Hi Toshboy, thanks for the PM, here is a pic. of Dad with the last new wagon he had before he retired, he didn’t change at all over the years, learnt the job the hard way from being a van-boy in London’s East End, forgot more about wagon driving than I’ll ever know, but believe me he taught me some tricks! Glad it brings you back memories!
Regards Chris
love the picture of your dads tm , looks like he was proud of it .
Another old Scammell (Fin-Face). Should have took the pic from a better angle to show the trailer, but you learn with age! This trailer was a short 24’ single axle, it was used mainly to deliver diesel/gas oil around the various Amey pits/quarries in Oxfordshire, rarely used for garage deliveries unless to a small rural garage, cos it just didn’t carry enough, it was affectionately known as “Little Betsy”.
These are the wagons I grew up on, I was always down Dads depot, I started going with him when I was 5, every weekend, through all the school holidays, one of my older brothers was on there too so if I wasn’t with Dad I would be with Colin, or with 1 of the other drivers, Basil (R,I,P) old BRS mate of Dads, Brian (R,I,P) worked with Dad on night-trunk for Hawthorn’s of Newport on Oxford-South Wales night-trunk in the early 60s. These men were proper wagon drivers who taught me so much over the years. I ate/slept & breathed lorries, like others on here that grew up in Transport families. Sadly it is virtually impossible for the children nowadays to serve this kind of un-official apprenticeship, thanks to health& safety, Insurance etc etc!
Treble 7 as she was known, Home Counties/Mobil used to take the Fleet No. from the Reg No. She was normally driven by Frank “Chiefy” Foreman (R.I.P), who spent his whole driving career on petrol tankers, split 50-50 between Shell & Mobil. This pic was taken at the Mobil Garage in Vastern Road, Reading.
Last pic. showed “Chieffy’s” Mandator 777, this one came as replacement for 777, number 77, Frank was chuffed with that, cos he loved his old Mandator & this no. was close enough for him!
This was my brothers TM, she was an ex-demo, the 1st TM made to Petrol regs. as Bedford tried to break into this market, which was always dominated by British built wagons. This one had a Detroit Diesel in her, & didn’t she bark! Back then they used to come up through the centre of Oxford/Carfax, if you stood up on the Green Rd roundabout early in the morning I swear you could hear her growling her way up Headington Hill! All the other TMs had E290 ■■■■■■■ lumps in, those old TMs were real flyers, Home Counties loved them.
A shot to show the inside of Dads TM, with cheque seats & carpet this was a bit flash for fuel tankers, they tended to favour more bland hard wearing workmanlike interiors!
This pic shows a new trailer just been delivered, but if you look to the left this was the workshop, completely open-ended with no heater or anything! “Mac” Home Counties fitter did all the maintenance himself, he worked in this workshop for over 20 years, all year round in sun/rain/ice/snow! How many modern day spannermen would fancy that?
Smiths tried a Detroit TM 6wheeler but it was too thirsty. Checkered seats? Where’s the hard plastic ones? 
Dont know if this is true, but I’ve heard a fuel tanker has to have a rear cab window? Think I read it in CVC so it might be BS
The TMs with the Detroit were a bit thirsty if you weren’t steady with your right boot, that I think was why Home Counties had ■■■■■■■ in all the other ones they bought other than the SAN 293S my brothers which was the original demo. The cheque seats weren’t a good idea on that job really, they did get marked after a bit, the first few TMs were better cos they had cloth seats but they were plain black, with a hard plastic on the engine cover, whereas as you can see dads had a nice light brown carpet again not a good move! Regarding the rear-cab window, I’ve just called my boss cos he is an ex-fuel man having done many years on Mobil himself, I have Nat & Int CPCs but he got qualifications coming out of every orrifice, but he’s done his time on the road so he’s a good man, he says that he thinks it was about the mid-80s that they brought in that petrol tankers had to have no rear windows, but this didn’t apply to all Oil Company wagons, as some were on Black-Oil/Bitumen etc, loads with a lower flash-point. Up until then if you look at the side view of my dads TM,the rear windows had aluminium strips securing the rear windows.
Regards Chris
There was quite a lot of work to convert new tractor units to petrol reg specs, as you see on that TM brackets were fitted to the window rubbers and the glass had to be “dutch type” which was strengthened with wire. The engine had to be enclosed with a metal fire screen and a front mounted exhaust fitted. The electrics was a major job and all electrical equipment had to be "double poled " which meant fitting an insulated earth return wire to all components, nothing could be earthed to the chassis frame and off course a battery isolater switch fitted.
Trev_H:
There was quite a lot of work to convert new tractor units to petrol reg specs, as you see on that TM brackets were fitted to the window rubbers and the glass had to be “dutch type” which was strengthened with wire. The engine had to be enclosed with a metal fire screen and a front mounted exhaust fitted. The electrics was a major job and all electrical equipment had to be "double poled " which meant fitting an insulated earth return wire to all components, nothing could be earthed to the chassis frame and off course a battery isolater switch fitted.
I don’t think we could have had that in the '60s when I was on for Hartwells Oils, as the Ford Trader I had on there burnt out completely one night, as I have described on another thread somewhere.
If you look at the front exhaust on the ex-demo SAN it was a bit of “Bodge it & scarper” affair, its got 2 boxes & doesn’t look tidy at all, they said that although the Detroit is a bit of a ■■■■■■■ anyway this exhaust arrangement made it worse! When compared to the newer ones that have a single box & much tidier. Also as you say the fire screen behind the cab, on SAN this was literally a panel shaped to fit to get it past the regs, then the side view of dads you can see a whole lot more thought has gone into the whole set up.
Bibby/Budweiser from Bicester, money could have been better, but a ■■■■ good job! This was my 1st day on there, 5 drops London.
Hi adr,
Enjoying reading your writings and the pics, the Mobil tanker bit jogged the memory. I have posted previously about my driving time in Oxford and the other drivers I came across. In the 60s I knew four of the Mobil (Oxford) drivers as we were on the buses, late 50s early 60s. Roy Taylor, Billy Wells and a chap John Cohn, also ■■?. The picture of your dad at Wood Farm and the one with the Bedford tanker, if his first name was Charlie I knew him well, maybe I am up a blind alley, but Wood Farm is the clue I am working on.
All the best
oiltreader.
ps You have a pm.
adr:
They told me its best served chilled, I was just trying to keep the customer happy!
My favorite job on the agency 