Sorry if this has been posted before, but cop an earful of this Youtube vid of a 68 Ergo cabbed AEC Mammoth Major (I think it may even still be at work 
) being driven by its owner in NZ:
youtube.com/watch?v=U3p4niBt ā¦ QUSHf3Ih5N
AV760 + 13 speed Fuller!
He also has a TL11 engined Octopus (13 speed Fuller):
Good one mate,try doing that with an AEC 6 speed crash box!
Yep itās been on before,but not the two together. I took both of these videos last year,the bloke driving is a good mate,Vic how can make driving/operating things look very easy. Heās doesnāt own the trucks but is a good mate of the bloke that does and so am I.
Iām a fitter and went up to Auckland last year with the owner to get the MM and bring it back,wow what a trip mate. She was heavy with the crane on,about 23 tonne. I did a four hour stint behind the wheel through the central North Island,bugger me hard work there are some long pulls,big drops and lots of twisty bits. Show her a hill and as you can see it was down,then down another and so on until she was nearly boiling,after four hours I was fairly jaded,but with a big grin on me chops.
Iāve a lot of respect for the older blokes who drove these every day, especially as most towed a trailer and would have been up at about 40 tonne,can you imagine that?
The crane has since been removed and gone to Fiji. The truck will one day be done up.
I still love watching it even though Iāve seen it loads of times.
Cheers Jamie
NZ JAMIE:
Good one mate,try doing that with an AEC 6 speed crash box!Yep itās been on before,but not the two together. I took both of these videos last year,the bloke driving is a good mate,Vic how can make driving/operating things look very easy. Heās doesnāt own the trucks but is a good mate of the bloke that does and so am I.
Hi Jamie, I had an idea the vids may have come up on here before, so apologies for stealing your thunder especially as I didnāt know it was you who took them. Yep they would both have been [zb] hard work on some of those hilly bits that UnZud specialises in so hats off to the bloke who drove (and to the unfortunate so and so who had to sit there in all that din with a camera).
I donāt want to pee in your pocket but I for one am very happy for the blokes who still use and maitain old kit like these and for those who appreciate them enough to want to record them still at work. Epic stuff 
Yeah no worries mate,
I have a few more vids that I need to up load. Iāll post the link on here when Iāve done it.
Cheers Jamie
NZ JAMIE:
Yeah no worries mate,I have a few more vids that I need to up load. Iāll post the link on here when Iāve done it.
Cheers Jamie
Is it my laptop sound, or does he crash quite a few gears ? Its that noisey its difficult to tell.I`ve driven a few 13 speed Fullers and they can be difficult at times
ramone:
NZ JAMIE:
Yeah no worries mate,I have a few more vids that I need to up load. Iāll post the link on here when Iāve done it.
Cheers Jamie
Is it my laptop sound, or does he crash quite a few gears ? It
s that noisey its difficult to tell.I`ve driven a few 13 speed Fullers and they can be difficult at times
Thereās a lot of noise from the engine and exhaust stack so itās hard to say, but I canāt hear any clashes. Mind you, loaded to 23T with a big crane and going up some of the hills in NZ it would lose speed rapidly so he would had to have been quick with the shifts - a couple of times you can hear it loses speed so quick he has to do two downshifts in succession to keep the old girl going.
Gāday,
There are a few snaps and crackles on the video,but I think they are just due to the general noise. He nips one gear quite early on,but you canāt hear it. If you watch his left leg it doesnāt move very much,an expert at a Road Ranger. When we pulled up at the end we found that the exhaust pipe had dropped out of the stack,so she had a short straight pipe off the manifold,hence the loudness of the motor.
Your dead right about loosing speed quickly,she drops like a stone and he does well with the quick shifts. When I drove it down from Auckland on one long pull,which I hit in top I came down seven changes,including splits. The temp gauge climbed and climbed,it hovered at a hundred for a while and I thought I may have to come down into the low box to keep the engine revs and fan speed up,but the old banga kept pulling and came over the top no worries. She cooled down on the other side and then it was up again on another pull.
Cheers Jamie
NZ JAMIE:
Gāday,There are a few snaps and crackles on the video,but I think they are just due to the general noise. He nips one gear quite early on,but you canāt hear it. If you watch his left leg it doesnāt move very much,an expert at a Road Ranger. When we pulled up at the end we found that the exhaust pipe had dropped out of the stack,so she had a short straight pipe off the manifold,hence the loudness of the motor.
Your dead right about loosing speed quickly,she drops like a stone and he does well with the quick shifts. When I drove it down from Auckland on one long pull,which I hit in top I came down seven changes,including splits. The temp gauge climbed and climbed,it hovered at a hundred for a while and I thought I may have to come down into the low box to keep the engine revs and fan speed up,but the old banga kept pulling and came over the top no worries. She cooled down on the other side and then it was up again on another pull.
Cheers Jamie
Does it have a header tank at the back of the cab ,i know a local company that started putting them on before AEC did and apparently it stopped them boiling up
ramone:
NZ JAMIE:
Gāday,There are a few snaps and crackles on the video,but I think they are just due to the general noise. He nips one gear quite early on,but you canāt hear it. If you watch his left leg it doesnāt move very much,an expert at a Road Ranger. When we pulled up at the end we found that the exhaust pipe had dropped out of the stack,so she had a short straight pipe off the manifold,hence the loudness of the motor.
Your dead right about loosing speed quickly,she drops like a stone and he does well with the quick shifts. When I drove it down from Auckland on one long pull,which I hit in top I came down seven changes,including splits. The temp gauge climbed and climbed,it hovered at a hundred for a while and I thought I may have to come down into the low box to keep the engine revs and fan speed up,but the old banga kept pulling and came over the top no worries. She cooled down on the other side and then it was up again on another pull.
Cheers Jamie
Does it have a header tank at the back of the cab ,i know a local company that started putting them on before AEC did and apparently it stopped them boiling up
A E Evans put header tanks on the rear of the cabs,and the overheating was cured. Great videos,wish Iād had the chance to drive a Mandator with the 13 speed Fuller. They would have been a great tool,I had a lift in one once - W H Martin from Brigg had one and it romped over Woodhead,I was rayt impressed.
Chris Webb:
ramone:
NZ JAMIE:
Gāday,There are a few snaps and crackles on the video,but I think they are just due to the general noise. He nips one gear quite early on,but you canāt hear it. If you watch his left leg it doesnāt move very much,an expert at a Road Ranger. When we pulled up at the end we found that the exhaust pipe had dropped out of the stack,so she had a short straight pipe off the manifold,hence the loudness of the motor.
Your dead right about loosing speed quickly,she drops like a stone and he does well with the quick shifts. When I drove it down from Auckland on one long pull,which I hit in top I came down seven changes,including splits. The temp gauge climbed and climbed,it hovered at a hundred for a while and I thought I may have to come down into the low box to keep the engine revs and fan speed up,but the old banga kept pulling and came over the top no worries. She cooled down on the other side and then it was up again on another pull.
Cheers Jamie
Does it have a header tank at the back of the cab ,i know a local company that started putting them on before AEC did and apparently it stopped them boiling up
A E Evans put header tanks on the rear of the cabs,and the overheating was cured. Great videos,wish Iād had the chance to drive a Mandator with the 13 speed Fuller. They would have been a great tool,I had a lift in one once - W H Martin from Brigg had one and it romped over Woodhead,I was rayt impressed.
I cant understand why AEC didnt promote that option when it transformed the AV760 surely it would have been in their interests?
Yeah mate,they sure make it more flexible. Who Knows why Leyland as it would have been Leyland by the mid 60ās didnāt offer the Fuller box. It may have up set the British management to offer an American product when time and money had been spent developing the Leyland and AEC splitter boxes.
They were an option here and in Oz,I was talking to a bloke last week who had the first Ergo Octopus in NZ with a factory fitted 13 speed Fuller in 1970,it also had a larger header tank fitted behind the cab.
Talking of Ergo Octopuses with 13 speeds,hereās another vid,the same truck but with your truly at the wheel,sorry if itās a bit in your face,but me mate was filming. Loaded with a mm8 on the back at about 21-22 tonne.
youtube.com/watch?v=3NEc5AQIO8M
Cheers Jamie
NZ JAMIE:
Yeah mate,they sure make it more flexible. Who Knows why Leyland as it would have been Leyland by the mid 60ās didnāt offer the Fuller box. It may have up set the British management to offer an American product when time and money had been spent developing the Leyland and AEC splitter boxes.They were an option here and in Oz,I was talking to a bloke last week who had the first Ergo Octopus in NZ with a factory fitted 13 speed Fuller in 1970,it also had a larger header tank fitted behind the cab.
