did anyone drive one of these in the 60s? wheres the front wipers mounted? 
mazz:
did anyone drive one of these in the 60s? wheres the front wipers mounted?
Not me, and they were one new foreign import that I didn’t hanker over. Never been in one but they look cramped in the extreme. Funny thing is I didn’t notice the wipers before. A Yorkshire company, Ackworth’s wasn’t it, who ran them?
Compare those tiny, though quite normal for the time, mirrors to the west coast ones on the Ford in the background. Is that D series current with the Daf, I can’t remember? I know that in the 70s I had a pair, rescued from a scrapper, fitted to my Morris Commercial 4x4 reccer.
I look forward to hearing what they were like from the inside.
240 Gardner:
3300John:
Trev_H:
That later plastic trim in the buffalos was bloody awful, it creaked, cracked and vibrated like hell
Hiya Trev…that was.nt the trim it was the chassis…i did have a buffalo for a week it did go quite well…
JohnThe L12-engined versions seemed not be able to go for a whole week!
Weren`t the L12s very reliable then ? ,they were Leylands attempt at gaining the AEC customers when Southall was closed , the L12 was basically the AV760 developed by the whizz kids at Leyland with by the sound of it expected results
ramone:
240 Gardner:
3300John:
Trev_H:
That later plastic trim in the buffalos was bloody awful, it creaked, cracked and vibrated like hell
Hiya Trev…that was.nt the trim it was the chassis…i did have a buffalo for a week it did go quite well…
JohnThe L12-engined versions seemed not be able to go for a whole week!
Weren`t the L12s very reliable then ? ,they were Leylands attempt at gaining the AEC customers when Southall was closed , the L12 was basically the AV760 developed by the whizz kids at Leyland with by the sound of it expected results
The L12 buffalos we had were very reliable and pulled well at 32t,would have been better with a fuller instead of the 6 speed with wide gaps, not so good was the plastic trim in the cab which vibrated and cracked, the plastic headlining had a habit of breaking and falling on your head whilst going down the motorway !
Trev_H:
ramone:
240 Gardner:
3300John:
Trev_H:
That later plastic trim in the buffalos was bloody awful, it creaked, cracked and vibrated like hell
Hiya Trev…that was.nt the trim it was the chassis…i did have a buffalo for a week it did go quite well…
JohnThe L12-engined versions seemed not be able to go for a whole week!
Weren`t the L12s very reliable then ? ,they were Leylands attempt at gaining the AEC customers when Southall was closed , the L12 was basically the AV760 developed by the whizz kids at Leyland with by the sound of it expected results
The L12 buffalos we had were very reliable and pulled well at 32t,would have been better with a fuller instead of the 6 speed with wide gaps, not so good was the plastic trim in the cab which vibrated and cracked, the plastic headlining had a habit of breaking and falling on your head whilst going down the motorway !
Ha ha sounds like top quality Leyland engineering i think they were trying to remarket the Mandator with the puzzling 6 speed box which sounds more like it hampered rather than aided what would probably have been a 220 - 230 bhp engine
Spardo:
mazz:
did anyone drive one of these in the 60s? wheres the front wipers mounted?Not me, and they were one new foreign import that I didn’t hanker over. Never been in one but they look cramped in the extreme. Funny thing is I didn’t notice the wipers before. A Yorkshire company, Ackworth’s wasn’t it, who ran them?
Compare those tiny, though quite normal for the time, mirrors to the west coast ones on the Ford in the background. Is that D series current with the Daf, I can’t remember? I know that in the 70s I had a pair, rescued from a scrapper, fitted to my Morris Commercial 4x4 reccer.
I look forward to hearing what they were like from the inside.
Onward!!! 
It is the first time I have noticed the wiper motors either and there was one parked in a warehouse where I went in Holland. It was called the DAF 2000 DO and preceded the FT 2000
If I remember correctly the Ford D series was launched in 1966 on a D plate, possibly some 1965 C’s around.
Here is a snip of a DO showing the wiper motor and mounting holes in the screen.
Trev_H:
The L12 buffalos we had were very reliable and pulled well at 32t,would have been better with a fuller instead of the 6 speed with wide gaps, not so good was the plastic trim in the cab which vibrated and cracked, the plastic headlining had a habit of breaking and falling on your head whilst going down the motorway !
In my formative years in transport, one of the things I did was to introduce downtime measurement at Pandoro. The L12 Buffaloes were outstandingly poor - I think the record was 16 out of 20 out of service on any given day! An element of this may have been awaiting parts which weren’t reliably available.
240 Gardner:
Trev_H:
The L12 buffalos we had were very reliable and pulled well at 32t,would have been better with a fuller instead of the 6 speed with wide gaps, not so good was the plastic trim in the cab which vibrated and cracked, the plastic headlining had a habit of breaking and falling on your head whilst going down the motorway !In my formative years in transport, one of the things I did was to introduce downtime measurement at Pandoro. The L12 Buffaloes were outstandingly poor - I think the record was 16 out of 20 out of service on any given day! An element of this may have been awaiting parts which weren’t reliably available.
I thought the fixed head 500 series buffalos were far more unreliable than the L12s,later ones with the TL11/ fuller set up were better but they all had a poor reputation by then !
