the fuel for Whiteline, Pink Panther 1(Cant remember this reg :frowning: ) and Knight rider 1,(C583 DND) anyone else have any?

murphy01:
seen coment about names on Kammac trucks, the ones drove were, Houston Oilers B reg F10 (b947 UNF) was on the fuel for Whiteline, Pink Panther 1(Cant remember this reg :frowning: ) and Knight rider 1,(C583 DND) anyone else have any?

My first truck was a green F10 B943 UNF, then into the canary yellow F10 B235 WNC
knight rider 1 was actually C580 DND not 583. I drove this for quite a while and have pics of it.
I cant for the life of me think of the reg of the pink panthers, but know Phil Beckett drove one of them for a long time.

C583 DND would have been Starlight Express 1

and does anyone remember this guy Harry Meath

Well TC, brain must be going, it was defo knight rider black 3300 four wheeler, can’t seem to remember if Doyen had it prior to me? Was you based in Bletchley? I worked out of Skem for the first part of my time with Kammac, with BJ and a guy called Neil with an ex Smurfitt space cab, I remember the A team and quite a lot of the other lads, do you remember Dave who drove one of the wagon and drags?

Hi Murph, yes I was based out of bletchley. When i had c580 it had been extended with a tag axle on the back of it, so you must have had it before me at some point. I had it after a guy from skem called tony something, think he lived in parbold if i recall. I got it when the compnay came back into existance as kammac 88 after it had been shut down for a week or two and leggetts got involved.
I remember the kelloggs wagon n drags, but memory is quite scratchy as to who drove them, age is creeping on and the memory is not as sharp as it used to be. I remember the ex smurfitt space cab too, as it was driven by a guy from this end of the world for a while called henry close-smith.

They were great days and it was and still is one of the better jobs i had in my time.

heres a couple of pics of c580 in its 4 wheeler days, and one of the pink panthers behind

They always looked the Bizz!

TC, a guy called Westwood had one of the Knight Rider Dafs, and Doyens name was Tony as well. Where is that picture of the three trucks? Its driving me nuts!!! Did you ever load out of Magor for Crumlin? What a piece of crap that was, canned beer on trays with no wrap or rings on it, take it to a sweat house for packaging and wait? it was pure crap? What year did you start for them? I remember 18 of us coming off Watford Gap one Sunday afternoon and just giving it, what a great time there, reading back on thread I remember Guy, always saying “I got it lit boy”.

thats it Tony Westwood.

I’m not sure where the picture was taken, but could it be cadburys place just at the back of the tyburn on the a38?

Yes I loaded out of magor with the loose cans of heineken?? They were a nightmare of a load, a right arse twicher.
. One of the guys from MK dropped the lot into the curtains and although the curtains remained clipped shut, the bulge in the curtain pulled the roof down in the middle and it really looked in bad shape. When he got it back to abbey lane the whole lot had to be handballed off through the back door into new cases and it then went off to salmesbury.

I started in 86 or 87 but spent the first 6 months just hauling out of coca cola in MK, as Kammac stored it in the warehouse they had at terrapin, by the beacon pub.
You must also remember the 3 brothers from widnes, cant remember their names - Ellis perhaps, but they went by the cb handles of silver fox, and badger, cant remember the younger brothers name though. Yes gary ellis ended up working for ponsonby, at and the younger was tony ellis if i recall.

Some of the names i can easily recall were Chris davis (funniset bloke i ever worked with), dave and guy morgan both from southampton, john chadwick from skem, john mckenna also from skem, stevie callow from erith, val the black guy, tommy surname i cant recall and his mate Jimmy Maudsley who’se dad was on security at the yard, they always seemed to run together, phil beckett from south london, who was seeing the stripper who had a snake as part of her act, stan pye, arnie who got done for drink driving and ended up working in the warehouse at abbey lane, noel le’noel… struggling now as i can see faces in my mind but cant put a name to them, and many more from burscough who right now are escaping me.
Another guy lived in worcester, his name will come to me…
In Bletchley as well as myself, Peter Keightley, Martin Hampton, Chris Hawkins, Henry close-smith, Ian Coles and a couple more who’se names escape me.

Blimey I didn’t realise I remembered this much

The cb used to have me in stitches at times , “here they come in convoy.80 hours a week at 80 miles an hour for 80 pound a week” or “here they come, look the poor ■■■■ in the front must have had a good week as he is the only one with a map”

I worked hard there, but it still is one of the best jobs i ever had.

Great memory TC, here’s a couple more, Jackson,Doyen, Scotch Willie, Red Adair, Brian (BJ) Davidson, Jimmy(Winsford) Ian Molly, Peter M, Terry Hunter,Val Reid and missing Ellis was Dave, remember scotch Willie wanted all the scotch work! Except the one from Bletchley on a Thursday night to East Kilbride for 7 am, I had the DAF at this time and loaded to the nuts with Shweppes, I ended up with it, and yes he was in Milton Keynes on a Thursday ha, got a load of packaging back from East Kilbride and was pulling out of Burscough in car going home when he was just getting in! Boy did that 3300 go, I was racing with a couple of Parcel express boy’s in their 1628 Mercs, ha I passed them at bottom of keele and they almost caught up, I stopped for fuel in Skem and passed them again at Charnock Richard,
That was a flying machine! Did you ever drive that 1644 we had as spare? Would go off the clock at 1950 rpm and you could go flat out at 2350!! I worked it out to be close to 120 mph, and lots done it as well :open_mouth: lol

