One place I worked, had a ERF (E10 maybe) on an H plate. (1990 I think).
I was driving up the A34 in an Unrestricted 7.5t Daf at 75mph and he over took me.
He was only pulling stacked flats, but it still surprised me.
I learned after that the motor never had a restricter fitted.
It rarely came out of the yard due to its age, and was mostly used as a second shunter.
The Van in the photo below RPT602M was pulled up when it was about one year old, by the police and clocked at 95 mph. The pantechnicon body was buit on a Ford passenger chassis with a Ford turbo charged engine. I can’t remember the driver but do remember him trying to not let us know the speed he was doing.
carryfast-yeti:
used to cruise all night at 75mph in my Daf 2500,still had the 141 Scania’s and F88’s coasting by meand on one occasion,2 ‘A’ Series ERF’s with 40’ flat’s
a Sed Atki,one of Wilkinsons i think,used to leave us all for dead on the night trunk heading north on the M1 in the '80’s.
On the flat given long enough to get there but as soon as the 2500 saw a hill it was zb’d.Which is why,just like I found with those cheap nasty torqueless heaps,just about anything,including the Mercs 
could climb all the hills between Watford Gap and Dewsbury faster.The 2800 was a different story though. 
europleb:
Riverstick:
steptoe:
1626 and 1632 Mercs, the ones with the bigger tyres on. (2200x20s I think) Wouldn’t pull, needed to change down a couple gears to get over a sleeping policeman but on the flat when you got them rolling they would fly.A 1632 V10 with 12.00 x R20 tyres was good for 80mph…the 1633 with the twin turbos appeared in 1982…no problem with that engine pulling…it had a built in chassis Road Speed Limiter set to 72mph…if you pulled the ‘fuse’ it was could for 100mph.
I once had the over speed buzzer go off in top gear in a 1632 V10 merc
The overspeed buzzer came on around 3000 rpm in the OM 403 engine…If you put that off, then you were doing ~95mph…or thereabouts
Riverstick:
europleb:
Riverstick:
steptoe:
1626 and 1632 Mercs, the ones with the bigger tyres on. (2200x20s I think) Wouldn’t pull, needed to change down a couple gears to get over a sleeping policeman but on the flat when you got them rolling they would fly.A 1632 V10 with 12.00 x R20 tyres was good for 80mph…the 1633 with the twin turbos appeared in 1982…no problem with that engine pulling…it had a built in chassis Road Speed Limiter set to 72mph…if you pulled the ‘fuse’ it was could for 100mph.
I once had the over speed buzzer go off in top gear in a 1632 V10 merc
The overspeed buzzer came on around 3000 rpm in the OM 403 engine…If you put that off, then you were doing ~95mph…or thereabouts
In a moment of severe undiagnosed nerdism, I have calculated the speed. This:
archive.commercialmotor.com/arti … ter-option
…says this:
“THE SPLITTER gearbox option now being offered on Mercedes-Benz 1632 S tracthie units (CM road test June 22, 1979) provides an overdrive top gear ratio of 0.85 to 1 and an intermediate ratio between each of the remaining seven gears. A 5.22:1 rear axle ratio replaces the standard 4.64:1 to further improve the performance flexibility and keep the maximum geared speed within reasonable limits.”
The final drive ratio works out at 1:4.437. 12.00R20 tyres have a rolling circumference of 3.42m/rev. This gives a top speed of 71mph at 2500rpm. At 3000rpm, it is doing 87mph.
Were other, higher ratios available? For example, if the overdrive ‘box found itself in front of the standard, 4.64:1 axle, the speed at 3000rpm is 98mph!
Limiters came in about 88(E reg). Some of the last 2 series scannys and all 3s had em 
My 85, 142 most definately did not 
Hi all,
I think limiters came in on new trucks from 01/01/88.
