Carl Williams:
The Doulton Ford pantechnicon is based on the Ford Passenger Chassis with body by Boalloy we had one the same. It was our first Turbo Charged vehicle & extremely fast. I understand (confirmed at our last drivers reunion) that it was pulled in on the M6 doing 96 MPH although at times it may have exceeded that as the driver mistakenly thought the police would stop following & trying to catch him as he crossed into Scotland
Cheers Carl, thanks for the pic ! 96 MPH quality ! Was the driver an ex pilot !!!
Heres one of your Fodens heading into Poole,looks like the pic was taken near Branksome Station.
You may recognise the driver ■■
1
Now we can see what Carl looks like ! Anon1.
0
Hi Bewick
Apart from the face and the weird hair I wish that had been me as unlike your excellent memory & descriptions I cannot remember who the driver was and what he was carrying etc and its doing my head in.
I put my hand up to buying the Foden tractor unit which I do remember but cannot recall the trailer.
How right you are about Foden and can understand why you didn’t buy any as in my opinion there was no comparison to ERF.
To make matters worse that one was fitted with Rolls Royce diesel engine with crap fuel consumption and not too reliable, certainly never lived up to its name and not a millionth as good as Gardner
In the most of our traffic we only needed 22 ton gross and and in in 73 aprox we only had two 32 tonners an AEC Mandator and that Foden and at that time Foden were going through a bad patch and selling cheaply We bought two new Dodge with the crap Perkins 6354 and the Foden rep had two new Foden with Gardner engines which he almost price matched Then we bought 3 new Lynx with the Fixed head & I think three horses would have made us more profit. So although I am not a Foden fan they certainly would have been better buys than the 2 Dodges & 3 Lynx. I suppose late in life we found we could run ERF with Gardner cheaper than all Ford Bedford Dodge & Leyland products at 24 ton with the exception of AEC Mercuries, which they stopped making, Best wishes Carl
marktaff:
Hi Dean, i drive Robbins somebody posted pics above today !
Ok Mark heres one of there Crusaders !
0
That Crusader Dean is still at the back of our yard in Fforestfach along with a Foden but both are in a sorry state
now, but seeing this pic of her in her hay day on the road is fantastic. will upoload a pic of her as she is today when I get use to using the site.
marktaff:
Hi Dean, i drive Robbins somebody posted pics above today !
Ok Mark heres one of there Crusaders !
0
That Crusader Dean is still at the back of our yard in Fforestfach along with a Foden but both are in a sorry state
now, but seeing this pic of her in her hay day on the road is fantastic. will upoload a pic of her as she is today when I get use to using the site.
Hi Mark,
I’ve watched that crusader deteriorating in Robbins yard for years,there were a few there and some of your old flats.at one time there were also the remains of a pantechnican Bedford and a Foden tractor unit…
regards Andrew.
Carl Williams:
The Doulton Ford pantechnicon is based on the Ford Passenger Chassis with body by Boalloy we had one the same. It was our first Turbo Charged vehicle & extremely fast. I understand (confirmed at our last drivers reunion) that it was pulled in on the M6 doing 96 MPH although at times it may have exceeded that as the driver mistakenly thought the police would stop following & trying to catch him as he crossed into Scotland
Cheers Carl, thanks for the pic ! 96 MPH quality ! Was the driver an ex pilot !!!
Heres one of your Fodens heading into Poole,looks like the pic was taken near Branksome Station.
You may recognise the driver ■■
1
Now we can see what Carl looks like ! Anon1.
0
Hi Bewick
Apart from the face and the weird hair I wish that had been me as unlike your excellent memory & descriptions I cannot remember who the driver was and what he was carrying etc and its doing my head in.
I put my hand up to buying the Foden tractor unit which I do remember but cannot recall the trailer.
How right you are about Foden and can understand why you didn’t buy any as in my opinion there was no comparison to ERF.
To make matters worse that one was fitted with Rolls Royce diesel engine with crap fuel consumption and not too reliable, certainly never lived up to its name and not a millionth as good as Gardner
In the most of our traffic we only needed 22 ton gross and and in in 73 aprox we only had two 32 tonners an AEC Mandator and that Foden and at that time Foden were going through a bad patch and selling cheaply We bought two new Dodge with the crap Perkins 6354 and the Foden rep had two new Foden with Gardner engines which he almost price matched Then we bought 3 new Lynx with the Fixed head & I think three horses would have made us more profit. So although I am not a Foden fan they certainly would have been better buys than the 2 Dodges & 3 Lynx. I suppose late in life we found we could run ERF with Gardner cheaper than all Ford Bedford Dodge & Leyland products at 24 ton with the exception of AEC Mercuries, which they stopped making, Best wishes Carl
Thanks for the comprehensive explanation Carl, and you are dead right about Foden but you had to go one better and buy one with a RR engine Ugh! You wouldn’t go far wrong with a Gardner engine unit and they would work out cheaper in the end even allowing for the initial premium price. Cheers Dennis.
marktaff:
Hi Dean, i drive Robbins somebody posted pics above today !
Ok Mark heres one of there Crusaders !
0
That Crusader Dean is still at the back of our yard in Fforestfach along with a Foden but both are in a sorry state
now, but seeing this pic of her in her hay day on the road is fantastic. will upoload a pic of her as she is today when I get use to using the site.
Hi Mark,
I’ve watched that crusader deteriorating in Robbins yard for years,there were a few there and some of your old flats.at one time there were also the remains of a pantechnican Bedford and a Foden tractor unit…
regards Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
Yes its the same Crusader…Foden and Bedford, they were over in the Morriston yard for many years but they were moved to the Fforestfach yard
last year. The cab on the Crusader collapsed on moving it over to Fforestfach which was a pitty, its completely shot now but the Foden is still all in tact only one winner over time between metal and fibreglass lol.
