Astran / Middle East Drivers

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
4781

Having never had the honour of one of these plates they came after a retired fom ME but one on the front of the Unit and one on the rear of the trailer would make sense .but was there any sense out there :question: :question:

And the pic of Rick Ellis where is his comb he was never without it or the hairspray :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

And to TC Trans forgot the water barrel next to the trailer box.

Roger Haywood

4782

To All
No two trips the same and they allways found new ways to part you from your running money every trip.

Wheel Nut. Engines to The Dodge Factory■■?

Regards Ian

4783

JAWS:
To All
No two trips the same and they allways found new ways to part you from your running money every trip.

Wheel Nut. Engines to The Dodge Factory■■?

Regards Ian

Was it Dodge? it was truck engines from Perkins,

4784

sinbin31:
And to TC Trans forgot the water barrel next to the trailer box.

Roger Haywood

thanks Roger, seen that on pics and was going to ask shortly what it was, another one ticked off.

Ta, its really appreciated.

4785

Hi Wheel Nut
I think that it was GM’s Dodge tonka factory the square bonnet version but I think the trucks had another name on the front but with the GM badge Is there anybody out there who’s gray matter is working better than mine.
Regards Ian

4786

JAWS:
Hi Wheel Nut
I think that it was GM’s Dodge tonka factory the square bonnet version but I think the trucks had another name on the front but with the GM badge Is there anybody out there who’s gray matter is working better than mine.
Regards Ian

Hi Jaw’s, was it the Desoto factory and weren’t the engines from Perkin’s at Peterborough ?. I did a couple of loads out of Perkin’s but I remember that one of them went to Ankara. I alway’s enjoyed going along that road towards Izmit with the Sea Of Marmara over on the right, what great views they were.

Regards Steve.

4787

colin.f.whitetrans:
Does anyone on here know how many trucks were left or abandoned during the troubles with Iran? How many hauliers managed to rescue their trucks? And if they know any one who had to turn back on route during that time? Looking at the middle east job and the stories from friends and the postings on here i wish i was around in the seventies to have done the job :slight_smile:

Hi Colin, thanks for bringing up what I.M.H.O. could be some of the most intriguing questions ever asked about
Middle East driving on this thread :smiley: .
I do know that Frank White and his drivers had the courage to go back into Iran after The Ayatollah took over and drive their trucks home but like you asked was there anybody else, hopefully somebody might know something.
I do remember talking to one of the managers who worked for Thor from Stoke-on -Trent once who were doing Iran at the time. He told me that he was flying back to the U.K. and had to stop overnight in a hotel in Russia and because he was a foreigner he was locked in his room and that there was an armed guard in the corrider. I am not exactly sure if this was after The Ayatollah came to power so if The Flying Foden is reading this maybe he can ask Phil Bunch about it. I think that Bunchie worked for Thor at the time of the Iranian revolution.
Best regards Steve.

4788

Do you mean this, Turkish Fargo. Taken in Izmir.

Dave.

4789

mushroomman:

colin.f.whitetrans:
Does anyone on here know how many trucks were left or abandoned during the troubles with Iran? How many hauliers managed to rescue their trucks? And if they know any one who had to turn back on route during that time? Looking at the middle east job and the stories from friends and the postings on here i wish i was around in the seventies to have done the job :slight_smile:

Hi Colin, thanks for bringing up what I.M.H.O. could be some of the most intriguing questions ever asked about
Middle East driving on this thread :smiley: .
I do know that Frank White and his drivers had the courage to go back into Iran after The Ayatollah took over and drive their trucks home but like you asked was there anybody else, hopefully somebody might know something.
I do remember talking to one of the managers who worked for Thor from Stoke-on -Trent once who were doing Iran at the time. He told me that he was flying back to the U.K. and had to stop overnight in a hotel in Russia and because he was a foreigner he was locked in his room and that there was an armed guard in the corrider. I am not exactly sure if this was after The Ayatollah came to power so if The Flying Foden is reading this maybe he can ask Phil Bunch about it. I think that Bunchie worked for Thor at the time of the Iranian revolution.
Best regards Steve.

steve i will ask phil when next talk to him about it. i do remember him telling me something about a boss flying out to them but can’t remember what for . i also remember alan telling me him and a couple of other drivers flying home for some reason do you recall alan saying anything .cheers jeff

4790

Hi steve and flying foden

I know frank and his drivers did manage but they had to fly into iran and it wasnt a direct flight. It would be interesting to me to find out any info of that time as ive heard a few of his drivers stories from that era

Reg colin :slight_smile:

4791

Hi Jeff, it’s good to hear from you after all this time :smiley: , it’s one of the many questions that I would ask Alan Morrey if ever I saw him again. The only time that I can recall Alan telling me about flying home was when he and Les flew home for Christmas from Istanbul on their way back from India that time. Alan and myself did fly home one Christmas from Budapest on our way back from Istanbul. Oh and there was the time that we were flying to Rhodes on holiday and Alan had forgotten his passport :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Bless him.
Best regards Steve.

