No Archie we d never met him before but his claim to fame like Maurice Grays was that he was the oldest driver on the Middle East, he certainly looked the part.
You know what Tony trawling back thru this thread and looking at all the pics of everyones motors it suddenly came to me that with the exception ofEVD 930K I sprayed every one of our motors and by the looks of it did nt do a bad job all the sign writing on the Metro Motors was done by Ray Lyons not bad for an ex Sgt in the LFs , what a tough cookie he was the epitome of the then British Army, RIP Ray and your best mate our Bruv Dennis,blood brothers to the end. Regards , Crow.
On one trip to Baghdad, when i drove for Don Hubbard of Gedney hill, I had delivered a Davies Turner load and then sat in the desert, out at faluja for about four day’s waiting for the diesel tanker to come, of an evening. For whatever reason he never came and as we could only get 50 litres every other day, by producing our triptix, filling up with diesel for my return trip would have taken weeks.
As the syrian border was then open to transit I decided to return that way and fill up with diesel in Syria. As I had never been that way before it was a case of heading west and hope for the best. I eventualy arrived at the iraqi border at Rutba and done my exit papers and headed west for the Syrian entry border After quite a few Kilometers I saw some Bulgarian trucks parked up near the entrance to what looked like a new customs post that was closed for the night. So i parked alongside them and went to bed. Around Midnight we were awakened by soldiers banging on the truck doors with the buts of their rifles and telling us to move on. They had been quite friendly a few hours earlier when we parked. They had opened the gates and ushered us through telling us to keep driving. A few hundred meters up the road were some old mud huts and the bulgi’s parked up there at the side of the road and i joined them. In the morning when i awoke there was no one to be seen, so i had my breakfast and headed west in the direction of Damascus. After a couple of hours or so I came to a road junction where the road joining from the north had no sign posts facing traffic going west, only going east and from the north. I got out of the truck and had a look at the signs, one in the direction i was facing pointed to damascus 90 kms, the one pointing north was to Homs 100kms. As from my recall it was about 100kms from damascus to Homs it was a no brainer but to take the road north to Homs. To be Continued.
Part two, now being in Syria with no visa, no triptix, no transit tax paid or any paperwork what so ever and not even a Syrian pound to my name, I drove on. On reaching Homs I parked the truck and went to find a money changer. Having done the business I then filled up with diesel 1000 litres in the belly tank and 800 litres in the running tanks of the 89, this put a happier light on things as i set sail for Bab el Hawa. I had by this time convinced myself that I had done nothing wrong, so if the Syrians had forced me to enter there country at gun point, they would have to let me out. As I approached the border, I was stopped by two policemen. they asked me how much diesel i had, when I told them ,they said problem Mister, you are only allowed out of Syria with 200 litres. I said since when and they told me a new rule from two days ago. What a let down on top of all the other problems. They told me to go to the filling station just across the road from where we were and they would pump out the surplus diesel and then i could go to the border. I drove across to the filling station, where there wer lot’s of cars and small trucks emptying cans of fuel into the underground tanks. I waited a couple of hours and then made my way up to the border to begin my negotiations to leave a country that i was not even officially in.
I went to see Mohammed Ahwed and after much tooing and froing he came up with a settlement sum of £72.00 which I thought was very reasonable, considering that i had saved more than that in empty Turkish transit tax by entering at Cilvagazu instead of from Zahko. I also still had all my diesel. I dont think that i was ever as happy to enter Turkey as I was that trip. Regards Jamie.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
You know what Tony trawling back thru this thread and looking at all the pics of everyones motors it suddenly came to me that with the exception ofEVD 930K I sprayed every one of our motors and by the looks of it did nt do a bad job all the sign writing on the Metro Motors was done by Ray Lyons not bad for an ex Sgt in the LFs , what a tough cookie he was the epitome of the then British Army, RIP Ray and your best mate our Bruv Dennis,blood brothers to the end. Regards , Crow.
When we look back Geoff,we did almost everything ourselves,driving,spray painting,engine stripping and rebuilding,king pin changing,tyre cutting and changing,road side repairs.I think we knew every nut and bolt on 88s and 89s.The only parts we didn’t strip and renew ourselves were gear boxes and diffs We never abandoned any truck anywhere, everyone eventually got home.I don’t think it was so bad for 2 drivers starting out with £900 and a clapped out 4 wheel Seddon with a Perkins 6354 between them.Christ!! someone get the violins out.
Full orchestra with “F” 89 violin players equipped with kleenex hankies on the way sir!!!
