Taking the plastic off the seat / new jacket

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
1

Bit of a daft post really, but who can remember what motors (if any :wink: ) they have taken the plastic off the seat of - i.e had from brand fire new? Before i actually drove:

C834GCX - DAF 2800 twin steer
F310EDB - Scania 143 Topline

Since being old enough to drive:

Sod all :exclamation:

Still try to get a freebie jacket whenever we get a new trailer from abroad though :stuck_out_tongue:

2

:smiley:

FL6
Magnum
Premium
FH12

3

I’ve only done that three times in my life.

All 3 were the same model: Merc 1635 with E.P.S when they first came out. We had one on demo on a “D” plate, then the boss bought two on an “E” plate and one on an “F”. The boss told me to run all of them in, but I had to hand the “Es” over to other drivers after that.

The only number plate I remember is the one that I got to keep: F 639 NPF. So I ended up with three Merc jackets as well. :wink: I still wear one of them to this day. :sunglasses:

4

WPH 675Y - Bedford TL
E448 LYP - Merc 1617
G■■? WUT- ERF E10

Not many at all really and all such a long time ago :cry:

5

Daf 3300 at Econofreight in 1980
Volvo FH 12 380 wagon and drag at Toray 1996
Magnum 430 at Gauthier 2000.
Any one of which I would definitely give yard space to today. :slight_smile:

Jackets, I got a Foden one when as TM I bought my first one in 1986.
Tried to get a Merc one when I started buying them in about 1990, failed, complained bitterly, and was eventually given a (slightly) second hand one which lasted about 2 years before the zip broke. :smiling_imp:
The Foden jacket is still going strong and zips perfectly :laughing: , a little soiled now it is my gardening jacket :unamused: :laughing: .

6

dieseldave:
I’ve only done that three times in my life.

All 3 were the same model: Merc 1635 with E.P.S when they first came out. We had one on demo on a “D” plate, then the boss bought two on an “E” plate and one on an “F”. The boss told me to run all of them in, but I had to hand the “Es” over to other drivers after that.

just to take my own topic off topic :confused: the same motor was one of the first I drove with a proper licence :wink: to spain in 1989 - E reg but a 6 wheeler so it would have been a 2435 (?) thought the EPS was marvellous probably cos I wasn’t particularly used to any “normal” box - happy days! :slight_smile:

7

jj72:
just to take my own topic off topic :confused: the same motor was one of the first I drove with a proper licence :wink: to spain in 1989 - E reg but a 6 wheeler so it would have been a 2435 (?) thought the EPS was marvellous probably cos I wasn’t particularly used to any “normal” box - happy days! :slight_smile:

Funny that jj72, but my first foreign trip in an artic was also to Spain, when it was T.I.R. (Merc 1626)

I seem to remember they allowed an extra tonne on axle and GVW around the time that the EPS box came out. Rikki’s 1617 then became 1717, with tractor units following suit.

IIRC The early 80’s twin-steer six-wheel Mercs were 2226, 2228, 2233 etc. What I don’t remember ( :confused: ) was whether the EPS (350hp) gained the extra tonne from when they first appeared, so maybe the first of them was 2235, but it could have been that the tonne was added after EPS came out, making all of them 2435 as you remember. (It would also have depended on whether the extra axle was steer or drive.)

I’ve still got photo’s of a 2233 (twin-steer) that I regularly drove to Vienna.

To confuse us even more, they added another tonne soon after, provided you had “road-friendly” suspension (Air.) The four-wheelers then had “18” as a prefix.

8

dave i believe the french also used to let you run overweight if you had a telma retarder fitted by the amount the the telma weighed did not know about the gearbox though :blush:

9

dieseldave:
I’ve only done that three times in my life.

All 3 were the same model: Merc 1635 with E.P.S when they first came out. We had one on demo on a “D” plate, then the boss bought two on an “E” plate and one on an “F”. The boss told me to run all of them in, but I had to hand the “Es” over to other drivers after that.

The only number plate I remember is the one that I got to keep: F 639 NPF. So I ended up with three Merc jackets as well. :wink: I still wear one of them to this day. :sunglasses:

Talking about “running in” Dave.I got a brand spanking AEC Marshall in 68/69 BWB 772H when I worked in Sheffield market :open_mouth: :open_mouth: .
My first trip was empty to Southampton from Sheffield for a load of handball oranges :frowning: .
"Mek sure yer there fer 7.00 AM and I want yer back for 3.OO pm " :open_mouth:
“What about running it in?”
“Aye,run t’bugger in termorrer” was the reply.

