Hello Backsplice ,it may be of interest to you !! The MOT gararge that I use, the owner has just required a F89 which was still working in Greece he is having repainted in his old firm livery and I will put it on this thread when completed !! Taylor’s transport had a fleet of F89s all left hookers and was running out of Aldridge.After passing my jelopy he handed me this Rocker box cover from a Ditroit Diesel ■■? So I thought I will make Ito a telephone bell down the Mac shed That got me looking at the Detroit engines and I found this rather interesting truck , specaily built for carrying steel for the twin Towers in N/Y ,they called it The Beast with a V 12 Detroit turbo charged engine and the fact that it was working in the city centre thay had mufflers on the 4 exhaust pipes to keep it quiet. Ron
Good to see you,re still wingin around … I hope I don,t detect a desertion from ■■■■■■■ to the Screaming Detroit !!! you would like the big Volvo better ■■?
I,m looking forward to seeing the F89 when its finished is it a 6x4 …could be an ex SARAMAT who knows what happened to all their stuff when it folded
bearing in mind they had 2 ships so perhaps a few tractor units made it to Greece ■■? on the QT
Glad your all ok my old mate stay safe perhaps later this year normality may be close lets hope so stay in touch … now thats a smart lookin F89
Nice one Backsplice ,good on ya , I did work on one Ditroit at GCC Dammam it was a V 12 deep sand explora your right it did screem ! best to stick to ■■■■■■■■ The Bell sounds great . Wish you could hear it RINnnnnnngggggggggg the four pistons are from that 1930 heavy 12x 4 Austin that I compleatly brourght back from the dead all those years ago, keep on trucking . Ron
backsplice:
Good to see you,re still wingin around … I hope I don,t detect a desertion from ■■■■■■■ to the Screaming Detroit !!! you would like the big Volvo better ■■?
I,m looking forward to seeing the F89 when its finished is it a 6x4 …could be an ex SARAMAT who knows what happened to all their stuff when it folded
bearing in mind they had 2 ships so perhaps a few tractor units made it to Greece ■■? on the QT
Glad your all ok my old mate stay safe perhaps later this year normality may be close lets hope so stay in touch … now thats a smart lookin F89
“backsplice” Did your F89 have the kitchen pack fitted ? This may bring back some memories if it did although its an F88.
Click on pages twice to read.
Hi Dean …unfortunately it did,nt have the pack …but had a small fridge in the front passenger side most drivers took the passenger seat ( Bostrom viking) out and had it in their rooms in the billet even used for barbers chair
backsplice:
Hi Dean …unfortunately it did,nt have the pack …but had a small fridge in the front passenger side most drivers took the passenger seat ( Bostrom viking) out and had it in their rooms in the billet even used for barbers chair
It’s where the bloke on the left has his left hand that bothers me 
Thanks for the smile Kempston , the chap having his hair cut certainly looks a happy chappy ! He is the spitting image off Taffy Dave , ? . But it can’t be him he can it ■■
Sorry to bring sad news ? Gipsy Dave has passed away his funeral is tomorrow what a shock to us all I have just heard of his passing , he was one of Trans Arabia most amazing drivers and what a caricature always one of the lads and ready to give a hand in the heat of Saudi , I can see him on the roof of our villa praying to Allah with Hampser the cook . amongst the blinding light of the white sheets drying in the sun !! It was as if it was Allah saved him with the runaway Mac over hundred ton Thundering on down that mountain rd , and the last time was at S Jones reunion with his silver hair talking to me about those escapades in that land of sand RIP Ron
R.I.P. Gipsy Dave…a M/E-star
THE LAST FAIRWELL . I was just rembering gipsy Dave , singing a song in Jeddah he had altered the words from a song that Roger Wittaker sang ■■ There’s a plane fueled and waiting at Jeddah air port - and tomorrow for old England it will fly - far away from this land of endless sunshine - to a land full of cloudy sky’s and rain - I will be on board that plane tomorrow - though my heart is filled with woe at this fair well - Saudi is beautifull and I have loved you dearly - more dearly than the spoken words can tell . ( Thanks Dave you where A bit special ). RIP Ron
ronhawk:
ronhawk:
Sorry to bring sad news ? Gipsy Dave has passed away his funeral is tomorrow what a shock to us all I have just heard of his passing , he was one of Trans Arabia most amazing drivers and what a caricature always one of the lads and ready to give a hand in the heat of Saudi , I can see him on the roof of our villa praying to Allah with Hampser the cook . amongst the blinding light of the white sheets drying in the sun !! It was as if it was Allah saved him with the runaway Mac over hundred ton Thundering on down that mountain rd , and the last time was at S Jones reunion with his silver hair talking to me about those escapades In that land of sand RIP Ron
Yes Ron very sad news and another old hand gone, RIP Dave.
I am very sorry to hear of Gypsy Dave’s passing. His real name was Dave Anslow. I met him on several occasions and he was quite a character. He also helped me with material for my books. Here he is with his regular Trans Arabia ERF European. Dave said it used to ‘cough a bit’ when grossing anything over 60 tons! Ro
Dave Anslow alias Gypsy Dave
What a shock to hear of his passing - I spoke to him a few months ago at length - he was not well, had just come out of hospital.
I am so sorry at his passing - what a great character, never said no to anything - loved a challenge.
One of the magnificent 7.
God bless you son - not many of us left now.
Thought Ron’s comment about him praying with Hamsa on the roof of villa of Trans Arabia brilliant - I could just image it amongst the white sheets drying in the hot breeze, and he certainly had someone looking down on him with the runaway truck heading south from Taif with 100 ton plus. He had an American with him from the customer who had jumped ship at Dave’s instructions - he couldn’t praise Dave enough.
