My reference to your teapot was tongue in cheek RDF, it was a little ambiguous so I put the smiley in hoping it would be seen in the correct way.
As you say, each generation of M/E drivers has had different obstacles to face, you make a good point about being able to blag your way out of trouble in the early days, but that would be next to impossible now, so as some things, like the roads and lorries, have got better and easier, the other apects of the job have become harder.
I have the upmost admiration and respect for all the M/E drivers, I never went myself, I can come up with reasons, like the Gulf War and lack of opportunity, but the fact remains, I never went, so I only have opinions on the whole deal, you lot on the other hand have facts and many memories, memories which I hope youâll continue to share
newmercman:
My reference to your teapot was tongue in cheek RDF, it was a little ambiguous so I put the smiley in hoping it would be seen in the correct way.
As you say, each generation of M/E drivers has had different obstacles to face, you make a good point about being able to blag your way out of trouble in the early days, but that would be next to impossible now, so as some things, like the roads and lorries, have got better and easier, the other apects of the job have become harder.
I have the upmost admiration and respect for all the M/E drivers, I never went myself, I can come up with reasons, like the Gulf War and lack of opportunity, but the fact remains, I never went, so I only have opinions on the whole deal, you lot on the other hand have facts and many memories, memories which I hope youâll continue to share
Hi Newmercman
I guess we are both correct, wellâŚ.with the exception of the teapot⌠As I was out of that league mine was tinâŚ
I suppose Gery W and Tony S may had Spode Bone China for the Earl Grey
chazzer:
Mike (hutpik) I didânt see your Erf only that red 88 you had, me I had that new Scania 111 and theyâd only just been out a few months so it was luxury in those days but as you say there were drivers mainly O/Dâs with some fairly primitive equipement running to the M/E. One lad who lived near me in Buckingham was running to Iran and Iraq with a non sleeper A series Erf which kept popping windscreens and running back with me through Yugo lost the back window as well so had a straight through draft and I met a driver for a company in Witney who was on his way back from Tehran with a non sleeper Guy Big J.
The trouble was these trucks wouldânt stand up to more than a couple of trips before it became uneconomic to keep repairing them.
Hi âchazzerâ Hereâs the red 88 you refer to that mike had after the ERF
philipmceveley:
PRICK (dreva)this will be the last time i respond to your dribble,but people who know me know where i"m from,and i dont recall you ever asking my location,but anyway living in bradford i aint surprised that you have nout else to do but to try an â â â â people off.You have been told on a number of occasions by different M/E legends to stop dribbleing your [zb] and get a life,so what part of that dont you understand,you shelf stacking KNOBâŚWould love to meet you somwhere en route in some far flung [zb] being Russia etc and M/E just to see if you would be still as hostile towards people you no nout aboutâŚI THINK NOTâŚheard it all before,.it would be like havin a 18 meter draw bar in tow/GLUEâŚHAPPY DAYS
whatever knobend your last quote they wouldnt give me a job.why would a freight forwarder want an employed driver you knumpty.dont respond to my posts.you have nothing that i want to hear so carry on playing the big man you â â â â .and are you collecting your pension yet gob â â â â â â â â â mouth and no spine. complain to the mods if you dont like my comments
philipmceveley:
PRICK (dreva)this will be the last time i respond to your dribble,but people who know me know where i"m from,and i dont recall you ever asking my location,but anyway living in bradford i aint surprised that you have nout else to do but to try an â â â â people off.You have been told on a number of occasions by different M/E legends to stop dribbleing your [zb] and get a life,so what part of that dont you understand,you shelf stacking KNOBâŚWould love to meet you somwhere en route in some far flung [zb] being Russia etc and M/E just to see if you would be still as hostile towards people you no nout aboutâŚI THINK NOTâŚheard it all before,.it would be like havin a 18 meter draw bar in tow/GLUEâŚHAPPY DAYS
whatever knobend your last quote they wouldnt give me a job.why would a freight forwarder want an employed driver you knumpty.dont respond to my posts.you have nothing that i want to hear so carry on playing the big man you â â â â .and are you collecting your pension yet gob [zb].all mouth and no spine. complain to the mods if you dont like my comments
Dreva mate, you know nothing about Phil, but if you read the forums instead of posting crap on them, you may learn something surprising, certainly about your recent few comments!
