Hi all,
As a kid growing up in South Wales in the 1970’s I well remember the large number of column change man of nationwide transport at Cardiff and several other firms.as far as i recall,all the welsh firms that ran them back in those days,loved them.later during the 80’s and 90’s the notorious Cardiff transport ran dozens of man between South Wales and Scotland and also rated them highly.during this time joint motorways in port talbot ran three f90’s against dozens of sk mercs and daf’s.again these were a good truck that performed as I recall without ever having any problems.sadly from the feedback received by friends and customers at work these days it is a completely different story,the engines seem to be prone to heavy oil consumption and this is generally a pre-cursor to the engine seizing solid.a real shame as in South Wales at least they were once very well thought of.
Regards andrew.
The Robertson M.A.N was re-engined with a 14 Ltr ■■■■■■■ remember reading about it in Scotish Transport news years ago. Wonder if it still survives?
This M.A.N. tractor unit was photographed at Burmarrad Commercials garage on Malta last month.
It`s ex-Taylor of Martley , and maybe someone on here might remember it .
Apologies in advance if the photo is not the correct way up.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
adr:
Here are a couple I had a play with. The Demo’ 1 we had on Cannon’s was when the F90 cab first came out, I had it for a 3 day run up North X2 nights out, I thought it was a cracking motor
& much as I liked my F7 at the time I would happily have kept the MAN
), & with the fuse out & 16 gears to choose from she was a flyer
I was at TNT Milton park when this was on the demo fleet and we used it whilst one of our units was in for repairs! your right a real flyer…off the clock on the A34 back to the yard 
, thought I had broken the tachometer, it was just the needle jumped over the card edge…
I had 3 MANs, a few years ago now from a dealer in Hereford I think, they were ex John Raymond. The reg no ending in JDW, think one 246, can’t remember the year, I’ll have to look in the office. They were all painted up in the yellow and green freightliner livery and went in Trafford park. Good motors, went well only trouble one stuck in gear and had to be sorted but other than that brill motors
As has already been said the F2000 MAN was a very nice truck, especially with the Roadhaus cab. I drove a few for Carn Distribution out of Redruth in the mid nineties and a bit later on, running over to continental Europe. Never felt tired driving one even after a long day behind the wheel, and the truck had a nice feel of quality which I think is lacking in the newer versions.
Loading wine in SW France (not a million miles from where I’m sitting now)
Heading home through the vineyards
Pulling one of Ken Cox’s chill-liners, hauling produce for TFE Vannes (those insulated curtains took a fair bit of effort to open up)
This was the nicest MAN F2000 I ever drove. Top spec Roadhaus loading fish in PZ for Brittany, again working for TFE. I wish I had some better photos of this one as it really was a beautifully specced truck. The boss had an identical pair of units and they went as far as Turkey pulling fridges.
~ Craig
I don’t know quite how I’ve missed this thread. I agree with many of the previous posts that have commented on an underestimated lorry. The MAN was a quiet achiever - it was comfortable, reliable and got on with the job.
I drove some with the old F8 cab. The 16.280s and 16,281s we had on Portway in Faversham all had excellently-installed 13-speed Fuller boxes (see below).
The LHD 192 powered draw-bar I drove was great on the flat but slow up those German hills! And the manual ZF 12-speed box was crap. Even did Poland in it! (see below).
The early F90s supplied to Portway all had Eaton Twin-splitters in them. Like the Fullers before them, they were excellently installed and sweet as a nut.
The LHD F90 with the Commander cab was comfy enough and I did the occasional Morocco with it, but that ZF slap-across gear-shift was never a favourite of mine (see below).
And this F2000 402 with the Roadhaus cab I sometimes drove for Jeff Welton was a good, comfortable, reliable lorry (see below).
And that’s as modern as I got on the MAN front! Robert 
Great photos Robert, that Westermann outfit must have made for an energetic drive.
Am I right in thinking that the Commander was based on the narrower of the two MAN cabs, while the Roadhaus was obviously the full-width version?
~ Craig
Craig 111:
Great photos Robert, that Westermann outfit must have made for an energetic drive.Am I right in thinking that the Commander was based on the narrower of the two MAN cabs, while the Roadhaus was obviously the full-width version?
~ Craig
Has anyone got any interior shots of a 16.240 or 16.280
bluemikehill:
Craig 111:
Great photos Robert, that Westermann outfit must have made for an energetic drive.Am I right in thinking that the Commander was based on the narrower of the two MAN cabs, while the Roadhaus was obviously the full-width version?
~ Craig
Has anyone got any interior shots of a 16.240 or 16.280
Have a look through here:
baumaschinenbilder.de/forum/ … r=0&page=1
I think the F7 was the 232, with the upright dash and column change, then the 240 was the F8. I haven’t a clue what the F9 was- maybe the 281/321 was an F9? I found these F8s:
I have some more- crew cabs, top sleepers and a bizarre “Middle East Special” type, which manages to cram all of the kitchen stuff and two bunks into a standard-height cab, if you are interested.
Craig 111:
Great photos Robert, that Westermann outfit must have made for an energetic drive.Am I right in thinking that the Commander was based on the narrower of the two MAN cabs, while the Roadhaus was obviously the full-width version?
