Just returned from a fab holiday on the Greek island of Kefalonia.
Very mountainous island with stunning scenery!..
Had some great food and of course loads of ice cold beer to make the 40c hot days easier to handle…
Anyway; Cut to the chase. Never mind the pretty pretty pictures… the trucks running around the place were priceless!
But to start, a few “relics” left to dry out in the scorching heat…
Spotted this F89 on first day there. Looked like it had been parked on side of road and simply left to rot. Poor old girl.
Another icon, just parked up and forgotten about
Couldn’t get into the yard, for any better photos.
Anyone know what this is/was ■■?
A few chickens, a dog and a goat living in this one!
At the back of the petrol station look what I found.
The “spares” truck.
Not quite sure what purpose the palletts served here!
But these are the ones which “did it” for me!
Spotted at any of the fishing harbours across the island were many big cabbed rigids.
Due to intense heat, the island was like a “tinderbox” waiting to go up! Fire brigade was on constant red alert.
I was amazed to see so many “old timers” still in service. Spotted at least 6 or 7 of these 4x4 Maggies.
An N10 and N12 ready for the off…
This 3600 had broken down right on a bad bend! Cab up, driver underneath… 5 days later, it was still there
Plenty of these old Mercs and MAN’s still running around.
Very early F12 Globetrotter, but kept in absolutely stunning condition!
This F89 had been bought brand new in Sweden and driven back to Kefalonia! Its 40 years old and still doing the fuel run every day
Without doubt, this was my favourite “old timer”
The owner did not speak English but he knew what I was doing and seemed very proud that I wanted to take pics of his…well… “WRECK”!
Spotted it running round the capital Argostoli many times. Actually heard it coming way before I saw it. A tadge noisy
The Fassi 90 ton per metre crane looked immense as it reached out to the boats to lift off aggregate and stone. Sorry, not allowed into port for those pics
It’s badged as a CH 230. It’s Swiss “spec” but I didn’t know Volvo made a 230 Swiss special■■? Anyone know more?
Check out the bodywork. I reckon it was way overweight before anything was loaded But hey who cares… this is Kefalonia…
hi ash,
brilliant holiday photos mate .we recently called into crete on a cruise and i was amazed at the motors there.regarding the ch volvo,i saw one in rhodes back in 1997.she was a 6 wheeler tank drag,cab wise(swiss spec) the same as the one you saw.the swiss,as you are probably aware,have/had an odd "truck width rule"you can see the wings on the ch are almost flush with the cab sides,making the whole motor narrower.brilliant finds,that’s my kind of holiday .
regards andrew.
Hi Ash, sounds like you had a great holiday, when I first went to Greece in 79 two of us were sent by way of Italy via Ancona/Patras therefor a long drive through Athens and up to clear customs and deliver in Lamia, I was just amazed by the amount of F89s and 140s six wheel rigids on the road, give the Greeks their due they always had trucks with plenty of power for the job although some of those high sided vehicles used to be well freighted. Greece used to be a fantastic place to drive to either on the ferry or overland (unless it was raining ask anyone how slippery the roads were when wet, I’ve had 38 ton drifting sideways round bends just had to hang on and hope) diesel was cheap as was food and beer and there were a great bunch of regulars doing it in the eighties, hey maybe there’s another book in there somewhere.
regards Charlie
The reason that the Greeks were running around in top of the range stuff plonked on to 4 wheels was that Greece was taken over by the Generals in the 70’s -it was a dictatorship. To placate the population they gave 'em freebies & one of them was giving farmers 140’s ect; to haul 3t of hay about on a 4 wheeler sleeper cab. The first time I went there I was amazed at the quality of the over-the-top power toys they had standing outside their cottages.
Hi Ashley, the first few pictures would still have been running when i was down there last, and if not they would have rebuilt them. Amazing pictures from a different era.
The Green CH230 was a special just for Switzerland, it had nothing to do with engine power but the width of the lorry, it was 2.3 metres wide
great pics mate,notice none with dawn at steering wheel or you hanging off mirror arm taken by dawn so i am guessing she didnt go truck spotting with you lol
brucethegooner:
great pics mate,notice none with dawn at steering wheel or you hanging off mirror arm taken by dawn so i am guessing she didnt go truck spotting with you lol
Cunning plan…to leave her with a fist full of Euro’s at the pool bar just at the time when the Italian “boys” came round. She seemed more than happy But still wants to marry me for some bizarre reason
Never saw another one like it though. Clever these Greeks… 