That Crusader Dean is still at the back of our yard in Fforestfach along with a Foden but both are in a sorry state
now, but seeing this pic of her in her hay day on the road is fantastic. will upoload a pic of her as she is today when I get use to using the site.
[/quote]
Hi Mark,
I’ve watched that crusader deteriorating in Robbins yard for years,there were a few there and some of your old flats.at one time there were also the remains of a pantechnican Bedford and a Foden tractor unit…
regards Andrew.
[/quote]
Hi Andrew,
Yes its the same Crusader…Foden and Bedford, they were over in the Morriston yard for many years but they were moved to the Fforestfach yard
last year. The cab on the Crusader collapsed on moving it over to Fforestfach which was a pitty, its completely shot now but the Foden is still all in tact only one winner over time between metal and fibreglass lol.
[/quote]
Hi mark,
Thanks for the reply.i used to deal with Curtis Bennet fairly regularly and always looked in then.
Regards Andrew.
pete 359:
That Crusader Dean is still at the back of our yard in Fforestfach along with a Foden but both are in a sorry state
now, but seeing this pic of her in her hay day on the road is fantastic. will upoload a pic of her as she is today when I get use to using the site.
Hi Mark,
I’ve watched that crusader deteriorating in Robbins yard for years,there were a few there and some of your old flats.at one time there were also the remains of a pantechnican Bedford and a Foden tractor unit…
regards Andrew.
[/quote]
Hi Andrew,
Yes its the same Crusader…Foden and Bedford, they were over in the Morriston yard for many years but they were moved to the Fforestfach yard
last year. The cab on the Crusader collapsed on moving it over to Fforestfach which was a pitty, its completely shot now but the Foden is still all in tact only one winner over time between metal and fibreglass lol.
[/quote]
Hi mark,
Thanks for the reply.i used to deal with Curtis Bennet fairly regularly and always looked in then.
Regards Andrew.
[/quote]
Hi Andrew, Curtis Bennet ?
A coincidence that the Alan Firmin ERF should be followed by a Bluecap Seddon Atkinson. In the 1960s and 70s Alan Firmin had a contract with Blue Cap canned foods to store and deliver their product. The factory was in new rd Ditton near Bosmans yard. Several of the cascaded older lorries would have been running all day from Ditton to Pattenden lane Marden. IIRC Blue Cap were a subsidiary of Newforge.
pete 359:
Hi Dean,
Morgan’s are from CWM near Ebbw Vale.I used to see that black and white F700 MACK coming through south wales fairly regularly as a kid.Great to see a photo of it on here,thanks.
regards Andrew.
Thanks for the info Andrew ! I would imagine that Mack was the biggest USA truck seller back in
the 1970’s followed by White,Kenworth and the odd International,Ford,Peterbuilt,etc.
marktaff:
Hi Dean, i drive Robbins somebody posted pics above today !
Ok Mark heres one of there Crusaders !
That Crusader Dean is still at the back of our yard in Fforestfach along with a Foden but both are in a sorry state
now, but seeing this pic of her in her hay day on the road is fantastic. will upoload a pic of her as she is today when I get use to using the site.
Hi Mark,I’ve watched that crusader deteriorating in Robbins yard for years,there were a few there and some of your old flats.at one time there were also the remains of a pantechnican Bedford and a Foden tractor unit…
regards Andrew.
Thanks Andrew and Mark for your comments. Look forward to seeing the pics Mark,even if rusting away !
Carl Williams:
Hi Bewick
I put my hand up to buying the Foden tractor unit which I do remember but cannot recall the trailer.
How right you are about Foden and can understand why you didn’t buy any as in my opinion there was no comparison to ERF.
To make matters worse that one was fitted with Rolls Royce diesel engine with crap fuel consumption and not too reliable, certainly never lived up to its name and not a millionth as good as Gardner
In the most of our traffic we only needed 22 ton gross and and in in 73 aprox we only had two 32 tonners an AEC Mandator and that Foden and at that time Foden were going through a bad patch and selling cheaply We bought two new Dodge with the crap Perkins 6354 and the Foden rep had two new Foden with Gardner engines which he almost price matched Then we bought 3 new Lynx with the Fixed head & I think three horses would have made us more profit. So although I am not a Foden fan they certainly would have been better buys than the 2 Dodges & 3 Lynx. I suppose late in life we found we could run ERF with Gardner cheaper than all Ford Bedford Dodge & Leyland products at 24 ton with the exception of AEC Mercuries, which they stopped making, Best wishes Carl
Thanks for the comprehensive explanation Carl, and you are dead right about Foden but you had to go one better and buy one with a RR engine Ugh! You wouldn’t go far wrong with a Gardner engine unit and they would work out cheaper in the end even allowing for the initial premium price. Cheers Dennis.
cav551:
A coincidence that the Alan Firmin ERF should be followed by a Bluecap Seddon Atkinson. In the 1960s and 70s Alan Firmin had a contract with Blue Cap canned foods to store and deliver their product. The factory was in new rd Ditton near Bosmans yard. Several of the cascaded older lorries would have been running all day from Ditton to Pattenden lane Marden. IIRC Blue Cap were a subsidiary of Newforge.
These were a serious bit of kit in the 1970’s. The V8 3.5 litre you could hear coming down the road !
From memory when they replaced the P6 with the newer model which i cant remember the name of it
was not as reliable.Nice selection of old motors in the background.
Was the driver an ex pilot !!!
You wouldn’t go far wrong with a Gardner engine unit and they would work out cheaper in the end even allowing for the initial premium price. Cheers Dennis.
