Dead right, Ash. They were brought for towing trailers from Doha down to the Emirates and Dubai. The way south from Doha had no road and, to make it worse, it was actually a swamp that just looked like a desert where you could find lakes of salt water 40 kilometers from the coast. Oryx tried using road tractors but it was hopeless so they purchased the 4 Desert Princes, as they were called, fitted with 500 Cats and 13 speed Fullers, all in permanent 6 wheel drive.
They had some Pakistani lads driving them who were good blokes but, what should I say, a little hard on the equipment. The incident that Ash refers to was when the foreman Pakistani hit one of these swamp holes, at night it was actually, the trailer dropped in with itâs narrow road wheels and he just booted the Oshkosk and only when he got to the border post did he realise that he had left the whole running gear far, far behind. Micky Fitzell was the manager down in Doha at the time and I remember that he was less than kind to the driver!
The best bit was that these monsters were actually delivered from the States to the UK and 4 would-be Orxy drivers were given the envyable job of driving them overland to Doha. I hope one of them is on this forum because they had a lot of adventures on the trip, which took forever, which it would be nice to hear about first hand but I remember one of them telling me that the major problem was that they were gutsy beasts that seemed capable of a reasonable top speed but at over 40 mph those vast tyres started bouncing like space hoppers and made the thing impossible to control. On the plus side, though, the power and the six driving wheels meant that you could always get back on the road again.
freshir:
Just come up with an old photo approaching Quazvin, not particularly exiting but âMightâ interest some .regards Fred
Thanks Fred and everybody else for sharing some great photos with us and Daveâs remark about the Guiness bottles is something that I have not heard in years .
Fred, Barry Longden phoned me up last week and mentioned a couple of names from way back, George Ginn was one of them . We got on to Yiddle Davis and Barry told me that back in the seventies a women called Arabella who he seemed to think was a daughter of either Yiddle Davis or was she something to do with Cantrells Cowboys ?. Anyway I told Barry that would I put it on here to see if anybody can remember Arabella from London who he thinks used to drive down to the Middle East in the early seventies. He can remember her going out on a couple of breakdowns and thinks that she might of married Roger Hambleton.
Does the name Arabella ring any old bells to anybody ?.
freshir:
Just come up with an old photo approaching Quazvin, not particularly exiting but âMightâ interest some .regards Fred
Thanks Fred and everybody else for sharing some great photos with us and Daveâs remark about the Guiness bottles is something that I have not heard in years .
Fred, Barry Longden phoned me up last week and mentioned a couple of names from way back, George Ginn was one of them . We got on to Yiddle Davis and Barry told me that back in the seventies a women called Arabella who he seemed to think was a daughter of either Yiddle Davis or was she something to do with Cantrells Cowboys ?. Anyway I told Barry that would I put it on here to see if anybody can remember Arabella from London who he thinks used to drive down to the Middle East in the early seventies. He can remember her going out on a couple of breakdowns and thinks that she might of married Roger Hambleton.
Does the name Arabella ring any old bells to anybody ?.
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve, Sorry mate apart from Cantrells the names do not mean anything to me at all, hopefully you will get feedback from the thread, perhaps it was before my time (75) - I intend to ring Barry soon as we are getting a bit out of touch, I seem to have solved my photo problem, it was all about bmap and jpeg pics: bye for now Steve, be lucky - regards Fred
Hi Steve, Sorry last post was short but I had a prob; with the keyboard (Think it was the nut on it ) I was wondering if you were at Barryâs house party back in the 80âs when he lived at Ashington, ? I remember that it was very crowded just like Eureka Jonsonâs house on fathers day, and that bloody Rotwieler he had did not reckon me at all, I spent the evening in the kitchen on the sink bribing it to no avail, everyone had gone home except me as it was waiting for me at the front door.I know in the lads in
the photo (Iâm sure they owe me money !! ) Get the memory working Steve - Regard Fred
freshir:
Hi Steve, Sorry last post was short but I had a prob; with the keyboard (Think it was the nut on it ) I was wondering if you were at Barryâs house party back in the 80âs when he lived at Ashington, ? I remember that it was very crowded just like Eureka Jonsonâs house on fathers day, and that bloody Rotwieler he had did not reckon me at all, I spent the evening in the kitchen on the sink bribing it to no avail, everyone had gone home except me as it was waiting for me at the front door.I know in the lads in
the photo (Iâm sure they owe me money !! ) Get the memory working Steve - Regard Fred
Hi Fred, the only party at Barryâs house that I can remember in the 80âs (thatâs not to say that I only went there once) was when he lived in that large bungalow in Dukinfield. I had an understanding with that big Rotwieler, I kept feeding him full of dinky pork pies all night and he didnât eat me .
John McVey:
Surely Steve you mean Cantrells Raiders!
Quite right John , I was just making sure that you were paying attention .
Did you ever meet any of their drivers on your trips to the Middle East ?.
Here are two old partners in grime as they say, Ken Corrigan and Billy Fuller tinkering with one of Kens old Fiats.