"England’s only an island " was his favourite saying. :unamused:

10

stephen:
dave i believe the french also used to let you run overweight if you had a telma retarder fitted by the amount the the telma weighed did not know about the gearbox though :blush:

That’s interesting stephen. I don’t remember anything one way or the other on that one, but Spardo is the man for that question. If he doesn’t know, I bet he knows someone who does :wink:

11

Ive only had 3 brand spankers and 4 new jackets :stuck_out_tongue:

I had a MAN 462 Roadhaus plus Jacket

A Volvo FM 420 with summer and winter jackets and a Leyland Terrier.

I was also driving an old TK Bedford and took it into Cossington Commercials in Gainsborough and got a new ERF Jacket cos they didnt have the Bedford parts in stock :smiley:

12

Chris Webb:
Talking about “running in” Dave.I got a brand spanking AEC Marshall in 68/69 BWB 772H when I worked in Sheffield market :open_mouth: :open_mouth: .
My first trip was empty to Southampton from Sheffield for a load of handball oranges :frowning: .
"Mek sure yer there fer 7.00 AM and I want yer back for 3.OO pm " :open_mouth:
“What about running it in?”
“Aye,run t’bugger in termorrer” was the reply.

"England’s only an island " was his favourite saying. :unamused:

I remember the AEC Marshall, (and Mandator??) but I was still at school in 68/69. (I left in '71) Your boss sounds like one of the old characters, like some bosses I’ve had. Remember when the mileages to various towns were altered on motorway signboards?? (They had been covered with new stick-on numbers over the old mileage.) My boss used to say that he’d had the towns moved closer to each other to save his Diesel :exclamation:

13

“What about running it in?”
“Aye,run t’bugger in termorrer” was the reply.

It reminds me of an old boss. He bought a new Iveco Turbostar and gave it to an old hand. “Its got one of them there new fangled splitter boxes” “Bill”.

Aye. well leave it alone or else you will wee’r it oot :stuck_out_tongue:

14

7 trucks, 3 jackets and a coffee machine. :wink: :smiley:

1 x Ford Cargo 7.5 tonner
1 x Daf 1900 17 tonner
1 x Daf 95 4x2 tractor unit

1 x Volvo FH Globetrotter
3 x Volvo FH Globetrotter XL

15

dieseldave:

stephen:
dave i believe the french also used to let you run overweight if you had a telma retarder fitted by the amount the the telma weighed did not know about the gearbox though :blush:

That’s interesting stephen. I don’t remember anything one way or the other on that one, but Spardo is the man for that question. If he doesn’t know, I bet he knows someone who does :wink:

Certainly true about the Telma, it was a given weight to be added to the normal gross if one was fitted. Good thing too, the best thing in transport at that time. I well remember the terror of the old days before even exhaust brakes, it was all very well to say ‘you go down hills in the same gear you would come up them’ (which we did - unless we were sure of a good bit of level below, in which case Angel Gear was selected :open_mouth: ) but very easy to burn off the linings merely by pumping to avoid over revving.

16

yes like the hill after vilar formoso in the early 70s :open_mouth:

17

5 jackets and three trucks a 124L 400 in 98 an fm12 380 in 2000 and a 144L 460(plus vat))? in 2002.got a fleece from dennison and coat from epsilon last year.

18

Spardo:
dave i believe the Certainly true about the Telma, it was a given weight to be added to the normal gross if one was fitted. Good thing too, the best thing in transport at that time. I well remember the terror of the old days before even exhaust brakes, it was all very well to say ‘you go down hills in the same gear you would come up them’ (which we did - unless we were sure of a good bit of level below, in which case Angel Gear was selected :open_mouth: ) but very easy to burn off the linings merely by pumping to avoid over revving

In 87 I took a new 1635 with EPS over the water to spain, one of my 3 trips abroad in a very short driving career (actually a part time pretend driver not a professional). The regular driver knew away over the mountains to the border at Irun, on the way down the mountain,the bloody thing jumped out of gear did not get a new jacket but I think the regular driver and myself had to get new trousers. :laughing: :laughing:

19

zulu1512:
In 87 I took a new 1635 with EPS over the water to spain, one of my 3 trips abroad in a very short driving career (actually a part time pretend driver not a professional). The regular driver knew away over the mountains to the border at Irun, on the way down the mountain,the bloody thing jumped out of gear did not get a new jacket but I think the regular driver and myself had to get new trousers. :laughing: :laughing:

I’d say you were a “proper” driver anyway, since you did actually do the job.
So it lasted a short time, maybe that game just wasn’t for you.
It certainly didn’t suit everybody who tried it.

I can’t understand why it jumped out of gear, but I’d guess that it was a selection problem, either human or mechanical. :wink:
The thing that’s really got me is how/why you’d need a route over the mountains to Irun, unless you didn’t approach from the direction of Bordeaux for some reason… :wink:

20

dieseldave. Ithink he is talking about the old road from Pamplona to Irun.There is a drop that a few trucks lost it on.