robert1952:
As to why they were called Chinese sixes, one of those dictionary definitions states that they were so-called because ‘only the Chinese’ could come up with such a weird configuration! Robert
+1.Again literally in this case. 
Froggy55:
0To continue the discussion about weird Chinese axle layouts, here’s a “Chinese 8”. A Baoji using a MAN cab. I remember uploading that picture from a Chinese website via a few links, but perhaps some of you will find more about it!
Maybe some Chinese have taken the Euro dislike of double drive to the extreme by viewing it as an anti socialist decadent subversive capitalist idea to be avoided at all costs. 
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if you’re 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if you’re 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members… 
Here’s the only French-registered “Chinese Six” I ever saw on the road. Operated by Tranports Gautier, close to rennes (Brittany).
I was told many years ago that the term ‘Chinese Six’ was coined because the Chinese people read text from right to left, hence a 6X4 configuration the opposite way around?
Pete.
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…
Whatever the “executive ruling”, I am prepared to uphold the great tradition of the British lorry driver by refusing to “stick together”!
Retired Old ■■■■:
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…Whatever the “executive ruling”, I am prepared to uphold the great tradition of the British lorry driver by refusing to “stick together”!
You always have been a trouble maker ROF…
I take great pride in it, Fergie!
Ask any of my former employers.
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…
Hi David,
In my humble opinion,I was always brought up that rigids were indeed chinese sixes,and tractor units such as my old Mammoth Minor were twin steers,I rest my case But whatever happens this is the best thread on T/Net the photo’s and information one gleans from here is amazing.
Talking of photo’s I found a couple of old pics,which show you with the 2 loves of your life Liz and your Bernard,and a shot of you leaving a Routiers somewhere !!
Regards
Richard
Retired Old ■■■■:
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…
Mr Fergie and Mr Maggie D QC,
For the record I’m 46 and have always known them as Chinese 6’s, so please Sir Richard QC be careful with any ruling!
The term “Chinese-Six” has its origins in the mid-1930s and the actual vehicle type was a typical British solution to finding a way to increase the payload of a two axle rigid, the maximum gvw then being 12 tons. Hire and reward hauliers on ‘A’ Licence were also weight restricted for tare weight of a lorry. For about an extra ton weight of single wheel axle the gvw could be increased to 15 tons, gaining about 2 tons of extra payload and revenue. Back then virtually all loads were rated on tonnage. Some manufacturers and converters did put the single wheel axle behind the driven axle (e.g. the pre-WW2 AEC Mammoth Minor). I was told that the terminology “Chinese-Six” for twin-steering 3-axle rigids was used in a somewhat derogatory fashion because it wasn’t apparently the logical place to locate an extra axle. A Chinese way of doing something different was applied to other things when I was growing up, less politically correct times back then.
MaggieD:
Talking of photo’s I found a couple of old pics,which show you with the 2 loves of your life Liz and your Bernard,and a shot of you leaving a Routiers somewhere !!Regards
Richard
These two pictures are screen prints from the TV serial “la Route”, dating back to 1964. A short episode can be viewed here, showing the inside of the “TV-cabbed” Bernard:
dailymotion.com/video/xkyfog … shortfilms
MaggieD:
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…Hi David,
In my humble opinion,I was always brought up that rigids were indeed chinese sixes,and tractor units such as my old Mammoth Minor were twin steers,I rest my case
Talking of photo’s I found a couple of old pics,which show you with the 2 loves of your life Liz and your Bernard,and a shot of you leaving a Routiers somewhere !!
Regards
Richard
Maggie D has got you bang to rights there Fergie! Its like the film Brief Encounter but road instead of rail 
Morning all,
Well the bricks are looking good, just turned the Donkey that I have offered to look after, out into the back paddock…Mr Whippy by name…Mr Nippy by nature…sweet looking…nasty little B… Still one must persevere…
Froggy, I had forgotten about La Route, funny how France saw something in the life and world of the lorry driver…all we got here was “Truckers”…mind you I think that got a bit too realistic for many in the Hire and Reward game at the time!