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve, yes I happened on them from time to time but never lingered hope all ok with you and yours, canât believe itâs nearly 12 months since that re-union, it was a cracking night!
Reddesertfox:
To quote John Ruskin. " The Law of economics prohibits you from paying a little and receiving a lot"âŚI paid a little more but got it signed by the author⌠and still worth every pennyâŚ
quote]
Well McVicar, you didnât tell me you had been to a reunion. Was it free ale or were you selling a load of old Capo di Monte stuff you had left over from the stall on Blackpool prom.
Report to me with the gory details of the old boys meetup.
John Hunt (black john), Dave Richter (dave the arab), Tehrani Barney, The bloke who ate 3x6 egg omlettes each day (name escapes me) all ex Cantrells but in some cases they were from the Italian days on Cantrells. There were a lot of them, but they mainly did Tehran when on M/E didnât they?
What was the firm owned by them that was in Black and yellow trim called 75ish?
Iâve got some more photos at home which i will try to post when I go back.
Hope you are on the mend john
David Miller:
Mor
Now I need some help. I need to contact Ken Searle, if anybody remembers him. He was on Oryx and then doing internals for Astran with a Mercedes and was last heard of about ten years ago doing âsecurityâ work in Iraq. Heres a picture that may jog a memory or two.
I got to know Ken Searle when I was working for Simon International,at the same time as Jeff Ruggins RIP. about â78/79.
The last time I recall seeing Ken,I was on my way home from Riyadh,I was working for Expo Freight at this time, and had just turned onto the tapline at the âMirrorsâ when I saw a Grangewoods F89 parked up in the desert,having a lie in.It was Ken on his way back from Kuwait,and after a brew,we decided to make a move,only to find he was axle deep in the sand.
I had a 40â steel tow rope so it was no trouble to â â â â â â him out,but while stowing the rope,a broken wire snagged my finger and tore it open down to the bone.
After doing a temporary bandage job,we started up the tapline and found a first aid post at the pumping station at Rafâha.
A male Jordanian nurse stitched my finger and bound it up,as I got up to leave,I went over in a faint and Ken caught me before I hit the deck.This repair got me back to Belgrade where I called into a hospital there to have the stitches taken out.
I havenât seen Ken since.
I had a mate from around here who was an o/d pulling for Dow on commie bloc work who was a cousin to Ken,his name was Stan Sale,but I havenât seen him for years and heâs probably not with us now.
josh:
Well McVicar, you didnât tell me you had been to a reunion. Was it free ale or were you selling a load of old Capo di Monte stuff you had left over from the stall on Blackpool prom.
Report to me with the gory details of the old boys meetup.
John Hunt (black john), Dave Richter (dave the arab), Tehrani Barney, The bloke who ate 3x6 egg omlettes each day (name escapes me) all ex Cantrells but in some cases they were from the Italian days on Cantrells. There were a lot of them, but they mainly did Tehran when on M/E didnât they?
What was the firm owned by them that was in Black and yellow trim called 75ish?
Iâve got some more photos at home which i will try to post when I go back.
Hope you are on the mend john
Hi John, what you doin on here?! you avnât been further than Watford Gap!! Iâm feeling a good bit better, thanks for asking, the bride reckons Iâve still got another trip in me, I keep telling her my Life assurance does not cover dangerous pursuits so her plan is flawed
Hi all.Ijust noticed the last post about Cantrells and two names popped up that intrigued me.I remember Dave the arab when he worked for Scotts ro ro.Is he still alive The other was Tehrani Barney,or as he was born Bernard.Iposted on the ex pats site to try and find out what happened to him but they seem to have caught the American disease of being impolite and unhelpful.I remember Barney when he worked for Collintors with Jason Vick in the early 70s when i was pulling for Astrans.
In the later 70s i met him when i was living in Holland.He worked for a Dutch company for a time driving M.E. with a DAF.He was always talking about going to U.S.A.Anyone know what happened to him.Take care.Mike
josh:
Well McVicar, you didnât tell me you had been to a reunion. Was it free ale or were you selling a load of old Capo di Monte stuff you had left over from the stall on Blackpool prom.
Report to me with the gory details of the old boys meetup.
John Hunt (black john), Dave Richter (dave the arab), Tehrani Barney, The bloke who ate 3x6 egg omlettes each day (name escapes me) all ex Cantrells but in some cases they were from the Italian days on Cantrells. There were a lot of them, but they mainly did Tehran when on M/E didnât they?
What was the firm owned by them that was in Black and yellow trim called 75ish?
Iâve got some more photos at home which i will try to post when I go back.
Hope you are on the mend john
Freshir wrote :- Hi Josh, I was quite surprised to see Teherany Barney mentioned in your post, last heard of him late 70âs driving a Maggy for a Dutch firm and he was living in Holland, is he on this thread ? Regards Fred H
truckerash:
A âlocalâ worker was driving one of them with a very heavy trailer in tow. WIth so much power under the Oshkosh bonnett, the driver didnât even realise that as the trailer bounced across the desert, BOTH back axles broke off the chassis so all he was towing was the chassis and body! He couldnât see a thing behind due to vast amount of dust he was kicking up and just kept going regardless. It was only when he stopped and jumped out, that he saw what had happened!
