Hi everyone, been on me travels again, this time to Kenya. A hugely diverse selection of lorries over there including…many Mercedes “Bullnose” rigid and tractor units, I saw quite a few double drive, with sleeper cabs. I managed to have a little look in this one and do the interior pics bring back any memories■■?
TautlinerTerry:
Hi there Chaps I’ve been trawling through my holiday pics and through my archive and here’s some more “Bullnose” pics. I’ve come to the conclusion that "Bullnose " was definately a nickname for these bonneted Mercs. I know there was an old car called a Bullnose Morris but I couldn’t imagine Mercedes calling one of their lorries a “Bullnose” !? I wonder if it was just a nickname given to them by J.W.Q. drivers ■■
This picture was taken by the late Roger Kenney and is copyright to Roundoak Publishing but it can stay here. It was taken in the late 1960s when he visited their depot.
retriever:
TautlinerTerry:
Hi there Chaps I’ve been trawling through my holiday pics and through my archive and here’s some more “Bullnose” pics. I’ve come to the conclusion that "Bullnose " was definately a nickname for these bonneted Mercs. I know there was an old car called a Bullnose Morris but I couldn’t imagine Mercedes calling one of their lorries a “Bullnose” !? I wonder if it was just a nickname given to them by J.W.Q. drivers ■■
This picture was taken by the late Roger Kenney and is copyright to Roundoak Publishing but it can stay here. It was taken in the late 1960s when he visited their depot.
hiya,
The driver of this motor the only one of it’s type that Bowker ever had was driven by a good pal of mine Freddie Guest,
it’s been over forty years since we ran together and had a jar or two when off duty, hope you are keeping well mate.
thanks harry long retired.
HI All
My dad for Bowdens of Sticklepath not sure he would say it was the best lorry he had ever driven at the he had aF88.
cheers rich
Drove one of these 1418 Mercs from new on Davis Bros in 1966 on Nights, London Warrington and back 6 Nights a Week,never heard them called Bullnose just called them 1418s,what was said in one of the Post is right to get the best out of them you had to keep the Revs up even then they werent all that good just about average also bad Brakes on them,what was really good on them was the comfort after coming of an old Thornycroft Wheeler it was Heaven.
Ben.
Hiya …a mate of mine had a pink one on manchester liners(stevens macc) and we all called it a bonneted 1418
i’am pritty sure thats how they was known, bullnosed was the bedford R type and the morris cowley/oxford/isis
or that was perhaps a stokie slang
John
3300John:
Hiya …a mate of mine had a pink one on manchester liners(stevens macc) and we all called it a bonneted 1418
i’am pritty sure thats how they was known, bullnosed was the bedford R type and the morris cowley/oxford/isis
or that was perhaps a stokie slang
John
Hi there John, I’ve definately come to the conclusion that the nickname “Bullnose” was a slang name given to them by the J.W.Q. drivers only-kind of suits them I feel, all the best, Terry.
Bowkers Long nosed Merc was an ex Charles Poulter Motor this and two flat front Mercs were bought from Yiddels and were only about a year old but had very high milage and appeared to have missed being serviced or have any maintance done. i should think the Turkish Mechanics who Davis Bros employed working in mud and under canvas just accidently missed them!..Tony
Suttons Tony:
Bowkers Long nosed Merc was an ex Charles Poulter Motor this and two flat front Mercs were bought from Yiddels and were only about a year old but had very high milage and appeared to have missed being serviced or have any maintance done. i should think the Turkish Mechanics who Davis Bros employed working in mud and under canvas just accidently missed them!..Tony
hiya,
Tony the three Mercs in question were on the job when I was at Bowkers one of the flat fronts
being driven by a pal of mine rolled over coming off a car park along the A5 the same driver I
found out was killed when on for a different firm in another roll-over accident many years later.
I was running with him on the first occasion,he was just doing UK on this trip he normally did
continental.
thanks harry long retired.
3300John:
Hiya …a mate of mine had a pink one on manchester liners(stevens macc) and we all called it a bonneted 1418
i’am pritty sure thats how they was known, bullnosed was the bedford R type and the morris cowley/oxford/isis
or that was perhaps a stokie slang
John
Hello all, 3300john, that would be the late Ken Findler, I took that 1418 as a part exchange against an Atkinson 205■■■■■■■ 10sp Fuller, Group axle. The LPS was a nice lorry, provided that you made allowances for the lack of brakes, (inbuilt design feature)! Oh, and the two speed axle that was like a range change, so great was the difference. In those days my employer insisted that if you took a part exchange, then you drove it untill you sold it, boy I did earn some money with that lorry!! And I made good profit when I sold it as well, I can still remember that pink paint, and the distinctive greeny blue that we painted his Atkinson in!! Cheerio for now.
Suttons Tony:
Bowkers Long nosed Merc was an ex Charles Poulter Motor this and two flat front Mercs were bought from Yiddels and were only about a year old but had very high milage and appeared to have missed being serviced or have any maintance done. i should think the Turkish Mechanics who Davis Bros employed working in mud and under canvas just accidently missed them!..Tony
Hi Tony
There was never any Turkish Mechanics worked in Mud or under Canvas to my knowledge Davis Bros had Workshops much the same as Everybody else,I think Somebody must have been kidding you.
