3 wheeler:
robroy:
Juddian:
Seriously though hope it hasn’t been scrapped, good workhorses those 401’s.This was mine a Sed Atk Topliner
(Hi cab conversion.)
290E ■■■■■■■■ 13speed Fuller box, Rockwell axle, twin stacks, loads of space inside, excellent reliable truck for it’s era.
Made money with it.With a bigger lump and an 18 speed and twin axles It would have been awesome in its day !
It was of it’s time, a 290E was the business then, didn’t really NEED an 18speed imo.
robroy:
Juddian:
Seriously though hope it hasn’t been scrapped, good workhorses those 401’s.This was mine a Sed Atk Topliner
290E ■■■■■■■■ 13speed Fuller box, Rockwell axle, twin stacks, loads of space inside, excellent reliable truck for it’s era.
Made money with it.
Turbo on the back or side ?
Punchy Dan:
robroy:
Juddian:
Seriously though hope it hasn’t been scrapped, good workhorses those 401’s.This was mine a Sed Atk Topliner
290E ■■■■■■■■ 13speed Fuller box, Rockwell axle, twin stacks, loads of space inside, excellent reliable truck for it’s era.
Made money with it.Turbo on the back or side ?
Now you’re asking Dan, it was 20+yrs ago since I sold it, and I didn’t do my own maintenance, I’m more of a ‘botch to get me home’ type of mechanic than a technician.
It started it’s life as a 300 Gardner, ex Roy Plevin Manchester, and Air Products before that.
I got the ■■■■■■■ from a guy in Croydon, after making a killing on the Gardener for export.
I nearly bought an ex air products but that was a 411 ,twin split and a soam axle .
robroy:
3 wheeler:
robroy:
Juddian:
Seriously though hope it hasn’t been scrapped, good workhorses those 401’s.This was mine a Sed Atk Topliner
290E ■■■■■■■■ 13speed Fuller box, Rockwell axle, twin stacks, loads of space inside, excellent reliable truck for it’s era.
Made money with it.With a bigger lump and an 18 speed and twin axles It would have been awesome in its day !
It was of it’s time, a 290E was the business then, didn’t really NEED an 18speed imo.
What was your max weight then ? And what did you pull
the maoster:
Noticed yesterday that the sad Sed Atki that was sat with it’s drivers side window open in RAF Wittering has gone! That’s been there for bleedin years, I remember passing it when I was driving a Seddon.Piece of history gone. Next thing is some bugger will take that old Lightning from the yard just south of Newark!
Apologies, shouldn’t have posted an aeroplane on a struck site.
Nice looking motors those pics lads, Rob yours looks completely different with the grill not being matt black.
Where your exhaust stack is my air intake went there, which by the way cracked one day and the price of a new part was unusually high, however a bit of measuring revealed a standard 6/8" drain pipe fitted, so one was procured from Texas for about a fiver, cut to size and painted black…thats the way to do it… 
14 litre ■■■■■■■ Fuller Rockwell you couldn’t go wrong, never needed any more than a standard 8 Roadranger box and then never used 1st or 2nd unless on a serious hill start, my last one was a twin steer with the new then E320 14 litre, running at 38 (and a bit sometimes) tons, she’d pull 70mph @ 1100rpm all day long and barely slowed for a hill, returned 7 mpg average at that speed too, never gave a moments problem save a front parabollock spring broke on me under heavy braking one day, which was ironic seeing as in normal use the brakes didn’t get used cos she was fitted with a Jake, oh and we ended up welding the open spring type shakle ends on the second steer to stop them opening up, some newer ones i’ve looked at classic shows have a different design entirely, that was all it ever needed apart from the first class regular servicing it got where i worked then, happy days indeed.
I’d give me eye teeth to have a lorry with the guts performance and driveability and all round visibility of that old girl to see me time out with, just listening to the engine was an aural delight, you could drive it on the sound of the turbo spooling up alone, a wondrous noise.
