I’ve just come across these photos taken in Nurnburg of the area where the ■■■■’s held their torchlight processions in the 30’s. No I wasn’t there at the time but I was in the late 70’s.
I and five or six other drivers from Pro’s were in town to do a Ford clinic and it was at the end of the parade ground we parked up for three or four days whilst the event was on. I have told the story a few years back so won’t repeat it suffice to say the area of trees at the far end in the first photo was where we set up camp. Some of the lower concrete stands can be seen in the background of the last photos.
However, I never did post any photos of the huge concrete monstrosity where the ■■■■’s top brass raised their arms skyward and listened to the adulation of the crowds. It was here in the late 70’s, having nothing better to do, that George Fardell climbed the steps and gave the salute whilst the rest of us tried to get him down before he was arrested.
I took a photo of George atop this ugly concrete edifice but unfortunately its been lost or misplaced in the last forty years.
Photo courtesy of another of our old drivers, Steve Gibbons. I know nothing about the lorry but assume its a subbie. We certainly had a good number of them on for us when we were busy. We are talking 1992 onwards of course.
ERF-NGC-European:
Can’t remember if this has been on here.
Morning ENE. That photo and many more were posted on here four or five years ago by myself. The story accompanying the photos told of the trip John ‘Wellie’ Ward and I did to Baghdad. Johns lorry didn’t make it back. Most probably the wreck is still in Adana customs compound.
If I knew how to do it I would re-post the article but there were, I think, half a dozen separate posts so difficult for me to correlate them all. At present I am sitting overlooking the rocky Brittany coastline before we move off to the Pyrenees and enjoy the mountains.
ERF-NGC-European:
Can’t remember if this has been on here.
1
Morning ENE. That photo and many more were posted on here four or five years ago by myself. The story accompanying the photos told of the trip John ‘Wellie’ Ward and I did to Baghdad. Johns lorry didn’t make it back. Most probably the wreck is still in Adana customs compound.
If I knew how to do it I would re-post the article but there were, I think, half a dozen separate posts so difficult for me to correlate them all. At present I am sitting overlooking the rocky Brittany coastline before we move off to the Pyrenees and enjoy the mountains.
No problem. I’m happy to scroll back to look. Normally, I do that before posting ‘finds’ but I was a bit busy yesterday so took the lazy route!
Promotor driver Frank Gough and his sidekick Peter are off in their Transit van to the Nurburgring today to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. They are hoping to do a lap in under twenty minutes. The record is held by a Porsche in under seven minutes.
Good luck Frank. Drive like you did when you drove for Pro’s.
Frank and his brother Peter have arrived at the Nurburgring. Didn’t take them long to get there! Drive like that on their hot lap should do it in ten minutes.
Frank and Peter have purchased ‘four laps’ of the Nurburgring in Germany. Yesterday they used one of those laps to get used to the circuit and to find out how the 24 year old Transit liked it. Frank reports all went well and looking forward to the next run out, however I think my guesstimate of just over 14 minutes for his lap time is far to optimistic.
They are doing this in aid of ‘Guide Dogs for the Blind’. If anyone wants to make a donation go to F/B and look for ‘Transit Van Gough’ or ‘Frank Gough’.
My thanks for the official photos Frank posted on his F/B page which I have copied here.
Just come across this very interesting photo posted by our old mate Steve Lacy aka ‘flyingflash007’. Steve said the photo was taken on the way up to Andorra from Spain. A place I’m not a million miles away from at the present time.
Must have been about 77 possibly a little earlier. This Ford D series was used extensively on the contract we had with the Dutch equivalent of the AA bringing wrecked or broken down vehicles back to the UK.
It’s a sorry site to see the Jag on the trailer. I assume it broke down not the caravan.
sandway:
Just come across this very interesting photo posted by our old mate Steve Lacy aka ‘flyingflash007’. Steve said the photo was taken on the way up to Andorra from Spain. A place I’m not a million miles from at the present time.
Must have been about 77 possibly a little earlier. This Ford D series was used extensively on the contract we had with the Dutch equivalent of the AA bringing wrecked or broken down vehicles back to the UK.
It’s a sorry site to see the Jag on the trailer. I assume it broke down not the caravan.
Please click on photo to enlarge.
The D series is on a V reg with the plastic grill so i would think its 79 or later.
sandway:
Just come across this very interesting photo posted by our old mate Steve Lacy aka ‘flyingflash007’. Steve said the photo was taken on the way up to Andorra from Spain. A place I’m not a million miles from at the present time.
Must have been about 77 possibly a little earlier. This Ford D series was used extensively on the contract we had with the Dutch equivalent of the AA bringing wrecked or broken down vehicles back to the UK.
It’s a sorry site to see the Jag on the trailer. I assume it broke down not the caravan.
Please click on photo to enlarge.
The D series is on a V reg with the plastic grill so i would think its 79 or later.
Morning rich12.
I tried to find out a bit more about the Ford D Series shown in the photo. I bow to your knowledge of the D Series and your eyesight. Perhaps I need a better laptop to enhance the photo as I can’t even see the number plate. I note the V registrations started in August 79 exactly a year after I joined Pro’s.
Steve Lacy aka flyingflash007 who was the driver of the lorry in the photo told me he joined the company some time in 79. Tony Grainger aka Nottsnorthener also drove that lorry and he joined in 75. He also had knowledge of one of the earlier D Series, KKP, with the round headlights. That vehicle is shown in the first photo which in Tehran in about 76. We don’t know who the driver was unfortunately.