Ben.
Saviem:
3300John:
Hiya …a mate of mine had a pink one on manchester liners(stevens macc) and we all called it a bonneted 1418
i’am pritty sure thats how they was known, bullnosed was the bedford R type and the morris cowley/oxford/isis
or that was perhaps a stokie slang
JohnHello all, 3300john, that would be the late Ken Findler, I took that 1418 as a part exchange against an Atkinson 205■■■■■■■ 10sp Fuller, Group axle. The LPS was a nice lorry, provided that you made allowances for the lack of brakes, (inbuilt design feature)! Oh, and the two speed axle that was like a range change, so great was the difference. In those days my employer insisted that if you took a part exchange, then you drove it untill you sold it, boy I did earn some money with that lorry!! And I made good profit when I sold it as well, I can still remember that pink paint, and the distinctive greeny blue that we painted his Atkinson in!! Cheerio for now.
Hiya…yes and it was me who painted the merc pink. so yes i did drive one if only into the garage where i worked with a chap from the same close as Ken…the turquoise Atki MRE…K was the first atki the adams butter had and i painted that to… that was the lorry that got me the sack from Adams…the driver who had MRE on nights Geoff Coates was trying to drive her round the yard…well after having RRE a mammoth minor
with the 6 speed box he did’nt have a clue, i jumped in with him and was showing him how to use a 10 speed fuller NO CHANCE he kept letting the revs die down, so he said show me. as he was due to do the london trunk. in i got and revved her round the yard with that fan howeling like a good one. the transport manager come running out and dragged me out of the atki saying its not a racing car and banned me from driving anything… he called me into the office and said we had a problem. then asked if i wanted to leave or get the boot…
i never asked him if he was going to sack all the other drivers he heard revving MRE…as you know thats how the worked…
John
Bit before my time there but Kenneth Wilson Bulk Grain of Knottingley,Tuxford and Louth used to run some
brandsbybank:
Bit before my time there but Kenneth Wilson Bulk Grain of Knottingley,Tuxford and Louth used to run some
Still much loved and used in the UAE, I took these pictures when I was working out there
regards Big Al
Hiya saviem… ken was a nice chap, he run a long door lv erf 6 wheel tipper when i first knew him…
one day he was in the cafe telling me about the roadtrains he worked on in austraila. he had a £10
passage and spent time down there…
John
Hi.
Yes I drove a bullnose merc 14/18 for findus of Grimsby and also big Js with 180 gardner this was in the early 1970s Im in my early 70s.the earliest truck that I drove was an 8 wheeled 1948 ACE mammoth major with a wooden (park royal cab).
Suttons Tony:
Bowkers Long nosed Merc was an ex Charles Poulter Motor this and two flat front Mercs were bought from Yiddels and were only about a year old but had very high milage and appeared to have missed being serviced or have any maintance done. i should think the Turkish Mechanics who Davis Bros employed working in mud and under canvas just accidently missed them!..Tony
This being one of them…
harry_gill:
[one of the flat fronts
being driven by a pal of mine rolled over coming off a car park along the A5
Was this the incident, Harry?
240 Gardner:
harry_gill:
[one of the flat fronts
being driven by a pal of mine rolled over coming off a car park along the A5Was this the incident, Harry?
hiya,
Yes that was the end product looks like it had just arrived back at Hollin Bridge St for “Bruno” the fleet engineer to have a look at as I said in a previous post Jack Leach was the driver,I was first off the car park and saw it go over in my rear view mirror there was four of us on the “car” park that morning having a “liquid” breakfast Don Smith Atki, Fred Guest Bullnose Merc, Jack Leach this Merc and myself in the ■■■■■■■ engined Atki or the “Powehouse”, that’s why I was in front didn’t want held up with those the other three snails.
thanks harry long retired.
TautlinerTerry:
There are lots of topics on here regarding the Scania v Volvo debate and rightly so-both totally excellent lorries. Arguably you could say these two Swedes are the best on the road-but are Mercs a close runner up in third?? My abiding memories, as a child of the 1970’s are of my Dads “Bullnose” Merc 14-18 he had for a few years on J.W.Q. Transport at the Reading depot.I always and still do think that proportionately, they just look good. I remember going with my Dad on many occasions, no power steering so swines to reverse, mostly metal inside so quite noisy and they are the first lorry I can remember with three windscreen wipers.The first question is, were they actually called “Bullnoses” or was that just an unofficial nickname for them?? J.W.Q. had a few of these motors and on a spot check in London one was found to be over length with a 40’ trailer so they had to order some 38’ ones instead! The first pic you can see this Bullnose wad a D plate so puts it to the 64-65 era and was basically B.R.S. cherry red and the second was a J plate and in J.W.Q.s later colours of white with a red stripe round the middle. Interestingly enough these motors must be still made by Mercedes as I’ve still seen them all over the place Including Greece, Turkey and Egypt. Over to you now chaps any info…?
Hi. I actually owned one as an owner driver back in the 70s worked for Cave Wood for a time then bought my own tilt then went on european work. It served me well but died on the M6. I bought it from Chepping Motors in High Wycombe where I lived at the time.
It had a red chassis, green cab and a white roof and was coach lined around the tanks and the front wings.
