Dead right.A long time ago,I often wondered if anyone had ever overtaken a Standerwick double decker on the motorway.Never heard if it ever happened. 
They used to pass all the latest Scanias including J+H Transport who could get along.They left our Invincibles with a Gardner 150 in their wake 
900x20.
bestbooties:
Trev_H:
Think the fastest was the Midland red, them things could hit the ton, B’ham to London 2hrs.As London to B’ham is 100 miles,I think 2 hours would be hanging about!
I was a young squaddie in the early '60’s and did a lot of hitch hiking in the early days before having my own wheels later on,and I well remember being blown off the road by the Midland Red coaches.
Hi Ian, sounds easy but that was from Digbeth Brum to Victoria London.
Deffo Leicester Forest with the wagon going southbound. Before the extra lane was put in.
Hello,heres a few more odd size pics…perhaps these may be of interest.
Dunno who had the fastest bus or coach all I know is Ernie drove the fastest milkcart in the west !! 
Cheers Bubbs, 
Hi Marcus,great odd size pictures a real selection of different types great to see!!!Glad you still have a sense of humor even with your tooth pain and erine and his milkfloat.Hope the teeth is sorted tommorrow and keep up the good work!!!cheers keith FLOURPOWER.
bubbleman:
Hello,heres a few more odd size pics…perhaps these may be of interest.
Dunno who had the fastest bus or coach all I know is Ernie drove the fastest milkcart in the west !!
Cheers Bubbs,
Hi Marc hope you are not in too much pain best of luck at the dentist 
Didn’t know Sayers had a MAN!
Here is one of Terry Moody’s pics taken in Cyprus a couple of years ago is it one of Clarkes?
240 Gardner:
Suedehead:
That Crusader must be an early one.
Cross ply tyres on the unit and trailer .How on earth could you tell they are cross-plies?
Split rims, yes.
Believe me i know. Split rims with c/p tyres on the unit, tubeless cross ply super singles on the trailer…
bestbooties:
Suedehead:
bestbooties:
coca cola kid:
Fortes. Newport Pagnell 1960
Hi Malc , Thats how rush hour looked back then.
Even back then when there was so little traffic about,some pratts still drove in the middle lane!
There was a photo a few weeks back in our local rag of the M6 in the mid '60’s around J15,only one car in each direction,and they were both in the middle lane!Isnt it in the outside lane of two ?
Lane 1 is [zb] offThe carriageway coming at you is 3 lanes,and there is a car in the MIDDLE lane.
Thought it was about the bus in the “outside lane” ?
Hi,hey Pat,yep thats one of Clarkes old 'uns…Sayers had 3 M.A.N s,Bubbs has put the anorak on
Fleet number 43 was TRD688M …Wessex Warrior…affectionaly known as “The W*g”
Fleet number 44 was UJB306M…Wessex Bowman…affectionaly known as “Freddy”
Fleet number 45 was UDP476M…Wessex Archer…affectionaly known as “Pierre”
One of my all time favorite firms 
Cheers Bubbs,
3300John:
Hiya…midland red was single deckers, where standlewick was double deckers. stage coach and parks came later with the one and a half deckers.
to get around the double decker ban in the early 70,s.
It was after a high speed crash at watford that dd,s was banned from useing motorways. one of standlewicks flopped on its side an slid into
another bus coming the other way. no centre barrier in those day,s.
John
John, there is/was no ban on double deckers on the motorway - one of Standerwick’s Bristol VRLs did fall on its side (no.79, I think ) but it was repaired and returned to service. The reason that these coaches had much shorter service lives than their Leyland predecessors was that they were grossly unreliable. The Atlanteans all did about 12 years on double-shifted long distance work, mainly to and from London, which was quite some record.
The continental double deckers are still true 'deckers, but operate within the 4m height limit.
Here’s what Standerwick 60 looks like today:
240 Gardner:
3300John:
Hiya…midland red was single deckers, where standlewick was double deckers. stage coach and parks came later with the one and a half deckers.
to get around the double decker ban in the early 70,s.
It was after a high speed crash at watford that dd,s was banned from useing motorways. one of standlewicks flopped on its side an slid into
another bus coming the other way. no centre barrier in those day,s.
John, there is/was no ban on double deckers on the motorway - one of Standerwick’s Bristol VRLs did fall on its side (no.79, I think
The continental double deckers are still true 'deckers, but operate within the 4m height limit.
Here’s what Standerwick 60 looks like today:
flickr.com/photos/48950471@N … 962931@N00Hiya gardner240…wow that brings back memories. she really looks well, is this the only one in preservation■■? sorry about the ban thing i thought i read it somwhere. cheers for the info.
John
bestbooties:
Suedehead:
bestbooties:
coca cola kid:
Fortes. Newport Pagnell 1960
Hi Malc , Thats how rush hour looked back then.
Even back then when there was so little traffic about,some pratts still drove in the middle lane!
There was a photo a few weeks back in our local rag of the M6 in the mid '60’s around J15,only one car in each direction,and they were both in the middle lane!Isnt it in the outside lane of two ?
