Yes, new trucks are easy to drive, comfortable and are nearly home from home but does anyone miss driving older trucks, lower power, manual gearbox but needing actual driver input??
Myself i look back at my old F7, fairly hard ride,low power (224hp) and correspondingly low torque output but actually great and involving to drive.It wasnt a std 7, i had the chassis stretched to 4m to allow getting under long pin tilts and rear air suspension. At 38tonne and sometimes over that 
it struggled on the hills, needed full use of the gearbox,much engine thrashing and much use of downhill sections to climb the next gradient and may just as well had the pedal nailed to the floor! Imacculate paint, cab and chassis, alcoas and Eminox it was my pride and joy. Engine noise alone meant falling asleep at the wheel wasnt an option 
I went from that to a F10, F12 400 and F16 470 (all great trucks) and now have a FH 500 but find it relatively boring and uninvolving to driveā¦ 
I miss the S reg ('98) Foden 6wheeler I used to drive. 340 Cat, crash 'box and a Jake Brake that I used to āentertainā 
the Cotswold tourists. I had it for three years until I had a new Alpha which was a good truck but wasnāt as fun as the old proper Foden.
Where I work now, we used to have a 51 plate Isuzu NQR. Basic as hell but it was fun to drive.
Noā¦
Queueing traffic was a nightmare, on the clutch off the clutch on the clutch off the clutch on the clutchā¦
Cold starts that usually kicked out so much crap that the whole village would disapear in a cloud of white smoke.
No seat belts fitted.
Mirrors that vibrated so badly on tickover as to be useless.
Frozen ropes on frozen sheets.
Marathonās, Transcons, Fodens, ERFs, DAFs all hard work compared to todays kit. I much prefer to reset cruise control, adjust the AC and let the auto box do all the work.
I do miss the craic, a greater sense of camararderie, less pressure and a much greater sense of freedom.
First truck I ever did driveā¦
Forkies had to push me back for reverse. They were the days. Miss it like mad.
ezydriver:
First truck I ever did driveā¦
Forkies had to push me back for reverse. They were the days. Miss it like mad.
WTF?
Looks like something they found on the ship at Roswell!
yourhavingalarf:
ezydriver:
First truck I ever did driveā¦
Forkies had to push me back for reverse. They were the days. Miss it like mad.
WTF?
Looks like something they found on the ship at Roswell!
It was dropping it from 19th to 9th coming into roundabouts that always got me, but after the first 4 or 5 thousand attempts I got the hang of it.
the only one I miss is the m.a.n f90 362 with ets . comfort, power, and a nice looking lorry in itās day.
Nope, donāt miss a thing about the trucks. I miss the job I had back then, but Iād rather have this truck and that job than the other way around
A couple of tipper drivers have said they miss not having those rear underrun bars. They have an automatic tailgate but they still have to get out to clean said underrun bar because it catches materials.
AndrewG:
Yes, new trucks are easy to drive, comfortable and are nearly home from home but does anyone miss driving older trucks, lower power, manual gearbox but needing actual driver input??
Myself i look back at my old F7, fairly hard ride,low power (224hp) and correspondingly low torque output but actually great and involving to drive.It wasnt a std 7, i had the chassis stretched to 4m to allow getting under long pin tilts and rear air suspension. At 38tonne and sometimes over that
I went from that to a F10, F12 400 and F16 470 (all great trucks) and now have a FH 500 but find it relatively boring and uninvolving to driveā¦
Come to Canada, itās like stepping back into 80ās trucks.
Modern trucksā¦
Quiet ā you can comfortably listen to the radio/cd/blue tooth, without having to have the thing at 400 Db to drown out the sound of the engine/GBox/Drive train
Powerful (700+ gee gees) mean that you donāt almost have to get out and push to get up a small rise - even when fully laden.
