does anyone else have one of those senior moments when you think "thats not very old , i used to drive them " ? then you realise , yep they are old and so am i . where has the time gone ? cheers , dave
rigsby:
does anyone else have one of those senior moments when you think "thats not very old , i used to drive them " ? then you realise , yep they are old and so am i . where has the time gone ? cheers , dave
Oh yes indeed, I look at the āOld Motors still earning their keepā and think what the hell are they talking about, there all modern machines in very good condition. Some of the stuff us old fellas used would terrify younger driversā¦Heater? = old army greatcoat (if it was a bad winter, 2 greatcoats), oh, and cover the radiator with a sheet of newspaper. Screen washers? =arm out and an old fairy liquid squeezy bottle. Ratchet straps? = ropes (and when they got a nice veneer of ice after a couple of hundred miles, oh joy). My favourite? folding sheets up by yourself on a windy day or ā ā ā ā ā ā ā a couple of sheets up top of a high load, (no forklift).
Happy days. Sure, time moves on and new equipment is being introduced all the time but to me, they really were happy days, I enjoyed my working life, when I moved on to tankers the job got much easier, pipe up and it unloaded itself. 
download/file.php?id=75263&t=1 Form an orderly queue lads, Iām first. 
Oh dear, do I know exactly what you two mean!
I was just thinking about the afternoon when a new Thorneycroft arrived at the yard- it was the first vehicle bought that was equipped with a Cold Start knob and the entire workforce gathered round to find out how to use it! Previously, of course, we had to employ the Burning Rag method. Anyone remember when Perkins engines were first fitted (optional extra of course) with the Ki-Gass cold starting aid?
Hi ,ROF, I remember the old ki gas ,it wasnt a big success after many near misses with fire ,my Dad said ihave been told pour a drop of ether down the air intake will do the trick so off to the chemist igo wat do you need it for/? told the man no way had to fetch Dad to explane they thought we were mad ,So had to sign the pioson regester every time it worked but only needed a wiff to much and locked the engine up ,then came arostart you could smell a hint of ether in that , just a bit of usless info, Cheers Barry
Great pics cheers to kevmac47, erfguy and Leyland 600
Hannomag at one time merged with Henschel, I posted a few pics a while back.
The reminiscening has got me going and for me they were the good old days, no question.
1963/4ish, the wagon a Commer Perkins P6 with drag. Monday morning 4.30am knocking on trailer mateās door to get him up, leave the yard 5am at Cowley with 9 cars for south east coast, Brighton, Hastings or Eastbourne, always one drop, then to Dover loading Fiats for Newcastle, night out in Dover, getting to Newcastle late Tues, tipping, the drop was right by St Jameās Park, the dealer I canāt remember, something is telling me Irvine 
Found digs (Headlight mag) I think they were in Bewick St or maybe Berwick St, something like that, it was a cold frosty foggy bloody night, anyway after getting fed and washed, where was the nearest pint, we were directed to a Working Mens club or it might have been the Legion. Now this was to be my introduction to Nācastle Broon, an acquired taste, which, well was gradually acquired 
. We got back to the digs a bit lateish, most of the bedtime snap had been taken by others now in bed, there was a few cream crackers, with bits of cheese and pickled onions left, well the ābroonā had dispensing with common sense and we wired into what was left, pickled onion vinegar and Newcastleās best I found do not mix, sleep was disturbed and guts well stretched and a lesson learnt, worse to come thoā. Weds morning still frost and freezing fog, the wagon would not start, and with the batteries on their dieing gasp, another driver appeared with the lit diesel rag, going along the fuel lines, de-waxing, then on his offer he would give us a push, so unhitch the trailer, he backed his motor onto mine, hey presto she fired up, with a cheers mate from us he was off, but it says a lot for the cammeraderie around in them days.
Punctures, well I changed my own wheels, which meant carrying a bottle jack, wheelbrace and a length of scaffold tube for extra purchase on the brace, also various lumps of wood to put the jack on. Returning from Linwood 9 Imps up, 4ish in the afternoon, ā ā ā ā ā ā ā down rain and getting dark and in the dip at Lesmahagow(A74 single carriageway) a nearside rear trailer puncture, minimum light to work by, and in the conditions, not that obvious to following traffic, so extra lights were switched on using the rear cars top and bottom deck,no hazard lights, no high viz jackets, no mobiles the nearest phone in a red box somewhere, my mate was a good un also a driver so knew what was required. Lateish back to Carlisle and Mrs Robinsons in Corporation St (best digs of my time on lorries), her husband Freddie drove for Robsons(an Albion Reiver if I remember correctly). I ramble but in doing so I am selfishly enjoying re-living it, hopefully it strikes a chord with others who drove lorries back then. There are other tales, but, for another time.
