First new Ford I bought a 2000E £1800 .
Off FB credit to Mike Dempsey.
Astran trucks and middle east driving ·
Mike Dempsey · ·
En route to Baghdad
This is me in 1980 en route to Baghdad
As I recall the trailer was on the dock and I was out for the day swimming etc!
Shipped into Syria from Greece the overland the Baghdad! Massive convoy overnight out of Syria!
Some scary ■■■■ I have to say!
Proper adventure!!
Fair trip in a Crusader.
Top down obviously ![]()
Hiya Dennis…
Yeah my first job in transport was with Trevor as a young kid.
I started on a Transit pick up mostly doing seat belts from Kangol to car factories, and out of an electronic circuit board factory delivering nationwide…
A lot of London and South Coast work tramping, 4 to 5 nights out, so by the time I got my HGV licence I knew my way around, especially around London pre M25.
He changed the Transit to a Fiat Daily which was a lot better.
He actually put me through my test, and I then went on to a TK and a ‘D’ series, he then put me on the Fiat you mention, (which was worlds apart to TK, even a makeshift bunk in the back,) the one that he used to fix the horsebox on, doing flat work.
I also used to take his horses down to Gatwick airport, from time to time, accompanied by a groom, on their way to Canada for the Harness Racing …‘‘Sulky trotting’’ did Trevor call it?
Somebody sent me a pic of Trevor from FB, he’s still going strong afaik, and yeah at Green Hammerton as you say.
Last time I saw him was at Rothwell truck auction around 88.
He was always ok with me, and a good bloke to work for.
You mean the car or the girlfriend? ![]()
I’m not denying I have issues with you, but those issues have been created by you.
Look back at your own posts and see how many times you have contradicted yourself. Liars need a better memory than what you have.
You claim expertise in every subject, dicussed on these pages, when the truth is you simply do very poor research and proove your lack of knowledge.
Case in point; RoadRanger 15 speed. You have never even seen one, let alone driven one, yet you try to tell me how to operate them. FFS, I cut my teeth on them. It then turns out you have had the same argument with Ro and other fellows experienced with the 'box, unbeknown to me. Bad memory let you down again.
Most contributers here seem to have little respect for your input, experienced folk can see right through a faker. You alone have formed my opinion of you, nobody else influenced me.
You haven’t had a real job for three parts of most men’s entire career, yet in those few years you did have employment, according to you, you rose to the top of three distinctly different fields.
Keep it up Carryfast, I could write a short book on your faux pas and contradictory autobiography.
A huge number of Crusaders, both day cab and sleeper, RHD and LHD, 4x2 and 6x4 went down on the Middle-East run in those days. They were robust beasts.
This was my Iveco that carried my Houghton built horse box used to carry my Standardbred Pacers to Harness racing all over the UK. I never did lift the box off the flat as the vehicle was more or less a “pet” and I was it’s only driver during the time I was involved in Harness racing.
In other words, a Pommie K 124? ![]()
I see yours had a factory sleeper, Trevor’s had the standard cab with a bit behind the seats just big enough to sleep on …(I was a LOT thinner in those days.
)
The only problem was the back of the cab was bare metal, so before I sorted it my sleeping bag was wet with condensation.
.
I used to like that Fiat, he ended up having 2 of them.
No, SDU, most of these were Roll-Royce powered: Eagle 3 12-ltr 220, 265, 280, 290 and 305 bhp machines. Some of the older 6x4s will have had the Detroit
.
@les_sylphides I was thinking more along the lines of robust, reliable and uncomfortable, although back then we weren’t smart enough to know any better.
Oh yes! You were right on that score. Though people are apt to be quick to forget how hard a ride contemporary Scanias were on the Middle-East run in the ‘70s. I suspect over-engineering more than often got those Scammells back for another run.
I owned a Road Commander with a Hendrickson RTE 380, you really needed a decent amount of pudding over the drive, to tame the ride.
Ha-ha! At only 8.5 stone, I’d have bounced about like a toddler in a shopping trolley! ![]()
Did the container come off for the annual test??
ERF by the looks of it