Like my birthday present Paul the orchestra seems to be lost in the post. In those far off days there were a myriad of different motor types even Atkis and big Js being driven by every body and his dog most of them not rights. I can remember Roy Tatlock he of from Romania with love fame taking an Atki Borderer to Baghdad he came back with the cab fastened to the chassis with 2 ratchet straps and believe it or not it was repossessed by some finance Co. that was in the 80s it could nt have been worth more than 5 bob. Ah well of such stuff dreams are made. Crow.
Us old timers have all got rose tinted memories of splitting down wheels, mending inner tubes, rebuilding and reiinflating, with not a thought for health and safety. Breaking down in the back of beyond, taking off cylinder heads, assembling bits of machinery at the side of the road, mates stopping to help etc. etc.
What happens now in Eastern Europe and Turkey ? I guess communication is the great difference. We could only get messages back to base through border agents or via other passing drivers or using phones at post offices where it literally took hours to get through on lousy lines where you couldn’t hear the other end half the time. Mobiles must be the best invention since the wheel!
Can we have some comments from current Middle Easters?
Wher ve you been hiding Jazzandy,I think you ll struggle for upto date input on this thread the only one s doing it now are KTT ,G lyons and the rest of the sellers the route they are using is alien to the rest of us and sounds fraught with problems. To an extent one has to agree with Loosewire the golden days if there were really any have long gone never in our life time to return. Mobile phones like the Police are a neccessary evil. Regards Crow.
Hi all.If my brain is still functioning at all,didn’t P.I.E have Dafs as well. I remember having a meal with Jeff Ruggins in a Daf when he worked for P.I.E.
As regards the ‘‘good old days’’,i think it was as much to do with the mentality of people.You accepted what the job threw at you and just got on with it plus there was more of the ‘‘wer’e all in it together,so we help each other,it might be me next week’’ mentality.It was new and strange for all of us at first.mike
Hiall.Sorry,made a ■■■■ up the above post should be on the Pacific Intermountain Express thread[P.I.E]. Can some competent person move it over for me 
thanks.mike
There you go Hutpik 
hutpik:
Hi all.If my brain is still functioning at all,didn’t P.I.E have Dafs as well. I remember having a meal with Jeff Ruggins in a Daf when he worked for P.I.E.
As regards the ‘‘good old days’’,i think it was as much to do with the mentality of people.You accepted what the job threw at you and just got on with it plus there was more of the ‘‘wer’e all in it together,so we help each other,it might be me next week’’ mentality.It was new and strange for all of us at first.mike
blacd1:
John McVey:
josh:
Well McVicar, you didn’t 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 didn’t they?
What was the firm owned by them that was in Black and yellow trim called 75ish?
I’ve got some more photos at home which i will try to post when I go back.
Hope you are on the mend johnHi John, what you doin on here?! you avn’t been further than Watford Gap!!
I’m feeling a good bit better, thanks for asking, the bride reckons I’ve still got another trip in me, I keep telling her my Life assurance does not cover dangerous pursuits so her plan is flawed
Hi John, bit late with answering question re the black and yellow trimmed company taken over by Cantrells, have only just found this excellent forum. In answer to your question the company was JC Gerrard, I drove for them and then for Cantrells afterward although we remained in the Black and Yellow livery.
WOW!!! John McVey now theres a name I haven’t heard in more than 30 years hahaha!!!.
Yeah its me! Bernard (Barney) Snipe, I know this post is gonna shock a lot of people ,lol. I died sudden like in 78 woke up in the arms of a blonde in the USA been here ever since. The blonde is now history as is the other 15 red heads, brunettes, and mouse heads, lol, I retired from truckin in 2011 and moved to the beach (Myrtle Beach SC) where I fell in love with a mermaid. I am writing a book about the crazy early days when the ME was the wild yonder, lol. 
