windrush:
Apart from the starting handle missing (and what is that other hole in the radiator for?) didn’t some had an autovac or similar on the nearside cab. Maybe that was only the petrol versions though?Pete.
I think it was only the petrol engines that had Autovacs, and by the time the Mark II was introduced they were mounted on the inside on the passenger side of the cab.
blue estate:
No n/s mirror [emoji6]Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
The offside mirror isn’t that brilliant either! 
I give up as most pics look similar to that…except they have an autovac on the cab… 
Pete.
Hi,
More into buses than trucks but I came across this forum by accident when I was researching some old AEC bus stuff recently so decided to join. Although I passed my HGV test in 1977 I never had the chance to drive an AEC but I always had a soft spot for them due to a trip I took in one in 1968. The spat earlier about roping and sheeting brought back memories of this and hopefully some of you will enjoy the tale (and might have similar ones to tell)
I lived in a tenement in a Glasgow housing estate which had 8 flats in it and one of the dads (Sandy was his name) drove for Critchlow’s of Stoke. He used to park his (normally loaded with steel coils) artic and trailer up in the street outside (very few cars in those days). During the school holidays he asked me and another friend if we would like to join him on a trip down to Stoke and back to break up the boredom. Don’t worry there was nothing dodgy about it. His own son, who was the same age as us, couldn’t be bothered so he probably did it to get at him. Anyway, after getting our parents permission, we said yes of course.
Turns out that this was to be no ordinary trip. We left at midnight on a Saturday and the first place we stopped was the old Moss services on the A74. This was the first time I had ever encountered such a place and it was a fabulous site for a small boy even if it was during the middle of the night. We then made our way down to Stoke alternating between sitting in the passenger seat and on the engine and got there just after 6am. Now this was in the days when the first bit of motorway in England we came to would have been the Lancaster bypass so this was impressive. Sandy told us to get out of the cab and to wait at the street corner until he came back which he did about 45 minutes later. We obviously weren’t supposed to be with him.
We then headed back up to Glasgow and stopped at another transport café en route for breakfast. After we had eaten Sandy took us for a walk round the other vehicles and proceeded to judge the drivers on the basis of whether their loads were correctly roped and sheeted or not. Sandy took great pride in making sure that every one of his knots were at the same height. As we walked round he would say “driver, driver, effin cowboy” depending on the standard of the roping. It was on this trip that I learned how to tie down a load even if I was only 12 at the time.
We then drove back up to Glasgow arriving home, and very tired, around 2pm. Ok, so probably nothing unusual or particularly exciting about this tale so far but when we got home I asked him why we had done this trip as he normally was away for a few days at a time. It turns out that instead of the normal 2 coils, each weighing 10 ton, we were carrying 3 making us 10 ton overweight.
The artic unit was an AEC Mandator. I’ve loved them ever since that day.
Forward facing & kerb mirror missing…
More serious now, is it the front number plate, front bumper, o/s mirror & possibly rear lamps, could it have just come out of the paint shop?
dave docwra:
More serious now, is it the front number plate, front bumper, o/s mirror & possibly rear lamps, could it have just come out of the paint shop?
All the “missing” items have been mentioned. That style of cab never had a front bumper bar. It is missing a number plate, but probably not registered yet. I might be wrong but I vaguely remember being told that in that era number plates were issued by the registration office when the vehicle was registered. The passenger side mirror wasn’t a legal requirement in those days, and the rear lights, would have been tiny, just about the size of a front side light.
Thompsons of Slough Mercury, on a S-registration, one of the last.
Bit of a surprise when this turned up, can’t remember ever seeing a Siddle C Cook Mercury
ERF-NGC-European:
[attachment=0]s-laec1600.jpg
If only we’d had a similar gross weight regime.History might have turned out different.
But how they drove the things with those silly little mirrors is anyone’s guess especially with lots of cyclists in cloggie land. 
Home made trailer axle looks good, waste not want not…
This Mercury of Cookies was an ex Russells of Bathgate motor, There was quite a few of them ended up in the north east, Smiles for Miles had 0ne Crows of Gateshead had some but I dont know how many, The regs were all two numbers FSX //, This was 1963 IIRC, Regards Larry.
The Amoco tanker looks smart. 5 axles on a '71-plate British artic suggests it might have been one of those vehicles built for the possibility of 44 ton weight limits. 800V8?
Hiya, Northern Ireland Trailers operating out of Preston Dock ran five axle
outfits back in the 1960s in the form of two axle units and tri-axle trailers,
I recall dragging one to Norwich with a bog standard TK it took me forever
I was working for Killingbeck at the time, these trailers had a floating back
axle which you had to lock up to reverse into your drop and release to run
normally, I rather think I was way over the pop when loaded outgoing, but
rarely got into top gear when returning to Preston empty.
[zb]
anorak:
The Amoco tanker looks smart. 5 axles on a '71-plate British artic suggests it might have been one of those vehicles built for the possibility of 44 ton weight limits. 800V8?
