M&C steve:
So Good to hear of Mervyn and Tony Baker (Bunny) getting a mention. Baker was a true professional ME driver , and I think when working with M&C it was compulsory to have a beard.
At the time when M&C were sub- contracting for Astran , they were actually running better equipment than Astran .
I may be wrong but if my memory serves me correct M& C were one of the first from the UK to run with super singles on their trailers to the ME… I am sure Steve will put me right …if I am wrong
ATVB …RDF
RDF,
You are not wrong mate, it was often mentioned at the time the quality of the kit that Mervyn supplied his drivers with. It was that way for many years until the drink / divorce / downturn in rates / more drink etc took it’s toll and the money became tighter.
Not all of his trailers were new or equiped with SS’s, but the tri-axle ones were, plus they were all 12.7 mtrs long which is one reason Mr. Paul and Peter Cannon loved to make use of them whenever possible, that extra .7 mtr was always exploited to the full both on the outward leg and the reload.
Also his trucks, in the days that Mervyn was still buying new, were always spec’d as if he was driving them himself ( which was sometimes the case ) They were always LHD, including the MAN’s, which is why he had to have them imported, the BEHR a/c units fitted to 199X + 200X cost a fortune, but were most appreciated my Mr. Baker (200X), Bob Cowie and John Latham (199X)
One other thing which many drivers were envious of M&C employees of were the tyres, Mervyn always insisted on new Bridgestones all round, VSX M+S tyres on the drive and always fitted at the start of winter, they were a great tyre to have.
Alas how things changed in the latter years…
And no, it was not a company rule to have a beard, but thinking about it, most all of us did have one !!!
By the way, you must also remember John McClung, worked for Mervyn for many years at the same time as Bunny, not much mention of him on here ■■ I expect he has many stories he could tell, but then John always was a man of few words. He comes here on holiday twice a year, maybe move here one day in the not to distant ? We have a good slurp and talk about old times when he is here, we sometimes go to Graham Balls establishment which is on the outskirts of town.
Steve.
Steve does John still live in Mistley haven’t seen him for years? Hughie ex Funstons
Steve does John still live in Mistley haven’t seen him for years? Hughie ex Funstons
Hughie, would that be Hughie Ashton as that rings a bell ■■ If so then you used to have the cleanest cab interior know to man !! Not a speck of dust could be found anywhere and you had the knack of being able to flick your ■■■ ash out of the window, whilst driving, without a single speck blowing back in… But appologies if i am talking about someone else
John lives in Snaith, Yorkshire, ( the promised land as he calls it ! ) has done for many a year now. But has plans to rent to the local council and come and retire here.
HI M&c steve, did mervyn just end up driving one truck himself at the end of m&c days and did he stick with the middle east work? last i heard of his name he had moved to spain and was running a truck from there? or it could have been the usual driver grapevine lol
hutpik:
Hi all.Just for a bit of light relief,the first trip i done in my ‘‘new truck’’ to Kuwait.
As i said earlier i paid £1000 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 ‘‘push\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.’‘Hey Mike you taking this to Crossways scap yard for export to Africa then’’.‘‘No,i replied,it’s mine and i’m going to Kuwait with a load for Astran’‘With this they fell about saying things like’‘you winding us up,or you won’t make Kelvedon,never mind Kuwait.Off you go then we’ve had our laugh for the day.’’
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.[It’s 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 wouldn’t 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 we’re going forwards]I bounced my way slowly through Bulgaria thinking ‘‘it can’t get any worse’’,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
M&C steve:
Steve does John still live in Mistley haven’t seen him for years? Hughie ex Funstons
Hughie, would that be Hughie Ashton as that rings a bell ■■ If so then you used to have the cleanest cab interior know to man !! Not a speck of dust could be found anywhere and you had the knack of being able to flick your ■■■ ash out of the window, whilst driving, without a single speck blowing back in…
John lives in Snaith, Yorkshire, ( the promised land as he calls it ! ) has done for many a year now. But has plans to rent to the local council and come and retire here.
Steve.
I never met him to my knowledge but the name certainly rings a big bell.
Us Yorkshire folk stuck together, Goolies, and Gilberdyke Folk mixed with the Westies
No that dont work here either, can any one else sort it out.
[/quote]
Yep it was one of them that Gulf link, were going to tow two trailers behind. them on a draw bar on the back of of one of these. A six legger. The gear stick was in brass and looked like a ships helm. No idea how it worked.
Thanks for sorting the picture out.
Any way, as far as I know they never shifted any thing much, and never heard of them after that. I moved on to folk paying better money,
Yep the wieghts were even greater, but at least on desent trailers.
Points to note, the owner was never going to see this trailer again, so loaded it on the docks accordingly. It could wiegh a hundred or more tones.