4792

Steve the man in question was Ian Markham he was the boss’s son and also a manager at thor .he went out over land with Dave pritchard and flew back to the UK .the reason he flew out was to look at the way the job was going , all of thor trucks got back from Iran . he can’t remember him flying back via Russia. he recalls a scotch firm(whites) and a firm from the north east called Mcreys ? red scania trucks that lost a lot of vehicles down there . most were locked up in Davis turners compound he recalls any more info he remembers i will pass on to you Steve .hope all is well with you out there no news on alan
regards Jeff

4793

mushroomman:
Hi Jeff, it’s good to hear from you after all this time :smiley: , it’s one of the many questions that I would ask Alan Morrey if ever I saw him again. The only time that I can recall Alan telling me about flying home was when he and Les flew home for Christmas from Istanbul on their way back from India that time. Alan and myself did fly home one Christmas from Budapest on our way back from Istanbul. Oh and there was the time that we were flying to Rhodes on holiday and Alan had forgotten his passport :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Bless him.
Best regards Steve.

that was his party trick the daft sod bless his cotton socks, i also did the same trick when he used to pick me up from home :smiley: happy day’s

4794

Hi Steve
Desoto spot on but I was talking to Dave ( is’t skype wonderfull) and we are sure the factory used another name as well and we think it was Fargo but I see Dave has already posted a photo
Regards Jaws aka Ian

4795

davemackie:
Do you mean this, Turkish Fargo. Taken in Izmir.

Dave.

God that name rings a bell. Here is another from the net :wink:

4796

the flying foden:
Steve the man in question was Ian Markham he was the boss’s son and also a manager at thor .he went out over land with Dave pritchard and flew back to the UK .the reason he flew out was to look at the way the job was going , all of thor trucks got back from Iran . he can’t remember him flying back via Russia. he recalls a scotch firm(whites) and a firm from the north east called Mcreys ? red scania trucks that lost a lot of vehicles down there . most were locked up in Davis turners compound he recalls any more info he remembers i will pass on to you Steve .hope all is well with you out there no news on alan
regards Jeff

Hi Jeff

The whites trucks were parked in the davies turner yard until the drivers flew out with frank. They managed to load a few then run back home. It would be good to see their point of view of the return trip as im sure it must have been very interesting :open_mouth:

Reg colin

4797

Hi Ian and Malc, I dont know why and I am probably wrong on this one but the name Ford Fargo is at the back of
my mind :confused:. Also the word Denisli or something like that was on some Ford Transits or did it mean diesel ?.

Jeff, thanks for getting in touch with the man from Thor I bet he has some very interesting memories, I shall P.M. you with the name of the person who I was referring to.
The red Scania’s sound like they belonged to Duncan Macrae from Darlington who Nick Kelly worked for at one time, I wonder if Klunk or M.and C. Jamie knows if Errol Flynn also worked for Duncan ?.

Also, I noticed that a Peter The Plater joined Trucknet on Wednesday , I hope that he is the real deal :smiley: . and I have sent him a P.M.

Here is an old photo of The Plater, the quality is not very good as it does not fully show his second best asset :laughing: .

4798

mushroomman:
Hi Ian and Malc, I dont know why and I am probably wrong on this one but the name Ford Fargo is at the back of
my mind :confused:. Also the word Denisli or something like that was on some Ford Transits or did it mean diesel ?.

Jeff, thanks for getting in touch with the man from Thor I bet he has some very interesting memories, I shall P.M. you with the name of the person who I was referring to.
The red Scania’s sound like they belonged to Duncan Macrae from Darlington who Nick Kelly worked for at one time, I wonder if Klunk or M.and C. Jamie knows if Errol Flynn also worked for Duncan ?.

Also, I noticed that a Peter The Plater joined Trucknet on Wednesday , I hope that he is the real deal :smiley: . and I have sent him a P.M.

Here is an old photo of The Plater, the quality is not very good as it does not fully show his second best asset :laughing: .

no problem steve i get to talk to Phil at least two or three times a week . he is on holiday next week and is going to try and call in to see Barry Morgan and see what pic’s he as to share from his ibis and Morgan overland days fingers crossed on that one . you are spot on about Alan it was when he flew home from turkey and if i remember rite thor sacked him for it. they were not very happy about him flying home and asked him if he would do it again and of cause Alan being Alan said yes he would do it again so he had they finished him . im my book Thor made a very big mistake and lost a excellent driver .but i would say that even if alan was in the wrong :smiley: .

4799

Jeff, I do remember Alan telling me that he walked into the local pub at Christmas lunch time and one of the bosses was also in there. Instead of getting a greeting of Merry Christmas Alan he got WHAT THE ####in HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE ?.
Where is the truck, you can’t leave Turkey without the truck in your passport, we will never get it back but of course Alan did get it back, didn’t he :slight_smile: .
Regards Steve.

4800

mushroomman:
Jeff, I do remember Alan telling me that he walked into the local pub at Christmas lunch time and one of the bosses was also in there. Instead of getting a greeting of Merry Christmas Alan he got WHAT THE ####in HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE ?.
Where is the truck, you can’t leave Turkey without the truck in your passport, we will never get it back but of course Alan did get it back, didn’t he :slight_smile: .
Regards Steve.

yes steve alan being one of lifes good guys he did get the truck out for them and then finished working for them as i said there loss think i would of told them were to stick there truck and there Christmas but that was not alans way was it :slight_smile: