geoffthecrowtaylor:
Well boys im afraid i have to disagree i drove a brand new F88 for Springfield Transport 1973 blue trim air wipers the first F89 me and our Tony bought SVT 953N 1974 blue trim cab air wipers as i said brown trim cab 1975 first 290s electric wipers the other 3 89s we had were all 1977 S reg which was the last year no matter what anyone says that they were produced replaced by F10 and F12.Regarding wheelbases if you look at the pics of the 89s leaving us you will see that the air stack is missing off TTX132S this was because that trailer it was coupled to in another pic is a long neck or long pin type very close to the cab and obviously a 13.6m you could nt turn on full lock with the air stack fitted.It naturally follows that as most foreign trailers especially French were of the long pin type their wheelbases were longer than ours. The way out of this for British hauliers was the sliding 5th wheel UNF497S was the only one of ours fitted with one of these,I kid you not if you could put the two models side by side you would see the difference immediately.regards Crow.We ll not split hairs over actual wheelbase lengths but like as in a joke i can remember when looking at one of STGautiers a French co. that ran a lot of 89s,his is longer than mine.
well, Geoff,I always thought the very early F88 cabs were in red trim,or maybe Iām getting old and my memory is playing tricks (wasnāt Cartledgeās in red trim)?His was J reg so I think that makes it 1970
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Amusing little ditty that Tony your imagination is equal to your subjects.You re right Steve in Carbons previous post that was indeed a mega faux pas,it won tguarantee an increase in his readership but it will guarantee him a knee in the knackers at least should the person concerned ever trip over him. What was the old adage no names no pack drill. Now where did i leave me wallet. Crow.
Yeah,well itās not so easy to copy the writing style of a 12 year old when youāre used to reading literature of a much higher class!!!
Tony I think weāve given Carbon enough stick let ^s leave him alone now he s got enough faithful followers albeit he s using the wrong thread. If its his life storydespite what we think and know about the real situations so be it .Crow.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Tony I think weāve given Carbon enough stick let ^s leave him alone now he s got enough faithful followers albeit he s using the wrong thread. If its his life storydespite what we think and know about the real situations so be it .Crow.
Yeah,I suppose youāre right Crow,the subject is closed,just one last quip.If his ā ā ā ā ā ā prowess is all that he claims maybe he should consider changing his name from Arbon toā¦'Ard on.
Very good Tony superb sense of humour , this keyboard is unfortunately Spanish and i can t work out how to get the punctuation marks no sweat i m off to the Crusty Crab now to stop a few going sour catch you later, Crow.
Seems like we ve upset more than a few people Tony especially Flysheet,thats apity but as he is the only one that i know of our heroes motley crew of supporters most of whom seem to live across the Atlantic so be it,they re living where bigger is better and you can read what you want into that,regards Crow.
Yeah,well,itās a pity that I let the subject descend to the level that it did.I really do understand that when a story is being related over a bar room table for example,itās a much different situation from trying to put that story into writing.In the bar room you have an interactive audience.A piece of paper doesnāt ask questions or make comments,that can only come later, so itās a much more difficult operation.I am sure that every driver has a story to tell, Chris Arbon included.I donāt doubt that he has been the places he mentions in his narratives,my initial objection was about the exagerations and embellishments.Most of the drivers I met were hard working men with families to look after,not galivanting around whorehouses and the like.Still, it must be hard to try and recount oneās adventures on the road without the odd lapse into whimsy,perhaps thats why so few drivers do it.I dare to say that Chris Arbon is probably a nice guy,and I appologise for taking the pā¦s, and if Cooperman says he is a real gent,then who can argue with that.At least he had the courage to have a go ,even if it did seem a bit far fetched at times. Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor:
Yeah,well,itās a pity that I let the subject descend to the level that it did.I really do understand that when a story is being related over a bar room table for example,itās a much different situation from trying to put that story into writing.In the bar room you have an interactive audience.A piece of paper doesnāt ask questions or make comments,that can only come later, so itās a much more difficult operation.I am sure that every driver has a story to tell, Chris Arbon included.I donāt doubt that he has been the places he mentions in his narratives,my initial objection was about the exagerations and embellishments.Most of the drivers I met were hard working men with families to look after,not galivanting around whorehouses and the like.Still, it must be hard to try and recount oneās adventures on the road without the odd lapse into whimsy,perhaps thats why so few drivers do it.I dare to say that Chris Arbon is probably a nice guy,and I appologise for taking the pā¦s, and if Cooperman says he is a real gent,then who can argue with that.At least he had the courage to have a go ,even if it did seem a bit far fetched at times. Tony Taylor
Shame on you two boys Anthony and Geoffery giving Mr Arbon all that unnecessary unjustified stick, go and stand in the naughty corner while that nice man from the B.A.G. gets out his colour chart and his fold up wooden ruler to check if you really do have only two hundred litres of diesel.