1972ish, and I was selling lorries for a living, hard up, (combination of day dreaming, and unscroupulous employer who “nicked” most of any sales commission earned), but I used to do the odd week end for the family outfit, Which was struggling with the Hire and Reward job. Now they owned amongst many oddballs, a pair of S39 Foden Chinese 6 tractors, (similar to those from Cyril Forresters fleet at Whixall Moss. Beautiful lookers, that S 39 cab was a beauty…until you got inside…how small were Fodens engineers/test drivers…intimate with a Gardner…try an S39…
But , (for reasons of price), one of ours had a Leyland power plant…Noise…ye Dragoons…she was noisey…and of course no power steering…(saves wearing out the front tyres), It doesn’t half, you always had to be moving to turn the steering wheel, and at a fair pace…by gum, I got used to reversing into places at a fair old lick…just so I could bend the blooming trailer into tight works entrances!..Looked a right cowboy…
Those Fodens were great lookers, but a bit like a Beautiful woman…then you find out she cannot cook…next to useless in the long run! One of them eventually went on to work for Robin Taylor, at Lichfield , and I used to see her trundling down the A38 with a “heavy” bathtub tipper on the back…always felt sorry for the poor lad driving her…bet he was a quick reverser also!
Mr Whippy is now right outside this cowshed “honking” like a good one…wonder if I could sell rides on him?
Cheerio for now.
MaggieD:
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…Hi David,
In my humble opinion,I was always brought up that rigids were indeed chinese sixes,and tractor units such as my old Mammoth Minor were twin steers,I rest my case
Talking of photo’s I found a couple of old pics,which show you with the 2 loves of your life Liz and your Bernard,and a shot of you leaving a Routiers somewhere !!
Regards
Richard
Hi Richard…love the pic’s…I had different coloured hair then…but the two unsavory characters lurking in the foreground ? looks like ROF and Rigsby, are they after my beautiful wagon, of Mrs Fergie…ummmmmmmm.
As for Pete Smith saying he’s 46…really.? don’t believe him…that or he’s had a hard life with
Mrs Smith…
Fergie47:
MaggieD:
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…Hi David,
In my humble opinion,I was always brought up that rigids were indeed chinese sixes,and tractor units such as my old Mammoth Minor were twin steers,I rest my case
Talking of photo’s I found a couple of old pics,which show you with the 2 loves of your life Liz and your Bernard,and a shot of you leaving a Routiers somewhere !!
Regards
Richard
Hi Richard…love the pic’s…I had different coloured hair then…but the two unsavory characters lurking in the foreground ? looks like ROF and Rigsby, are they after my beautiful wagon, of Mrs Fergie…ummmmmmmm.
As for Pete Smith saying he’s 46…really.? don’t believe him…that or he’s had a hard life with
Mrs Smith…
I had a big paper round! Which Mrs Smith are you refering to Fergie? You have a choice…well you have to have an upgrade now and then
Hey, I think that on the continent only Pegaso 2045 and Fiat 690 could deliver double direction artics (tractors)
Both together at the front, and not as other did as MB and so on.
But think that the Pegaso never wa sold outside Spain ■■? and if they got the new square cab as artic ■■?
The Fiat is of one of the biggest hauliers in Belgium at that time (about 100 big big for us in Belgium).
Also the Fiat with the new square cab type 691 wasn’t sold here in Belgium.
Eric,
Hiya,
Are Mr and Mrs Fergie doing the Viennese waltz ■■.
thanks harry, long retired.
pete smith:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Fergie47:
Some more Chinese 6’s…except the last one, which is a twin steer, so would it be that in general terms all flat beds are Chinese 6’s and tractor units are twin steers, even if the steer axles are close together ? or perhaps,if yours 50 years old and younger they’re twin steer, and if your 51 and older they’re Chinesesssssss…May be we’ll have to get Sir Richard Evans QC,( MaggieD) to make an executive ruling to be abided by T/N members…Mr Fergie and Mr Maggie D QC,
For the record I’m 46 and have always known them as Chinese 6’s, so please Sir Richard QC be careful with any ruling!
Hi Pete,
Hope you are well, I’m a little rusty on legal rules,as the last case I dealt with in Wolverhampton was a ruling on Bert Williams and Billy Wright’s shorts, were they either Short Longs or Long Shorts.
By the way my paper round started opposite “The Mount” in Penn Rd,and ended up in Colway Avenue !!
Regards
Richard
harry_gill:
Hiya,
Are Mr and Mrs Fergie doing the Viennese waltz ■■.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hi Harry,
I don’t know, but it looks like Gay Gordon watching 
Hope the Malt is still flowing.
Regards
Richard