Regards andrew.
hallo, all depends of the max revs, drive axle ratio and tyres for every lorry for speeding.Most engines could hold 2500revs in those days and with overdrive and high ratio it were “flying Dutchman” we called them.It came obligated in '93 or around that time, but it must be monted on all lorries from 1-1-1988 EU rules.Big problems occured with older engines, higher oil and fuel consumption,earlier worn out .It was the most awful thing ever.But without electronics it was easy to disconnect it,with electronics it gave sometimes difficulties.I have driven without limiter till the beginning of the 21 century). By then it came time to come off the road. And never missed it i only miss the '70’s and '80’s 
. I’m to old to adapt me on stupid rules 
.In those days we did driving to earn money and not paying fines .But younsters don’t know something else.The best time was the '70’s to drive, and the '80’s for the best trucks.
Cheers Eric,
About 93 must be right enough be cause dads j plate(91)113 had one fitted to it when it was a couple of years old, they were limited to 60mph at first.
boris:
What was THE flying machine - the motor that left you standing - pre limiter days
Anything that came off the ferry at Stranraer at night.
From a article by Cybertrucker. Dated 1996.
Since 1 January 1994, most lorries, (and since 1 January 1996 this applies to nearly all lorries) have had their top speed automatically restricted to 56 mph.
cybertrucker.co.uk/content.php?menace.php
Ray
A 1976 TK1475 I used on animal feed would exceed 80mph with ease, but we had a Mandator which wouldn’t go over 48mph, but you didn’t need a downchange all the way to Newcastle!
Behind the furniture pantechnicon is one of the common sights from the period - a poor old TK with a humungous trailer dwarfing it.
pic of glendinning erf e10 , somewhere dad drove from the durham depot of W.A Glendinning “G” reg 1990 , would allegedly do 82 fully freighted , according to my old man when he was alive
Pops had a ERF b series 240 ■■■■■■■ turbo 9 speed fuller o/d, when the kirkstall axle gave up we fitted a Eaton 2 speed from under a Atki draw bar ,i did something like100 mph on the rollers at marley tiles tacho centre.
[zb]
anorak:
Some of the late '80s motors were geared for around 100mph as standard: the MAN 502 and possibly the Iveco '48, IIRC. When did limiters become compulsory?
MANs were always quite fast, the one’s I had all had a 13spd Fuller in and would all go well off the clock, had one of those pink ones for a couple of months, ex Independant Express a 22-331 and did a 750kms round trip from Belvedere to Haydock every night, quickest I ever did was 3hrs 20mins, longest was still well under 4hrs, so I was keeping her lit every night. Used to put between 250 and 300 litres in the tank when I finished every morning, so it wasn’t terrible on fuel considering the speeds it was doing.
My 190-48 TurboStar was good for 100mph, of course I worked this out using a slide rule calculation using the gearing and rpm numbers, I would never do that speed on a public road like the A2 with my dad following me in a car to confirm the speed as the lorry speedo only went up to 80mph, that would be irresponsible
Had a 1735 Merc that was fast enough to get the mirrors to fold in with a loud bang at about 200rpms after the needle maxxed out on the tacho, it had more to go too, I’d say it would’ve given the big FIAT a run for its money 
My Dad had a four wheeler V8 D series with the range change box, now that was a flying machine, sounded like a two stroke when it was flat out, I suspect some tampering with the governers had been done. He had an AEC Marshall that would leave a Midland Red bus for dead too, so that was a fast lorry
I think that Independent Express fleet of MAN’s were about as fast as it got.
It was the combination of relatively low gross weights with big power motors.
[/quote]
Hello, Guess who owned them■■? But I repossesed the lot, including the Scania rigids, B…y bunch of cowboys!!!1
Driven me back to the Bollinger, that memory, (nightmare)!! Cheerio for now.
For me it was definetly them 22/321/361 MAN’s whoever was running them, although ‘Gloystarne’ from South Yorks; seems to have burned a image in my brain even leaving me, a seasoned Duke’s Transport veteran, trying to catch up
Regards
Dave Penn;
We had a Scania 110 with a Perkins V8 under the bonnet. That was good for 75/80 on a good day but it would not pull your cap off. Also if you let the revs drop of when turning a tight corner the power steering dropped dead and you had to very quickly dip the clutch and rev the thing otherwise it woukd not turn.
Cliff
billybigrig:
Limiters came in about 88(E reg). Some of the last 2 series scannys and all 3s had emF reg 3 series didn’t have them fitted.