A few more from the shows but at one time most of these marques could be seen in fleets around the country.
One which belonged to Aberdeen Council.
I will put some more upto date ones on eventually but I think the older lorry is of more interest.
One which belonged to Aberdeen Council.
I will put some more upto date ones on eventually but I think the older lorry is of more interest.
A couple more pics I found today of Astran KJN 671P I actually ended up owning this as a tractor unit.
Thanks for starting this great topic Mr Bewick 
I drove a few four wheelers mostly for own account firms but allso an Albion Ergo cab flat on general haulage. I did’nt know much about the business end of haulage but this seemed to be a usefull lorry, the office allways found a load for it. 
charles
Some more oldies some that have been on before but who knows what the might bring up this time?
I’m almost terrified to put on my old 4 wheel Atki knowing what the sheeting standards agency will have to say All I can add is it was early days in my roping n sheeting career. It was neater to start with but the load of electric control panels left space along the middle edges and with DM they could always fill those spaces.Result? Hand in 3 dodgy tyres to the “Tyre Panel” at Carlisle on the way down.(Excuses,excuses)
Some great pics. there chaps, well done all. Here’s a couple of my old Commer ‘walk through’ with the foldy doors. I was quite proud of this as it was the longest single trip I did in it and at 48 mph I thought I would never get there. 
I used to do the job a couple of times a year, at holiday times, for a firm from Watford who did furnace maintenance. Note the low step inside the door, where, when tired I would stand on right leg with left leg on accelerator pedal, then if I dozed off my leg would give way and wake me up! 
Crazy I know, but no persons or animals were hurt in the making of this story! 
BigG-Unit:
Some great pics. there chaps, well done all. Here’s a couple of my old Commer ‘walk through’ with the foldy doors. I was quite proud of this as it was the longest single trip I did in it and at 48 mph I thought I would never get there.
48 miles an hour? You jammy mutt. My early outings with the local co-op had me once collecting the makings of a purvey for the catering dept in a welfare hall a vast 25 miles away in Stirling in an elderly LD van.Can always remember avoiding the brand new ■■■■■■■■■■■ roundabout on the way home and choosing what was left of the old “Wilderness” brae instead. What a lark.You’d be hard pushed to believe how heavy trestles and benches,not to mention teapots,knives and forks really are
Here’s what convinced our bosses to make their purchases.
BigG-Unit:
Some great pics. there chaps, well done all. Here’s a couple of my old Commer ‘walk through’ with the foldy doors. I was quite proud of this as it was the longest single trip I did in it and at 48 mph I thought I would never get there.1
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our local davenports delivery driver used to have one o them !!
Evening all, ah the Commer Walkthru, what a brilliant concept, but like so many things engineered in good old GB, lacked the detail finishing! Those dear old pressed steel bodies would create a resonance from the little four potter never out decibled by any form of sound creation before or since! Now the “quality” of Mr BMCs LD could only be judged by the superb fit of the builders roofing felt that formed the weather proof barrier between the elements and the load, and unfortunate “chauffer”! But it has to be said cheap to repair!! Things were slower back then, just how much was bought back to me yesterday when an urgently needed pack of timber failed to arrive at the farm. Collection was the easy answer, but what with?, every thing was out working, easy, take my Scammell Scarab outfit, it has carried far more than four tonnes while in my sixteeen years ownership, and she is now fully road legal. Beautiful drive, (if a little noisy), and a real delight loaded, a three wheeled unit, worm manual steering, and a 12ft trailer make reversing a little harder than a contemporary 6x2 and45ft trailer, but turned a crisis into a delight!! Going to use her more, but not on main roads, 27mph is slower than our tractors!! Again, a brilliant British concept, but not developed, what is it with us???Any Midlanders remember the enormous fleet of local delivery Commer Walkthru Drays operated by “Beer at home means Davenports”■■ Gave them great service, and about four oclock in the after noon the access road to the Birmingham brewery would be jammed with them, their driver salesmen waiting to reload for the morrow! I dont think that the chassis cab was anywhere as noisy as the integral van, and I remember how highly the management rated them.(But they never had to drive them)!! But the thought of driving one to Scotland, well Its driven me to the Bollinger Cheerio for now.