This is an AF spanner(half inch and 9/16ths) I still have from my then toolkit of 50 years ago, I bent it for easier access to fuel injector pipe nuts on the Commer Perkins, spare pipes were carried and roadside repairs were part of the job, yes great times, I loved it.
Oily
b.waddy:
Hi ,ROF, I remember the old ki gas ,it wasnt a big success after many near misses with fire ,my Dad said ihave been told pour a drop of ether down the air intake will do the trick so off to the chemist igo wat do you need it for/? told the man no way had to fetch Dad to explane they thought we were mad ,So had to sign the pioson regester every time it worked but only needed a wiff to much and locked the engine up ,then came arostart you could smell a hint of ether in that , just a bit of usless info, Cheers Barry
Hi Barry, that kicks off another memory, a can of stuff called Ezestart, to all intents and purposes etherā¦ and strictly banned by the gaffer, so not for showing off, an overdose squirt of that into the air intake and the engine didnāt just start, it exploded into life, which could have dire consequences for the innards if overdone.
Oily
b.waddy:
Hi ,ROF, I remember the old ki gas ,it wasnt a big success after many near misses with fire ,my Dad said ihave been told pour a drop of ether down the air intake will do the trick so off to the chemist igo wat do you need it for/? told the man no way had to fetch Dad to explane they thought we were mad ,So had to sign the pioson regester every time it worked but only needed a wiff to much and locked the engine up ,then came arostart you could smell a hint of ether in that , just a bit of usless info, Cheers Barry
Are you still using Easystart Baz?,nowt like a whiff of that to liven you up nowadays is there ! 
Cheers Mr.Bewick.
i once drove an s type with an r6 perkins , bloody thing wouldnāt start , gaffer drilled a hole in the inlet manifold to squirt the easystart straight in . parked at the top of a longish hill to bump it off . it never needed greasing though , it threw a gallon of oil a day out of the back crank bearing so the underneath got a good lubricating . fair doās though , it went like stink and pulled like a train . cheers , dave
Evening oily, 1960s, S20 Foden, 4cyl Gardner outskirts of Paris, and she went onto three, never ever let me down before. Been to Italy twice, France four times, every trip a real adventure, like sitting in an Edwardian railway carriage as the scenery slowly unfolded, I could not get enough!!
Id been there an hour, contents of the cab neatly stacked on the roadside, as I struggled to rectify my problem. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and a quietly spoken āmonsieurā, as I turned I saw a neat elderly man in the universal blue smock. He saw the problem that I was struggling with, and asked me to accompany him. I had stopped right by the premises of the G Borca brothers Transport operation. The yard was full of smart Fridgidaire liveried trailers, and the occasional impressive bonneted Bernard tractor. When we entered their workshop there were a number of Bernards with the bonnets removed showing the licence built Gardner engines.
A few minutes later we left the workshop together with a replacement injector pipe! Which two of us quickly fitted, then returned to settle the (most modest) bill. I left holding the receipt, which I dropped, and as I bent down, wow, the workshop floor was made from Marble tiles!!!So this was French Haulageā¦
A decade later I was to meet and enjoy the company and memories of several ex Borca people, and see a number of ex Borca Bernards, what an operation, (well worth looking up). I never forgot that kindness to a foreign youngster in a little lorry. It cemented my love of France, and probably led to me working there. Long time ago, but it does not seem so, I can still feel the sun on my back, and the coolness of that workshop!..oh and those Bernards, the most beautiful lorry ever created!!
Cheerio for now.
rigsby:
i once drove an s type with an r6 perkins , bloody thing wouldnāt start , gaffer drilled a hole in the inlet manifold to squirt the easystart straight in . parked at the top of a longish hill to bump it off . it never needed greasing though , it threw a gallon of oil a day out of the back crank bearing so the underneath got a good lubricating . fair doās though , it went like stink and pulled like a train . cheers , dave
We had a six-wheeler S-type with an R6 which the fitters claimed kept them in a job!
