Anyone remember Archbolds they ran Fiat 619s to Saudi Arabia mainly light fittings / building materials.
jeffrey ellener:
Anyone remember Archbolds they ran Fiat 619s to Saudi Arabia mainly light fittings / building materials.
Yes, I remember Bill Robertson doing that job on Archbolds. The last time I saw him was on Whittles. 
Now that is some post !!..Thanks Geoff for that amazing recollection of your epic trip. 
and such good photos. The thread looks like itâs off and running again, guess youâre right Robert!
All the very best.
Mick B
Jelliot:
Come on Ian, get back to the keyboard.It is a fairly painless process to write a book Harry, if life didnât keep getting in the way, Iâd have some of mine out already. I have a thread on here about doing it, and with all the self publishing options available at the moment itâs fairly easy.
" Sack of trousers," thatâs a phrase that you donât hear very often, and you had 2 of them to dip in diesel and burn to keep warm. Iâve burnt a few pallets in my time. Those blue ones go really well.
We were given a box of those Italian Christmas cakes by the boss to take to China, none of them even got to the Kaz border ( very nice with a bit of fresh cream. ) It was probably a good thing as the Russian, Kaz, and China border guards were often a bit suspicious and iffy about drivers giving gifts.
JeffâŚ
You mean the ones they had for every religious holiday - Panattoni?
.
Always found that panatonni a bit dry; youâd need the cream Jeff mentioned to moisten it up. Wouldnât be fresh by the time it hit the Chinese border! Robert
They came in nice fancy boxes, but were a big disappointment when you opened them and got stuck in. German cakes were the same, they looked yummy but were very bland, you canât beat a British cakeâŚ
They tasted good with champagne .
What happened to the 2 x 1418âs, where they in such bad shape they came back as hand luggage?
TDL102:
What happened to the 2 x 1418âs, where they in such bad shape they came back as hand luggage?
It says it was a one-way trip and they flew home. Mind you, I can think of some âsellersâ that went down to Doha that I wouldnât mind bringing back as hand-luggage (that bonneted Scania Dave Poulton took down, and Chris Hooperâs old Transcon for starters)! Robert
Robert , do me a favour and post that old photo of you ,Bernie and the gang in that Tanger hotel. In that snap I clocked you as the average height ,middle aged dude with fair hair who I met for the first time at the Folkestone reuni, but I might be wrong? If Iâm right donât bother with the snap.
harry:
Robert , do me a favour and post that old photo of you ,Bernie and the gang in that Tanger hotel. In that snap I clocked you as the average height ,middle aged dude with fair hair who I met for the first time at the Folkestone reuni, but I might be wrong? If Iâm right donât bother with the snap.
Alas thatâs not me! I fit some of the description though: fair hair, middle-aged, short rather than average height and was often in Tanger. However, Iâm not in that picture and I didnât attend a Folkestone reunion. Robert
robert1952:
Always found that panatonni a bit dry; youâd need the cream Jeff mentioned to moisten it up. Wouldnât be fresh by the time it hit the Chinese border! Robert
A well thereâs a bag of monkies for you, we used to do Undine to Chorgos in 11 to 13 days depending on the weather. On that trip our boss gave us a box of 14 Panattoni cakes, the ones in the nice blue and gold boxes. We had all done the trip many times before and knew bribes or even the hint of a bribe was a pretty dodgy thing to get involved with, so with the best of intention we decided that getting rid of the evidence enroute would have the best diplomatic effect all round. I think one was given to the fat controler at Almaty but we were always exchanging gifts with him, and would hasten to add that he was genuine friend that gave us a lot of help on many occaisions. If I remember right the last one was polished of somewhere about Oqtobe on the way back. I always liked the ones with a bit of fruit in them, as for German cakes I always liked a bit of Black Forest Gataux. Some of the Chinese cakes are fairly good as well.
