these were the first brand new lorries on the fleet of Bernard Saunders of Walton on Thames
My Uncle Joe drove 51 VPD (replaced his Thames Trader)
and my late father - Chris Todd, drove 52 VPD - replaced his Dennis
They were painted in a distinctive Red & Sand Colour, still used today on their fleet of mainly Hiab Lorries0
Wow what a couple of little gems!!! would,nt mind one of them in my garage. IICR they only had a TS3diesel or a 6 cylinder petrol. maybe someone asked for a rear exit silencer. they could give a good howl flat out the TS3. my uncle had 2 four wheelers on corn deliveries. it was a lip reading lesson in the cab as you could only hear the howl of the engine.
John
For some reason Commer 2 strokes always had 2 types of exhaust, rear mounted the silencers were fitted side by side (double barrel) and front mounted with 2 silencers in line, the tailpipe exiting right or left One I drove had the front mounted tailpipe on the n/s and would choke folks on the pavement, quite often spitting hot lumps of carbon at them when it de-coked
Incidently mine was one of the last built, about 71, the later cab to those in the photo, although both types had the same exhaust arrangement. I got it with 400,000mls on it and it was never overhauled !.
Looks like the W Series Bedford from the 30’s, it was a copy of the earlier Luton built Chevrolet Bedford U type with six cylinder petrol engine. The Chevrolet part of the name was dropped for the W Series. General Motors took Vauxhall Cars over in 1925 and began building Chevrolet Trucks (Truck word even used then by American Parent companies), first at Hendon then Luton and they soon become a popular market leader in light vehicles. The K, M and O types followed but WWII got in the way first and the rest is history. Cheers Franky.
hi lads, the photo is of a scania vabis 1934-5 model have been on to scania and they confirm it, their sending more imformation about that model, bumper
truckfing:
Hi Bubbleman, I would just like to say thanks again for your hard work and forethought in saving all this stuff. Every now and then there is a wagon that I recognise and this one that was in amongst the Scammells is one of those. I used to park my wagons in this yard which was the operating centre of Joe Nugent, the owner of this wagon. Joe retired in the late 80s I think but he gave up running tippers long before he finished. He was running Marathons when I first moved in there in 1986. The yard was still in the same condition when I left in 1998
I well remember Joe Nugent pulling for B+I in the late 70s, with the Marathons and the Crusaders
truckfing:
Hi Bubbleman, I would just like to say thanks again for your hard work and forethought in saving all this stuff. Every now and then there is a wagon that I recognise and this one that was in amongst the Scammells is one of those. I used to park my wagons in this yard which was the operating centre of Joe Nugent, the owner of this wagon. Joe retired in the late 80s I think but he gave up running tippers long before he finished. He was running Marathons when I first moved in there in 1986. The yard was still in the same condition when I left in 1998
I well remember Joe Nugent pulling for B+I in the late 70s, with the Marathons and the Crusaders
Hiya Chris,you’ve just reminded me of a funny story.I remember being at a function with Malc Woodhouse snr. and being introduced to Mr.Nugent who then proceeded to tell us that one of his “fixed head” Leyland engines had blown up that day! and when we enquired what the trouble had been Joe says “Quote” “It gobbled it Turbo I think” Well me and Malc fell all over laughing it was hilarious the way he came out with it!! Dennis.
Local Company still on the go. Joseph William (Bill) Laban is now running as Joseph Paul Laban from Melbourne Derbyshire. The Bedford is on a Derby registration plate
Paul is JB’s Grandson and does a lot for the local community.
Bumper replied the old bonneted tipper was a Scania-Vabis and not the Bedford;
We should have guessed it was a foreigner from the number plate! I was a bit suspicious of the wheels but thought they may have been American. Wonder if they took a Bedford back on a Viking ship after a late night raid and copied it! The Volvo LV66 below is very similar too and came out around the same time to compete with Scania-Vabis. The right hand drive was a tricky one too but Sweden didn’t change to the wrong side of the road until 1967. The LV on the Volvo stood for Lastvagen meaning Lorry and Volvo itself is Latin for ‘I Roll’, the two guys that started the company worked for SKF the ball bearing makers and they had a subsidiary company under that name, they bought the rights to the company in 1926 and started to build vehicles.
Cheers Franky
Hello again,I havent been posting stuff for a few days,the new format has been a bit disapointing when I see some pics getting chopped off so I suppose theres no point carrying on with the clippings, however seeing Phil put some old black and white shots I’m going to try as well…
Hi Marc,
I don’t like the new format with the pics,did stop for a couple of days myself.Have put several on since,but haven’t the same enthusiasm.
Cheers Dave.
Hi Dave,yes mate I totally agree,it certainly has spoilt all the pics.I cant see me doing much now on here…I’ll look in but its pretty well over as far as I’m concerned
Cheers Bubbs
bubbleman:
Hi Dave,yes mate I totally agree,it certainly has spoilt all the pics.I cant see me doing much now on here…I’ll look in but its pretty well over as far as I’m concerned
Cheers Bubbs
Hi Marc,
Do you know if the bosses are going to sort the format out?
I have posted on other threads that I like the new format, but not at the expense of this thread or other photo heavy threads. So if RT cannot sort out these threads with a dedicated photo album, they will lose many members. Bubbs, Truckerash, Bewick and many others have spent months and years building up the forum. So in the upgrade the image threads need to have a different format, no adverts, full page views and maybe a maximum size.
The alternative will be us losing all these images although Marcs shoebox in the wardrobe must be almost empty
One I drove had the front mounted tailpipe on the n/s and would choke folks on the pavement, quite often spitting hot lumps of carbon at them when it de-coked
