Written by Stewart Hellawell circa 1981 when travelling to Italy with his father Mick, working for AS Rawlings.
gazzer:
Written by Stewart Hellawell circa 1981 when travelling to Italy with his father Mick, working for AS Rawlings.
How things have changed, in so many ways… 
Thanks once again DeanB; the Phil Llewellin LDD about the furniture van to Norway was 24 carat! I could not recall this particular article, until I read the valedictory closing statement about “echoing the views of every driver over 10 years of LDD”, then it all came back to me!
PL’s turn of phrase left me pondering when I read it and sure enough, that was his last ever LDD. There was no announcement as such; LDD was carried over to Truck & Driver and carried on with new writers. As LDD was my joint favourite piece in Truck, I was gutted; however all good things come to an end…
A few years later I met George Bennett, then the Editor of Truck, and asked him about PL’s abrupt departure. Apparently he had had a ‘moment of clarity’ whilst stuck in a cab somewhere and decided that 10 years of this sort of travel was enough.
One thing in particular that strikes me re-reading these articles again is that Phil liked a drop, and enjoyed the company of those that also did too! God bless Phil; he struck me as a proper gent, and was certainly taken from us far too soon 
Hi DeanB, have you bought a copy of the reprints yet?
Hats off to you mate, several of those you were good enough to put on here have been chosen for the re-issue - you obviously have a good eye for an article !! 
GCR2ERF:
Hi DeanB, have you bought a copy of the reprints yet?Hats off to you mate, several of those you were good enough to put on here have been chosen for the re-issue - you obviously have a good eye for an article !!
Hello, no not yet will have a look at one today.
Heres one from 1976,click on pages to read.
Hi DeanB, have you bought a copy of the reprints yet?
They have reprints Truck Magazine ■■ Have You any link or info where these can be found ? Thank’s 
slink780:
Hi DeanB, have you bought a copy of the reprints yet?They have reprints Truck Magazine ■■ Have You any link or info where these can be found ? Thank’s
Hello Slink, i havent bought the new mag and i dont think there is a link that i know of. I think its for sale in
W H Smiths ?
Heres one from 1983
Click on pages to read for better focus.
Thank’s Dean. I found the link and have already received the Magazine. Like your posts it brings back a lot of good old memories. I appreciate all your posts and Thank You for taking the time to share
Darn you DeanB… those two last posts will see sod all else done by me this morning!
Hi All…
Just remembering about Truck Magazine and the LDD, which I used to read avidly way back when.
I wonder if anyone remembers or has a copy of one such article.
Written in 1980 or '81 it concerned two Macks belonging to a company called Satrans / Satransco.
The drivers were John Canty and Gary Chowns who I worked with at the time, based in Fareham Hampshire.
There was also another article and a photo shoot of the trucks when they were first delivered new.
Any info would be appreciated…
There was also another LDD about Abadan services on an M/E trip. This company was the forerunner of the above. The driver as I recall was a Scotsman called Billy Cook…
Cheers, Baldrick.
Heres the Macks Baldrick. The middle east article i posted on a thread called Russia/Middle east/other unusual
destinations thats on page 8 now if you want to read it.The article about the Macks was not in 1980 or 81 ? Was
it definately in Truck magazine and was it definately a Ldd ?
Click on first page for better focus.
Hi Dean… That’s great work mate . Thank you.
I’m just thinking , that was 34 years ago… Jeez.
I remember we took the units down to Lee on Solent for the pictures, the blondy model was quite tasty as I recall!
As for the article… I can’t be certain it was an LLD. Definately Truck though… All I can say for certain was they were on route for Italy and there were pics of them going over Mont Cenis among others …
Cheers for now!
Baldrick .
Hi Dean… I’ve just had a quick look at the Abadan article… 1976! Seems like yesterday I read that…
A couple of points. Apologies to Billy Cook as I wrongly stated he was a Scotsman and it seems he was from Co Kildare.
And, in the article you printed above, it states that Martin Lyon was the driver in that LDD with Abadan… when in fact it is Billy.
I didn’t know Martin in 1976 but worked for him , and with him at Satransco, eventually becoming a Director of that company.
I never saw him drive a truck and I’m pretty certain he didn’t have an HGV licence…
At no time did we run Dodges as stated and we certainly didn’t have an office in Khartoum either!!
I suspect Martin might have been guilty of a bit of " creative embellishment " 
We gained a bit of National notoriety during our time in Fareham when we supplied a rental truck to Eddie " the bear " Watkins who went on to shoot and kill a customs officer in London whilst attempting to smuggle a large amount of drugs into the uk in a 40’ box with a false floor. The pictures of our M.A.N. unit were front page for a while .
I have mentioned this before on another thread.
I lost touch with Martin in the middle eighties. Last I knew he was a director at Frigoscandia.
Maybe someone on here knows more…
Hello Baldrick
I seem to remember reading something about the Macks but havent found anything yet. If i do i will pop it on.
One from April 1981.Click on pages for better focus.
In that Tombstone article there’s a reference to running through Iran in a 1978 edition and I’m wondering if that might possibly be part of the elusive UK-Pakistan run article that’s in my hazy memory and if so is it there somewhere among your collection. 
Carryfast:
In that Tombstone article there’s a reference to running through Iran in a 1978 edition and I’m wondering if that might possibly be part of the elusive UK-Pakistan run article that’s in my hazy memory and if so is it there somewhere among your collection.
Yes i have it,from memory its a sherpa van i think. Will probably post it on the midle east/russia thread thats on
page 8 at the moment.