Some of our Borderers had a cold start bottle mounted on the back of the cab. A small plastic tube led into the air intake, and it could be operated from the driver seat. Crank engine and squirt juice at the same time.
There were a couple of stories of using it on the road to do a quick overtake…but I suspect that they were just that: stories.
1 Like
One for Dennis, any relation or just coincidence with the name. NMP, taken from British Lorry transport nostalgia site.
1 Like
Yes that’s the way to do it, diesel rag lit and held over the air intake while winding the engine, it sucked in the flame and away you go, did this many a time on a Fordson Major tractor on our farm back in the day Buzzer
My Dad had a Fordson Major, it was a real work horse and came with a PTO at the side of the tractor to attach a belt to power the saw to cut logs.
The saw was on a metal bench.
Obviously a freezing cold engine takes heat out of the compression ignition process so it fires up erratically and sporadically and reluctantly and way out of proper timing.Diesel fuel also turns more oily if not waxes beyond use.
At least during the bad winters of the 1980’s judicious amounts of petrol put in the tank and easy start was the default assistance, if not solution, to alleviating that long drawn out start up and warming period.If not totally blocked fuel system and filters by waxing.
Sorry no connection and I had never met “Donny” as he was called. I do know that he was an O/D subby for BRS Whitehaven for many years loading out of Marchon ( Albright & Wilson in later years) and DEC then after the demise of BRS I he would have hauled directly out of A & W his last motor before retiring was a Scania 81 6 wheeler flat. Donny’s hobby was Hound trailing and he was for a number of years a Director of the Hound Trailing Association until he retired from the Board well into his nineties.
But he was another “salt of the earth” West Cumbrian owner driver !
WE couldn’t afford rags, we had to make do with a blazing newspaper. Put a bit of heat up the flue and they’ll fire up. 
We’d have dreamed about a blazing newspaper, we had to make do wi’ piece o’ straw 
3 Likes
We knew a bloke who ate loads of pickled onions in the pub the night before, he said I will fart near the air intake and of course it got sucked in to the engine, strike a match and that worked as well, never knew anyone using paper or straw 
Buzzer
1 Like
Did he send the bill for the pickled onions to the boss? 
We just rang Mercedes up and asked them to come and recover them when they wouldn’t start not to be seen again for several weeks.A sad day last week when they have been forced to get rid of 3 tag axle Mercs and a 2009 Daf XF. All too long apparently by about 20cms it must be all this decent weather we’ve been having making them grow. 3 down 4 to go
AEC Marathon. Now there’s a thing
They were all AEC until Southall closed.Scammell and GUY then produced them until Leyland closed them too
I realise that but its unusual to see an AEC badged Marathon . I presume the owners were loyal customers to AEC ,bit like Spiers of Melksham
Yeah apparently when launched a few Marathon users put AEC badgeson them.Spiers of Melksham had an article in one of the lorry magazines early 90s and they were still using AECs .The MD said the best thing they ever did was avoid the Marathon which i was quite suprised at.I remember seeing their Mandators going over the M65 i think to Keighley and they looked tired.They had started using ERFs and SAs but not Roadtrains.Cummins was the short lived preference until TDG i think took them Gingerfold researched and i think published a book on them… Sorry to bore you with my ramblings
Biffa ran one of these on waste and there’s one on Outback Opal hunters still runming … just or it was last series the driver said it was a beast to drive
1 Like