I do know that Roger Oakley became the regular driver of the lorry in question doing many trips to Spain to recover broken down vehicles. We lost the recovery contract in about 82. The second photo shows the same lorry with a racing car onboard. Another one of our regular jobs.
To sum up I was sure the D Series was around when I joined the company but if it’s on a V plate then I am wrong.
There was a shortwheel base Ford D series - no sleeper - that was Peter Calderwoods first vehicle for car transporting (one car) and kept solely because of that… It was used as a car collecting runabout in the UK (when I used it). There was also a long wheelbase Ford D series for carrying cars (two cars) and I drove it on various occasions. I did at least one trip to Spain (I think more than one) - one a most enjoyable trip I remember well - in the long wheel base Ford. Also to the Motor Museum to collect or deliver Donald Campbell’s Bluebird.
Come to think about it there may have been two long wheelbase Fords one replacing the other because one was (at the time) quite new (plastic grill Ford). My memory may be a bit imperfect and maybe there was just the one long wheelbase.
There was also the bloody Ford D pantechnicon (no sleeper) which I hated with a vengeance.
I think Roger Oakley may have made a trip to somewhere exotic with the little Ford. Turkey or Iran? But I just can’t remember now, alas.
Well, Frank Gough has finally given us his best lap time for circumventing the Nurburgring. He and his brother Peter and his trusty 24 year old Transit did it in 15 minutes and 56 seconds. Our guess was just over 14 minutes and I thought we would be miles out. All told they raised, with sponsorship, almost £1,000 for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Well done both of you.
Was in Roscoff waiting for the ferry a few days ago and met the driver of this outfit. He had just delivered this old and rare living accommodation trailer to a customer in France. He was telling me about the company he worked for, ‘Berrybrook’ Steam and Classics from Exeter. Got himself a great job and seems he’s been with them for ten years. I was interested in the company as I thought the work was similar to what we did at Promotor. Although he did some shows like the Dorset Steam Fair and some shows at the NEC most of his time is spent hauling traction engines and anything associated with them to and from customers. I am posting this and a few more photos courtesy of the Berrybrook web site and their Facebook page.
If you are into this kind of thing log in and you won’t be disappointed.
It is some 40 odd years since I built and restored my 1943 Willys Jeep - after my Auto Union Munga rebuild which I sold on to John Preece - and it became time to again restore the Jeep as the body was suffering the effects of the dreaded rust. The young master Efes jnr aged 17 has become very interested in it and this prompted the second restoration althought it wasn’t my ideal summer holiday.
Clearly Sandway doesn’t believe that this things like this can happen yet they do - but at a somewhat slower pace than when in my late 20s.
This time I have been ably assisted by Efes jnr who was contracted to do the work underneath the Jeep and the re-spraying on which he has done a marvellous job.
Still lots to do now attaching bonnet, windscreen, seats, dials and the electrics.
The weather is also hampering the process but a few more weekends should see the project completed.
Morning Efes. Well junior certainly has your cherubic face but that hair. Your wife’s not a dark haired Italian beauty by any chance? Love the pics of the jeep. Certainly needed an overhaul.
In the day we hired in many vehicles from Stormont. Just glad we didn’t hire in the one in the photo. The drivers would have been fighting over who got to drive it and I’m sure John ‘Welly’ Ward would have been first in the queue.
sandway:
Morning Efes. Well junior certainly has your cherubic face but that hair. Your wife’s not a dark haired Italian beauty by any chance? Love the pics of the jeep. Certainly needed an overhaul.
In the day we hired in many vehicles from Stormont. Just glad we didn’t hire in the one in the photo. The drivers would have been fighting over who got to drive it and I’m sure John ‘Welly’ Ward would have been first in the queue.
Efes jnr not keen on having his photo taken as you can see. Mother is a raven haired latina with a Mediterranean temper.
Weekend looking good weather-wise so back to the field and try and get the Jeep finished before the weather is too bad. Should be plain sailing from now on. Just bolting bits and bobs like the windscreen (and catches), bonnet, front grill, petrol can and spare wheel holders, fuel system and then wiring (which a chum of mine has done many times and will assist) and connect clutch and brake pedals.
I haven’t had time to root my old photos - Mrs Efes put them somewhere where I can’t easily find them. But I have many which will entertain from the good ol’ days when I do find them.
Did you ever see these articles from Moscow days? Moscow resident, Barry Jones - who features in these articles - was “helping” Promotor in Moscow and he invited me to a most enjoyable dinner with him at The National in Moscow - just opposite the Kremlin - an hotel where all the top rank Russians dine. In fact it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. But then it’s not what you know but who you know.
Funnily enough and after dinner I was invited back to Barry’s place for coffee and jokes to meet his lady friends “Prison Nat” and “Mrs W” but declined as I rather guessed that things were not as they seemed. Most days Barry seemed keen to evade meeting any Promotor management and I suspect cultivated the drivers to know their whereabouts.
All the stretched Zils parked outside The National as the Kremlin officials dined there. You could hire one of these Zils for $1 and go anywhere in Moscow… Private enterprise was flourishing even in the Communist USSR.
I met the two ladies - mentioned above - one afternoon when parked outside the Meshdinarodnya Hotel although it wasn’t until I saw the newspaper article months later did I learn their names. They said they liked to speak English and they thought we must be bored sitting in the lorry. They were right. Would be like to go back to their flat? We would. However, they than asked if we’d like to bring things that they couldn’t get like toilet paper and, if we didn’t have that, could we just take some money instead. Suddenly the invitation was less appealing however attractive Stella was (and she was).
As you see I was most interested to read about Barry some months later in the Sunday newspapers.