Not difficut, but some times you had to go more slowly.,
Steve Rogers:
HI M&c steve, did mervyn just end up driving one truck himself at the end of m&c days and did he stick with the middle east work? last i heard of his name he had moved to spain and was running a truck from there? or it could have been the usual driver grapevine lol
That was pretty much how things ended up for him, he was running Spain / UK. He then had a spell in Perpignan prison, in southern France, on suspision of trying to smuggle some sort of illegal drug hidden in his load of groupage. This i think is highly unlikely, knowing Mervyn as i do and also knowing what he is like, i find it impossible to believe that he would resort to doing that, we will most likely never really know the truth.
It was soon after being released that he had his stroke, it’s all history now…
Reddesertfox:
I may be wrong but if my memory serves me correct M& C were one of the first from the UK to run with super singles on their trailers to the ME… I am sure Steve will put me right …if I am wrong
ATVB …RDF
RDF,
When would this be?
When I was on for Expo Freight in 1980 we had some 13.6 metre tri axle trailers running on super singles.
On one occasion I blew one off in Brussels on the way out and I found a little tyre dealer just off the motorway in Belgium
that sold them at a very competative price,so the next couple of trips I did with one of those trailers,I shipped out with just 2 spare rims and had new tyres fitted as I went past.
When I was on for Expo Freight in 1980 we had some 13.6 metre tri axle trailers running on super singles.
On one occasion I blew one off in Brussels on the way out and I found a little tyre dealer just off the motorway in Belgium
that sold them at a very competative price,so the next couple of trips I did with one of those trailers,I shipped out with just 2 spare rims and had new tyres fitted as I went past.
It matters not who had the first, second or whatever.
When Mervyn bought his first tri-axle trl ( MC-009 ) it was in the 70’s. It was a cancelled order from some Austrian firm. He bought it from Crane Fuehauf via a chap called Peter Colby who was big in the Ipswich area at the time. It was fitted with 14/80x20 tyres and had a self steering rear axle and brakes that were applied something like 20% when the exhaust brake was used on the tractor unit, ( the MAN’s that Mervyn run were equiped with this feature ). It’s nowt now but VERY high tech in it’s time. Also the maximum UK length allowed at that time was 12 mtrs. so the extra .7 was most welcome to whoever the trl was loaded for.
M&C steve:
When I was on for Expo Freight in 1980 we had some 13.6 metre tri axle trailers running on super singles.
On one occasion I blew one off in Brussels on the way out and I found a little tyre dealer just off the motorway in Belgium
that sold them at a very competative price,so the next couple of trips I did with one of those trailers,I shipped out with just 2 spare rims and had new tyres fitted as I went past.
It matters not who had the first, second or whatever.
When Mervyn bought his first tri-axle trl ( MC-009 ) it was in the 70’s. It was a cancelled order from some Austrian firm. He bought it from Crane Fuehauf via a chap called Peter Colby who was big in the Ipswich area at the time. It was fitted with 14/80x20 tyres and had a self steering rear axle and brakes that were applied something like 20% when the exhaust brake was used on the tractor unit, ( the MAN’s that Mervyn run were equiped with this feature ). It’s nowt now but VERY high tech in it’s time. Also the maximum UK length allowed at that time was 12 mtrs. so the extra .7 was most welcome to whoever the trl was loaded for.
Steve.
Hi Ian / Steve
It would have also been 1980, as this was the first time I encountered M&C, in fact it was also the first time I had the pleasure of meeting two great guys, those being Ray Usher (Norman the Conqueror) and the great late Tony Baker, who I know left a lasting impression on all who knew him.
I also met John McLung around that year for the first time also and if my memory serves me correctly he was driving a Scania 141 or it could have been a 140.
I think a lot of drivers / operators were a little reluctant to move away from twin tyres because of the “what if” factor and you know how the Brits can be when it comes to change, it can be a slow process.
Interestingly most operators now in Kuwait are running on singles whereas in South Africa I see more twins than singles.
John McClung drove Mervyns 141, JEV 528V, for many a year. He had it from new.
At the same time Bunny was driving an F-12, UMD 46S, there was always much rivalry between them as to which was the best truck to have.
Having said that, they both had the highest regard for Merv’s F89, STW 383R ( John drove that for many trips too, before the 141 came along, and almost bought it from Mervyn at one time ).
John McClung drove Mervyns 141, JEV 528V, for many a year. He had it from new.
At the same time Bunny was driving an F-12, UMD 46S, there was always much rivalry between them as to which was the best truck to have.
Having said that, they both had the highest regard for Merv’s F89, STW 383R ( John drove that for many trips too, before the 141 came along, and almost bought it from Mervyn at one time ).
Steve.
freshir wrote, noticing the reg on Bunny’s F12 nudged me into posting a pic of Grangewood’s F12 = UMD 930S taken at Mar’s factory Vienna about mid 80’s (?) and my young son posing at the wheel is now a firefighter at Exeter and he is now 48, Regards Fred H
