im going to try hard to make the gaydon show this year, and here is a link showing some of the old motors that might be seen there! you never know, there might be one of our members of mates of theres lorries in this lot, im sure we’ll soon get to knowq!
Mal:
im going to try hard to make the gaydon show this year, and here is a link showing some of the old motors that might be seen there! you never know, there might be one of our members of mates of theres lorries in this lot, im sure we’ll soon get to knowq!
ah, but he’s taken photos only of the shiny ones, so he’s definitely not got mine!! It might not be shiny, but it’s how thousands of them actually looked when they were at work and, what’s more, it’s preserved, not restored!
i tell you what 240, i love the motors that are as is, so to speak. just like they were when working. i mean, i like the shiny ones as well, but im glad that theres a variety of finishes, it’d be borinfg if theyre all concorse.
Hmm, I’ve looked on that site before and I must say I agree fully with 240 - the guy missed the best motors in his pursuit of shiny paint and chrome.
The selection of pictures is too shiny for my liking, and the descriptions aren’t exactly the most accurate I’ve ever seen either.
Nevertheless, he’s taken the trouble to put them up there for everyone to see, so maybe we shouldn’t be dismissive.
I have lots of pictures of the ‘good’ stuff from last year at Gaydon, and with the new camera I hope to get a lot more this year.
hey marky, wouldnt it be great if all the people that post here can meet up at gaydon, we could, eat burgers, drink ale (if you aint driving of course) and best of all bore the ■■■■ off each other in grand style surrounded by all that great mohcinery! 
That Hastings Transport Ford Transcontinental is interesting…I see their old Cargos still working away quite often, never seen that though. I guess it might not be a working motor.
Mal:
hey marky, wouldnt it be great if all the people that post here can meet up at gaydon, we could, eat burgers, drink ale (if you aint driving of course) and best of all bore the ■■■■ off each other in grand style surrounded by all that great mohcinery!
Well it’s what we do at every rally Mal - and after seven or eight years of it, we’re not bored yet… (that’s seven or eight years for me - the rest of them have been at this rallying lark for a lot,lot longer)
We’ve not made it to Gaydon before, so this will be a first for us.
you’ll do for me m8! 
Andyroo:
That Hastings Transport Ford Transcontinental is interesting…I see their old Cargos still working away quite often, never seen that though. I guess it might not be a working motor.
The standard of the finish on the living accommodation on the trailer is excellent, I comment on it every year. The wagon itself is very, very clean - it’s almost definitely a show motor.
If you’re looking for restored bling it’s the fleets of Thomas and Knowles that you should see.
andy that is a very nice transcon!
marky:
Mal:
hey marky, wouldnt it be great if all the people that post here can meet up at gaydon, we could, eat burgers, drink ale (if you aint driving of course) and best of all bore the ■■■■ off each other in grand style surrounded by all that great mohcinery!Well it’s what we do at every rally Mal - and after seven or eight years of it, we’re not bored yet… (that’s seven or eight years for me - the rest of them have been at this rallying lark for a lot,lot longer)
We’ve not made it to Gaydon before, so this will be a first for us.
Well, we were first given the tilt to use in 1993. In the late 1980s, we did have a few excursions with a trailer tent on the back of a trailer!
Looking at those reminds me that we get very little mention of the Bedford TMs, that company’s attempt, along with Ford’s better known Transcon, to break into the heavy end of the market.
When I first went to Samuel Courtaulds (later Toray) in '85 as TM, they had a couple of 4 wheel rigids in the fleet. Can’t remember about the engine and gearbox, but the spacious (sleeper) cab interior was something special in those days.
Main problem was the lip at the bottom of the door aperture, prevented you from sweeping out the cab without a dustpan, but enabled one of my drivers to trip himself upside down to land that way on the ground with a fractured skull 
The story of the surreal conversation I had with the concussed and confused John from a nearby phone box has been retold elsewhere on this site
He lived to laugh about it BTW .
Salut, David.
i used to like the tm david, especially the ones with the detroit v8 motors, nice sounds! and youre right, the cabs were pretty good for the time. it’s a shame bedford closed shop, but gm have no loyalty to anything but cash flow and are a forign firm so it probably shouldnt have been a surprise.
not a remakable motor really but the leyland cruiser has a memory for me.
i was working for ge griffiths, all old erf’s and buffalos. one friday there was a cruiser stood in the yard, brand new on demo. so who was going to drive it? we all had to have a go over the coming week.
i got conned into doing a load to farnboro in it on the saturday to be first to drive it. of course, i was mad to drive the truck, it was new after all! so the gaffer said you take it and load a trailer for farnboro for tip in the morning. to cut a long story short, the address was residential, there was 22 ton of tiles on, and no forklift!
i would have looked at the address if id have been asked to take me old buffalo down and said ■■■■■■■■ get somebody else. but i was blinded by the cruiser. it was a long day of mauling, the motor was perky enough to drive with a tl11 in at about 210 bhp, but i allways remember being caught out on that one!
marky:
Well it’s what we do at every rally Mal - and after seven or eight years of it, we’re not bored yet… (that’s seven or eight years for me - the rest of them have been at this rallying lark for a lot,lot longer)We’ve not made it to Gaydon before, so this will be a first for us.
And it’s quite a story how we all met!
The power of the internet and getting fleeced on the purchase of some badges at Killingbeck’s auction back in 1998 were the main factors.
As Marky said, we’re not getting bored yet. You could even go so far as to say that the accomodation and cooking facilities are improving every year!
andy, are you going to be there with your motor?
nice link their mal, thanks pal, daz
Many thanks for the photos Mal ,some real memories there.
Mate of mine drove a TM for a firm in Ireland,his had the Detroit in it,you could hear it coming miles away,you didnt need a horn with one of those.
regards derek
globby 480:
nice link their mal, thanks pal, daz
glad you liekd it daz!
hey derek, those detroits have a song all of their own dont they, music they are! i was going to buy a yank, cabover listed at about 8 and a half garnd.
i think it was a kenworth, it was fitted with the 92v8 silver series. i loved the motor, ands really wanted a detroit v8 but head went over heart and i bottled it and bought a merc insted!