Some good tales on here - I remember your firm fondly. Never actually worked for them but did a lot of the Coke work so seen a lot of the lads you mention. One really nice guy was Valentine Reid and I worked with him afterwards at BOC - in fact, quite a few lads ex Kammac went onto either MAP (BOC) in Skem or Warrington. Did the Moorcrofts work at Kammac? (there were a few of them)

never drove the 1644, but the F10’s were good for about 72 mph on the throttle and at least another 5 mph if you pulled out the hand throttle.
The 3300’s were handy when chasing the tacho, as you could stop in traffic, switch off, then restart it again and immediately turn the key back and you were on instant brake, but you had to remember you had no brake lights or indicators… lol

Me and Pete from Bletchley were given sister motors, D162 KNE & D163 KNE, they were the metallic blue 3300’s, cracking looking tools, I had mine first by a couple of days and it was a flyer, when pete got his he tried to overtake me on the M6, and needless to say I was not having any of it, and at 70 something mph he was actually gaining on me… he never answered the cb until he was in front and had tucked back in, and he said he was too scared to let one hand off the steering wheel as it was vibrating so much, it must have been close to touching 80… they certainly were good days.

we obviously worked there at the same time, and perhaps you may remember me from coca cola, as I used to drive the stacker truck there until Brian Dutton offered me a job if I took and passed my test, 6 weeks later I was on for Kammac, never needed much persuading.

wasn’t that the warehouse where you had to drive in and then back out? (daft idea if you ask me) mind you, with cokes 10 million rules and regulations changing everytime you went in there, its a wonder we’ve got any sanity left. (park there driver, no don’t park there driver, drop your trailer there driver, no not there driver, curtains open driver, no don’t open your curtains driver, stay in your cab driver, why aren’t you mucking in driver…AAAAGGGHHH!) :confused:

yep, thats warehouse, and your right it was a daft idea

Hiya all you guys who worked for kammac in the 80s, I also worked for them from 82 until leggets took over. I left then came back for a short while I drove E390 TJA but before that I had a light blue and white F10 reg C341XVU, but started on a F88 black one carnt remember the reg. my names tony Ellis and two of my brothers worked there as well Garry and David Ellis. I also worked down at bletchley on the coca cola contract best job Iv ever had we done ■■■■ all, all day then all went on the ■■■■ with Brian dutton, fantastic memory’s. The night at Brian’s hotel when me and Arnie another driver was ordering all the champagne and sour then comfort for the marlbourgh racing team girls on Brian’s tab. We got ■■■■■■ up and down dale off snake and had to pay the bar bill back out of our wages. Great times and a great bunch of lads we worked with. Would love to hear from anyone who worked with us back then and remembers a few stories. Tony Ellis.

You have a good memory Tony …
I only did a short time on there but it was a laugh … remember when they hired those Leyland Scammels … with the crash gearbox … what a bloody tool those was … but fast and just plain white …so nobody knew who you was…
I was at a drop in kent one day with a Kammac trl on …when a driver came over to me … I had over taken him on the way down … He said bloody hell that thing fly’s …you subbing for Kammac because i had a plain white unit …as he was thinking about ringing them about some work
So i said yes have been with them a few weeks … but the only thing is your motor has to be able to do at least seventy miles an hour … YOU ARE BLOODY JOKING … No how fast was you doing when i past you Sixty … i rest my case …F…k that …
I remember some of the things Chris Hawkins got up …
The time he pulled a full load of timber out of Newport docks …with just the inter straps holding it in the trl … When he said to Brian Dutton about the load and he was not happy about the weight … as he only had a two axle trl . Brian looked and said no you had a three axle trl …No i did a trl change remember OPPPPPPPs
How he ever got it to the tip nobody knows
Or the time he loaded out of Scotland with a load of whiskey i think bound for London … and was told to drop it in Burscough … but instead came strait down because he wanted to be home Friday night …turned out it was not for delivery till Monday …
Had some bloody good laughs on there Great bunch of lads …
How we ever kept owe license i will never know

ynotell- high tony, it was me that was with you and arnie in the hotel with gerry. that was one good night of many. (arnie soon got over that gate ). i still see a lot of val now on containers, also spoke to rob the other week, best tell you my name Ian Monaghan. C581 DND black daf

Hello Ian mate how are you? I remember now mate it was me you and Arnie in the hotel couldn’t think who else was with me and Arnie. Fantastic memorys of kammac could write a best seller on the antics that went on there, so many different characters from all over the country. Any one remember that lad that used to come in the yard and drivers would take him with them and send him shoplifting all week in the services carnt think of his name maybe someone can remember. Still find it hard to believe that we used to do orsmirk to Southampton in 3and half hours and Blanford in Dorset in 4hours, struggle to Coventry in 3 hours these days. Great to hear from you Ian keep trucking lad and take care, say hello to val reed for me Ian. Tony ellis

hi tony, i will pass your regards on to val and in return pass my best onto dave and gary.your right about writing a book you would make a fortune, more of a comedy than fiction. nothing like that would happen again, we worked hard and played hard, no one could have lived with us then. i will be speaking to rob at the weekend he lives down south now, ill tell him you have been in touch. catch you soon Ian.

hi all you ex kammac drivers. im looking to get a reunion together sometime for all the old kammac drivers from the early 1980s. if you would be intrested please let me know hoping to get lots of intrest. cheers lads tony ellis