Bit of a toss-up which was the worst lorry on the fleet- the R6 or the lone Seddon 13/4 which insisted on throwing mechanical bits all over the Gloucestershire countryside.
Oily I have the exact same spanner in my toolbox from my days when I was mechanicing,used to use it on the perkins 6.354 engines fitted in the Dodge 308 series during the 60s.
When I was an apprentice, I was working late one night with a fitter who was from Dublin, just as we were about to lock up to go home, he said ā Jasus, I,ve just remembered I need a pair of mole grips, the bloke next door wants me to have a look at the valve on his Citroen. I said your never going to mess about on a blokes car with a pair of mole grips. He said who said a car, I meant the Citren in the outside toilet.
Re starting the Perkins R6, when I was a boy, there was a local firm with a fleet of Bedfords with this engine. On job interviews the gaffer used to ask what daily paper you read.
If it was the Daily Mirror (tabloid size), you were no good; you had to read the Daily Express (broadsheet), because you could roll it up, light it, and reach the air intake from the driverās seat!
Stanfield:
Oily I have the exact same spanner in my toolbox from my days when I was mechanicing,used to use it on the perkins 6.354 engines fitted in the Dodge 308 series during the 60s.
Well how about that, nice coincidence.
You and others, all more knowledgeable than I am refer to the 6cyl. Perkins as the 6.354 or R Series, me I called it the P6 which is somehow indelibly planted in my head from earlier years and farm tractors and in particular the Fordson Major which was always referred to as the P6 meaning a Perkins 6cyl. being sticks dwellers we did not bother to much with the finer technical detail
I did about two and a half to three years on drags, Leyland Comet 400 and the Commer, not a lot in it, the Leyland with Eaton 2speed was totally reliable, an all day every day plodder, the Commer Perkins had the edge once wound up, was a better drive, (slightly lower chassis setup) but was noisier (rattly top end) and the inevitable diesel fumes in the cab meant another repair was due, despite all that, oh that I could relive the experience, happy days.
Thanks to you other chaps for your input , now some wrecker pics thanks to Pimlico Badger.
Oily
Hi ,Mr Bewick , I could do with a few wiffs every morning toget me going ,Cheers Barry
b.waddy:
Hi ,Mr Bewick , I could do with a few wiffs every morning toget me going ,Cheers Barry
Funny stuff
Hi Oily, On reading some of the recent comments regarding the Perkins 6.354 makes me realise that I was not alone in 1964 operating a Dodge 308 fitted with such a gem. As was pointed out when it was OK it went like a train a good puller and fast the problem being two days in this condition was about its limit before it broke, burst or flung another component off resulting in more expense and downtime. The (zb) thing nearly bankrupted me finaly seeing sense and getting rid of it and buying an S21 cabbed Foden with a 6LW Gardner. I then threw away my spanners and hardly ever had a day off with engine problems !! I saw a photo on the internet of a Commer with 6.354 reputed to run Perth to Sydney what a brave guy, I hardly dare set off from ā ā ā ā ā ā ā to the North East.
Cheers Leyland 600
kevmac47:
Hereās my friend Steve Cairnsās Crusader wrecker, its a beauty. Regards Kev.10
The Fodenā¦like it says on the visor eh, RS is an Aberdeen reg. Cracking pics both .
Oily
Leyland600:
Hi Oily, On reading some of the recent comments regarding the Perkins 6.354 makes me realise that I was not alone in 1964 operating a Dodge 308 fitted with such a gem. As was pointed out when it was OK it went like a train a good puller and fast the problem being two days in this condition was about its limit before it broke, burst or flung another component off resulting in more expense and downtime. The (zb) thing nearly bankrupted me finaly seeing sense and getting rid of it and buying an S21 cabbed Foden with a 6LW Gardner. I then threw away my spanners and hardly ever had a day off with engine problems !! I saw a photo on the internet of a Commer with 6.354 reputed to run Perth to Sydney what a brave guy, I hardly dare set off from ā ā ā ā ā ā ā to the North East.
Cheers Leyland 6000
Hi Leyland600, cheers for the pic and info, more about the 6.354 here
perkins.com/cda/layout?m=96906&x=7&id=286336.
Oily