muckles:
Great photos Robroy, but how many years between the Atki and the DAF, as your wife/girlfriend seems to have not aged and also hasn’t got any new clothes.
New clothes? times were hard then as an owner driver and I didn’t want to spoil her I thought a new washing machine and hoover was enough for her, I was all heart . ( hope she doesn’t read that bit)
Bought the Atki about 82, kept it for a year and p/exed it for the 2800 DAF, it was 4 yrs old…and luxury in comparison
My previous job before buying the Atki was on a brand new F10, …that was a shock to the system I can tell you.
Like coming off a Porsche on to a Ford Cortina.
Noted from the DAF pic that bits of trim were prone to dropping off even back then. Plus ca change…
muckles:
I can imagine the Atki was a hell of a shock after an F10, sacrifice for going it alone I suppose. Looks more like something from the 50’s not the 70’s, seems very dated compared to the DAF or a Volvo, I can relate to driving those the first trucks I drove when I passed my test was a rigid version of the DAF and an F12.
That’s about right they were 50s technology, no pas, air operated wipers that were temperamental, non suspension seat, drop down windows, certainly no night heaters, and all the rest of it.
Mine was a day cab with a sleeper extension, so at least it wasn’t a board over the engine cover job, although I have done that in the past, as everybody else did in the 80s at one time or another.
When the Volvo 86 and Scania Vabis made a UK appearance (even before my time 60s) they were like chalk and cheese compared to the Brit motors, but they were not in a great hurry to catch up.
To be fair there was nothing stopping anyone from buying a 400 with a big cam ■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller in it before 1980.
I didn’t say you couldn’t l, but in my situation then, the second hand price between a Borderer and a 400 was much cheaper.
Think the Volvos first came over around 66ish, the first Sed Atk 400s were P reg 76 so that was 10 years it took the UK industry to try and succeed in emulating the Swedes, even then they failed in quality.
We had a couple of old Atki ’ s , a bedford TK with a drag trailer and an ancient Aec.
When the Aec blew up for the last time the old man and me went to Volvo in Scotland and saw our new F12 being built. It became mine for 4yrs of Spain and back with the ex , best truck Ever…I loved it.
I passed my class 2 in 1976 (1968 Foden eight legger with no power steering and 12 speed gearbox) but didn’t drive full time until 1983 as I was fitting before then. I finished in 2002 and never drove a foreign made truck, nor did I ever have a synchro gearbox or an electric window (apart from one Foden that I had new for a year which had an electric passenger window but the drivers one was manual) but they all had power steering! When I got the 30 tonne gvw Foden in my avatar pic brand new in May 1986 I thought that the Rolls 265 Li was fantastic after the Gardner 201 in my Sed Ak 400, ten years later I got a new Foden 3000 series with the 335 bhp Rolls/Perkins but when I ‘retired’ in 2002 most 17 tonne four wheelers had a larger bhp engine! I still have my class 2 but doubt that I will renew it next time as, reading these forums, the job nowadays bears little resemblance to the one that I loved and I dont suppose I would enjoy it as much which is a shame really.
muckles:
I can imagine the Atki was a hell of a shock after an F10, sacrifice for going it alone I suppose. Looks more like something from the 50’s not the 70’s, seems very dated compared to the DAF or a Volvo, I can relate to driving those the first trucks I drove when I passed my test was a rigid version of the DAF and an F12.
That’s about right they were 50s technology, no pas, air operated wipers that were temperamental, non suspension seat, drop down windows, certainly no night heaters, and all the rest of it.
Mine was a day cab with a sleeper extension, so at least it wasn’t a board over the engine cover job, although I have done that in the past, as everybody else did in the 80s at one time or another.
When the Volvo 86 and Scania Vabis made a UK appearance (even before my time 60s) they were like chalk and cheese compared to the Brit motors, but they were not in a great hurry to catch up.
To be fair there was nothing stopping anyone from buying a 400 with a big cam ■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller in it before 1980.
