My best, and favourite lorry, cut off point the year 2000

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
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Well Gentlemen, (and ladies), this wonderful site, has contributors from across all sections, and ages of our industry. Tremendous experiences, great knowledge, and fantastic memories.

Lets share them, we all have our favourites, and many and varied reasons for them being our personal favourite, how hey ran, the places they took us to, the people we met, the friends we made, the anguish they caused us, the pride they gave us, they were part of our lives, (and a very big part at that)!!!

Lets have the personal recollections, and the reasons why, one lorry type is so dear to you. But let us restrict ourselves to pre 2000 ,…when lorries still had character, and they became really personal to us all!!

Over to you all, Cheerio for now.

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Well Saviem, let me make a few observations to get the ball rolling. My fondest memories are of the British makes I first rode about in as a youngster and then drove when I was in my early twenties…(that’s a long time ago now)… From that era it has to be the AECs and Leylands and Seddons. I first drove a Park Royal cabbed AEC Mercury at the age of 17 and A Leyland Comet 6-wheeler with a Primrose third axle at the age of 19. Fond memories indeed. I think that by about 1974 I had either been a passenger in, or had driven, every British make of lorry, and various models within each makers’ catalogue. Fast forward to about 1990 and I hadn’t driven very many lorries in the intervening years and I went back on the road for a year or so. By then the landscape of lorries had changed tremendously and I had lost the romanticism of youth and regarded lorries as a tool for doing a job. My employer’s fleet comprised mainly ERF, Volvo, and Scania. I was very disappointed with the ERFs, I thought that from a driver’s viewpoint that they hadn’t advanced since the last time I’d driven one nearly 20 years before. I liked the Volvos and as for Scania I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about as far as they were concerned. Oh there were a few Mercedes in the fleet and I didn’t rate them at all. So taking your cut-off point of 2000, then it has to be Volvo for me. Of course by then I had also restored a Seddon 16/4/470, an AEC Marshal Major, and I was on with an AEC Mandator, so I could keep my nostalgia yearnings fulfilled. Of my restorations then the Seddon was my favourite, two and a half years to restore in a barn on a farm. no garage facilities to speak of, and I did it all myself, then I had years of enjoyment showing it and taking part in road runs the length and breadth of the country. Happy days indeed.

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1960 AEC Marshall tipper, Hendricksen (?) rear suspension. I’d go back to it tomorrow, a ■■■■ fine machine.

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Volvo F10 - mid eighties

I’ve drive one today if I could. I was only about 10 years old at the time.

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A 1966 BFO347D Commer Maxiload 16 ton gross for Clarence Griffiths ( C W Griffiths & Sons ) in 1969.A lot didn’t like Commers,but I liked that Commer with the TS3 two stroke,with a five speed gearbox and overdrive plus a two speed axle,it was a bigger stronger lorry after driving Bedford TK’s at 14 ton gross which were underpowered and overloaded. The best lorry I drove and that includes Leyland Comets Dodge K series and Bedford KM’s also Ford D series six wheeler.For me the Commer was the best.
Cheers Dave.

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To be truthfull, there were lots of them, all for different reasons but I guess it has to be a toss-up between Volvo F88 290 and DAF 2800 310.
Now wait for Bewick to rant!

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Bumped,there must be some more favourites.

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Well i have two
First the scania 143 420 tag streamline i had a year loved that one it sounded like the thunder:-)
Then i had The volvo F10 Globetrotter imperial edition also tag.
it didnt have the power as the v8 but it was someting about that truck!

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ford transcontinental-because my dad owned one,and it made such a big impression on me!!
big ,heavy and thirsty-but he loved it.so did i lol.just regret i wasnt quite old enough to drive it-i was about 8 years old at the time !!
the ruts on the grass outside my parents house have never quite disapeared from the time he parked it outside the front door to do some work on it- my mum was less than impressed to say the least!!!

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I will never forget the sound of the fixed head Buffalo when she was pulling hard…and the ergo cabs will always be a favourite of mine…

The early 86’s were lovely little lorries - so comfortable, refined, quiet and easy to drive. As has been said many times before, a real revelation compared to most of the British offerings…

My personal favourite has to be a '77 ERF B-series unit. New in August of that year, I was at the yard when she was delivered. I was only 11 or 12 at the time and it was a sight and sound that I will never forget. Rolls Eagle 265L, she made a beautiful sound - I can still hear it now… :smiley:

Long story short - I went to work for the same firm, got my Class 1 and ended up driving the same lorry. How chuffed was I, do you think? :wink: :smiley:

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My fav was an AEC Mandater with the 11.3 690 with rotary pump running at 24t gross in the early 60,s so fast, the clock would show 68 mph, and on top of the job…Tony.

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My favourite of all time was allocated to me when purchased approx 3 months old in '84, ex demo Sed Ack 401 Twin Steer, 14 litre ■■■■■■■■ 8 (or was it 9) speed Fuller, Rockwell axle, and the icing on the cake a Jake brake.

That engine was sweet, turbo made more noise than the engine unless the Jake was doing its thing, pulled at what felt like full torque from 800rpm, so the top 5 gears were the only ones usually needed unless starting from really steep incline, engine could pull right down to stall revs without a murmer, slight trace of black smoke between the gearchanges which was probably from the special set of injectors Vee and Inline Diesels slotted in, it always pulled better than its sister vehicle and i suspect it was one of the first 350’s, but that was never confirmed as such.

Ridiculously high geared :smiling_imp: , a constant 70mph @ 1100rpm, running full weight 38t at that speed she’d average 7mpg, but the way it could cover the ground was just fantastic, it took serious hill to drop her below 60 if not baulked.

Did everything i wanted, totally reliable, good all round visibility, my boss asked me if i wanted them in and then had the two rear windows fitted, made farm sheds and other tight dark places a doddle to get in…( i do miss all round visibility now in lorries, and can’t for the life of me understand why they’re not a standard fitement on fleet spec)

Never needed brake shoes as i recall, the Jake provided so much retarding that the service brake was generally used only for final coming to rest, at that time the pipework wasn’t available for 6 cyl Jake in that chassis so mine only worked on 4 cyls, however it worked so well had to trun it down to low 2cyl setting in the wet when empty or drive axle lock up was a good possibility, the 6 pot Jake must have been serious.

I wonder if B928CVV is still running.

Strange that, can recall the regn numbers of the 3 or 4 memorable lorries, the rest gone and forgotten.

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My favourite pre 2000 was the first lorry i ever went in. An ERF E14 with a 320 gardner engine. Pulled like a train :slight_smile: pulling a sheeted load of turf! Those were the days :grimacing:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses: