I never understood the point of disguising a truck in such a way. Grotesque to me.
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It was the era when American trucking was quite the thing, so a lot of people tried to dress up their steed to look like a Kenworth or Peterbilt.
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On an M-plate, this must have been one of the last lorries to demonstrate the once-familiar sight of a cardboard covered radiator grille in winter.
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Not much warmth to be had from an 8 pot Gardner
A kind of transvestiteâŚ
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Guess the 240 Badge is hiding behind the daily telegraph 
E.W.
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That Big J aint no 8LXB and as regards warmth from a Gardner engine well I agree the heaters were in the cabs were all but useless but with one exception . I put a new SedAtk sleeper cab 8LXB into service in Jan â77 and I kid you not the cab heater was as good any Scania or Volvo which was a complete mystery to us. Then I recall some new ERF C Series 8LXC I put into service in 1982 and the heaters were absolutely diabolical so as they were sleepers I had them fitted with Eberspatcher night heaters which they ran as cab heaters during the day in the winter time !
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You could get most motors nice and warm and cozy with a full sheet of newspaper.
Looks like the driver of the Guy went one step better and used a paper sack , , , luxury 
Oh no Lads ! Newspaper or cardboard was an absolute Fâ- No No on the Bewick fleet and was strictly enforced with no exceptions. I did have all the Gardners and the Cummins fitted with Thermo fans which allowed the engines to run a lot warmer but never to overheat. The Scanias and Volvos etc all came with thermo fans as standard.
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It wasnât long ago he was slagging synchro boxes
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I would imagine the Atkis were pretty cold i know the one my dad drove was.Draughty through the pedals floor and doors. Thatâs why the European invasion did so well. Anything from abroad was warmer than our offerings.The F86 which my dad drove after the Mandator was light years ahead and it had a radio which was pointless in the AEC because they were that noisey you wouldnât hear it. The heater was crap too but cardboard or paper over the grille would cause overheating as i once found out on a sunday morning on our way back over Windy Hill empty. It didnt quite make it to the top before he had to stop. He threw the cardboard out which i had sneaked in when he wasnât looking topped the radiator up and off we went with a few choice words directed at me.It was after all in the days when the pubs were 12 - 2 opening timesâ:beer_mug:
Never ever had any problems with the gear change fitted to a Strato with a twin splitter, never changed the cables in its life time one million with us.
I didnât have an problems with any of them. Probably a question of degree. It was all about installation. The best TS12 I drove was in a MAN F90 and the worst in a SA Strato 1. The best Fuller 9-sp installation I used was in an ERF CP and the worst was in a SA 400. The best ZF Ecosplit was in a DAF 95 and the worst in a Merc. and so on.
I just didnât like them .I had a brand new 360 Turbostar for a few days , it performed ok but the 13 speed Fuller in my opinion was the better box. All about personal taste
The best 13-sp Fuller installation I drove by far was in a fleet of F8:281 MAN units; and the worst was in the DAF 2800.
The 16 speed ZF was awful in the MAN we had i think it was a hydaulic change but could be wrong.Loads of problems , it was retired a couple of years ago after our new âstar drivers â refused to drive it.
I donât think the ZF installations in MAN F8 / F90 / F2000 was very good tbh: they shouldâve stuck to Fuller / Eaton constant-mesh which they were brilliant at!
