Maybe he drove one of those on the hub to hub runs.
Proper geezer truck that though
Love a go in something like that just to experience it, doubt itāll happen now though lol.
Ever wonder why?
He could always join the Australian police force as they are advertising for more UK officers to move there on the television news channels.
He had a hard paper round as a nipper.
When I took over as manager at Toray there were 2 of those TMs in the fleet and the drivers seemed to like them but with one big drawback, there was a fairly high lip at the edge under the door which had to be born in mind when leaving the cab.
One Friday night, after normal hours, I was still in the office sorting out the Monday loads for Saturday loading when the phone rang. It was Johnny H. and he sounded incoherent. Struggling to understand what he was saying I then heard a 2nd voice on the line. It was another man who apparently was waiting his turn to use the phone box and realised that something was wrong.
I said to Johnny, give him the phone mate and let him talk to me, which thank goodness he did. Johnny apparently was bleeding from the head and appeared drunk. I darenāt let them off the line and lose contact so said to this bloke just stay there with him while I ring an ambulance on another line.
You wouldnāt believe the problem I had with the 999 call, apparently they couldnāt send ambulances from another location out of area but with the gravity of the situation I persuaded someone there to ring someone in Manchester to set one running. Hopefully 999 is national now but that was a real problem back in the '80s.
John had a fractured skull after tripping on the doorlip of his TM and headed for the floor with no chance to get his arms out to breakfall. My wife and I took his wife in the car the next day to see him in hospital when he was recovering from surgery and fortunately he made a full recovery and came back to work, but we forget these days of mobile phones that once upon a time a serious accident in the dark of a lonely and silent industrial estate could have had fatal consequences if only for a chance stranger passing by.
^^ That just reminded me, wasnāt there some on here who lost their footing getting out of a Renault Magnum? Due to the step setup?
Another truck Iād like a go in!
Edit. One passed me the other night going at a very respectable pace. A rare sight now.
Safe as houses, the Magnum, 2 firm grab rails all the way down with big steps for big feet. Whatās not to love?
I had a Magnum on Gib round trips, they were a very underestimated lorry, high up with a good view of the road ahead, loads of room to stand up to get dressed, the nickname was a conservatory on wheels from the big windscreen.
I did short- and long-haul trips in Magnums. Good lorries. One of them had the 440 Mack engine. You only ever fell out of them once
Donāt know if you mean the narrow cab version with the redundant wide shelf over the front wheel ?.
Or the full width cab which was well ahead of its time with good steps and grab handles.
Donāt remember any real issues with any hazards in the way assuming climbing down from the cab the same way as climbing up to the cab.Feet on steps and both hands on the grab handles.
The Atki and Clydesdale, let alone 40ās Matador, were the ones that scared me with nowhere safe to put the feet v the door.
Did you ever drive a Magnum, Carryfast?
Stay your hand a moment, old mate - I think heās talking about Bedford TMs (they had a narrow cab option)ā¦
Yeah, I eaten more than Iāve driven. They were a fairly rare sight here.
I donāt remember a narrow Magnum, the main difference that I noticed from the original AE was the dash and the headlights but I only drove the 2nd version. Best lorry I ever had but for the whack across in neutral ZF box to change range which played hell with my shoulder and elbow joints.Great big screen that could, at the touch of a button, be reduced in height to serve as a really deep sunvisor with no gaps. Same thing with 2 hands required as a safety measure to bring it right down to serve as a night curtain. Similar blinds for both doors and no windows at the back.
Bet those roo-bars donāt either!
An alloy bullbar costs ~$2,500 but is more robust than the windscreen. Windscreen cost is a big factor here, hence the number of trucks with stone guards.