Ha ha! nice one Saviem, and you are right about the noise! 
Don’t know about the vans, but the cabs were bad enough! The design fault I had the most trouble with was that the engine was hung on front mountings only, with another set on the rear of the gearbox. these were strung together with a sort of half bell housing at the top, made of cast ali. and a pressed metal dust cover at the bottom. With all the weight hanging on this casing it was prone to cracking, so several times needed removing to repair or replace. On my first encounter to remove it I soon ran into difficulty, for after removing the gearbox and flywheel and separating it from the block I found it to be sandwiched between the chassis and cab frame. I was amazed when I rang the Chrysler technical dept. to be told “you need to remove the engine and bring it out from the front” !! 
After assessing my options I came up with plan B, so lit up the torch and cut about a foot out of the centre of the cab floor and frame, waiting for the worst to see the cab springing out of shape, but nothing happened. I removed the offending casing, up and out through the cab, had it repaired and fitted it back in reverse order. Then I bolted the cab frame together with some brackets I made from some old Dexion, welded a bit of 1" flat on edges of floor panel and held it in place with self tappers! 
I ran that old motor for nigh on 10 years and carried out that operation many times, but when going in for test, no one ever picked up on the modification!
You are right when you say things were slower back then, but a couple of trips back from the north, (fairly local, like Glasgow/Edinburgh) I had the fuel pump go wrong and the engine just kept revving up to 65 mph! Only thing was it did it without having your foot on the pedal, which was all right on the motorway until you caught a bit of traffic. I found by pulling the stop button I could slow the engine down again, so all good.
I was a glutton for punishment, as I also bought a Commer Karrier! but like you say, they were cheap. (photos to follow)
BigG-Unit:
Some great pics. there chaps, well done all. Here’s a couple of my old Commer ‘walk through’ with the foldy doors. I was quite proud of this as it was the longest single trip I did in it and at 48 mph I thought I would never get there.1
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look at the exhaust smoke being emitted out of the rear stack!!!..disgraceful!!
Take it easy,
David
Ah yes! I can picture it now, a big chrome stack with a little flap on top!.. Don’t think it would have helped a lot though ay! 
Anyway Moving on to around 1980 ish, I think, a couple of pics which include our first D series and the Karrier I spoke of. The old ‘Walkthru’ can just be seen, to the rear, between said two motors. Also, think you can just make out the pick up conversion on the ■■■■■■ van from earlier. I loved that little motor, but it got killed, early one morning, by an artic tipper that slid on ice when leaving the yard. (shared). I never knew who it was, but he did write “sorry” in the snow on the bonnet!
Curnock: You would know this place. I moved on when Merv moved out, but he moved back for a bit after a month or so and entered the ‘Maroon’ phase. Then he had the motors attacked, (iron bars through the rads!) oh eventful times, never a dull moment, very educational!! He had big plans though and it was soon obvious the place would not be big enough and off he went again! Oh bliss! 
The Ford D series Reg. was POF and was such luxury after the Commers we called it ‘Pof the magic wagon’
and just while everyones searching for their old pics here’s some more
If there was a pic of the month comp. John Stanfields should win it. 
Ok then just to keep it on page 1.
Early to mid '8os, moving on to include bigger motors and they just happened to be green!
The little D series was still recovering from a nasty bump which necessitated a cab transplant! No time for a day off though.
BigG-Unit:
Ok then just to keep it on page 1.
Early to mid '8os, moving on to include bigger motors and they just happened to be green!
The little D series was still recovering from a nasty bump which necessitated a cab transplant! No time for a day off though.0
big g.the furthest three was they ex turpins motors from willenhall ■■
BigG-Unit:
Ok then just to keep it on page 1.
Early to mid '8os, moving on to include bigger motors and they just happened to be green!
The little D series was still recovering from a nasty bump which necessitated a cab transplant! No time for a day off though.0
I bet that tight little fleet gave an excellent return on capital invested!!! Bewick.
Bollard Quay Gt. Yarmouth ( 1950s at a guess ) and a well loaded Austin K series. He may have some more to go on yet.
In the background, on Southtown Rd. there’s a Jensen, probably Savorys the long gone fruit wholesaler
Remember these - so long ago now.
