3300John:
Hiya …the high datum cabs i,ve driven IE bisons and bufflows have had a flatter clocks than that AEC photo.
I would have thought that was possibly a early pre production cab.the Ergo,s i have driven have had a ribbed
plastic finish around the clock area in black that looks as though as if its that pinkish steel finish.i may be
wrong.
John
I think you are I’m afraid John.
It is definately a late 2VTG - badged as a ‘Leyland Mandator’ with the high datum cab. The dash binnacle in this photo is cast alloy, as the late ones were, note how it clamps around the steering column (cast bracket with dome nuts) under the steering wheel. The early binnacles were all plastic and mounted on a plastic pedastall.
ramone:
Everyone who as commented on them seem to be saying the same thing ,they flew ,does this mean they were fast or that they could pull as well? i always thought Mercedes were fast but fairly gutless on the hills unless they had the big engine in them
I drove a 1729 “Powerliner” , it wouldnt pull your ■■■■■■■■ back but was fast downhill
Ha ha i took 1 of those mercs to Germany…i should have left it there a pile of …
Me too, it was a 1628 and boiled its knackers off uphill and almost off the clock down the other side. EPS clunk neutral clunk clunk
ramone:
Everyone who as commented on them seem to be saying the same thing ,they flew ,does this mean they were fast or that they could pull as well? i always thought Mercedes were fast but fairly gutless on the hills unless they had the big engine in them
I drove a 1729 “Powerliner” , it wouldnt pull your ■■■■■■■■ back but was fast downhill
Ha ha i took 1 of those mercs to Germany…i should have left it there a pile of …
Me too, it was a 1628 and boiled its knackers off uphill and almost off the clock down the other side. EPS clunk neutral clunk clunk
1628 with EPS, don’t think so. Only almost of the clock, you weren’t trying
ramone:
I didnt know they made any LHD V8s anyone know where they went?
hiy…there was a spanking new left hand drive ergo cab in adams butter garage on a shelf for maybe 15 years.
at one time they looked at changing it to right hand but it never happend.
it was a new shell no wiring or annythig the doors got robbed for another truck but that was it.
i would think it got put in the skip…what a pity…
John
Im still puzzled by the steering wheel and dash pic.Did they use that dash on the V8s only theres a radio fitted and the rev counter looks like its out of a Marathon.Shame about that LHD cab you mentioned 3300 Dave seems a waste
hi paw123
i can remember seeing one of those AECs at RTITBs Livingston MOTEC in 1978 when i was up there sitting exams. dont know if it was still used for driver training as it was in the workshop
mick
Some pics to see how the V8 was shoe horned into the chassis, they did make left hand drive for export to Australia and New Zealand and 30 of the High Datum cabs went there out of the 40 built, however the engine cover of the Ergo cab was off set so there was more room on the drivers side for British roads, so swapping to left hand meant the driver had less room on the export models. Franky.
!(http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd189/nosbod48/AECV8Chassis.jpg[/IMG )
Frankydobo:
…they did make left hand drive for export to Australia and New Zealand and 30 of the High Datum cabs went there out of the 40 built.
Austrailia and Zew Zealand drive on the left, and have right hand drive vehicles as we do. The LHD V8’s did not go out there I assure you. Of the LHD V8’s I know of, most were sold for continental Europe work. You are right that most of the High Datums went to NZ and Austrailia though as they offered greater cooling potential.
Frankydobo:
…however the engine cover of the Ergo cab was off set so there was more room on the drivers side for British roads, so swapping to left hand meant the driver had less room on the export models. Franky.
An urban myth!. The complete engine cover of a standard 6 cylinder cab was indeed offset to the left on a right hand drive Ergo cab, but the left hand drive Ergo’s had their engine cover offset to the right by an equal amount, giving exactly the same driver room. To achieve this, AEC even mounted the fuel injection pump etc on the right hand side of the engine, opposite to UK spec, needing all different timing housings and a whole manner of other parts.
Charnwood’s ran this LHD Mammoth Major for years, a cancelled export order, and you can see the engine cover is offset to the right. It had plenty of driver room, but the cab fell to bits unfortuately…!.
