Hi Lawrence, the Allisons Mercury is Burnley registered and has an Oswald Tillotson cab built in Burnley one of many supplied by them to Allisons. I was never in Dirty Dicks but often in the Mayfield for a cuppa, only stayed there now and again if there was a log sheet scare on otherwise it was straight back home whatever the time. I was past both locations yesterday, the Mayfield now a fancy resteraunt and Dicks a small housing estate. I got talking to a lady selling entrance tickets at the Kirriemuir Camera Obscura a few years ago she mentioned her husband had driven for The Angus Milling Company (Peter Pan Oats) green wagons from Tannadice Mill, Kirriemuir, she said he stayed in digs often near Preston, I suggested the Mayfield, she blushed and said “No they called it Dirty Dicks” at Garstang…
Cheers, Leyland 600
Leyland600:
heers, Leyland 600
Hi Lawrence, the Allisons Mercury is Burnley registered and has an Oswald Tillotson cab built in Burnley one of many supplied by them to Allisons. I was never in Dirty Dicks but often in the Mayfield for a cuppa, only stayed there now and again if there was a log sheet scare on otherwise it was straight back home whatever the time. I was past both locations yesterday, the Mayfield now a fancy resteraunt and Dicks a small housing estate. I got talking to a lady selling entrance tickets at the Kirriemuir Camera Obscura a few years ago she mentioned her husband had driven for The Angus Milling Company (Peter Pan Oats) green wagons from Tannadice Mill, Kirriemuir, she said he stayed in digs often near Preston, I suggested the Mayfield, she blushed and said “No they called it Dirty Dicks” at Garstang…
C
Thats the very place Lawrence Tannadice Mill, I once backloaded seed oats from those very doors to West ■■■■■■■■■■ Farmers Cockermouth depot after tipping a load of steel pipes on Stonehaven promenade with my S21 Foden 8 wheeler circa 1968/9.
Thanks for posting I can remember that Thorneycroft.
Cheers Leyland 600.
Leyland600:
Thats the very place Lawrence Tannadice Mill, I once backloaded seed oats from those very doors to West ■■■■■■■■■■ Farmers Cockermouth depot after tipping a load of steel pipes on Stonehaven promenade with my S21 Foden 8 wheeler circa 1968/9.
Thanks for posting I can remember that Thorneycroft.
Cheers Leyland 600.
I used to drive a Thorny the same as this one, It was Ex BRS Peterborough, It had a AEC 7.7 Engine, & It was replaced with a 9.6 Thorny engine, & what a difference, It used to pull like a train 48 mph up hill & down dale, Plus it had 8 wheel brakes (Westinghouse) IIRC , ahead of its times in those days I may add,The reg was BEG 506, The firm I drove for had BEG 571 Too, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Leyland600:
Thats the very place Lawrence Tannadice Mill, I once backloaded seed oats from those very doors to West ■■■■■■■■■■ Farmers Cockermouth depot after tipping a load of steel pipes on Stonehaven promenade with my S21 Foden 8 wheeler circa 1968/9.
Thanks for posting I can remember that Thorneycroft.
Cheers Leyland 600.I used to drive a Thorny the same as this one, It was Ex BRS Peterborough, It had a AEC 7.7 Engine, & It was replaced with a 9.6 Thorny engine, & what a difference, It used to pull like a train 48 mph up hill & down dale, Plus it had 8 wheel brakes (Westinghouse) IIRC , ahead of its times in those days I may add,The reg was BEG 506, The firm I drove for had BEG 571 Too, Regards Larry.
Thornycroft should have survived: from what I read on these threads, they were good on brakes, good on engines and especially good on gearboxes. Why did they become subsumed into the blander whole, I wonder? Robert
Ask British Leyland- they closed down the companies that were seen to be competitors to their main brand, no matter how good they were. In my humble opinion, both Thorneycroft and AEC should have been allowed to prosper, both firms’ products being vastly superior to Leyland’s.
Retired Old ■■■■:
Ask British Leyland- they closed down the companies that were seen to be competitors to their main brand, no matter how good they were. In my humble opinion, both Thorneycroft and AEC should have been allowed to prosper, both firms’ products being vastly superior to Leyland’s.
I just think it was a case of an old fashioned British company Board submitting to a substantial offer from the ,then, rampant growth of British Leyland it was nothing to do with a great company sticking to it’s independence it was all to do with the “filthy lucre” and ■■■■ the employees eh! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Ask British Leyland- they closed down the companies that were seen to be competitors to their main brand, no matter how good they were. In my humble opinion, both Thorneycroft and AEC should have been allowed to prosper, both firms’ products being vastly superior to Leyland’s.I just think it was a case of an old fashioned British company Board submitting to a substantial offer from the ,then, rampant growth of British Leyland it was nothing to do with a great company sticking to it’s independence it was all to do with the “filthy lucre” and [zb] the employees eh! Cheers Bewick.
