Past Present and in Between in Pictures (Part 2)

I had an Iveco TurboStar 480 for a few weeks, some 30 years ago. Good memories excepted that it was a bit noisy, and lacked torque in low revs. Here it is.

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Yeah it’s the same old story on how you drove them.I was going over the M62 one morning up the drag from Brighouse part loaded driving steady and this bloke in a Renault passed me waving as if he’d won the pools i didn’t even bother passing him on the next hill

Didn’t he tell you …. he invented them.

He’s a legend in his own bathwater.

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The one we had looked something similar to this, but without the chin spoiler below the bumper.

The driver and I had tea at Banana one night, en route to somewhere in North Queensland. We met another fellow dragging a float and all left together. Our Geko (Iveco) left first, followed by our new mate, with me as tail end Charlie. We encountered literally hundreds of little wallabies, no more than 2’6" tall. My Mack was the only one in the convoy with a buulbar and the inevitable happened, the Gecko cleaned up a wallaby. The damage looked minor, broken headlight and slightly bent bumper. The bill came out at $12,000, including a $1,200 plastic screen washer bottle!

One mirror, one wiper, one spot light, one starting handle, TWO sidelights.
My type of motor, I love 'em. :smiley:

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Yeah but it’s nostalgia over riding logic.

It’s like classic cars…a Mk 2 Jag for instance, chrome wire wheels, polished body gleaming in the sun looks the business.

Then you get in it, handles like a pig on roller skates around corners, no power steering, and heavy and numb as ■■■■…..nah give me a modern car.

I suppose in those days you knew nothing else, it was normal, but just imagine having to drive one of those trucks now….and in winter to boot.:flushed_face:

I remember as a young lad myself driving a 4 wheeler Fiat, sat in my t.shirt passing guys in kin old 25 yr old Albions and the like, dressed in overcoats and hats like they were going to the N.Pole.

Nah I reckon in reality you would choose a modern motor.:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I can remember ERF artics with no power steering (try reversing anything into a tight spot with no PS) god, you needed arms like Popeye. :roll_eyes:
I’ve no experience of much of the modern stuff, my class 1 days finished mid 1990’s with a 3 axle Foden unit, Cummins and Fuller (a great motor)

Pre-war Octopus by the look of it.

Yep first truck I bought was a Mk 2 Atki :roll_eyes:, no power steering, air wipers crap heater etc etc which was ancient even at that time….when parked up I didnt just relax in the cab … I got under it and greased the king pins.:joy:

A shock to the system after coming off a Volvo as an employed driver.

I suffered it for 6 months and part ex.d it for a 2800DAF….another bad move btw.:roll_eyes::grin:

Having said that, Rob, I still quite like armstrong steering in a car (not a truck obvs :grinning_face:)! When I lived in Cairo I ran a Tofas - basically a Turkish-built Fiat 131. Early ‘80s technology, five-speed box and no power-steering. It was great! It felt much more positive and natural (to an old git) and I realised why cars don’t need it.

I’ve also driven buses and lorries without power-steering and I have to say, I prefer the power-steering!

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Slow speed manoeuvres with no power are very difficult. M-way speeds no great problem, provided nothing goes wrong of course.
I am used to power steering in cars now. My old GT6s and TR6 had no power and they could be a bit awkward when parking. A cast iron 6-pot weighing heavy on the front axle was not a formula for ease of use.

Pseudologia fantastica and to GOM you’re not the only one that knows big words :rofl:

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Some of the better cars had quite low-geared steering to counter the effect of the big 6-pot out front and my Rover 100 was a good example!

And the driver is obviously across the road putting himself over the personal weighbridge. :rofl:

I hadn’t spotted that! I remember when I was about 12 standing on the one in Woolworths and putting a big penny in the slot. It said 4 stone 2 lbs. Not heavy enough to drive lorries yet, then!

I’m exactly double that now, so still not heavy enough to drive lorries :rofl:

Pseudologia fantastica, took the words right out of my mouth, Oily. :wink: :rofl:

No idea what stones are anymore, been on kgs for 30 years. So I do know that since my heart attack back in May I have lost 16 kgs mainly due to taking food advice too seriously. But 64 this week and last, so turning the corner at last. :joy:

Should there be a space between leg and end?

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I’ve had literally dozens of cars, mostly sixes or V eights, before power steering, automatic transmission et al were de rigueur. Apart from the poor practice of dry steering, I never found turning the wheel particularly onerous, even with 50+% wider than stock wheels.
Early trucks were a different proposition, but not to the degree of losing control.

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