I think it was Alan âPopâ Warner who told me this story on one of my early m/e trips inâ75.
No idea what happened to Tehrani Barney, but he could speak the lingo out there.
Dave the arab spent a while in one of HMâs hotels late 70âs and always pulled up at the tea house in Tahir village on the way through, and was welcomed like a long lost son. He drove an f89 for a bloke who just had the one truck and left him to his own devices. He used to live in Muswell Hill back then, and we played a bit of snooker occasionally. But havenât heard from or of him since then.
I was parked up having a bite to eat one morning not far from Erzincan and a UK land rover pulls up and a very well spoken gent comes over and starts chatting about this and that offers me a large scotch, and asked me if I knew Dave the arab, and did I know where he buried his gun!!!.
I know Jeff Ruggins died a long while back (RIP) does anyone remember when exactly?
One time in the Marmar Hotel in Tehran a few brits having a beer when a small fracas broke out between a couple of Dutch and a couple of Germans. All was OK until they knocked some of our beers over and Jeff took offence and sorted it all out while I watched proceedings while dusting the back of the sofa. Never saw anyone move so fast. When the dust settled and we were brought new beers he said to me quite seriously âYou did bloody well there trooperâ. GULP!
No idea what happened to Tehrani Barney, but he could speak the lingo out there.
Dave the arab spent a while in one of HMâs hotels late 70âs and always pulled up at the tea house in Tahir village on the way through, and was welcomed like a long lost son. He drove an f89 for a bloke who just had the one truck and left him to his own devices. He used to live in Muswell Hill back then, and we played a bit of snooker occasionally. But havenât heard from or of him since then.
I was parked up having a bite to eat one morning not far from Erzincan and a UK land rover pulls up and a very well spoken gent comes over and starts chatting about this and that offers me a large scotch, and asked me if I knew Dave the arab, and did I know where he buried his gun!!!.
I know Jeff Ruggins died a long while back (RIP) does anyone remember when exactly?
One time in the Marmar Hotel in Tehran a few brits having a beer when a small fracas broke out between a couple of Dutch and a couple of Germans. All was OK until they knocked some of our beers over and Jeff took offence and sorted it all out while I watched proceedings while dusting the back of the sofa. Never saw anyone move sast. When the dust settled and we were brought new beers he said to me quite seriously âYou did bloody well there trooperâ. GULP!
Thanks for that bit of interesting bit of nostalgia Josh, I do know of him dressed out as an arab because he caught me out when I was parked up just before Kapic he came from nowhere and asked me if I knew of Barney and I fell for it - As for Jeff Ruggine (RIP) he left us in about 81/82 -he experienced a heart attack at home and as I recall his wife Rita phoned Dave Telford (Pan Express) as they were good buddies and that is how I got the news, I was with Jeff at the Marmar on one occasion when a waiter picked up his packet of cigs and took one without asking OOPS !! - I think the kid packed up smoking after that - Fond memories - Regards Fred
Hi Josh.Thanks anyway for taking the trouble to reply.I first met Dave the arab when He worked for Scotts roro.I first met Barney in 73 when he was working for Collintors from London.he was always falling in love with almost every bird he met.This time itâs real he would say,until the next one came along.I was very privileged that when i was on my 2nd trip for Astrans i met Jeff Ruggins and he took me under his wing and we became good friends.One of my biggest regrets was that he died before i married so my wife was unable to meet him.A real diamond.
That is one of the problems with this job,people tend to move about a lot and quite often itâs to another country so you lose touch so easily and we get old so quick.Take care.Mike
I thought Jeff Ruggins past away in Doha after jumping out of his truck at the customs ,after sitting in the cab with the AC running he had a Heart Attack with the massive change in temperature,or am I mixing him up with someone else.
I also was under the impression that Jeff Ruggins passed away in Doha. At that time Astrans had a few Drivers Based out their Doing internals One of them being Bobby Erskine, Ex Frank White driver, I remember him telling me about the carry on arranging a Lead lined coffin etc to get his body home.Itâs a long time ago now and the old grey matter is not what it was.
The last time I saw him was just before the Irani revolution when he was on his way into Iran for a German company that had won a pipeline contract. Does any one else remember that job where they hired a lot of british drivers to start in Germany and drive the articâs with flat trailers and pipe bolsters out to iran to do internals on the pipeline. Jeff was one of the road foremen and Tony Baker was another,. It must have been some mob.
Regardâs Jamie.
and Daveâs remark about the Guiness bottles is something that I have not heard in years 
.
, I was just making sure that you were paying attention 
hope all ok with you and yours, canât believe itâs nearly 12 months since that re-union, it was a cracking night!
The other was Tehrani Barney,or as he was born Bernard.Iposted on the ex pats site to try and find out what happened to him but they seem to have caught the American disease of being impolite and unhelpful.I remember Barney when he worked for Collintors with Jason Vick in the early 70s when i was pulling for Astrans.