I didn’t say you couldn’t l, but in my situation then, the second hand price between a Borderer and a 400 was much cheaper.
Think the Volvos first came over around 66ish, the first Sed Atk 400s were P reg 76 so that was 10 years it took the UK industry to try and succeed in emulating the Swedes, even then they failed in quality.
Regardless of the circumstances it would be fair to say that comparing an old Borderer with an F10/12 etc is an unrepresentative apples v oranges comparison.When by the late 1970’s at least the Brit wagons were at least as good arguably better assuming the typical turbocharged ■■■■■■■ and Fuller box combination.Given an equivalent purchase budget.IE saving money to the extreme of a buying used Borderer in the 1980’s would have been the exception not the rule.
On that note if it was all about saving money in the day the council where I worked had them all beat with everything from an old 1940’s Matador to Leyland WF’s and Atki gritters.All probably run on less budget than the average third world haulage fleet in which I thought the old 70’s Clydesdale was a luxury.
Lorry HP means bugger all these days other than willy waving (Jeez those ponces with the HP writ large on the headboard etc amuse ), a proper 320hp if it came from a 14 litre engines was far more driveable and useful than this modern pish reckoned to be giving some 120/160hp more, these modern engines lack low rev guts, you only used about 5 gears of a standard 8 speed box when the engine cos its big enough in cc will pull like a good un from stall speed.
[/quote]
As the old saying goes, there’s no replacement for displacement
Socketset:
Lorry HP means bugger all these days other than willy waving (Jeez those ponces with the HP writ large on the headboard etc amuse ), a proper 320hp if it came from a 14 litre engines was far more driveable and useful than this modern pish reckoned to be giving some 120/160hp more, these modern engines lack low rev guts, you only used about 5 gears of a standard 8 speed box when the engine cos its big enough in cc will pull like a good un from stall speed.
As the old saying goes, there’s no replacement for displacement
[/quote]
To be fair the usual range now is between 13-16 litre with modern levels of turbocharging producing more torque than the old ■■■■■■■ motor in typical 1980’s UK spec could probably dream of.It’s more likely to be the combination of silly auto gearboxes and emissions bs and speed limiters which castrates modern day engines.On that note take all the emissions crap and speed limiter off something like a 13 or 16 litre DAF or Volvo FH and fit it with a 13 let alone 18 speed fuller then see if it more than matches up.
Juddian:
Sorry Mike, best lorry years and lorries of my life, best pay in real terms of my life, just go out and get the job done, great times to be at the wheel.
Didn’t have a hi viz between us, transport office in most cases had done the job before and knew what they were talking about…but more importantly once you proved yourself you were given respect and just allowed to get on with it and do the job as you saw fit, mind you if it went wrong we’d also sort it out ourselves and not start crying on the phone ‘‘i’ve broke a fingernail’’ or ‘‘i’ve twisted be ankle/leg/arm so you’ll have to rescue me’’ or ‘‘the battery’s died can you get the fire brigade to rescue me from the tail lift’’ and Mike that’s the best one ever.
Lorry HP means bugger all these days other than willy waving (Jeez those ponces with the HP writ large on the headboard etc amuse ), a proper 320hp if it came from a 14 litre engines was far more driveable and useful than this modern pish reckoned to be giving some 120/160hp more, these modern engines lack low rev guts, you only used about 5 gears of a standard 8 speed box when the engine cos its big enough in cc will pull like a good un from stall speed.
Knowing what i know now, would you do it again, maybe a little differently, the places the people the characters are not the same anymore everything is time pressured, anyone can do the job today for the most part the skill and enjoyment has gone.
Given the choice over every day being an adventure in 1989 or modern high tech 2015 its a no brainer.
If you bought a truck for just using on a track say, could you remove its limiter and emission nonsense? Would love to see a Volvo 750 fly around Silverstone.
Radar19:
If you bought a truck for just using on a track say, could you remove its limiter and emission nonsense? Would love to see a Volvo 750 fly around Silverstone.
