I share your interest in Seddons Mal; I like the older models that pre-dated the Motor Panels-cabbed stuff as well.
They were a different sort of company to Atkinson in lots of ways, and focussed on a different sector of the market - probably why they merged rather than ERF or Leyland taking Atkinson on.
I still remember the 4-wheel bulk blowers that Marsdens ran at Midge Hall, and the fleet of Whitehursts from Bolton - very well turned out wagons. If I remember rightly, they were all 16:Fours. then there were the Spillers French wagons that used to go to Harvey’s bakery at Wigan - 34:Fours with 220 Rollers in them.
I never actually saw a 34:Four with an 8-pot Gardner installed, but have since seen pictures of them. I always got the feeling that when it got to multi-wheelers and artic tractors, Seddon seemed to be ‘punching above their weight’ so to speak.
Yeah …i remember driving the old sed/atk.with a coffin on the back…the last seddon i drove was a daf cabbed strato…best thing on the road…especially with the big cam ■■■■■■■■■■■ a proper gearbox too…
truckyboy:
Yeah …i remember driving the old sed/atk.with a coffin on the back…the last seddon i drove was a daf cabbed strato…best thing on the road…especially with the big cam ■■■■■■■■■■■ a proper gearbox too…
The old big cam, I aint heard that said for a while Bob! To be honest, I still wonder at them for a 290 rating, I know the ones I had went like ■■■■ off a shovel!
truckyboy:
Yeah …i remember driving the old sed/atk.with a coffin on the back…the last seddon i drove was a daf cabbed strato…best thing on the road…especially with the big cam ■■■■■■■■■■■ a proper gearbox too…
Don’t want to be controversial here, and maybe it’s the little grey cells playing up again but, surely all the Sed/Aks were proper sleeper cabs. The coffins were a feature of real Atkis.
Could be wrong I suppose, they did produce day cabs, so someone may have converted .
I seem to recall seeing a 400 with what looked like an aftermarket sleeper on it, but I can’t remember who owned it.
The factory sleepers had a fatal flaw in the design which was principally that they were built in vertical sections. If you recall, there were two windows behind each door (the day cab rear quarterlight and another bigger window) - well they sat on seperate panels that were welded together. I have no idea why SA didn’t build them as a single structure - it would’ve reduced the attrition rate considerably.
I have pictures of 400s & 401s taken at less than 12 months old with the weld lines clearly rusting through the paintwork - not good. If only the cab had lasted as well as the mechanicals…
Sounds to me Mark as if the term ‘aftermarket’ applied in the factory as well. Perhaps it was just that, that a certain number of cabs were diverted from the main (day cab) line to have extensions welded on.
I dunno why Paccar didn’t use the XF cab on a Foden chassis to see if it sold. TGAs sell quite well as ERFs so it could’ve worked…
■■■■ good point Mark! I think they want to bury Foden! Personally the alpha I drove I thought was great, and would have been even better with that bungalow sized cab on it!
I was told by the sales manager at Charnwood Trucks / Baden Hardstaffs, that the Daf arm of Paccar were bitterly opposed to repeated requests for the cab to be released to Foden. He was losing a number of heavy hauliers who were ready to replace their 4000 series’ but wanted a little more than the smaller cab. He reckoned that if the big ■■■■■■■ was still available then Foden would most likely have got their way.
Yup, a Foden with a 14-litre 525 ■■■■■■■ and an XF SSC - that would definitely have been an attraction to plant haulers replacing their old 4000 series motors.
What a pity that big ■■■■■■■ isn’t available any more.
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