~ Craig
The Commander was a full-width job, I think it was simply the precurser to the Roadhaus if I’m not mistaken. Robert
Couple of photos of Dads truck when he worked for BET. The Rouen photo he had just tipped at lubesol and waiting for a back load
[zb]
anorak:bluemikehill:
Craig 111:
Great photos Robert, that Westermann outfit must have made for an energetic drive.Am I right in thinking that the Commander was based on the narrower of the two MAN cabs, while the Roadhaus was obviously the full-width version?
~ Craig
Has anyone got any interior shots of a 16.240 or 16.280
Have a look through here:
baumaschinenbilder.de/forum/ … r=0&page=1
I think the F7 was the 232, with the upright dash and column change, then the 240 was the F8. I haven’t a clue what the F9 was- maybe the 281/321 was an F9? I found these F8s:
1
0
I have some more- crew cabs, top sleepers and a bizarre “Middle East Special” type, which manages to cram all of the kitchen stuff and two bunks into a standard-height cab, if you are interested.
Hi Robert!
The F9 was a mix of F8 and F90 components.
They used the old ultra short F8 cab (called Twiggy-Cab in memory of the thin 70’s Model “Twiggy”) with components of the new F90.
The result was that maximum capacity truck that i linked here (scroll down, please):
baumaschinenbilder.de/forum/ … 0&page=195
Regards!
Jörg
I had a Turbo Star with that ZF box in, 4 with a split, then through the gate and the same again. It was a right bag of monkeys to drive, especially when it had a 480 feeding it power.
The series 1 Globetrotter with a kitchen pack in took a fair bit of room compared to the ones without them, it would be good to see how MAN shoehorned a kitchen pack into a standard height F8 cab.
I dragged a MAN Westerman draw bar from up on the moor between Riems and Laon back to Calais on a straight bar when I found it stranded in a remote rest area late on Christmas day 94. He was an ex squaddie and on his first trip, told me he was coming back from Germany and Austria so I don’t know how he ended up at where he did.
I stopped near Ankara to help a guy with an ex Dutch MAN draw bar that had a mid mount under slung engine. I don’t think my back’s been the same since.
Jeff…
Jelliot:
The series 1 Globetrotter with a kitchen pack in took a fair bit of room compared to the ones without them, it would be good to see how MAN shoehorned a kitchen pack into a standard height F8 cab.Jeff…
I guess that the panel against the back wall is the lower bunk, those black knobs being the feet on which it would rest. The top bunk must have to be lowered somehow to use it.
Hi Robert!
The F9 was a mix of F8 and F90 components.
They used the old ultra short F8 cab (called Twiggy-Cab in memory of the thin 70’s Model “Twiggy”) with components of the new F90.
The result was that maximum capacity truck that i linked here (scroll down, please):
baumaschinenbilder.de/forum/ … 0&page=195
Regards!
Jörg
[/quote]
It was certainly a horrible living space! Robert
[zb]
anorak:Jelliot:
The series 1 Globetrotter with a kitchen pack in took a fair bit of room compared to the ones without them, it would be good to see how MAN shoehorned a kitchen pack into a standard height F8 cab.Jeff…
0
I guess that the panel against the back wall is the lower bunk, those black knobs being the feet on which it would rest. The top bunk must have to be lowered somehow to use it.
That looks pretty harsh, there can’t be much more than 400mm between the bunks if the top one was down, you wouldn’t want anyone bigger than a couple of jockey’s driving it.
Has any one ever double maned and tried to sleep on the top bunk of a moving truck■■? Interesting experience !!!
Jeff…
Jelliot:
[zb]
anorak:Jelliot:
The series 1 Globetrotter with a kitchen pack in took a fair bit of room compared to the ones without them, it would be good to see how MAN shoehorned a kitchen pack into a standard height F8 cab.Jeff…
0
I guess that the panel against the back wall is the lower bunk, those black knobs being the feet on which it would rest. The top bunk must have to be lowered somehow to use it.That looks pretty harsh, there can’t be much more than 400mm between the bunks if the top one was down, you wouldn’t want anyone bigger than a couple of jockey’s driving it.
Has any one ever double maned and tried to sleep on the top bunk of a moving truck■■? Interesting experience !!!
Jeff…
Yes! Never again: I was rolled about like a sausage on a greased tray - and that was with a really good, skilled driver! Robert
Hi
I,m one of those that thinks that MAN’s are an underrated truck. In the 90’s I had a F2000 for a while ,I used to think that for that time it was a really good truck, did all that was asked of it ,was reliable ,warm and comfortable.
Fast forward to the 2000’s and I ,along with many others on our firm ,got a new TGX 440.Pictured is the one that I got new. It took a long time to get it to fit to me but I got to like it ,big steering wheel and all. It was warm, comfortable, and even the gearbox ,whilst not of IShift standard, never caused any problems.
If I really had a choice,and such a truck was on the market, I would have a present day MAN with a Volvo engine and Ishift Box, but I would not complain if I was asked to drive a MAN again.
Cheers Bassman