I donāt think that Chris ever said that ALL drivers spent all their time galivantin in whorehouses, thats like saying that lorry drivers are all the same as Peter Sutcliffe but you have to admit that because some drivers carried a thick wad of money in their wallets on a chain they thought they were Godās gift to women. While transitting through Yugo not all drivers stopped at places like The Trees/ The Stumps, The A Frames etc just to make a cheese sandwich. As we all know Tony, the greater majority were only trying to make an honest crust and to pay the mortgage and for some of the work the rewards were not always favourable.
I am sure that our āOlde Colleagueā Frogman Frost would agree with me on this one.
Crow, 3.8m wasnāt even available on the first of the F10/12s that came out in 89 for the 13.6m trailers with a 1.6m pin, they were only a 3.7m, so an 89 wouldāve been 3.4m at best. I hear what youāre saying with the Kermits and their long pin trailers, but remember they used to run a 13tonne drive axle, so had the 5th wheel set right back and that allowed them to run the long pin set up. They were longer than UK spec units though, that is spot on, just not as long as you think, something that most men suffer from to some degree You got the wiper situation right though, the early 88s had the wipers on top of the screen with the air/vacuum motor inside the cab, the 73 onwards models with the black plastic grille had them under the screen and the turn switch on the dash, but they were still air until the 76 upgrade from the blue trim to the brown, then they were electric. 89s were all post 73, so they always had the wipers at the bottom, but they were air operated until 76 just like their baby brother
As for Chris Arbon, if you knew the man, you wouldnāt doubt for a minute his tales of the opposite ā ā ā , he reminds me of Terry Thomas
Newmercman looking at the pic of Coopermans 89 i ll bet there s some whizz kid somewhere using whatever extrapolation not the factory spec manual, can tell us exactly what the wheelbase is,it does nt really matter no Brit spec 89s had parabolic springs or rear shocks .The one in good nick in our pics TTX132S we stuck an extra 400 litre tank on by moving the batteries inboard almost under the 5th wheel and the air tanks to the rear of the chassis where the spare wheel normally was. Cooper man i think that your 89 died in Greece and I was negotiating with Theo and Ron the Con in piraeus for them to rebuild your cab and swap it for the rot box i was then driving. Like so many grandiose schemes they did nt do it so came to nothing.They were on at the time extending Roly Longs 141 cab .regards Crow.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Newmercman looking at the pic of Coopermans 89 i ll bet there s some whizz kid somewhere using whatever extrapolation not the factory spec manual, can tell us exactly what the wheelbase is,it does nt really matter no Brit spec 89s had parabolic springs or rear shocks .The one in good nick in our pics TTX132S we stuck an extra 400 litre tank on by moving the batteries inboard almost under the 5th wheel and the air tanks to the rear of the chassis where the spare wheel normally was. Cooper man i think that your 89 died in Greece and I was negotiating with Theo and Ron the Con in piraeus for them to rebuild your cab and swap it for the rot box i was then driving. Like so many grandiose schemes they did nt do it so came to nothing.They were on at the time extending Roly Longs 141 cab .regards Crow.
The 89 only died a slow death due to having The Con mess about with the top end, a fabricator yes lifting heads etc off was a big no for Ron though as I found out, it was about the time of Mr Longs longline Geoff your right, in the end Theo did the cab up & put it on a Bubble motor I used to see it pulling a milk tank round Athens years later painted black. I wonder how Theo is getting on nowadays he opened a big workshop up Aspropyrgos way with a mahoosive jig in the floor, had to give it to them Greeks making new panels etc they where good at itā¦
John boy they were certainly brilliant with their panel work and Theo was a good mech ,I rember seeing a trailer there one day loaded with Scania V8s that they had bought as scrap from Sweden. We re talking nearly 20 years ago now John are they still in the land of the living. Greece always was my favourite run and I ve many happy memories. We did several loads of Wash and Go from trafford park for Hausers , because of constant Greek strikes 11 days one trip we renamed it Wash and Stay this was in the days of BRS running the Rothmans, happy days Crow.