I am on facebook make me a freind lol 
Hi all.Where the bloody hell have you been Barney.I posted on here about 2 yrs ago asking what had happened to you,If you had died,got shot by an irate husband or moved.The last time i saw you,you were working for the Dutch company with the blue and white motors.[what was their name and where were they]I was working for I.T.Holland then.I remember you saying you were dreaming of going to the States to drive and fall in love lots.Start posting for us whats been happening in the intervening 35yrs.The old guys are dropping like flies so we’re running out of stories about the ‘‘special companies and people’’,like Collintors.Take care.Mike
hutpik:
Hi all.Where the bloody hell have you been Barney.I posted on here about 2 yrs ago asking what had happened to you,If you had died,got shot by an irate husband or moved.The last time i saw you,you were working for the Dutch company with the blue and white motors.[what was their name and where were they]I was working for I.T.Holland then.I remember you saying you were dreaming of going to the States to drive and fall in love lots.Start posting for us whats been happening in the intervening 35yrs.The old guys are dropping like flies so we’re running out of stories about the ‘‘special companies and people’’,like Collintors.Take care.Mike
Freshir (Fred wrote)
Hi Barney, what a surprise old mate, I’ll nudge your memory, we run together many times in the mid 70’s when you were with
Gartside from Shepperton Middx: I had my own truck in them days an orange MAN - and in latter days do you recall that I got you out of trouble at the Londra when you were driving for a Dutch company and you had battery trouble ■■ We met up many times after that and you caught me out on one occasion when we were both parked up on the way home just before Kapic and you quietly and discretely changed into your Arab gear and crept back to my veh: and asked if I knew Barney ■■ I think that on that occasion I had my wife with me = = = Remember . regards Fred
Mike the Dutch Co was Fijneman blue and white Deutz’s, before them was an a## over by Heathrow, Simon Int on brick lane, Cantrell, Colintor. My last stint was with Huybreght, out of Oosterhout Holland, before coming to the USA. I came here cause I was told I’d never be allowed to work, WRONG! where there is a will theres a way. I bought a 75 KW and became a cowboy, hauling overweight freight dodging scales running on the wild side. Small World?? I was in a swamp bar in Slidell LA lookin for a ride back to my truck, guy who offered was Mickey Garvey over visiting his cousin.
Fred I remember you an your pretty wife haha!!, was that a 2600 DAF you had? I know I hauled ■■■■ and caught you up. I see a lot of the ME names mentioned on here, John McVey, John Hunt (Black John), Dave the arab, T revor Long, whatever happened to ■■■■ Snow, Titch Westfall, Bill Simon, and the many others. I know Jeff Ruggins passed in about 77, shocked us all.
Stay in touch y’all - Barney
hutpik:
Hi all.If my brain is still functioning at all,didn’t P.I.E have Dafs as well. I remember having a meal with Jeff Ruggins in a Daf when he worked for P.I.E.
As regards the ‘‘good old days’’,i think it was as much to do with the mentality of people.You accepted what the job threw at you and just got on with it plus there was more of the ‘‘wer’e all in it together,so we help each other,it might be me next week’’ mentality.It was new and strange for all of us at first.mike
Yeah you right, all equipped with ME cabs. Jeff left Astran to drive for them, there were 3 americans on exchange. They made it to I think Beograd before saying we were all crazy and flew back to the states. Having worked the ME and the US for the past 30+ years, I agree they were woosies. lol
Barney
Teherani:
Mike the Dutch Co was Fijneman blue and white Deutz’s, before them was an a## over by Heathrow, Simon Int on brick lane, Cantrell, Colintor. My last stint was with Huybreght, out of Oosterhout Holland, before coming to the USA. I came here cause I was told I’d never be allowed to work, WRONG! where there is a will theres a way. I bought a 75 KW and became a cowboy, hauling overweight freight dodging scales running on the wild side. Small World?? I was in a swamp bar in Slidell LA lookin for a ride back to my truck, guy who offered was Mickey Garvey over visiting his cousin.Fred I remember you an your pretty wife haha!!, was that a 2600 DAF you had? I know I hauled ■■■■ and caught you up. I see a lot of the ME names mentioned on here, John McVey, John Hunt (Black John), Dave the arab, T revor Long, whatever happened to ■■■■ Snow, Titch Westfall, Bill Simon, and the many others. I know Jeff Ruggins passed in about 77, shocked us all.
Stay in touch y’all - Barney
freshir (Fred wrote) Thanks for getting back Barney nice to get you onto the thread - lets have some stories from the past and I wonder why you have not been on before !! I had a M.A.N. not a DAF 2600 I hope that I can enclose a photo as I am not famed for downloading attachmens - ask " Mushrooman" (Steve))
One episode that really stands in my memory (hopefully the statute of limitations is over) LOL, it involved a certain Daf 2600 that laid down and died in Teheran. The illustrious Shah Reza at that time was taking delivery of a fleet of Daf 2800’s, they were red in color and parked outside customs. A certain party decided that we needed one more than the Shah 
. They took it to a yard over by the Mack factory, and using a hoover vacuum they spray painted it black and white then aged it by throwing dirt and sand over it. A certain party (with more front than Selfridges) ran it on several trips down to BandarAbbas hauling grain back to Teheran, the koreans the Shar had brought in to drive used to wave thinking we were a part of their crew. Eventually vin and the trip tix were fixed and the same party drove it back to the ferry in Holland. We felt for sure that the truck was followed from Iran, so the party flew to Ireland before going to Dover to reclaim his booty. That was the last time I saw that Daf, does anyone know what happened after this. Of course I heard stories but no confirmations, I have seen the parties name in the same posts as my name was asked about. 
. You know who you are
- Barney