A couple of Chinese Sixes … in China:
Bedford VAL - BBC - (KYY441X):
(ps. Photo taken in Lord Street, Preston - alongside the Guild Hall).
the ex Whitbread Bedford Chinese sixes were a good seller out with the six stud second steer, bobs your uncle a 7.5 ton car licence, plus the 8 stud version was an under three ton unladen weight 10 ton gross, as I used to drive on a car licence, until I took class 1 at 21yrs, the give away was the flat center of the steer wheels like on the Bedford earlier in the thread.
Moved over from the JR Adams thread, their AEC Mustang with December 1958 onto June 59 Registration. I believe this was the only Twin Steer rigid Adams ran. Franky.
Frankydobo:
Moved over from the JR Adams thread, their AEC Mustang with December 1958 onto June 59 Registration. I believe this was the only Twin Steer rigid Adams ran. Franky.
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Thats correct Franky, Harry Humpries had from new then Billy Craig drove it, I dont think they ran for a long time, They used to have problems with axle weights , Regards Larry.
TROOPER 8011:
Bedford VAL - BBC - (KYY441X):
Hi Trooper8011. Back in 1984 I worked for Henly’s of Wembley the Bedford dealership. We worked on those BBC motors, warranty and other work as needed. I used to take them for MOT at Yeading lane in Hayes. Their tare weight was quite heavy, they handled well, iirc they were fitted with 381s.underpowered to say the least. Even the coaches with 466s YRT/YRQ were slow compared to the Ford’s with blown D1000s or even the leopard with the 680 Leyland!
We also did their make up artist trailers, used to tow them with their Land Rovers. What a pain they were to get through their MOT as the brakes were just awful.
Good crack going over to BBC Centre, Wood Lane though. Not sure if that’s where the photo was taken, and I believe its all been knocked down now.
As Larry would say, good old days.
Paul.
Good old picture Larry and you can clearly see how the steering geometry effects the angle of the steered wheels on twin steered vehicles to ensure a correct line is taken during cornering, I’ve found it surprising over my fifty years in the business by how many qualified fitters didn’t actually know how this is worked out, it seems this sort of thing and others just isn’t taught anymore to young fitters learning the trade. Franky.
Frankydobo:
Good old picture Larry and you can clearly see how the steering geometry effects the angle of the steered wheels on twin steered vehicles to ensure a correct line is taken during cornering, I’ve found it surprising over my fifty years in the business by how many qualified fitters didn’t actually know how this is worked out, it seems this sort of thing and others just isn’t taught anymore to young fitters learning the trade. Franky.
You’re not wrong Franky. I used to work on Leyland Steers at London Carriers and often wondered as a young bloke, how they worked it out.
windrush:
Perhaps the wrong place to post this but do any Potteries members recall the chinese six Morris Commercial from the early Fifties that use to be around Stoke in the 1980’s? It was blue and usually well loaded and was replaced with a chinese six D series Ford. I used to see it on Victoria Road a lot, I asked Bill Clews but he can’t recall it. It was an FV series with the rear hinged cab doors, I wonder what happened to it and if it was preserved.Pete.
A long shot but could have belonged to Bill Hall from Biddulph Moor. He ran a Chinese six Morris Commercial on coal haulage with very high greedy boards. I recall it as an occasional visitor to Beresford’s yard in Tunstall in the 60’s. Believe it or not he also had an eight-legger Morris Commercial!
Mercedes LP 333 in France.
mexifill:
windrush:
Perhaps the wrong place to post this but do any Potteries members recall the chinese six Morris Commercial from the early Fifties that use to be around Stoke in the 1980’s? It was blue and usually well loaded and was replaced with a chinese six D series Ford. I used to see it on Victoria Road a lot, I asked Bill Clews but he can’t recall it. It was an FV series with the rear hinged cab doors, I wonder what happened to it and if it was preserved.Pete.
A long shot but could have belonged to Bill Hall from Biddulph Moor. He ran a Chinese six Morris Commercial on coal haulage with very high greedy boards. I recall it as an occasional visitor to Beresford’s yard in Tunstall in the 60’s. Believe it or not he also had an eight-legger Morris Commercial!
Yes, that’s the one. I used to see it around in the mid 1980’s when it would have been 30 years old at least, it had a two man crew so coal seems highly likely, and then a D Series Ford (a chinese six again) replaced it.
Pete.
The Chinese-six had simply been a method of distributing weight. I recall using AEC Mustangs owned and operated by Hipwood and Grundy in the 1960s. There had been no powered steering so the mates had to help pull the steering wheels in order to turn corners. When fitted with Michelin tyres, the human strength needed had been increased considerably.
airproducts73:
The Chinese-six had simply been a method of distributing weight. I recall using AEC Mustangs owned and operated by Hipwood and Grundy in the 1960s. There had been no powered steering so the mates had to help pull the steering wheels in order to turn corners. When fitted with Michelin tyres, the human strength needed had been increased considerably.
There were a couple of other reasons why the Steers were popular in the 50’s/early 60’s, the first one being they were the next step up in unladen weight from a 4 wheeler when the industry was governed by Carrier Licencing and increases in ULW were difficult to come by and IIRC you could only obtain an increase after a number of years and then you had to apply to the LA which always attracted objections from other Operators. The second attraction was a Steer was supposedly the ideal motor to run with a draw bar trailer because of the existing C & U laws at the time. Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
airproducts73:
The Chinese-six had simply been a method of distributing weight. I recall using AEC Mustangs owned and operated by Hipwood and Grundy in the 1960s. There had been no powered steering so the mates had to help pull the steering wheels in order to turn corners. When fitted with Michelin tyres, the human strength needed had been increased considerably.There were a couple of other reasons why the Steers were popular in the 50’s/early 60’s, the first one being they were the next step up in unladen weight from a 4 wheeler when the industry was governed by Carrier Licencing and increases in ULW were difficult to come by and IIRC you could only obtain an increase after a number of years and then you had to apply to the LA which always attracted objections from other Operators. The second attraction was a Steer was supposedly the ideal motor to run with a draw bar trailer because of the existing C & U laws at the time. Cheers Bewick.
Quite right Dennis, A six wheel double drive or even a trailing axle one would have tared off heavier than the twin steer, So I suppose thats why they were chosen so as to get the maximum from the A licence terms, Regards Larry.
I recall using an AEC steer to pull a 32-tonne liquid nitrogen tanker half-loaded from Slough gasworks to Hitchin gas works via Rickmansworth where a steep hill had been wet. The half-load rolled back over the trailer axles and left me with no traction so I was stuck on the hill until the cops turned up to help me reverse back down the hill. They then led me around some lanes and past the Watford Scammell works in order to bypass the hill.
Biss Bros had I think 6 Chinese Six units think they were Foden but not sure, they were crap to steer and only lasted a few weeks and were sent back to the factory on the North Circular Road, the second steer was taken out and the chassis had a bit cut out to shorten it, were then a good motor.
We used to send 1 back to the factory at a time and had a unit on loan which had a longer engine installed as it had the rad grill sticking out about a foot, only drove it once and never got the bloody thing into top gear, it was that fast you could cruise at 60+ without using top, with 6500 gal of petrol on your back it frightened the crap out of me.
Balloonie.