Hiya… thats correct the reason adams never coverted the cab to RHD it was a megga job really.
it was a case of cutting all the floor and bonnet out of the cab and setting in a secondhand floor.
mind you if it was still around today i,d soon be doing something with it.I never new that the drivers
seat on a V8moved with the cab where on the straight6 it stayed in place.
John
3300John:
Hiya… thats correct the reason adams never coverted the cab to RHD it was a megga job really.
it was a case of cutting all the floor and bonnet out of the cab and setting in a secondhand floor.
mind you if it was still around today i,d soon be doing something with it.I never new that the drivers
seat on a V8moved with the cab where on the straight6 it stayed in place.
John
Yes, so would I John!.
The drivers floorpan and base of the steering column on a V8 are the same parts used on a Leyland Bison / Buffalo etc. Their seat lifts too of course.
ERF Wrote; An urban myth!. The complete engine cover of a standard 6 cylinder cab was indeed offset to the left on a right hand drive Ergo cab, but the left hand drive Ergo’s had their engine cover offset to the right by an equal amount, giving exactly the same driver room. To achieve this, AEC even mounted the fuel injection pump etc on the right hand side of the engine, opposite to UK spec, needing all different timing housings and a whole manner of other parts.
Just shows you can’t believe everything you read, the info I got also said AEC didn’t want to go to the bother of changing the floorpan etc to left hand drive use, seems like another myth like Scania developed their V8 from the AEC model as has been mentioned. Don’t know why I thought Aus and NZ drove on the right, might have been confused with some African states that changed over the years. Here’s a pic that didn’t come up withe last two.
By the way the Fuller box in the above photo wasn’t fitted until this vehicle was under restoration some thirty years later, the owner said the closer gears of the Fuller prevented the overheating problems as the engine didn’t have to hang on at high revs so long during climbs, something the original versions suffered from with the Six speed boxes. To answer Ramones question about how the AEC compared with the 110 or 88, then basically it didn’t as the problems it had meant very few companies persisted with the model and while the 88 and 110 were not without there problems too they survived into transport folklore with more positive reasons compared to the AEC. Shame just another year or so of development might have had a different outcome. Franky.
Hiya some trucks that adams butter(sorry to keep mentioning this company)had was rhodisian back
order, they had half a dozen some in IICR kit form and the lads assembled them in the garage.
Maybe thats where the left ■■■■■■ appeared.i know they also had some 8 wheelers that they
made units out of.i never herd any mention of the V8 not even a demo. although i knew a owner
driver from congleton/macc area who had a V8(John Owen)who was on hulland products paving
job. he used to sail past the 150 and 180 gardners climing out of Ashbourne.nowadays you
can,nt even pass another car theres that much traffic.
John
I cannot recall any U.K. haulier having any AEC or Leyland left hookers on general haulage in the 60s and early 70s but they were quite popular in Europe as there were a few companys who had a fleet of British wagons ( but they leant quick ) and quite a lot had sleeper cabs. I do not know if they were factory fitted but in my opinion they would be conversions over there and some fleets were quite big. They seemed to disappear by the late 70s to early 80s and it was unusual to see a British wagon being run by a continental haulier.
cheers Johnnie
Frankydobo:
By the way the Fuller box in the above photo wasn’t fitted until this vehicle was under restoration some thirty years later, the owner said the closer gears of the Fuller prevented the overheating problems as the engine didn’t have to hang on at high revs so long during climbs, something the original versions suffered from with the Six speed boxes. To answer Ramones question about how the AEC compared with the 110 or 88, then basically it didn’t as the problems it had meant very few companies persisted with the model and while the 88 and 110 were not without there problems too they survived into transport folklore with more positive reasons compared to the AEC. Shame just another year or so of development might have had a different outcome. Franky.
What i meant was when the V8s were behaving how did they compare with the F88s and 110s of the time .Could they live with the swedes on the hills?
Frankydobo:
By the way the Fuller box in the above photo wasn’t fitted until this vehicle was under restoration some thirty years later, the owner said the closer gears of the Fuller prevented the overheating problems as the engine didn’t have to hang on at high revs so long during climbs, something the original versions suffered from with the Six speed boxes. To answer Ramones question about how the AEC compared with the 110 or 88, then basically it didn’t as the problems it had meant very few companies persisted with the model and while the 88 and 110 were not without there problems too they survived into transport folklore with more positive reasons compared to the AEC. Shame just another year or so of development might have had a different outcome. Franky.
