oiltreader:
Thanks to DEANB for the picsI remember Dobson having tankers, got a photo somewhere.
Oily
Credit to Lee Bristol for this photo of a MAN ERF.
Bond’s certainly run some tidy motors.
Lawrence Dunbar:
0
I always get in a mucking fuddle with the A40’s. Is that lovely looking machine a Devon or a Somerset? Thanks for posting it anyway.
peterm:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0I always get in a mucking fuddle with the A40’s. Is that lovely looking machine a Devon or a Somerset? Thanks for posting it anyway.
It’s a Devon I think, Peter, my favourite Dinky toy. Wasn’t the Somerset an A60?
That’s a Devon, the Dorset only had two doors and the Somerset was totally different bodily (more bulbous) but still with much the same mechanics.
Pete.
When my grandfather died in '58 my father inherited his Austin Devon, as a child I thought he had won the pools; as an adult I wish he had inherited the Grandfather clock which went to one of his sisters. 
The Devon had a small rust hole in the roof above the rear n/s passenger seat. To this day I can see my adored Great Aunt (around 75 at the time and blind) huddled in towels as the water dripped through on top of her. . That '46? Devon survived until around 1965, in its last years inhabited in the garage by me, shaking the steering wheel and making the appropriate brmmm brmm noises which varied in pitch according to which gear it was in. I remember when Grandad was still alive, probably around '56 when my dad had borrowed it, sitting in the back really really worried that it wouldn’t make it up Bury Hill on the way to Bognor and it might roll backwards. The same journey Dad ( who boasted he had driven everything from a motorbike to a tank) red-faced having to ring his father to find out how to get reverse since we were parked facing a wall. 
It suffered two collisions: being hit up the chuff by an RT bus at the Greyhound Traffic lights next to Streatham Common; and a repeat performance by a huge Yankee car at the junction of Southcroft rd and Mitcham lane, which resulted in me dissolving into floods of tears at the sight of the huge dent. 
Somewhere I still have the Austin ‘flying A’ and a number plate from when it went for scrap. I have the registration number on retention since it was ***1.
Soft la or what?
My Great Uncle Graham had a Devon during the war. It wasn’t his, he was a salesman for Lookers, the Austin dealers in Manchester, but the story goes that visiting us in Chorlton-■■■-Hardy he parked outside and came down into the cellar with us during a raid. When it was over they went outside and found it untouched amongst all the bricks lying around. I remember thinking that the Germans must have run out of bombs if they were reduced to chucking down bricks on us. I had no image of them loading piles of bricks before takeoff, but if I had I doubt I would have questioned it. 
Now, there are several things wrong with the above. Uncle Graham is unlikely to have had a car which didn’t appear until 1947, bricks in the street are unlikely as no houses were bombed in our street, the nearest was in the next street by a landmine, or so I was told. This was the blast that my Mum told me lifted her to hover above the toilet seat due to the increased pressure 
(the house was a large Victorian semi with a complete mirror image cellar and all facilities).
I have in later years thought that my ‘memories’ of being personally targeted in Chorlton were false as the city was not bombed after 1941, well before my birth at the end of '42, but I now know that there were indeed raids throughout the war.
Lastly, I picked up this bit of interesting, if useless, knowledge of the post war era regarding Manchester United, being bombed out, played 3 seasons after the war at Maine Road, City’s ground. Courtesy of Tony Goulding.
A curiosity arising out of this arrangement is that, apart from record aggregate attendances(4) at Maine Road during the seasons concerned, is that the largest number of spectators to attend a UNITED “home” league fixture (and still the national record ) remains the 83,260 who, somehow, squeezed into CITY’S ground on the 17th January, 1948 to watch Them Vs. Arsenal.
So not a lot to do with lorries and transport but thank you to Larry for reviving, and straightening, family folklore. 
oiltreader:
Thanks to DEANB for the pics
Oily
Credit to Lee Bristol for this photo of a MAN ERF.
Would i be correct in thinking that cab was actually a Steyr product.?
cav551’s mention of the flying A Austin badge got me looking to find the one I have(still looking), came across this bunch of keys from my car delivery days not unusual to find an odd key(s) other than the usual door/ignition ones in new cars off the line, also a rummage under seats and carpets collected me an a considerable find of nuts, bolts, washers, trim studs/clips etc over the time I spent on the job. The idea of collecting the keys was that I was never going to be locked out of a Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolseley, MG car. Car keys back then were not wholly exclusive to a particular car, a good chance that one in the bunch would fit. A few Wilmot Breeden in the bunch.
Oily
pyewacket947v:
oiltreader:
Thanks to DEANB for the pics
Oily
Credit to Lee Bristol for this photo of a MAN ERF.Would i be correct in thinking that cab was actually a Steyr product.?
HI pyewacket, this one a Steyr cab, credit to SCP for the photo.
Oily
windrush:
That’s a Devon, the Dorset only had two doors and the Somerset was totally different bodily (more bulbous) but still with much the same mechanics.Pete.
Thanks Pete. I’ll probably have to print that out. 
I remember seeing both types bouncing along after hitting a bump.
cav551:
It suffered two collisions: being hit up the chuff by an RT bus at the Greyhound Traffic lights next to Streatham Common; and a repeat performance by a huge Yankee car at the junction of Southcroft rd and Mitcham lane, which resulted in me dissolving into floods of tears at the sight of the huge dent.Soft la or what?
I lived at 54 Greyhound Lane. Southcroft Rd always seemed like a long straight, Streatham Vale the same. Hell of a lot busier on our last trip back.
robthedog:
One for oily
A few RM Marina vans
New pastures
blue estate:
robthedog:
One for oilyA few RM Marina vans
New pastures
Wrong colour I reckon ?
oiltreader:
pyewacket947v:
oiltreader:
Thanks to DEANB for the pics
Oily
Credit to Lee Bristol for this photo of a MAN ERF.Would i be correct in thinking that cab was actually a Steyr product.?
HI pyewacket, this one a Steyr cab, credit to SCP for the photo.
Oily
Thanks Oily… like peas in a pod.!