14 litre ■■■■■■■ Fuller Rockwell you couldn’t go wrong, never needed any more than a standard 8 Roadranger box and then never used 1st or 2nd unless on a serious hill start, my last one was a twin steer with the new then E320 14 litre, running at 38 (and a bit sometimes) tons, she’d pull 70mph @ 1100rpm all day long and barely slowed for a hill, returned 7 mpg average at that speed too, never gave a moments problem save a front parabollock spring broke on me under heavy braking one day, which was ironic seeing as in normal use the brakes didn’t get used cos she was fitted with a Jake, oh and we ended up welding the open spring type shakle ends on the second steer to stop them opening up, some newer ones i’ve looked at classic shows have a different design entirely, that was all it ever needed apart from the first class regular servicing it got where i worked then, happy days indeed.
I’d give me eye teeth to have a lorry with the guts performance and driveability and all round visibility of that old girl to see me time out with, just listening to the engine was an aural delight, you could drive it on the sound of the turbo spooling up alone, a wondrous noise.
[/quote]
How did you manage 7mpg with a twin steer and fully loaded.
You must have been so light footed or permanently went downhill !
Or was I just young crazy and foolish ?
3 wheeler:
robroy:
3 wheeler:
robroy:
This was mine a Sed Atk Topliner290E ■■■■■■■■ 13speed Fuller box, Rockwell axle, twin stacks, loads of space inside, excellent reliable truck for it’s era.
Made money with it.With a bigger lump and an 18 speed and twin axles It would have been awesome in its day !
It was of it’s time, a 290E was the business then, didn’t really NEED an 18speed imo.
What was your max weight then ? And what did you pull
38ton on 5 axles, Tautliner./Euroliner/ sometimes a box van belonging to customer.
Out journey a lot of times was light foam materials, but fully freighted back. Mpg averaged out ok between the different comparison of weights, but can not remember the actual figures tbh.
Fuel then was about 38p a litre ex vat as far as I recall, I was getting about £1 a mile I think at that time, which was not bad for then, about 20 to 25 yrs ago.
It became a standing joke, a chap there who had same engined ERF but had a much lower geared axle used to drive really well, actually he was and still is the most professional driver i’ve ever known and funnily enough his son comes in our place as a subby most days of the week, anyway…
He used to average about 6.5 whilst my average was 7, none of us could understand it especially me cos i was a young idiot always treading it ( weren’t we all young crazy and foolish?) whilst he’d plod around at 55/60, the gearing must have had far more effect than given credit for, but mine had a lot more low revved grunt so seldom was a downchange ever needed.
Interestingly my previous motor was a 290 ■■■■■■■ Sed Ack 400, lower geared than the 401 and i averaged 6mpg with that.
I met up with dad a couple of years ago (he’s around 75 now and could pass for 55 the swine 
) and it still grates him in a humourous way that i got better fuel than him… 
RobRoy, 38 ton 5 axles wasn’t that about £3200 VED then, i think it was about £1500 less for having the 6th axle at the time, or is my memory buggered completely?
Juddian:
RobRoy, 38 ton 5 axles wasn’t that about £3200 VED then, i think it was about £1500 less for having the 6th axle at the time, or is my memory buggered completely?
Yeh I think you’re right.
I also had a 400 at the same time, with a tag axle and there was a hell of a difference between the two as I remember.
Numbum:
I took this photo in Taunton years ago and I think this is the wrecker now in the field by Langdons. I wonder if the driver looked over or under the bonnet side.
I know this is wandering off the original topic, but that’s a fabulous image. Here is a more up-to-date view of it!
Cut my artic teeth on a 401 after moving up from an FL6 .
Worked with these guys for a while who buy oldies as long as they are too crap for scrap.
K R Walsh classics. Google is your friend.
Juddian:
Nice looking motors those pics lads, Rob yours looks completely different with the grill not being matt black.