What i meant was when the V8s were behaving how did they compare with the F88s and 110s of the time .Could they live with the swedes on the hills?
Ramone, When the V8s were going O K it was the 88s and 110s that were unable to live with the AECs on hills as the AECs V8 produced a bit more power it was only in the late 70s when the 111 and 290 88 were brought out that they were on par the 240 88s and 110s were always under my feet when I had a crusader with a 280 rolls so it was the late 70s when the continentals caught up and by the 80s they had passed most British manufacturers trucks except the ones fitted with high horse powered engines which were the exception rather than the fleet wagons.
cheers Johnnie
Frankydobo:
Just shows you can’t believe everything you read, the info I got also said AEC didn’t want to go to the bother of changing the floorpan etc to left hand drive use, seems like another myth like Scania developed their V8 from the AEC model as has been mentioned…
I think Graham Edge started, or at least put into print the myth about the LHD cabs being cramped, and the late Pat Kennett was the first I knew of to actually print the myth of the V8 engine and Scania.
Frankydobo:
By the way the Fuller box in the above photo wasn’t fitted until this vehicle was under restoration some thirty years later, the owner said the closer gears of the Fuller prevented the overheating problems as the engine didn’t have to hang on at high revs so long during climbs, something the original versions suffered from with the Six speed boxes. To answer Ramones question about how the AEC compared with the 110 or 88, then basically it didn’t as the problems it had meant very few companies persisted with the model and while the 88 and 110 were not without there problems too they survived into transport folklore with more positive reasons compared to the AEC. Shame just another year or so of development might have had a different outcome. Franky.
What i meant was when the V8s were behaving how did they compare with the F88s and 110s of the time .Could they live with the swedes on the hills?
Ramone, When the V8s were going O K it was the 88s and 110s that were unable to live with the AECs on hills as the AECs V8 produced a bit more power it was only in the late 70s when the 111 and 290 88 were brought out that they were on par the 240 88s and 110s were always under my feet when I had a crusader with a 280 rolls so it was the late 70s when the continentals caught up and by the 80s they had passed most British manufacturers trucks except the ones fitted with high horse powered engines which were the exception rather than the fleet wagons.
cheers Johnnie
Thanks for that Johnnie,so if AEC had given it another year say of development and put it into a Marathon well a Marathon2 the cooling problem would have been solved and they would have had a world beater ,well thats my thoughts but hindsights a great thing
Frankydobo:
By the way the Fuller box in the above photo wasn’t fitted until this vehicle was under restoration some thirty years later, the owner said the closer gears of the Fuller prevented the overheating problems as the engine didn’t have to hang on at high revs so long during climbs, something the original versions suffered from with the Six speed boxes. To answer Ramones question about how the AEC compared with the 110 or 88, then basically it didn’t as the problems it had meant very few companies persisted with the model and while the 88 and 110 were not without there problems too they survived into transport folklore with more positive reasons compared to the AEC. Shame just another year or so of development might have had a different outcome. Franky.
What i meant was when the V8s were behaving how did they compare with the F88s and 110s of the time .Could they live with the swedes on the hills?
Ramone, When the V8s were going O K it was the 88s and 110s that were unable to live with the AECs on hills as the AECs V8 produced a bit more power it was only in the late 70s when the 111 and 290 88 were brought out that they were on par the 240 88s and 110s were always under my feet when I had a crusader with a 280 rolls so it was the late 70s when the continentals caught up and by the 80s they had passed most British manufacturers trucks except the ones fitted with high horse powered engines which were the exception rather than the fleet wagons.
cheers Johnnie
Thanks for that Johnnie,so if AEC had given it another year say of development and put it into a Marathon well a Marathon2 the cooling problem would have been solved and they would have had a world beater ,well thats my thoughts but hindsights a great thing
Not quite a worldbeater, even with the marathon 2 the brakes would scare the living daylights out of you ! Leyland should have fitted Scammell or Guy brakes !
, it wouldnt pull your ■■■■■■■■ back but was fast downhill 
)
