Great atmospheric shot of the day MML ! can’t just make out the full reg. no. but it was obviously prior to the Big J and it was the later “long door” version and had the ■■■■■■■ 180 engine. Brings back memories of a Millom haulier ■■ Clarke and their identical unit and short tandem axle trailer which had low side boards. This motor was driven by the late Bob Wright, from Millom, and his regular job was three round trips per week from Millom to Sheffield. He delivered Pig Iron on the outward trip and returned with broken scrap moulds to the Iron Works in Millom. In order to complete these 3 round trips he stayed at The Kelmscot café on the A6 at Chorley about 3 nights per week . When I was a trailer mate at Brady’s in the mid/later 60’s we sometimes digged there if we had tipped tin plate at MB nearby. Bob was always at the digs, either on his way to Sheffield or on his way back to Millom. The rates out of Millom were , I’m told, very keen ! but I suppose if the motor was loaded 100% there and back it probably worked. Those were the days ! Cheers Dennis.
moomooland:
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I can remember the Rutherford Brothers Guys from North Shields in the mid 60’s. They were one of the first International transporters I can recall. They used to park up on spare ground at the bottom end of Church Way when on standby alongside the Tynemouth buses whose drivers were having their breaks. Rumour used to be that they not only carried fish from the North Shields fish quay but also horse meat to Belgium. Perhaps others may know whether this was true or not.
HSP
HARRYSPOTTER:
moomooland:
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0I can remember the Rutherford Brothers Guys from North Shields in the mid 60’s. They were one of the first International transporters I can recall. They used to park up on spare ground at the bottom end of Church Way when on standby alongside the Tynemouth buses whose drivers were having their breaks. Rumour used to be that they not only carried fish from the North Shields fish quay but also horse meat to Belgium. Perhaps others may know whether this was true or not.
HSP
Well Mr H, A good late friend of mine drove for them, Mind you this was before their artic days, He had an 8 wheeler AEC, , He used to run fish in those days, He never mentioned the unmentionable, 
, Regards Larry.
A staged photo by Banks’s or Guy motors at The Royal Oak in Blackhalve lane Wolverhampton, pub was demolished just over 10 years ago and the site is now an Aldi.
moomooland:
0Guy Invincible operated by Spinks Transport Services of Darlington.
In 1969 Spinks were bought by Amalgamated Rubber and Industrial Products Ltd. for £106,000 and became Spinks Interfreight,
When Allisons went in to administration my Dad at the time was based in Nottingham he returned on a Friday evening and the Glaisdale Drive depot was closed he was told to empty his cab by the gateman
This was 2 weeks before Christmas around 5 weeks later Spinks had took over the lorries from Nottingham and they were replaced by older AECs
All the newer tackle was sent to Darlington
Cheers Gary
my dads 2 guys ,■■■■■■■ 205 and 6 speed boxes, bought to replace the unreliable scania 80 in the photo on his kilmarnock night trunk.
tony
tonyj105:
my dads 2 guys ,■■■■■■■ 205 and 6 speed boxes, bought to replace the unreliable scania 80 in the photo on his kilmarnock night trunk.tony
Hiya,
Olay and I thought I was the only driver (retd) in the whole wide world
who thought the Scania 80 was crap.
thanks harry, long retired.
harry_gill:
tonyj105:
my dads 2 guys ,■■■■■■■ 205 and 6 speed boxes, bought to replace the unreliable scania 80 in the photo on his kilmarnock night trunk.tony
Hiya,
Olay and I thought I was the only driver (retd) in the whole wide world
who thought the Scania 80 was crap.
thanks harry, long retired.
I have a feeling that a certain member of the ■■■■■■■ Mafia, may be paying you two a visit shortly 
Aubrey Watson were based at Henley on Thames, later absorbed into ECC group I think. They surfaced the main A329 outside our house in Reading after it was widened in the mid 1960’s.
Pete.
dave docwra:
harry_gill:
tonyj105:
my dads 2 guys ,■■■■■■■ 205 and 6 speed boxes, bought to replace the unreliable scania 80 in the photo on his kilmarnock night trunk.tony
Hiya,
Olay and I thought I was the only driver (retd) in the whole wide world
who thought the Scania 80 was crap.
thanks harry, long retired.I have a feeling that a certain member of the ■■■■■■■ Mafia, may be paying you two a visit shortly
It was the worst scania i’ve ever known, the rev counter packed up first on the way to its first service, after that you had to stop every 15 miles or so to let it cool down. Scania hadn’t got an answer and david abbotts scani 80 was going well. Eventually it was found that it had sat around for 6 months or so before we bought it and the rad was clogged.
Too late really, the guy/■■■■■■■ combo won the day and my dad over. He did buy a 110 years later though but it was always ■■■■■■■ 1st with him.
tonyj105:
dave docwra:
harry_gill:
tonyj105:
my dads 2 guys ,■■■■■■■ 205 and 6 speed boxes, bought to replace the unreliable scania 80 in the photo on his kilmarnock night trunk.tony
Hiya,
Olay and I thought I was the only driver (retd) in the whole wide world
who thought the Scania 80 was crap.
thanks harry, long retired.I have a feeling that a certain member of the ■■■■■■■ Mafia, may be paying you two a visit shortly
It was the worst scania i’ve ever known, the rev counter packed up first on the way to its first service, after that you had to stop every 15 miles or so to let it cool down. Scania hadn’t got an answer and david abbotts scani 80 was going well. Eventually it was found that it had sat around for 6 months or so before we bought it and the rad was clogged.
Too late really, the guy/■■■■■■■ combo won the day and my dad over. He did buy a 110 years later though but it was always ■■■■■■■ 1st with him.