Talking of Ergo Octopuses with 13 speeds,hereās another vid,the same truck but with your truly at the wheel,sorry if itās a bit in your face,but me mate was filming. Loaded with a mm8 on the back at about 21-22 tonne.
youtube.com/watch?v=3NEc5AQIO8M
Cheers Jamie
Looks like it still goes well Jamie,did the L12 or TL12 get over there and what about the Marathon and Roadtrain ,either of them make it downunder?
After reading Leslie Purdonās āJuggernaut Driversā,I am interested to know if anyone has driven the old British, AEC Mandator,and if you could upload any pics of one,I would appreciate it.Thanks,and have a Merry Christmas.
Glenn,
Glenn I drove both types of Mandator,the Mk5 and the Ergomatic cab type.There was also a V8 engine built for it but although powerful and fast wasnāt very successfulI .I never drove one myself but the Mk5 I had was ex Leathers Chemicals,Bradford AKU 384B(must get out more) and was a flyer for about 6 weeks until it blew up on the A38 near Burton in 1969. .
I then went on tanker work and the first Ergomatic type I drove was JWW 896D ex LPG Transport,Morley and then OKC 130M ex Wenning Transport,Liverpool.Apart from the odd injector pipe blowing I never had much of a problem with either,not bad considering they were both secondhand and been round tāworld three times before I drove 'em 
.
If you go on the AEC Society website thereās plenty of pics.I havenāt got any of my own - wish now I had taken a camera when on the road in the 60ās and 70ās. 
I havenāt read āJuggernaut Driversā so not sure which Mandator is figured in the book.
glen we had 2 puv760f ex poulters used to go with the ole man down to felixstowe with masterway tilts out of fords dagenham i grew up thinking it was the norm to do injector pipes every week and all lorrys had them blow and i had a v8 which is now on the show scene it was quick smoked worse than a 290 88 when cold but it whent like the clappers also had bloody good window winders on that long lever quicker than electric
Just spoke to my uncle about the v8,he told me aec told him one of the weakness,s of the v8 was the conrods were to small where they joined the crank i dont know if this is true but some of you may know.He was also told that aec wanted to develope the engine more but management stopped it.He had two v8,s one he bought less gearbox another as a complete lorry he never got round to rebuilding them an they were sold as is.He had his own fitters shop in wapping in the 70.s it was called scandret commercels.
mine always ran hot never boiled but always made your bottle twicth had a nother one as breakdown ex total but it was to far gone to do dont no weather its true but they reckon it was all that british leyland stuff and no money was given to develop it martintrux had a nice one
boyzee:
Just spoke to my uncle about the v8,he told me aec told him one of the weakness,s of the v8 was the conrods were to small where they joined the crank i dont know if this is true but some of you may know.He was also told that aec wanted to develope the engine more but management stopped it.He had two v8,s one he bought less gearbox another as a complete lorry he never got round to rebuilding them an they were sold as is.He had his own fitters shop in wapping in the 70.s it was called scandret commercels.
A gentleman of my acquaintance worked at the Leyland service agents in Chorley, and has often recounted the tale of the Western Transport V8 Mandator that was dragged on off the M6 on its way to Scotland, the motor having expired.
It was fitted with a new motor under warranty and sent on its wayā¦ only for a repeat performance on the southbound trip and another new engine!!
In the 1970s I drove Mandators - and I liked them, but it was day work, no nights out.
ā¦ also had bloody good window winders on that long lever quicker than electricā¦
Iāve still got a couple of those winder handles - the Mercurys had them as well.
Thanks for the replies. 'Juggernaut drivers doesnāt stipulate which Mandator it was,but Iām sure it might have been the 220,or is that the Leyland Marathon? It does sound like them old British trojans could fly once they had built up a head of steam! It did mention in the book actually that āChucklesā Mandator managed a top speed of only 53mph and pumped out a lot of black smoke!! All sorted after changing the fuel pump apparently!