philipmceveley:
PRICK (dreva)this will be the last time i respond to your dribble,but people who know me know where i"m from,and i dont recall you ever asking my location,but anyway living in bradford i aint surprised that you have nout else to do but to try an â â â â people off.You have been told on a number of occasions by different M/E legends to stop dribbleing your [zb] and get a life,so what part of that dont you understand,you shelf stacking KNOBâŚWould love to meet you somwhere en route in some far flung [zb] being Russia etc and M/E just to see if you would be still as hostile towards people you no nout aboutâŚI THINK NOTâŚheard it all before,.it would be like havin a 18 meter draw bar in tow/GLUEâŚHAPPY DAYS
whatever knobend your last quote they wouldnt give me a job.why would a freight forwarder want an employed driver you knumpty.dont respond to my posts.you have nothing that i want to hear so carry on playing the big man you â â â â .and are you collecting your pension yet gob [zb].all mouth and no spine. complain to the mods if you dont like my comments
Dreva mate, you know nothing about Phil, but if you read the forums instead of posting crap on them, you may learn something surprising, certainly about your recent few comments!
for a start he started on me not me on him.i put all this to bed ages ago i asked a question it was ignored so you big 250 and phil started it all again i like this thred but when people as you put it who dont know me slag me off they will get the same in return.and you run with whoever is popular at the time and like i said 5 pages back nobody wants the thred locked
brenics77:
would that be the one that blew up just over the water?
If I remember rightly from âthe bookâ it was the Guy that blew up on itâs maiden voyage.
Ross.
It was the guy that blew up but they had an AEC drawbar after that with a homebuilt sleeper think it was a mammoth major with the pre ergomatic cab.
Bit before my time so Iâm not an expert on AECs but thereâs some great pictures in the book and Iâm sure someone here may know more.
Wheel Nut:
Dreva mate, you know nothing about Phil, but if you read the forums instead of posting crap on them, you may learn something surprising, certainly about your recent few comments!
for a start he started on me not me on him.i put all this to bed ages ago i asked a question it was ignored so you big 250 and phil started it all again i like this thred but when people as you put it who dont know me slag me off they will get the same in return.and you run with whoever is popular at the time and like i said 5 pages back nobody wants the thred locked
Dreva, ask your ever so important question again, cos I cant see anything but sarky comments 5 or even 6 pages back.
As for running with whoever is popular, then you donât know nowt about me either, but isnât that the point of internet forums? Anonymity!
Meanwhile, here are some pictures.
The Bolan Pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Yemeni lorries awaiting clearance at the Saudi border
Hi all.First,once again my thanks to Ron Davies who first posted pictures on the forums due to my inability to even turn on the bloody computer,never mind download anything in the beginning.To those who asked,if you go to the early pages of the astan\ME thread there are some pictures and stories which Ron was kind enough to post for me,likewise if you look on the Simon International thread there are also some things.There is also,somewhere a post called Mikes lorry pics with diverse pics.
Was i mad to go to the ME in an old bucket,i donât know but at the time i had been doing Europe with,one of the few,f89s in England but had the chance to buy my own truck and play Marco Polo[i was only23].You must remember that in the early 70s not many people had the chance to travel,and to go to exotic countries,in my own truck,was a dream come true.[Ihad seen Lawrence of Arabia]so i knew it couldnât be so difficult. ââdoohââ,the arrogance of youth.Story of first trip to follow,but even now being old and living up here in Lappland i can still say ââi wouldnât have missed a minute of itââ,even with all the bad bits these are memories that never fade and you treasure until you die,what you saw,who you met,what you experienced,countries and cultures that have now,in many cases changed radically and cannot be visited or enjoyed as they once were.In the 70s you met people that were walking to Nepal or bicycling to Australia.The world seemed more relaxed and friendly then[maybe itâs a bit of rose coloured specs,i donât know].But i know iâm more happy up here in Lappland with few people than in Europe,among the masses.It all seems less friendly now.Take care Mike
Hi Wheel nut.In the photo on page 111 Astran in a long queue.The Astran truck is kvx 859 a scania 140 driven by Geoff Frost.The queue was at the Gurbulak border going out of Turkey to Iran and i was behind Geoff.It was 1977 and Geoff was going to Tehran and i to Kabul.It took us 3 days to reach the border from where i took the picture.Mike
Hi Mike, something you didânt know is that I bought KVX 859P after Astran and ran it for several years, only real problem was that it had really hard rear springs, you felt even the smallest pebble in the road. There is a picture of it on the Radclive Transport topic and you can still see some of the Astran colour scheme. regards Charlie
chazzer:
Hi Mike, something you didânt know is that I bought KVX 859P after Astran and ran it for several years, only real problem was that it had really hard rear springs, you felt even the smallest pebble in the road. There is a picture of it on the Radclive Transport topic and you can still see some of the Astran colour scheme. regards Charlie
Hi chazzer was that one or the drawbars that was cut down to a tractor.
