Hello guys,
Thought it was about time I introduced myself on here, as I have been reading up on a lot of things in this forum.
My name is Ross, and i’m from northern ireland.
i currently am on my second lorry - which is currently having a full overhaul.
i am an owner / driver, and work for my own family business. driving is not my full time job, but i love being out at the dizzy speeds of 56mph and sitting up high!!!
my first lorry was a 1997 DAF 45 which I bought from my father in law for the huge sum of £500
needless to say, I spent a few £££ more on it to pimp it up (i’ve had this forum handle for about 15 years now, and it definitely suits me!) and she served me well, but with having more and more work on, the wee DAF was struggling and couldn’t legally carry the weights I required.
The DAF got a complete restoration. The cab was rotten so a lot of welding took place, and it was straightened up as good as new. The interior was stinking dirty, so seats, carpets and headlining were removed, cleaned, retrimmed and refitted to the freshly painted interior. I added a decent radio and a set of speakers, fitted interior lights, reversing camera and in dash cam.
Exterior wise, it was given a full shot blasting, painted top to bottom, wheel trims fitted, LED rear lights and side marker lights, as well as the obligatory chrome bar and 4 x jumbo spots, and air horns.
I loved it, and was really sad when I traded it in to a dealer over in England (Atlantic DAF) for its replacement. Something was lost in translation, as I was originally after an 18tonner, but the dealer thought i wanted something which could carry 18 tonne of a load, and I ended up getting the dublin-holyhead ferry over to england to pick up the wee DAFs replacement - a 2001 Renault Premium 420
I traded up to a 2001 Renault Premium which was an artic which had been converted to a flatbed, or actually, a flatbed with a coil well in it. When I picked it up, it was a lot bigger than I had expected, and positively dwarfed my wee DAF.
taking it home i wasn’t sure if i had made the right decision or not, but thankfully after a few runs out I knew it was the correct move.
but i couldn’t keep on driving it in the condition it was in. don’t get me wrong - it drives fantastically well, plenty of pull, and will be all the truck i ever expect to need, but its looks let it down badly… and that just wouldn’t do, so it’s currently away getting the work finished on it.
as with my wee DAF, its going for a complete overhaul also.
first thing i done was to refloor her, burning out holes in the coil well (which would never be used again) and splitting the old timbers, and resheeting the floor. I also got rid of some of the bigger eyelets for strapping, but kept the smaller ones for ratchet straps.
next was a general clean up - the side crash bars were frigged, so new ones bought for her. mudguards were wrecked so new ones fabricated for her as i couldn’t get decent ones to match.
She was shot blasted underneath and on any rust spots, and then painted with a few dents straightened out too
She is receiving the full tang treatment too like the wee DAF - new LED side markers, LED hamburger tail lights, LED markers in the wind kit, LED floodlights pinned to the chassis (some of the sites I call on over winter etc are up dark country lanes and the more light I have the better) LED lightbar on the back of the cab to illuminate the bed, airhorns on each side of the high roof and a spotlight bar with 6 x jumbos. Strobe lights in the grill finish off the exterior lighting overhaul. I have added wheel trims also, wind deflectors, reversing camera and buzzer and i think thats it!
interior wise, it is cleaned up. I will likely get a retrim at a later stage, but i need it out on the road making money back now! a nice DAB headunit and good speakers are added also.
so there we go. I have a load of photos which i will upload of both trucks and their transformations.
thanks for taking the time to read, and i hope to maybe see some of you on the roads!
thanks,
Ross
