it was a ‘bread and butter’ motor , relatively cheap , the d series range covered everything from a 4 cylinder 5 tonne D300 rigid up to V8 cyl 28 tonne GVW D2818 artic. you had bread delivered , it came in a D series ford or a TK bedford , you had 10 tonne of sand dropped off in a tipper . it would rock up in a 16 tonne d series or a KM Bedford. but it was never ‘up there’ with the ‘quality’ lorries , the atkinsons/AEC/ERF/Fodens etc. probably the first of the ‘accountants’ lorries I suppose.
but for all that the configurations were nearly endless, I’ve got a ford salesmans handbook at home from about 1968 I think listing all the transits , d series , coaches etc all the specs and all the options. you bought one and didn’t like the gearing , change the back axle, didn’t like the 4 speed box it came with , change it to a 5 or 6 speed , need more ratios ,stick an eaton 2 speed axle in it.
we had d600 tractor units that came with low speed diffs and 5 speed boxes and ended up with 4 speed boxes and 2 speed axles with coach diffs for caravan work. 365 cu in engines would be changed to 380 cu in . an engine and gearbox from a D2114 tractor unit , fitted nicely into the the chassis of a D0811 rigid.
my dad bought loads of them from 1966 d600 tractor units through just about every rigid d series in the book up to the last one he bought a 1979 D1114 rigid and drawbar, they worked on toy distribution , parcels and pallet work, trunking , mobile homes uk and france, boats, you name it and a d series would more than likely do it which isn’t bad for a cheap and cheerful motor.
richellis78:
SONY DSC by richellis1978, on Flickr
Draka Foam in Glossop had one of these, only it was fitted with a ■■■■■■■ engine.
The company started out with ‘D’ series tractor units (before the Scania’s came along!) and were fitted with the ‘Ratchet’ type handbrake and Perkins engines. One of the fleet had a dodgy handbrake which was defected but no solution was really found to the problem. Anyway one day, the inevitable happened - the unit rolled across the yard and went straight through the side of the factory and as luck happened nobody was behind the wall when door 1a was created!
Its driver heard the noise from the ‘Brew Room’ and went to investigate what was going on and realised it was his motor that was causing all the fuss, his first reaction was to scream “My telly, my telly - I’ve only had it three weeks” and promptly went to retrieve the telly despite the odd brick still descending to earth from the scene of devastation! This was the typical attitude of this driver - top bloke was Eddie.
tonyj105:
Dads first foray into france, destination camping green st tropez 1970 i think. Dby was to spectacularly expire on the autoroute near montelimar a couple of days after this photo. The tractor unit was recovered to garage moderne in montelimar on the back of a wrecker, and they lent dad a berliet to get the trailer off the autoroute .
Fords sent all the parts out to repair , but , the parts were for a 380 cu and dby was a 365 cu, so another lot had to be sent.
Any way after a week or so of faffing and repairing , raul canet presented him with the bill, dad handed over all his money,
(Dad had no french ,raul had no english), raul gave him enough money back to carry on . Dad paid him on the next trip and a lifelong friendship was formed.trip took 3 weeks in all.
What a brilliant story Tony!.
I wonder if the same would happen these days…?
Was DBY a re-engined D600A or a D800A? Either way in 1966 it would originally have been fitted with the Ford 2709E engine, which was a 360 with CAV rotary DPA fuel pump. Failures of these engines were in fact very rare indeed, and it was the largest engine available in the D Series from 1965 until the 365 (2713E) and 380 (2715E), both with Simms in-line ‘Minimec’ fuel pumps, came along in about 1968.
if I remember correctly he bought it second hand from bush board in Wellingborough on the understanding it was a D800 but turned out to be a D600 , con rod went through the piston, had the piston knocking around for years.
DBY only did the single trip to st tropez, after that he used all D600 (SRP343G-SRP344G and latterly WRP442J) on mobile homes , all of them were tinkered with , WRP442 would go past Merc 0303 coaches on the flat empty with ease, pretty quick.
But they were only any good on mobile homes , couldn’t hack the parcels trunking to forton services from finedon so got replaced by Guy Big J’s eventually
he went over to drawbars later on , this one started off with a 360 + 4 speed ended up with a 380 cu engine and 6 speed box
I am soon going to own a 1977 D which has been down rated to 7 1/2t and class 4 mot as a motor home , it has a box on the back sheeted over, I want to remove the box and use it to take a classic car to shows, has anyone got a idea of what I need to do to keep it all legal, I will be fitting a winch and having ramps on board so could it be re classed as a recovery truck?
Also I want to fit a tow bar to drag my caravan, does anyone have any pics of one that I can use for reference?
hi
don’t know if anybody is interested, but now mr screwdriver has fixed our printer, I’ve scanned some spec pages out of my 1969/70 ford commercial vehicle salesmans handbook. great little book has all the detailed specs and options for everything from a ford ■■■■■■ van , through every transit , coach chassis , every d series from a D200 up to a D1000 28 tonne tractor unit.
tony
Ford D600 SRP344G , parked in the NSM finedon yard . this one did the St Tropez trip quite a few times, not sure where it was going on this occasion . after he packed the caravans up , dad put it on the parcels change over to Forton services , wasn’t really suited to that job and the Fords got replaced with a Scania 80 and 2 Guy big j4t’s .
rastone:
put his on another site but thouht it should go on here
Cocked the job up a bit and the photo meant to be this one
Andrew Scott’s new fleet outside the ford dealers in port talbot cheers John
tonyj105:
Ford D600 SRP344G , parked in the NSM finedon yard . this one did the St Tropez trip quite a few times, not sure where it was going on this occasion . after he packed the caravans up , dad put it on the parcels change over to Forton services , wasn’t really suited to that job and the Fords got replaced with a Scania 80 and 2 Guy big j4t’s .
Very impressive trailer.
moomooland:
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Just looked on Google Maps for this, present day view for comparison. Alexandra Rd Hulme doesn’t look much like this, much too modern, can’t see the whole street being demolished though.
Can you confirm the location or am I just not seeing it?
Thanks guys
sas777:
[Just looked on Google Maps for this, present day view for comparison. Alexandra Rd Hulme doesn’t look much like this, much too modern, can’t see the whole street being demolished though.
Can you confirm the location or am I just not seeing it?
Thanks guys
The whole area has been totally transformed over the last fifty years since 1967 with all the shops in the pictures above now long gone.
The church is about the only building left standing now, take a look at Google Street View Today.
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The whole area has been totally transformed over the last fifty years since 1967 with all the shops in the pictures above now long gone.
The church is about the only building left standing now, take a look at Google Street View Today.
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Thanks for that moomooland.
Must say I was surprised to see how much has changed. Living over here in Kalgoorlie WA, I’m constantly telling the Aussies that we generally don’t demolish our heritage but restore it whenever we can. The pictures above certainly prove otherwise.
Plenty of other heritage in WA though - old trucks. When living in Perth I saw a D Series flatback being driven regularly. There are a couple around the Goldfields here, parked up but tidy. Seen a good few TK’s and the odd Leyland, 70’s Mercs and the odd Fiat and 60’s Volvo. Plenty of early F10/12/16 round headlight models around but commonest of all would be Internationals, Macks and old Kenworths.
I’ll get my camera now, charge it up and keep it with me.
Back soon.
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A Portugese one :