Hiya,
I came off an Atki with a 220 ■■■■■■■ to the Scania 80 what a shock
to the system on it’s maiden voyage a flexie fuel pipe burst repaired
myself with bits I purchased from a nearby motorcycle shop earlier I
had to locate the vent hole in the filler cap, (painted over) the tank
had sucked in by the time I’d got to my brekkie stop. Finally I got to
Dover dropped my trailer and attempted to pick up my backloaded
tilt for home “Bang” a halfshaft snapped which on examination by the
boffins was proven to be metal fatigue. I did on my own initiative
get the rig home Dover to Blackburn using the difflock.
thanks harry, long retired.
I’m currently reading a biography of Sir William Lyons and I’m up to the 1960s. We all know that Jaguar bought Guy from the receivers not long after they had bought Daimler, whose cars were unprofitable, but the Daimler Fleetline rear engine bus was considered the best of the rear engine double deck models on the market. So Jaguar took on two failed, or failing companies. Sir William Lyons had long harboured an ambition to get into commercial vehicle production, surprisingly. Guy was planning the Big J Range around the ■■■■■■■ V6 and V8 engines, but none had been produced and prototypes were sent over to the UK from USA. There were quite advanced negotiations taking place with Bussing in Germany for them to produce ■■■■■■■ V engines under licence. Lyons was aghast at that prospect, he wouldn’t countenance a German produced engine in any vehicle he built. A ■■■■■■■ V6 engine was trialled in a Daimler Fleetline but it was rough running and had a poor mpg. As a consequence Jaguar got involved with ■■■■■■■ and its V engines and a new company Jaguar ■■■■■■■ was actually set up. Some years before Jaguar had bought Coventry Climax and their legendary engine guru was Walter Hassan, ex-Bentley Motors, and he had worked for Jaguar previously, being involved in the Jaguar XK engine introduced in 1948. But even Hassan and Jaguar couldn’t make a success of the ■■■■■■■ V engines.
Not long after acquiring Guy Jaguar bought Henry Meadows, another basket case company, mainly for its premises which was adjacent to Guy at Wolverhampton. Another interesting snippet is that Jaguar had owned Motor Panels for a couple of years in the late 1930s. I’m at the stage in the book of the takeover of Jaguar by BMC, which predates the Leyland / BMC merger. Lyons was the last of the automotive industry autocrats, thoroughly in complete control of Jaguar. He counted amongst his friends Sir William Black of AEC, then Leyland, and Sir Henry Spurrier of Leyland. Lyons detested Donald Stokes, who of course later took control of Jaguar. It seems that no senior motor industry figures had any time at all for Stokes.
Interesting reading.
Following on from the above and the reasons Sir William Lyons gave for Jaguar becoming part of BMC.
Jaguar was a profitable company but Lyons was in his mid-'60s, and he was still very hands-on in managing Jaguar and its associate companies. His main concern was the supply of body shells for the saloon cars, which mostly came from Pressed Steel, owned by BMC. E-type bodies were made in-house by Jaguar at Browns Lane. Typically Jaguar was buying about 20,000 body shells annually, but because it was a relatively small quantity in comparison to BMC’s totals Jaguar was often kept waiting for supplies. Reasons, industrial relations and disputes, poor quality, and rectifications that Jaguar had to do. Lyons thought that by being part of BMC he would be guaranteed his numbers of body shells. Also George Harriman who was Chairman of BMC guaranteed Lyons autonomy to run Jaguar in the manner he always had done. However, when BMC’s (or BMH as it had become) annual financial results were published after the first year that Jaguar was part of the group, Lyons was horrified at BMC’s losses (Jaguar was still profitable) and realised he perhaps had made a mistake.
In 1968 Prime Minister Harold Wilson hosted a dinner at Chequers for George Harriman of BMC and Donald Stokes of Leyland as a prequel to the merger of both companies. As negotiations progressed and the full extent of BMC’s finances became apparent Leyland wanted to withdraw and things got very acrimonious indeed. Eventually, from being a merger, Leyland mounted a hostile takeover bid, forced on it by the Labour Government, and Lyons had to act as something as a middle man to negotiate the deal through. The stress of it all made Harriman seriously ill and he had to retire. The rest is history.
One factor often mentioned in reviews of the British motor industry of the 1950s and '60s is the lack of investment. One reason for low investment which becomes apparent in this book is the high levels of corporation tax in this period, 55 to 60% on profitable companies, which took a big chunk of money out of businesses.
Just another mention of Stokes and his management ethos. He would not countenance any subsidiary, no matter how successful, having autonomy. It had to be a group approach. Jaguar had long been an exporting success story, in some years up to 70% of its output being exported, with USA being its biggest market. It operated its exports divisions on a franchise / dealership basis. When Leyland took over that very successful business model was dismantled in favour of Leyland’s overseas divisions and company policy. Another serious error in Lyon’s view.
Oh no “GF” when do we get to the part about the 8LXB Big J’s ? Don’t tell me ---- you are saving the best, or worse, to last ! 
Interesting reading though I’ll give you that, thanks, well for now anyway !! Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Oh no “GF” when do we get to the part about the 8LXB Big J’s ? Don’t tell me ---- you are saving the best, or worse, to last !
Hiya,
Dennis I don’t think we’ll need to whizz our caps in the stewpot for a while yet 
Bewick:
Oh no “GF” when do we get to the part about the 8LXB Big J’s ? Don’t tell me ---- you are saving the best, or worse, to last !
In the book there’s a photo of Sir William Lyons standing in front of a Guy Big J, and all of the radiator grille is very visible. On the grille there is…nothing that tells us what engine is powering it, So sorry, no proof either way. 