Lane 1 is [zb] off
I said coned off didnt i ?The carriageway coming at you is 3 lanes,and there is a car in the MIDDLE lane.
Same as now then Ian
hiya,
Just brought this to the front for the benifit of Mr Bewick so’s he can see just how knowledgeable i am and add it to my CV you never know i might want to venture out of retirement one day and i want that F88.
“harry_gill”]
Bewick:
altitude:
That Laings trader looks the part for a tipper, not to sure about the dodgy looking guy driving it…Don’t be hard on the Lad “altitude” I think he was the foreman and his grimace was just as he lost his footing and landed on his a*** in the slutch,he should have let the Trader’s regular driver make the pose!! just because he was the foreman and had a tie on!!! Bewick.
hiya,
Now Dennis there’s a word i have’nt heard for nearly 40 years “slutch” being now a semi-skilled North Easterner we would say landed on his a"“” in the clarts but you being a Mackem good buddy you already knew that.
thanks harry long retired.
[/quote]
Suedehead:
240 Gardner:
Suedehead:
That Crusader must be an early one.
Cross ply tyres on the unit and trailer .How on earth could you tell they are cross-plies?
Split rims, yes.
Believe me i know. Split rims with c/p tyres on the unit, tubeless cross ply super singles on the trailer…
I don’t know how you identify the tyres as bias, belt bias, or radial ply either, yes you can see the tubeless rims on the trailer, you can see the unit wheels are 3 piece rims as was the norm in 1969 when the Crusaders were launched.
Talking about speed and motorways I re-call when I was a trailer mate on Brady’s last Octopus and trailer we had been in Leyland Motors in Oldbury all one afternoon with Injector trouble if I re-call,we were loaded for The Abbey in Margam.Anyway we got sorted eventually by the night shift and “the Boss” decided we’d carry on and trunk it right down to S Wales and tip on the night shift! The Leyland night foreman was a chap called Dessy Bull and he said should we see what this Brady Octopus can do,if your up for it like! He would follow us as far Worcester ,I think it was,in his Vitesse van( and the Vitesse was a flyer in those day’s 'cause it had the 6cyl engine) Any of we go’s and Eric starts to wind the 680 Power Plus up ,which was running a lot sweeter than when we pulled into Oldbury as they’ed given the motor a right going over! I kid you not Dessy clocked us at 92 mph before Eric slackened off and when we turned off to have a word with Dessy he said if he hadn’t been sat behind us he would never have believed it! That is a true story.The other Octopus,the older of the two,was driven by a relative of Brady’s when it was new and it is reputed to have ,on occaisions,sailed past a Midland coach on the MI!And knowing who the driver was(not in anyway in Eric Postlethwaites leauge!) it quite possibly happened.The earlier Octopus only pulled a trailer for a short while then went solo.They were both highly geared,probably too high and they were only on 3 axle brakes and rear axle on the Crane drawbar,so the brakes were (zb) I can tell you!!! I’ve driven the Octopus at high speed my-self on the M5,and got bollocked up hill and down for my escapade by Eric who had been sleeping like a baby!!! I’d passed an M/T shell tanker before we pulled onto Srensham and this Gob ***** tanker driver makes a bee-line for us in the cafe declaring he was doing 60mph and the Octopus had "walked " past him! Happy days,Dennis.
Hello again,Big-Rig …yep more Suttons when these old odd size pics dry up…also some Ferrymasters were asked for too,again they will come soon.
The last pic is a bit rare,a twin engined D1000 6 wheel unit…Ralph Hilton had this one and BRS had another…anybody remember seeing it?..Harry,Dennis,Pat,Chris etc,one of you old hands must have come across it
Cheers Bubbs,
Aye bubbs,me dad told me about it.
Seriously I do remember reading about that “D” series,I might even have seen it without realising.Hemmings Jubilee Transport are a blast from the past,I presume they’ve finished?
I wonder how many ESL men would take that S/A out on a shift if it was still a runner.
Hi Marc I hope you are feeling a lot better now. The 6 wheel “D” series you have disturbed a dormant cell as I can just about recall the one BRS had I think it was two V 6 engines and there was some problem synchronising them or something of that nature they would be fine for a bit then start being awkward I think it was run out of one of the Midlands depots but I will come back to it if I can recall anything else or someone else’s input sends me into a thinking mode 
cheers Johnnie
sammyopisite:
Hi Marc I hope you are feeling a lot better now. The 6 wheel “D” series you have disturbed a dormant cell as I can just about recall the one BRS had I think it was two V 6 engines and there was some problem synchronising them or something of that nature they would be fine for a bit then start being awkward
cheers Johnnie
Hey Johnnie you just summed yourself up there good and proper like! Quote----“fine for a bit then start being awkward”!!! Seriously though the two Ford D1000s had twin Perkins V8s I believe as Ford never used the V6 ■■■■■■■■■■■ I will stand corrected on the matter though but only “cockeyed outfits” like BRS & HTS would be daft enough to operate such an abortion like this!!! Dennis.