Where your exhaust stack is my air intake went there, which by the way cracked one day and the price of a new part was unusually high, however a bit of measuring revealed a standard 6/8" drain pipe fitted, so one was procured from Texas for about a fiver, cut to size and painted black…thats the way to do it…14 litre ■■■■■■■ Fuller Rockwell you couldn’t go wrong, never needed any more than a standard 8 Roadranger box and then never used 1st or 2nd unless on a serious hill start, my last one was a twin steer with the new then E320 14 litre, running at 38 (and a bit sometimes) tons, she’d pull 70mph @ 1100rpm all day long and barely slowed for a hill, returned 7 mpg average at that speed too, never gave a moments problem save a front parabollock spring broke on me under heavy braking one day, which was ironic seeing as in normal use the brakes didn’t get used cos she was fitted with a Jake, oh and we ended up welding the open spring type shakle ends on the second steer to stop them opening up, some newer ones i’ve looked at classic shows have a different design entirely, that was all it ever needed apart from the first class regular servicing it got where i worked then, happy days indeed.
I’d give me eye teeth to have a lorry with the guts performance and driveability and all round visibility of that old girl to see me time out with, just listening to the engine was an aural delight, you could drive it on the sound of the turbo spooling up alone, a wondrous noise.
That’s some high diff ,mine does 60 at 1400 - 1450 revs ,with a 3.7 diff .
damoq:
Does anyone remember the old yellow transit van in the field just before Abington Svcs on the M74? It’s been there for years. I remember seeing it when I went down the road with my dad when I was younger. It looks like its rusted away to a little pile of scrap on the ground last time I passed it in the daylight.
Bloody hell Damoq I thought it was only me that remembered that! Sat next to the hedge by some cattle troughs,last time I saw any remains it was just the engine sticking up but that was 10 year ago,Cheer’s Pete
There is a very old abandoned wrecker behind the cafe on the A 303 near Yeovil, it must have been one of Taylors, who have the garage and recovery depot by the Shell garage.
robroy:
Juddian:
RobRoy, 38 ton 5 axles wasn’t that about £3200 VED then, i think it was about £1500 less for having the 6th axle at the time, or is my memory buggered completely?Yeh I think you’re right.
I also had a 400 at the same time, with a tag axle and there was a hell of a difference between the two as I remember.
When 38 tonnes first came in, on 1/5/83, the road tax for 2+3 was £3,100, for 3+2 was £2,730 but 3+3 was £1,200
240 Gardner:
robroy:
Juddian:
RobRoy, 38 ton 5 axles wasn’t that about £3200 VED then, i think it was about £1500 less for having the 6th axle at the time, or is my memory buggered completely?Yeh I think you’re right.
I also had a 400 at the same time, with a tag axle and there was a hell of a difference between the two as I remember.When 38 tonnes first came in, on 1/5/83, the road tax for 2+3 was £3,100, for 3+2 was £2,730 but 3+3 was £1,200
Thanks mate, i’d forgotten the exact figures, we like most others had mainly 2+3 combinations cos we’d had the trailers stretched and extra axles bunged under at first, scandalous bloody tax that.
Made a mockery of the whole thing really giving 6 axles £1200 tax, still be ripping the roads to shreds with those self same 3 trailer axles, in practice for most operations like ours the load couldn’t be moved forward to take advantage of higher tractor weight.
Cosmic:
Numbum:
I took this photo in Taunton years ago and I think this is the wrecker now in the field by Langdons. I wonder if the driver looked over or under the bonnet side.
I know this is wandering off the original topic, but that’s a fabulous image. Here is a more up-to-date view of it!
10
Such a waste!
I think the same thing everytime I pass it on the M5 there.
Should have been sold and restored, probably to far gone now.
How long has it been in that field, any idea?
Seem to recall another similar one sitting at a filling station between Newton Abbot and Torquay for years.