In 1971 the 44 tonnes gvw hadn’t been thought of, back then 36 / 38 tonnes was the next, distant gross weight target for the UK. The petroleum distribution industry had its own powerful Technical Consultation Committee and it had the ear of the Transport Ministry. There were still concerns about artic stability running at 32 tons gvw in 1971, especially with liquids tankers, and various three axle tractor unit configurations were tried. The 6x4 layout, as with this Mammoth Major was popular with Amoco and also Air Products, both American owned companies, so they favoured the double drive unit as was the standard layout in the US. The Mammoth Major 6 tractor unit was AV760 powered and could be operated at up to 65 tonnes gvw, with a 2-speed auxiliary gearbox bolted on the back of the standard 6-speed 'box, it was a two-stick operation.
gingerfold:
[zb]
anorak:
The Amoco tanker looks smart. 5 axles on a '71-plate British artic suggests it might have been one of those vehicles built for the possibility of 44 ton weight limits. 800V8?In 1971 the 44 tonnes gvw hadn’t been thought of, back then 36 / 38 tonnes was the next, distant gross weight target for the UK. The petroleum distribution industry had its own powerful Technical Consultation Committee and it had the ear of the Transport Ministry. There were still concerns about artic stability running at 32 tons gvw in 1971, especially with liquids tankers, and various three axle tractor unit configurations were tried. The 6x4 layout, as with this Mammoth Major was popular with Amoco and also Air Products, both American owned companies, so they favoured the double drive unit as was the standard layout in the US. The Mammoth Major 6 tractor unit was AV760 powered and could be operated at up to 65 tonnes gvw, with a 2-speed auxiliary gearbox bolted on the back of the standard 6-speed 'box, it was a two-stick operation.
A E Evans cut down two MK5 Mammoth Majors into 3 - axled units for 32 tons gross,AYH 701H and BMX 746H were the new regs.They also managed to get the axle spread right for 32 t running on four axles which was a bit of a task.The photo of the MK5 Mandator shows the unusual layout of the trailer to get the spread required,I was told all this by the foreman at our Barking depot.The other photo was taken at Sheffield showing one of the 3-axled MK5s.
A few more Mammoth Major 6 tractor units
The Air Products helium gas carriers used trailers from the USA parent company and ran at special dispensation for over-length limits for UK C&U Regs. It is said that the tare weight of these was 31.5 tons, giving a payload of 0.5 tons of helium gas!
gingerfold:
[zb]
anorak:
The Amoco tanker looks smart. 5 axles on a '71-plate British artic suggests it might have been one of those vehicles built for the possibility of 44 ton weight limits. 800V8?In 1971 the 44 tonnes gvw hadn’t been thought of, back then 36 / 38 tonnes was the next, distant gross weight target for the UK. The petroleum distribution industry had its own powerful Technical Consultation Committee and it had the ear of the Transport Ministry. There were still concerns about artic stability running at 32 tons gvw in 1971, especially with liquids tankers, and various three axle tractor unit configurations were tried. The 6x4 layout, as with this Mammoth Major was popular with Amoco and also Air Products, both American owned companies, so they favoured the double drive unit as was the standard layout in the US. The Mammoth Major 6 tractor unit was AV760 powered and could be operated at up to 65 tonnes gvw, with a 2-speed auxiliary gearbox bolted on the back of the standard 6-speed 'box, it was a two-stick operation.
I was referring to these 44 ton prososals:
archive.commercialmotor.com/arti … -at-kelvin
Whatever- those MM6 tractors look very purposeful. I found this one in my own digital “collection”:
Although we may have discussed this vehicle before- I have been enjoying the fruits of reverse deja vu for years!- do you what it was for? It looks like a US market tractor, with those extra lamps on the roof.
Certainly proposals had been discussed back in 1970 by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and the Ministry of Transport, many Technical Meetings had been held but had been held up repeatedly not by any disagreements between the Manufacturers but by the restrictions imposed by Civil Engineers and objections from various organisations said to represent the public. The proposals discussed would if implemented allow six wheel rigid vehicles to operate at a GVW of 24 Tons, Eight wheelers at 30 Tons and Six wheel double drive tractors coupled to tandem axle trailer combination up to a then staggering 44 Tons GCW. Another qualification was the 6 bhp per Ton requirement and limitations on minimum axle spacing and maximum axle loadings, it was these last two factors that would cause serious problems with the Civil Engineer section of the MoT, because of the detrimental effect on roads and bridges.
Foden went ahead and designed and built vehicles for this proposed legislation, an eight wheeler and two tractors, the six wheel tractor having the same rear bogie as the eight wheeler and fitted with a ■■■■■■■ 270bhp NT270B engine and 12 speed overdrive box the same as the other two vehicles, a 38 Ton (note ton and not tonnes) 2 axle tractor with a 240 Gardner and the eight wheeler the 180 Gardner. The six wheel tractor designated 6AC6/44 had the S60 all metal cab. With no movement on the proposed regulations all Foden could do was offer the models for export as I would think other 44Ton models by other makers went down the same road (no pun intended). This from the Foden book ‘My life with the company’ by Harold Nancollis. Cheers Franky.
There is some discussion of those Fodens on this Forum, somewhere, with links to CM articles covering them. Of more relevance to this thread are the AECs mentioned in the CM article I linked above. I dare say those are the MM6 V8 tractors which are pictured on the V8 thread.