It was AEC that took out Thornycroft ‘before’ AEC became a part of Leyland Group.While the last ‘Thornycrofts’ were things like the Antar and Nubian fire trucks.Fitted with …Rolls and ■■■■■■■ engines.Just like all the rest of the most successful Brit trucks including Leylands. 
Carryfast:
Bewick:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Ask British Leyland- they closed down the companies that were seen to be competitors to their main brand, no matter how good they were. In my humble opinion, both Thorneycroft and AEC should have been allowed to prosper, both firms’ products being vastly superior to Leyland’s.I just think it was a case of an old fashioned British company Board submitting to a substantial offer from the ,then, rampant growth of British Leyland it was nothing to do with a great company sticking to it’s independence it was all to do with the “filthy lucre” and [zb] the employees eh! Cheers Bewick.
It was AEC that took out Thornycroft ‘before’ AEC became a part of Leyland Group.While the last ‘Thornycrofts’ were things like the Antar and Nubian fire trucks.Fitted with …Rolls and ■■■■■■■ engines.Just like all the rest of the most successful Brit trucks including Leylands.
Interesting point! Robert
Yes, 1961 ACV (the AEC parent company that comprised AEC, Maudslay, Park Royal Vehicles) bought Thornycroft which was in serious financial trouble at the time. Thornycroft had a strange range of models, very successful light and middleweights, very good specialist and heavy haulage models, but nothing much in the max weight general sector. The AEC plan for Thornycroft was for it to discontinue the competing middleweights that didn’t sell in anything like the numbers of the Mercury, make components such as gearboxes at Basingstoke, and develop the specialist range which was a good fit with AEC’s Dumptruk models. Of course in 1962 Leyland bought ACV and the rest is history, as they say. The Thornycroft eight-wheelers as Mr Dunbar comments were excellent, but again didn’t sell in great numbers. Probably down to price.
gingerfold:
Yes, 1961 ACV (the AEC parent company that comprised AEC, Maudslay, Park Royal Vehicles) bought Thornycroft which was in serious financial trouble at the time. Thornycroft had a strange range of models, very successful light and middleweights, very good specialist and heavy haulage models, but nothing much in the max weight general sector. The AEC plan for Thornycroft was for it to discontinue the competing middleweights that didn’t sell in anything like the numbers of the Mercury, make components such as gearboxes at Basingstoke, and develop the specialist range which was a good fit with AEC’s Dumptruk models. Of course in 1962 Leyland bought ACV and the rest is history, as they say. The Thornycroft eight-wheelers as Mr Dunbar comments were excellent, but again didn’t sell in great numbers. Probably down to price.
Thanks. I seem to remember that they made double-decker buses too, but again in small numbers. Robert
Voila
gingerfold:
Yes, 1961 ACV (the AEC parent company that comprised AEC, Maudslay, Park Royal Vehicles) bought Thornycroft which was in serious financial trouble at the time. Thornycroft had a strange range of models, very successful light and middleweights, very good specialist and heavy haulage models, but nothing much in the max weight general sector. The AEC plan for Thornycroft was for it to discontinue the competing middleweights that didn’t sell in anything like the numbers of the Mercury, make components such as gearboxes at Basingstoke, and develop the specialist range which was a good fit with AEC’s Dumptruk models. Of course in 1962 Leyland bought ACV and the rest is history, as they say. The Thornycroft eight-wheelers as Mr Dunbar comments were excellent, but again didn’t sell in great numbers. Probably down to price.
To be fair Leyland’s plans just finished off what AEC started based on the gradual realisation that transmissions were sorted such as in the form of Fuller,Spicer or Allison depending on application and Thornycroft realistically couldn’t do anything that Scammell couldn’t do better.While the specialist Nubian fire fighting vehicles side were outclassed by Boughton here and Faun in Europe and Oshkosh in the States.IE the writing was on the wall for Thornycroft with AEC’s business plan and the pace of development going on elsewhere.On that note the relationship between Thornycroft,AEC and Leyland Group was inevitably and unavoidably going to come down to the Leyland T45 with Rolls and ■■■■■■■ power and what remained of Scammell’s specialist types in the end.On that note it’s probably fair to say that the Scammell Commander was a more than worthy successor to the Mighty Antar. 
This is a roping and sheeting thread not a talking shop about all and sundry ! Cheers Bewick.
I think we’ve seen that one before ^^^ 
Punchy Dan:
I think we’ve seen that one before ^^^
Hi Dan, Now are you sure about this tandem trailer nicely sheeted load, belonging to Dennis been on this thread before, 
Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Punchy Dan:
I think we’ve seen that one before ^^^Hi Dan, Now are you sure about this tandem trailer nicely sheeted load, belonging to Dennis been on this thread before,
And of course Dennis just loves this one. , Regards Larry.
I’ll bet he does. Especially with those ropes over the fly! 
Retired Old ■■■■:
I’ll bet he does. Especially with those ropes over the fly!
Im sure he would be pleased to know that the load got to Dundee SAS, Bone dry as It ■■■■■■ down all the way up from Newcastle, Of course we allways used top quality gear, Regards Larry.
Tidy looking 400 Larry ,shame it’s not got a proper back axle .