RIP Dave Anslow - Will always remember you, we may meet again one day.
Ken Broster GM & Director of Trans Arabia 1976 to 1981
I never knew Dave … or maybe I did and don,t know it we met a lot of special lads out there in the KSA …Peace be upon him not a lot of us left
Hello Backsplice hope you are still upside down !! No news on the F89 ? But there’s movement in the garden ■■ I will have to take drastic measures to save the Mac shed from going down under !! If you get my drift ! The moles are back with a vengeance , so I hope that the gall of exhaust fumes will stop the little blight ERFs from burrowing to iternity . Ron
Ron… you,ll need to pull the strangler on the mower …the fumes are coming through the ground here !!!
I know this is obnoxiously belated but really thanks so much for those answers, Ken.
jsutherland:
Kenb:
mj3200:
I have been wading my way through this thread with great interest. I worked in Riyadh for 4 years. Not as a driver. I am in construction. I was there from 2011 - 15.I’ve always been into trucks and transport generally and was trained on my PSV for London Transport in '86 by a guy who used to drive out to - I’m sure he said India in the '60s; definitely Iran - Poland and all these places.
I knew that in the 70’s guys drove to the Middle East but I had no idea they made it as far as Jeddah and stayed! That brings me to something I’m very curious about. When were the last British drivers there and what stopped that? Now there are virtually zero of even the Filipinos. Everyone seems to be Pakistani / Bangla as far as driving is concerned. As you can all imagine of course there are no Saudis behind the wheel!
I worked with a guy called Mohammad Tamimi at the National Water Company in Riyadh. He was a super friendly guy who had been US educated and like so many Saudi guys like him if you spoke to him on the phone you would automatically think you were chatting to an American… He was the son of some type of minor prince and his family’s business was Tamimi Transport. A huge company - the family were of course minted - I am supposing it’s the one some of you fellas are referring to. I remember asking him why there were no Filipino drivers and he told me that they were considered too unreliable compared to the Pakistani and Bangladeshi, so as their visas had expired they were not replaced.
Almost all of Tamimi’s tractors were Mercedes now or MAN. as was the case for almost all firms as far as I could see. I asked about this and he said it was the perception that they were the most reliable now and “what about Scania or whatever?” he said the mechanics were used to Mercedes. Infact I had expected to see tons of American trucks and with the exception of some Peterbilt refuse trucks I think I saw less than 10 although holy of holys one was a Marmon on the hill going back into Riyadh on the 505 from Dirab. Just before the city check point; speaking of which those are all unmanned now except for occasional checks mainly of trucks.
Another thing I have been enjoying is the old pictures, not only of the trucks, of KSA back in the day. It’s such an evolving place and people have so little regard for the past that you rarely see the older Riyadh and Jeddah. Although we all know if you want cred with the locals its Jidda
Can anyone tell me if the Al Khozama hotel on Olaya was there in your time and where is the flyover junction a few posts back?
Thanks,
Willy
Willy - hello
I will try and answer some of your questions.
I set up Trans Arabia in 1976 and ran it until Jan1982.
Why the move to Pakistani and Bangladesh drivers - simple - cost - they cost much less than Philipino people. Trans Arabia moved from Brits to Philipino purely because of cost - 3 Philo for 1 Brit. Our/my choice of Philo was there knowledge of English and familiarity of American trucks. Along the way we picked up a Brit/Yemeni from Birmingham - good for Mecca deliveries. We also employed a very good Tanzanian driver who walked through the door as to speak.
I looked at many nationalities inc Indonesian and Thai drivers but they had no knowledge of American trucks and put type of long distance work and poor language skills.When I arrived in Jeddah in 1976 there were a fair number of Brits hanging around looking for local work after they had done the overland trip, mostly lining there own pockets - some even sold there trucks and flew home to return with another truck many months later. Some had got involved in accidents and had caused major issues for the British Embassy, hence the cold shoulder we received until some years later when we’re involved with an International school move, they then changed there attitude and were extremely useful when I needed a visa to get an injured Philipino who had had his leg amputated and I want treatment in the UK for him - S Jones stood as garrantor for him!!
Most overland Brits disappeared when the sea freight service improved and the queuing at Jeddah port disappeared- when I arrived in 76 their was a 12 weeks que outside the port - hence some container ships being offloaded onto barges with they own ships cranes!!!The prevalence of Mercedes trucks (The Bonneted Version) went back many many years in most of the Middle East as Mercedes Germany had supplied thousand of Merc Tipper truck, ridgids and articS - most American trucks were on the oil fields with the American companies.
S Jones misjudged the equipment we required - easy with hindsight - they hadn’t taken into account the weights that were being pulled - we should have had 6 x 4 units not 6 x 2. The Macks we bought should have had ■■■■■■■ engines as did the Kenworths did have when purchased - again that decision was made on cost - the Kenworths was £10,000 cheaper than the ERF, purely down to exchange rate!!
In 76 there were no weight regulations for the roads!! Today they have regulation and the gross weights have been much reducedHope this answers some of your questions
Regards
Ken b
A fascinating insight for me, an outsider who never did the Middle East.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Well hello Backsplice ? Thanks for your E mail ! That came through ,vire truck net !! I too miss the banter on this unique thread . We are still upright as you can see photo ( 4 weeks back ) , miss Trans Arabia’s exciting times ? But to hear off old mates passing over to the desert sands of time make one to feel reluctant to write with the same enthusiasm!! Keep in touch I will put the Star at the top of the tree and drink the health to all Ron at Christmass