Plenty of torque ā ditto
Air Brakes ā so that when the lemming in the car finally succeeds, youāre not picking bits out of the front of the lorry for the next six months (having said that how many times have I wished I still had the old fashioned 1/4" thick steel bumpersā¦ 
)
Toys ā there are times when things like ABS, Diff locks et al, really do make life more bearable!
Air con ā You donāt freeze your b#lls off in winter and feel like youāre in a turkish bath in summer [alternately, you donāt have to wrap up like Bibbendum!]
Full auto box ā Yeah, ok, so the Eaton splitter etc, etcā¦ but, (and letās be honest here) the ability to just press the pedal and go. ā¦ ā¦ especially in heavy traffic. ā¦ ā¦
Air suspension ā I can get out after a long dayā¦ and still have all my fillings in place! 
Seats which are comfortable; heated and multi-adjustable ā¦ ā¦ ā¦ ā¦ ā¦ not just a badly formed piece of thin steel with a cushion over the top!
Mirrors ā you can actually see things!
A proper thermostatically controlled night heater.
A cab you can leave after living in it for 4 days+, and still feel vaguely human!
ā¦ and donāt mention sheeting and roping in a howling gale, in the middle of winter, etc!
Miss older trucks? Nah, sorry; miss the craic and the cameraderieā¦ the lorries you can keep!
I would like to have a go in the older trucks for old times sake, Some old motors were rubbish EG; air cooled Ivecos and 1625 Mercs, and some I loved, The old 16.332 man and the F10.
The best part about the old stuff was it kept the imbeciles we see on the roads today away from the job, you had to ādriveā them not tend to them.
ezydriver:
First truck I ever did driveā¦
Forkies had to push me back for reverse. They were the days. Miss it like mad.
What type of truck was that in?
I thought Iād used most g.boxes, but thatās a new one on me.
As for missing old trucks? ā¦Yeh, like I miss having toothache.
Negative effects of modern trucks being just like driving cars?..ANY ā ā ā ā whit can drive one, ā¦of which many do. 
OVLOV JAY:
Nope, donāt miss a thing about the trucks. I miss the job I had back then, but Iād rather have this truck and that job than the other way around
+!..sums it up nicely. 
robroy:
ezydriver:
First truck I ever did driveā¦
Forkies had to push me back for reverse. They were the days. Miss it like mad.
What type of truck was that in?
I thought Iād used most g.boxes, but thatās a new one on me.As for missing old trucks? ā¦Yeh, like I miss having toothache.
Negative effects of modern trucks being just like driving cars?..ANY [zb] whit can drive one, ā¦of which many do.
Are you on the drink RobRoy!!![emoji28]
Sent from my SM-J500FN using Tapatalk
Sober as a judge mateā¦how do you mean exactly? 
Yes i miss certain older lorries, those that had more than enough useful and ready when you want it torque, and a manual gearbox that meant you were always in the right gear at precisely the right moment to make proper progress.
I donāt miss the ones without power steering, definately donāt miss 180 Gardners, well any Gardner actually.
Iād happily turn the clock back to those days cos there were plenty of jobs then and there would be even more going now, properly paid too because steering wheel operatives wouldnāt cope.
Iāll either have a Sed Ack 401 with a ā ā ā ā ā ā ā or a Scammel Crusader with a Rolls, and weāll run at 32 tons again with no limiters.
To be honest the job now is so easy and simple itās as boring as hell.
Christ.
Itās like Last of the Summer wine on here tonight.
robroy:
Sober as a judge mateā¦how do you mean exactly?
I fear he maybe implying that Ezydriver is having your leg up mate
robroy:
ezydriver:
First truck I ever did driveā¦
Forkies had to push me back for reverse. They were the days. Miss it like mad.
What type of truck was that in?
I thought Iād used most g.boxes, but thatās a new one on me.
It was some Russian made 6x4 ex military relic from the 60s. Did 90 flat out, but was on drum brakes all round, was only a day cab, and didnāt have a night heater. IIRC a bloke local to Doncaster bought it and ran it on the middle east for a few years til its brakes failed on a Turkish mountain.