In reply to those of you that said they were flying machines with the V8 in, I can confirm that, my Dad had a 16tonner with the old west coast mirror set up that had the Ford V8, I think it was a ■■■■■■■ built under licence, possibly the Vale? range, anyway this thing could really move, it had a 5speed with a 2 spd back axle & would go off the clock with the axle in low so god knows how fast it went in high! It met an unfortunate end when an 8wheel tanker hit my Dad head on when he lost it on a left hand bend (the tanker, not my Dad) luckily it was a Scammel Routeman & made of Plastic so they basically hit each over front wheel to front wheel before both ending up on their sides in their respective ditches, neither driver was seriously hurt although my Dads van boy went through the windscreen & got a severe case of road rash
I had one myself when I first started driving, an R reg, SGH something or other, I recall a very comfy drivers seat, good mirrors (the big grey plasic backed ones) very heavy steering when loaded, no power steering & terrible brakes, must be a Ford signature as a Transcon I drove had awful brakes too
Nice old motors though, I toyed with the idea of restoring one, but then came to my senses
I remember back in the 60s I was upgraded from a seddon to a D range ford, this was in the days before sleeper cabs and you could get across the seats comfortably.
There used to bea firm in hyde in cheshire that converted “D range” fords and thames traders from 2 axle to 3 axle tractor units, or 2 --3or 4axle tippers but I cant remember the name of the company .does anyone remember it■■?
Anybody remember the old pull out and turn handbrake on the old d1000 custom cabs? Used to frighten the life out of me as a 5 year old in my old man’stipper in the 70’s! Was convinced i used to see it releasing
rocky 7:
There used to bea firm in hyde in cheshire that converted “D range” fords and thames traders from 2 axle to 3 axle tractor units, or 2 --3or 4axle tippers but I cant remember the name of the company .does anyone remember it■■?
There was a firm that did axel conversions a few years ago, they were called Primrose don’t know where they came from, maybe who your thinking of.
yanto36:
Anybody remember the old pull out and turn handbrake on the old d1000 custom cabs? Used to frighten the life out of me as a 5 year old in my old man’stipper in the 70’s! Was convinced i used to see it releasing
Ian
They were a great improvement to the Bedford TK disc brake on the propshaft That one did put your heart in your mouth
yanto36:
Anybody remember the old pull out and turn handbrake on the old d1000 custom cabs? Used to frighten the life out of me as a 5 year old in my old man’stipper in the 70’s! Was convinced i used to see it releasing
Ian
They were a great improvement to the Bedford TK disc brake on the propshaft That one did put your heart in your mouth
Your not far wrong there, a bit like being on a rocking horse.
Wheel Nut:
They were a great improvement to the Bedford TK disc brake on the propshaft That one did put your heart in your mouth
Anything with a transmission parking brake was a cause for consternation on the brake tester at MoT time,as a vehicle so equiped tends to jump off the brake tester.
I have the same trouble now with my Series Land Rover.The MoT testers are so ■■■■ scared they do the brake test using a Tapley meter on the road.
rocky 7:
There used to bea firm in hyde in cheshire that converted “D range” fords and thames traders from 2 axle to 3 axle tractor units, or 2 --3or 4axle tippers but I cant remember the name of the company .does anyone remember it■■?
There used to be a firm called Boyes that did third axle conversions,I can think of some Dodge tippers I knew that had them.
I believe Boyes were from the Black country,Walsall maybe?
I drove several D series Fords mainly D1000’S but drove a D800 with a turbo fitted and that thing flew. The one real problem with them was the handbrake, you could never trust them, didn’t matter how many times you pulled the ratchet on, they still wouldn’t hold.
Wheel Nut:
They were a great improvement to the Bedford TK disc brake on the propshaft That one did put your heart in your mouth
Anything with a transmission parking brake was a cause for consternation on the brake tester at MoT time,as a vehicle so equiped tends to jump off the brake tester.
I have the same trouble now with my Series Land Rover.The MoT testers are so [zb] scared they do the brake test using a Tapley meter on the road.
Bloody hell. Tapley meters! lol. That was my first foray into driving on public roads. I was about 13 and the garage foreman used to let me do the brake tests down the lane opposite my house I am going to remind him of that on Facebook later.
I have a hatred of transmission brakes, we once had a TK roll away in the yard, I was at the bottom of the yard just climbed out of a Weatherhill load shovel looked up to see the back of the tipper body just as it hit me pinning me up a wall. Luckily I got away with just a crushed right arm !
On another occasion my wife borrowed my Land rover and pulling away from a junction it snapped a rear halfshaft, with no drive she locked it up and went to get help. Of course with the transmission brake and a broken halfshaft it just rolled away, I arrived on the scene to see it going down the road by itself and locked up I couldn’t jump in it to stop it ! I didn’t have the heart to tell her that if she had selected 4 wheel drive, she could have got back home with it
Never had a D series roll away, they just used to stick on !
rocky 7:
There used to bea firm in hyde in cheshire that converted “D range” fords and thames traders from 2 axle to 3 axle tractor units, or 2 --3or 4axle tippers but I cant remember the name of the company .does anyone remember it■■?
There used to be a firm called Boyes that did third axle conversions,I can think of some Dodge tippers I knew that had them.
I believe Boyes were from the Black country,Walsall maybe?
Think someone might have mentioned this on another thread maybe. Seem to remember they were on the Pleck Road Walsall. I remember being surprised when I first saw them that it seemed quite a small set up from what I could see when driving by. Trev-H might know a bit more, or curnock, if he looks in!
When the D Series took over from the Trader in 1965, the models produced were the D-200, 2 Ton chassis, D-300, 3 Ton chassis etc to D-800, which many of us remember the lighter D’s being called. The D-1000 wasn’t added until 1967, which again presumes it meant 10 Ton chassis. I think the other designations came later to identify weight 12, 14 etc and the next two numbers could have been BHP, 17 for 170 etc. This type of designation was used later on with the facelifted cabs around 1978 with the plastic grille and square headlights. We tended though to either call them D 800’s or D 1000’s depending on the Silver grille strip and size of vehicle. I’m sure the D 1000’s only had Custom Cab in chrome letters on the doors originally. Amazing how these sort of things were never explained to a driver or fitter and its a question asked of other makes too! Hope this helps Franky.
Brilliantly explained Franky, untill now I only thought of them as a rough payload guide and the B.H.P output. A bit off the thread I know, but Dodge used a similar badge designation with their Hi-Line range, first two numbers G.V.W and the last two a code for the engine fitted. 85 = Perkins 6.354, 11 = Turbo 6.354, 13 = Perkins V8, but what was the code for the Mercedes engine? was it 90? I cant remember seeing many of them about.
& terrible brakes, must be a Ford signature as a Transcon I drove had awful brakes too 
of Costessy, Norwich.
That one did put your heart in your mouth
but why are they called D1000’s when the ones i remember had D2817 , D1614 etc. on the door badge 