Dave i assure you mate,it aint me DREVA/SHELF STACKER in cognito,i havnt got a head full of â â â â enuf to make it up(the â â â â he comes out with that is) mate we have both met people like him on the customs stairs in dover,anyway bud,gotta go,gotta spineless trip to doâŚlol
Hi all.Just for a bit of light relief,the first trip i done in my âânew truckââ to Kuwait.
As i said earlier i paid ÂŁ1000 for the truck from Bakers of Southhampton.[They must have laughed all the way to the bank].
The truck was an ERF built in 1963 but reregistered in 1970.It had a Gardner 150hp engine,david brown gbox with splitter.It was originally brought for use as a ââpush\pull unit for low loader work so top speed was 46mph.
Ileft home to pick up the trailer at Astrans but only got about 10miles down the road when i got pulled by the old bill.Most of the local bill knew me so,smiling they came up to me.ââHey Mike you taking this to Crossways scap yard for export to Africa thenââ.ââNo,i replied,itâs mine and iâm going to Kuwait with a load for AstranââWith this they fell about saying things likeââyou winding us up,or you wonât make Kelvedon,never mind Kuwait.Off you go then weâve had our laugh for the day.ââ
After picking up the trailer and docs fromAstran i caught the boat from Dover,crossed to Zbrugge and was on my way[not very quickly]I cleared the border at Aachen and was on the autobahn[whoosh]After having done Europe in an f89 it was a bit of a dissapointment how everyone was flying past me.[Itâs really depressing when Romtrans trucks pass you on the autobahn]
I plodded slowly through Germany,Austria,bounced my way through Yugo,when just before Nis there was a bang and the gbox started making funny noises[like someone shaking a bag of marbles]I stopped in a parking[with the clutch depressed as it wouldnât come out of gear ]and proceeded to take the top off the gbox.Inside one of the gear wheels had died so i cleaned all the bits out,washed it out a bit then refilled it with engine oil and a bit of sawdust i found[i had no gbox oil]Istarted off again and managed to get up to 35mph before i found the [lost gear]again.This meant that my racing speed of 46mph was reduced to 35mph[never mind weâre going forwards]I bounced my way slowly through Bulgaria thinking ââit canât get any worseââ,then i got to Kapicule which was like the Somme on a bad day.Eventually i got through Kapic and made my way to Istambul to get repaired.2nd part to follow.Mike
hutpik:
Hi all.Just for a bit of light relief,the first trip i done in my âânew truckââ to Kuwait.
As i said earlier i paid ÂŁ1000 for the truck from Bakers of Southhampton.[They must have laughed all the way to the bank].
The truck was an ERF built in 1963 but reregistered in 1970.It had a Gardner 150hp engine,david brown gbox with splitter.It was originally brought for use as a ââpush\pull unit for low loader work so top speed was 46mph.
Ileft home to pick up the trailer at Astrans but only got about 10miles down the road when i got pulled by the old bill.Most of the local bill knew me so,smiling they came up to me.ââHey Mike you taking this to Crossways scap yard for export to Africa thenââ.ââNo,i replied,itâs mine and iâm going to Kuwait with a load for AstranââWith this they fell about saying things likeââyou winding us up,or you wonât make Kelvedon,never mind Kuwait.Off you go then weâve had our laugh for the day.ââ
After picking up the trailer and docs fromAstran i caught the boat from Dover,crossed to Zbrugge and was on my way[not very quickly]I cleared the border at Aachen and was on the autobahn[whoosh]After having done Europe in an f89 it was a bit of a dissapointment how everyone was flying past me.[Itâs really depressing when Romtrans trucks pass you on the autobahn]
I plodded slowly through Germany,Austria,bounced my way through Yugo,when just before Nis there was a bang and the gbox started making funny noises[like someone shaking a bag of marbles]I stopped in a parking[with the clutch depressed as it wouldnât come out of gear ]and proceeded to take the top off the gbox.Inside one of the gear wheels had died so i cleaned all the bits out,washed it out a bit then refilled it with engine oil and a bit of sawdust i found[i had no gbox oil]Istarted off again and managed to get up to 35mph before i found the [lost gear]again.This meant that my racing speed of 46mph was reduced to 35mph[never mind weâre going forwards]I bounced my way slowly through Bulgaria thinking ââit canât get any worseââ,then i got to Kapicule which was like the Somme on a bad day.Eventually i got through Kapic and made my way to Istambul to get repaired.2nd part to follow.Mike