When we got back we told the boss that every one appreciated the cakes ( well, we did )
JeffâŚ
robert1952:
TDL102:
What happened to the 2 x 1418âs, where they in such bad shape they came back as hand luggage?It says it was a one-way trip and they flew home. Mind you, I can think of some âsellersâ that went down to Doha that I wouldnât mind bringing back as hand-luggage (that bonneted Scania Dave Poulton took down, and Chris Hooperâs old Transcon for starters)! Robert
Itâs not there any more, Iâve got it hereâŚ
JeffâŚ
Godâs truth, Jeff! I thought it was the real thing for a couple of minutes! Is this one of your creations? Itâs astonishing! Robert
Tilts! Hated 'em!
who and were is chis hoopers trany jeff thanks
Others may put me right here but as I remember, Chris sold his Transcon along with all his running equipment down in Doha and flew home to retire from the Middle-East run. Then he started up again and ran Scanias down there for a few more years. I assume the Transcon is still down there, probably dismantled, though itâs hard to say what will happen to a âsellerâ down to Doha, because some get sold on to Bahrain and other Gulf destinations. By the time Chris had finished with the old girl, it was a bit of mongrel with ERF drive-line components, an added roof and no end of modifications. An original Ford Transcontinental would never have stood the course, and Chris knew that well enough and refined his wagon accordingly. I met Chris a few times, both in Europe and down the Middle-East TIR trail. I do remember parking alongside his Transcon when I was shipping into Dover coming back from Morocco, and climbing up onto his catwalk to help him while we waited for our papers. One time, I was just running from the Qatar border at Salwa into Saudi along the salt flats and he was coming in the opposite direction. Typical of Chris, he stopped and made sure he connected with me before proceeding - a proper traditional Middle-East driver. Robert
harry:
Tilts! Hated 'em!
How can you hate tilts, Harry? Tilts were fabulous living, breathing things with souls and character of their own. I grant you that unloved and uncared-for tilts were a [zb] nightmare, but a good 'un with side-boards and sheets that actually fitted properly was fine enough - if it wasnât rainy, windy, sleety, snowy, foggy, frosty or sunny (above 20 degrees)! The better-built ones, like Van Hool (I owned one), rode better than any other trailers on the road, they tended to be somewhat heavier. I loved tilts on a still, dry Spring evening if I was week-ended and sitting in the back with the tailboard down, the warm sunshine pouring in, a glass of wine in my hand, good company beside me and excellent nosh in the offing. I canât fault a good glass of Van Hool in the back of a Rioja tilt.
By now, I would be three tilt-sheets to the wind and dreaming. The girl at Van Hool lifted her blouse and murmured, âDo you want to see my tilts?â She had a pair of spread-axles to die for: twelve-metres of fun, complete with side-lockers, belly-tank and double-wheel carriers. Bliss! When my diesel-stained hands ran up her cant-rail, she breathed, âEasy tiger,â and steadied her hand on the upright⌠Robert 
I first learned to hate tilts on my first trip to Italy one August when I had to strip and reassemble the stupid heap of trouble on my own. Loaded two cats by crane.v. Bad for the health in 30c sun.
Customs loved ,em on every frontier,they could nick you for anything with a tilt . A box with two doors at the back cut out a lotta problems.
harry:
I first learned to hate tilts on my first trip to Italy one August when I had to strip and reassemble the stupid heap of trouble on my own. Loaded two cats by crane.v. Bad for the health in 30c sun.
Customs loved ,em on every frontier,they could nick you for anything with a tilt . A box with two doors at the back cut out a lotta problems.
Well, I was just a 5-foot-5-inch puny thing with stick arms and legs whoâd spent too much time in classrooms till I discovered tilts! Tilts made a man of me: it was like joining the Territorial Army! Iâve stripped and rebuilt them in Saudi heat, Qatar humidity, Azerbaijan stickiness, German chill, French wetness - thatâs the worst bit for a little bloke like me, sitting astride a freezing cant-rail in a gale with the heavy sheets full of pools of heavy rain-water, trying to push them back into place. Come to think of it Harry, youâre probably right - they were [zb] [zb] ing things! Robert