Didn’t Pandoro run far better motors than the Leylands though? how much of that downtime was unpopularity with drivers 
Incidently ours came secondhand from Cartransport BRS and although cheap they did an half decent stop gap job for us but were never what you could call worked hard.
Hi lads,heres todays stuff. 
Cheers Bubbs, 
Trev_H:
Didn’t Pandoro run far better motors than the Leylands though? how much of that downtime was unpopularity with drivers
Incidently ours came secondhand from Cartransport BRS and although cheap they did an half decent stop gap job for us but were never what you could call worked hard.
Well yes they did, Trev! The rest of the fleet at that time was 400 Series with 250 ■■■■■■■■ B Series with 265 Rolls, and still a quantity of A Series and Borderers with 220 ■■■■■■■■ However, in those dim, distant 32 ton days, there was a requirement for lightweight units for some jobs. That’s where the Buffaloes came in - however their reign was short and they were superseded by the 32 ton version of the SA 300 Series. Pandoro were heavily involved in the development of this model, and ran two of the first prototypes on the fleet. The most reliable source of light units at that time was Killingbeck’s older Atkinson ‘Silver Knights’ with the 180 Gardner!
240 Gardner:
Trev_H:
Didn’t Pandoro run far better motors than the Leylands though? how much of that downtime was unpopularity with drivers
Incidently ours came secondhand from Cartransport BRS and although cheap they did an half decent stop gap job for us but were never what you could call worked hard.Well yes they did, Trev! The rest of the fleet at that time was 400 Series with 250 ■■■■■■■■ B Series with 265 Rolls, and still a quantity of A Series and Borderers with 220 ■■■■■■■■ However, in those dim, distant 32 ton days, there was a requirement for lightweight units for some jobs. That’s where the Buffaloes came in - however their reign was short and they were superseded by the 32 ton version of the SA 300 Series. Pandoro were heavily involved in the development of this model, and ran two of the first prototypes on the fleet. The most reliable source of light units at that time was Killingbeck’s older Atkinson ‘Silver Knights’ with the 180 Gardner!
Dont tell Carrypest that you will get a 15 page essay on how crap Gardners were or anything english and how great the mighty V8 Detroit was
Trev_H:
240 Gardner:
Trev_H:
The L12 buffalos we had were very reliable and pulled well at 32t,would have been better with a fuller instead of the 6 speed with wide gaps, not so good was the plastic trim in the cab which vibrated and cracked, the plastic headlining had a habit of breaking and falling on your head whilst going down the motorway !In my formative years in transport, one of the things I did was to introduce downtime measurement at Pandoro. The L12 Buffaloes were outstandingly poor - I think the record was 16 out of 20 out of service on any given day! An element of this may have been awaiting parts which weren’t reliably available.
I thought the fixed head 500 series buffalos were far more unreliable than the L12s,later ones with the TL11/ fuller set up were better but they all had a poor reputation by then !
Didn’t Pandoro run far better motors than the Leylands though? how much of that downtime was unpopularity with drivers
Incidently ours came secondhand from Cartransport BRS and although cheap they did an half decent stop gap job for us but were never what you could call worked hard.
Hello Trev H, I don’t recall Cartransport BRS having any Buffalos, infact I don’t recall them buying any Leylands after 1965 apart from a few roadtrains, can you remember the Reg numbers please.
ramone:
240 Gardner:
Trev_H:
Didn’t Pandoro run far better motors than the Leylands though? how much of that downtime was unpopularity with drivers
Incidently ours came secondhand from Cartransport BRS and although cheap they did an half decent stop gap job for us but were never what you could call worked hard.Well yes they did, Trev! The rest of the fleet at that time was 400 Series with 250 ■■■■■■■■ B Series with 265 Rolls, and still a quantity of A Series and Borderers with 220 ■■■■■■■■ However, in those dim, distant 32 ton days, there was a requirement for lightweight units for some jobs. That’s where the Buffaloes came in - however their reign was short and they were superseded by the 32 ton version of the SA 300 Series. Pandoro were heavily involved in the development of this model, and ran two of the first prototypes on the fleet. The most reliable source of light units at that time was Killingbeck’s older Atkinson ‘Silver Knights’ with the 180 Gardner!
Dont tell Carrypest that you will get a 15 page essay on how crap Gardners were or anything english and how great the mighty V8 Detroit was
See, now why wasn’t he there to suggest the Buffalo would be fine with a V8 in it?? Or that all the light units should be replaced with ones weighing 8 tons? 
After all, he doesn’t believe in businesses buying in the goods and services they actually want! Thus, the Irish Peat Development Authority, and its requirement for light tractors in the late 1970s, has contributed materially to the commercial failure of the TM 4400 
Hi again,heres todays stuff.
Heres a couple of pics a mate gave me,not the best quality but shows when you’re in trouble in the middle east you sometimes need a bit of help from your mates
Cheers Bubbs,
Thanks Bubbs mate,you’ve out done your self there,some really great classic M/E pics. I bet there’s a few miles travelled between those old bangers.
Classic photo’s there Bubbs .
Heres a couple of pics a mate gave me,not the best quality but shows when you’re in trouble in the middle east you sometimes need a bit of help from your mates.
And a good strong chain to chain that back axle up 
.