I remember getting a lift up the road with one of them BRS lads after a breakdown, had to have the seat reclined in the Merc so no one could see me as passengers where forbidden, that ā ā ā factory was still there last time I was in Greece its name began with K was it Karrelia or something similar, Wash & Stay nice one, I remember Alex spending a week in Salonica in a strike then bowling into another one when He arrived in Piraeus, they loved a strike didānt they, best days of My life scratching up & down to Greeceā¦
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Newmercman looking at the pic of Coopermans 89 i ll bet there s some whizz kid somewhere using whatever extrapolation not the factory spec manual, can tell us exactly what the wheelbase is,it does nt really matter no Brit spec 89s had parabolic springs or rear shocks .The one in good nick in our pics TTX132S we stuck an extra 400 litre tank on by moving the batteries inboard almost under the 5th wheel and the air tanks to the rear of the chassis where the spare wheel normally was. Cooper man i think that your 89 died in Greece and I was negotiating with Theo and Ron the Con in piraeus for them to rebuild your cab and swap it for the rot box i was then driving. Like so many grandiose schemes they did nt do it so came to nothing.They were on at the time extending Roly Longs 141 cab .regards Crow.
No doubt that the Brit spec 89s were shorter than the European models, until the 13mtr trailers we were always shorter wheelbase than the foreigners, we also run higher 5th wheels for some stupid reason, the 4m height limit obviously played a part in that, but a longer wheelbase lower riding tractor unit always looked better than a Brit spec high riding shorty IMHO
fly sheet:
I remember getting a lift up the road with one of them BRS lads after a breakdown, had to have the seat reclined in the Merc so no one could see me as passengers where forbidden, that ā ā ā factory was still there last time I was in Greece its name began with K was it Karrelia or something similar, Wash & Stay nice one, I remember Alex spending a week in Salonica in a strike then bowling into another one when He arrived in Piraeus, they loved a strike didānt they, best days of My life scratching up & down to Greeceā¦
My best times too I think, I did a double take when I pulled up and saw a Seddon Atkinson and a Merc 1626 in BRS colours with a couple of quite pale looking drivers having a beer
fly sheet:
I remember getting a lift up the road with one of them BRS lads after a breakdown, had to have the seat reclined in the Merc so no one could see me as passengers where forbidden, that ā ā ā factory was still there last time I was in Greece its name began with K was it Karrelia or something similar, Wash & Stay nice one, I remember Alex spending a week in Salonica in a strike then bowling into another one when He arrived in Piraeus, they loved a strike didānt they, best days of My life scratching up & down to Greeceā¦
My best times too I think, I did a double take when I pulled up and saw a Seddon Atkinson and a Merc 1626 in BRS colours with a couple of quite pale looking drivers having a beer
I think they where from Darlington them lads or the trucks where based up there, good bunch of lads tooā¦
fly sheet:
I remember getting a lift up the road with one of them BRS lads after a breakdown, had to have the seat reclined in the Merc so no one could see me as passengers where forbidden, that ā ā ā factory was still there last time I was in Greece its name began with K was it Karrelia or something similar, Wash & Stay nice one, I remember Alex spending a week in Salonica in a strike then bowling into another one when He arrived in Piraeus, they loved a strike didānt they, best days of My life scratching up & down to Greeceā¦
My best times too I think, I did a double take when I pulled up and saw a Seddon Atkinson and a Merc 1626 in BRS colours with a couple of quite pale looking drivers having a beer
I think they where from Darlington them lads or the trucks where based up there, good bunch of lads tooā¦
scammells erf and foden
but to name a few who did this.GB the best
& heres My one loading Ouzo in Lamia for Hamburg, trailer smelt great for weeks afterā¦
You got the wiper situation right though, the early 88s had the wipers on top of the screen with the air/vacuum motor inside the cab, the 73 onwards models with the black plastic grille had them under the screen and the turn switch on the dash, but they were still air until the 76 upgrade from the blue trim to the brown, then they were electric. 89s were all post 73, so they always had the wipers at the bottom, but they were air operated until 76 just like their baby brother 
