I hitched a lift in a Marand truck years ago from Turkey to Tehran. He’d come from Germany in a simular truck but it was a bullnose Merc. His name was Sharrif ,they were mostly owner drivers. I got another lift in an identical Mack ( twin sticks) from the Iran frontier thru Helmand to close to Herat. Two drivers,driver number one was stoned out of his head,ended up having a wrestling match with him ,sat him down with his back to the dashboard passenger side and just held him there until driver-two stopped the truck & kicked me out in the desert. Felt like kicking the second driver out & taking the truck. Driver-one was big but he had no strenth. Driver-two was also stoned & thought it was all so funny.Just another day on the road for me. I think they were looking for romance?
Jelliot:
I drove a Scammell Crusader once, I think it was designed in the 11th century.Jeff…
the I i drove i thought was brilliant compared to other stuff in 1974 but it would never go straight on its own …
Please Gentlemen, don’t be nasty about the Crusader - what a good truck. Especially if it gave you your first job on the Middle East as it did me.
David
I’ve nothing against the Crusader: I’d drive one tomorrow! Robert
cliffystephens:
Jelliot:
I drove a Scammell Crusader once, I think it was designed in the 11th century.Jeff…
the I i drove i thought was brilliant compared to other stuff in 1974 but it would never go straight on its own …
I drove several Crusaders and they were better than most other wagons on the road at the time, we had a 111 come on demo and I was asked to take it for the week but I was back in the depot in half a hour for my Crusader so somebody else got lumbered with it and nobody liked it and the gaffer bought F88’s 290s and DAF 2800
cheers Johnnie
On Biglorryblog there’s a new post describing Ferdy’s planned trip with his mates and a few vintage ‘Middle-Easters’ (Scanias) to Iran and Azerbaijan via Turkey!
Here’s a couple of Crusaders I wouldn’t mind joining them in! Robert
robert1952:
On Biglorryblog there’s a new post describing Ferdy’s planned trip with his mates and a few vintage ‘Middle-Easters’ (Scanias) to Iran and Azerbaijan via Turkey!Here’s a couple of Crusaders I wouldn’t mind joining them in! Robert
10
what were these like to drive,way before my time 
seth 70:
robert1952:
On Biglorryblog there’s a new post describing Ferdy’s planned trip with his mates and a few vintage ‘Middle-Easters’ (Scanias) to Iran and Azerbaijan via Turkey!Here’s a couple of Crusaders I wouldn’t mind joining them in! Robert
10
what were these like to drive,way before my time
I always found them good but is down to personal taste the good thing is that engine hump was only around 6 inches high and the lockers under the seats were the same level so taking the passenger seat out of a day cab you could make a good bed and you had more room than quite a few sleeper cabs of the time. ours mostly had a top speed of around 75 mph but I had one that only did 66 mph but it was far better on hills and I was sorry to loose that one and if you put carpet over the engine hump they were reasonably quite.
cheers Johnnie
P S you did not get overtaken by much either 
was the brown one Llewellyn of wales motor …I had twelve months on a crusader and loved it …
Here’s a LHD one. I think all the LHD ones were 6x4 with Rolls Royce Eagle 305s and 15-speed Fullers if I am not mistook - all ex-military. One of the Scammell buffs will put me right if I am. Robert
This was the last of three new Crusaders that shipped out from Felixstowe at the same time as myself going to Teheran. Two piled up in Yugoslavia, this one made it to just east of Sivas.
You can tell it’s a Crusader by the pop-out radiator! Just look at the flexibility of that 12m spready tilt. Robert
Are they the survivors at the top R/H corner?
harry:
Are they the survivors at the top R/H corner?
I think that was the local goatherd guarding it.
Re previous comments on tilts, as far as I was concerned tilts was the best thing since sliced bread. After travelling through different countries, towns,villages to the Middle East, taking in the scenery and going through the borders, when I got to my final destination (Baghdad) in temperatures of 110 it was great to think I was at last going to do some manual work,namely a full strip out.
Gordon
Forest of Dean
When i got there i was just glad i was ready for a short drive off then finished ! Sod a strip out for a laugh, unless you can get a jingly to do it for you…
Didn’t know Astran went to Australia 
Fair play driver,you chained that down well. 
Somebody turn it around for me, i cant !
There you go: I’ve scraped it off the ceiling. Hey, it’s not a tilt at all! Robert