I followed a 750 volvo and V8 scania 580 from kelsall show up the dual carriageway they did pull away a bit at first but after about 50 I was catching them and pasted them at 70 ,I did think they’d go quicker than they did ,and yes I realise they’ed leave me for dead with a trailer on as iam only a320
Trucks I drive are all 460 bhp. Each day I have the choice of an actros or Renault I always choose Renault. I will even take the older premiums over a brand new actros. If I had a V8 I’d debadge it
3 wheeler:
We had a couple of old Atki ’ s , a bedford TK with a drag trailer and an ancient Aec.
When the Aec blew up for the last time the old man and me went to Volvo in Scotland and saw our new F12 being built. It became mine for 4yrs of Spain and back with the ex , best truck Ever…I loved it.
I thought they only built the 8 wheel f86 and f7 in Scotland.didnt realise they made f12’s there aswell
LASHHGV:
Trucks I drive are all 460 bhp. Each day I have the choice of an actros or Renault I always choose Renault. I will even take the older premiums over a brand new actros. If I had a V8 I’d debadge it
Couldn’t agree more. I drive a new Actros and its a good truck. But if I had the chance of getting my old premium back, I’d take it back in a second. I’d gladly give up the luxuries of the merc for a Premium.
3 wheeler:
We had a couple of old Atki ’ s , a bedford TK with a drag trailer and an ancient Aec.
When the Aec blew up for the last time the old man and me went to Volvo in Scotland and saw our new F12 being built. It became mine for 4yrs of Spain and back with the ex , best truck Ever…I loved it.
I thought they only built the 8 wheel f86 and f7 in Scotland.didnt realise they made f12’s there aswell
They built trucks and buses and all "non standard " stuff . We had a special !
Strangely enough (something I only discover years later) they also made all the Volvo trucks at the time for military use and an 8x8 special we saw on the line.
Twenty odd years later I met my current missus and found out the truck we bought was from her father who worked there for years too. Small world !
red7jase:
My Dad was a driver in the 80’s. Came off the road after a major rta, lost his hgv rights as he lost an eye. Tells me all the time how they were proper drivers. Standing up to steer(lack of power steering), ridiculous gear boxes and no sat navigation ect.
He was still over the moon when I told him I passed my class 1 today
carryfast-yeti:
…were the best days IMO. i was on for Carryfast North Kilworth upto '85…night trunking up to Dewsbury at a steady 75mph in ‘proper’ lorries in the fast lane at times,no trouble from the OB as long as you didn’t do anything really silly (they were on our CB channel in those days)…still got left for dead by the Irish lads on the way back though!
I drove an Austrian steyer[I think they were Austrian]on night trunking to Birmingham before speed limiters,an irish wagon came up on the middle lane so I thought right I will show him,increased to 70 mph and the bugger still left me standing,nutter
truckman020:
just watched a short film about trucking in the eighties,showed a driver working for renwicks freight[might even be one of you fellas]driving a beat up IVECO,no seatbelts,portable radio on the dash,no air con[hot day]and the cab noise from the engine,unbelievable,it was a film by steve Higgins,point being how things have changed in 20 /30 years,quite fascinating to watch,the phone number on the cab even started with area code 01
And …
Lots of us were there !
nowadays its 0121, 0208,and so on,my point also on how numbers have become longer to cope with the modern age
times were hard then as an owner driver and I didn’t want to spoil her I thought a new washing machine and hoover was enough for her, I was all heart
. ( hope she doesn’t read that bit)
I still have my class 2 but doubt that I will renew it next time as, reading these forums, the job nowadays bears little resemblance to the one that I loved and I dont suppose I would enjoy it as much which is a shame really. 
), a proper 320hp if it came from a 14 litre engines was far more driveable and useful than this modern pish reckoned 
in the fast lane at times,no trouble from the OB as long as you didn’t do anything really silly (they were on our CB channel in those days)…still got left for dead by the Irish lads on the way back though!