Plant operator at Whiehaven asked me how long I’d bin driving and did I want one of their drivers to move it.Told him I.d never bin licked yet and he remarked that he was on 0600-1400 and afters man was an ex driver and did I want to wait for the changeover,cheeky sod.
And after all that when I got to Grangemouth there was no product ready for me to load so had a day to messen in Falkirk.
Now there’s a place
Chris Webb:
Plant operator at Whiehaven asked me how long I’d bin driving and did I want one of their drivers to move it.Told him I.d never bin licked yet and he remarked that he was on 0600-1400 and afters man was an ex driver and did I want to wait for the changeover,cheeky sod.
And after all that when I got to Grangemouth there was no product ready for me to load so had a day to messen in Falkirk.
Now there’s a place
Hmmm… I went to Falkirk once. It was closed.
Tankerman:
My fondest memory of a “Coffin Cab” was one night in the early 70’s. I was staying in the BP truck stop at Carlisle soon after it opened. The digs on London Road were closing down and the girls from Carlisle used to come up to the truck stop in mini buses. One driver took “Big Bella” a very heavy weight lass back to his coffin cab and soon afterwards she reappeared covered in grease. The coffin had broken away from the cab and deposited Bella on to the greasy suzies. The Jock driver never lived it down.
dafdave
Is that the same big bella who had to be rescued from a bedford tk by removing the windscreen?
Chris Webb:
Surprised nobody mentioned Killingbecks from Blackburn.They had a rake of Atki Borderers with the old “dog kennel” on t’back’
Like this!
Thanks for the pic Killsville,never thought I’d see one again
Chris Webb:
Thanks for the pic Killsville,never thought I’d see one again
In that case, you can have a special treat and see the same cab again! This time it’s got some bits under it…
Now then ,she’s a beauty.Having a multiple organism.
240 Gardner:
In that case, you can have a special treat and see the same cab again!
I’d call it extra special - a clean Killingbeck motor!
killsville:
240 Gardner:
In that case, you can have a special treat and see the same cab again!I’d call it extra special - a clean Killingbeck motor!
Hmmm, almost disappointing, in fact!!
I wonder if the cat was in the cab when that photo was taken? 
killsville:
I wonder if the cat was in the cab when that photo was taken?
What, curled up in the washbasin on the n/s of the dash??
240 Gardner:
Chris Webb:
Thanks for that 240,great pics,takes yer back,eh?Oh yes! And also Jennings made a very tidy conversion for the B Series ERF, distinguishable from the factory version only by its flat roof. When I worked at Pandoro, a regular job for me was to do a weekly changeover at Jenings in Crewe on a Friday afternoon for a weeks: day cab ERF in and sleeper out. They did 30 for Pandoro: 2 at a time, each taking a week. I don’t have any pics of those, 'cos they’re not Atkis!!
This was the second incarnation of Jennings coachbuilders: the original company was actually bought out by ERF.
The actual bunk on a Jennings was higher up, I guess to clear the air intake? I remember that full well 'cos it was still a day cab to me as when I travelled around with my old man I had to sleep across the seats and engine cover - uncomfortable!
I still wonder how my old man persuaded women around the country to join him in it for a week!! (when I was’nt there I hasten to add!)
Back in my younger days I used to sleep across the engine box in my ERF LV / A series day cab. Not comfortable unless I had the luxury of some ‘return’ cases of tinned tomatoes with which to build up the level of the driver and passenger seats to the same level as the engine cover.
As I was transporting mixed loads of everything from fork-lift attachments, chemicals, colliery belting, and goodness knows what else as well as the tinned food, all roped and sheeted, it wasn’t that surprising that some of the cases of tins got dented occasionally. Oh dear, how sad, never mind
It was wonderfully insulated, too, that fibreglass cab - not! Oh those happy winter days of frozen clothes in the morning.
Heh heh… ‘Tell that to the youth of today and they wont believe you…’
Just looking at a couple coffin cab conversions in this months CVC, they surely cant have been more than 2ft wide, surely the bunk stowed away or folded in half or else it would have been some balancing act for most people to sleep on one.
BTW Zetorpilot, I know its a bit late now but my tip for (virtually) outdoor sleeping is a French Army sleeping bag from a surplus store, mine is awesome. Several times I have just slept in it in my parents fields after partying too hard, with no visible frostbite!
ghinzani:
Just looking at a couple coffin cab conversions in this months CVC, they surely cant have been more than 2ft wide, surely the bunk stowed away or folded in half or else it would have been some balancing act for most people to sleep on one.
They did. In the Borderer I had at Econofreight the front bit folded up and jammed behind the seat, which I suppose must have been shoved or folded forward at night. The worst thing was not the width though, it was the lack of headroom and required quite an effort to roll in and out of it while avoiding puncturing your back on the gear stick. 
When I started doing Middle East in '74,some of the sleeper conversions had to be seen to be believed.There was blokes that had bought a clapped out tractor to pull someones trailer out to Teheran or somewhere,intending to tip,scrap the unit,flog the trailer and fly home.
I remember seeing a young guy in a twin steer Scammell,you know,the ex petrol tanker job?,had just a plank across the engine hump.Did several trips with that.
Going through Eastern Turkey on the way to Teheran,came up behind a Rentco trailer being pulled by a cloud of blue smoke that turned out to be a Mk1 Atki with a Gardner 150,no sleeper at all.
Met up with a Yorkshire guy an the Syrian Jordan border,turned up with two Guy Big J’s,both with a coffin on the back.One had blown the engine in Turkey,so they had a local garage weld a tow bracket on the back of one trailer and make a straight bar up,and they had towed the dead truck through Turkey and Syria intending to get to Saidi!.Never saw them again.
Baghdad customs was one of the biggest meeting points for UK truckers.Many had a coffin fitted,but the best one was a guy that had a DIY job pop rivited to the back of his cab.
One evening,we were all sat round a fire as usual,having a brew and chewing the fat when this guy said,“I’m having an early night”,got up and went over to his motor.Five minutes later,there was such a crash,he’d stripped off,jumped in bed and the coffin had fell off the back and was sitting across the suzzies!
Happy days!
Coffeeholic:
Is this the ERF you mean?
Being a left ■■■■■■,this is probably an export model for somewhere like South Africa where ERF’s are/were very popular.
boden:
This reminded me of a unit Atkinson produced for a short time in 68/69 which was intended for export and was fitted with a Krupp sleeper cab. .
Saw one only once in Southampton about 1972/3.Had to do a double take,as I’d seen plenty of Krupps when serving in Germany,but I’d never seen one before with the big A on the front!
bestbooties:
boden:
This reminded me of a unit Atkinson produced for a short time in 68/69 which was intended for export and was fitted with a Krupp sleeper cab. .Saw one only once in Southampton about 1972/3.Had to do a double take,as I’d seen plenty of Krupps when serving in Germany,but I’d never seen one before with the big A on the front!
Yep, there’s been a thread about them a while ago: trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … upp#177759
I still have the factory build cards for them all!
bestbooties:
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Being a left ■■■■■■,this is probably an export model for somewhere like South Africa where ERF’s are/were very popular.
That, in fact was called the ‘European’ I think, 240 will correct me, and was indeed intended for export as well as ‘over the water’ work, but it wouldn’t have needed LHD for SA of course where they drove, and still do, on the left. 