gonna get this happy days 
This is a must have for me, the LDDs inspired me to become a writer, will it be available for us overseas chaps?
A lot of the features that were in Truck and T and D now appear in Classic Truck. A sign of age when you can remember them first time around.
newmercman:
This is a must have for me, the LDDs inspired me to become a writer, will it be available for us overseas chaps?
Hi Mark, good question. I was thinking that myself. May well have to get a friend or relative to pick one up at the news agents and mail it over!
Take it easy, Paul.
I need to rack your brains Paul, I’ll call you.
newmercman:
I need to rack your brains Paul, I’ll call you.
No problem Mark, Ill be home around 6.00 eastern. Look forward to chatting.
10-4
That’s my Christmas come early
The truck in service feature was very good gave real world opinions on working wagons some thing lacking in today’s mags
R975ENC:
The truck in service feature was very good gave real world opinions on working wagons some thing lacking in today’s mags
Definitely. The reviews today are very wishy washy mustn’t offend the manufacturers type affairs. Any criticism has to be countered by a positive. Haven’t seen a dodgy review since the ERF ECX or whatever it was that caused upset.
Those comparison articles in trucking international were a waste of time, the original truck in service articles from Bob Tuck were in a different class and were very informative.
I started a feature when I was at TRUCK which was a year in the life of a group of lorries. The plan was to do the same each year with a different group of lorries and revisit them at 3 and 5yr intervals.
However when I left the magazine the feature got binned. Obviously I’m a little biased as it was my idea and hard work that got it up and running, but I thought it was a good evolution of the truck in service articles.
R975ENC:
The truck in service feature was very good gave real world opinions on working wagons some thing lacking in today’s mags
Most lorry mags nowadays are more concerned about whose got the frilliest curtains light bars and how much shiny chrome/stainless steel are fitted
newmercman:
Those comparison articles in trucking international were a waste of time, the original truck in service articles from Bob Tuck were in a different class and were very informative.I started a feature when I was at TRUCK which was a year in the life of a group of lorries. The plan was to do the same each year with a different group of lorries and revisit them at 3 and 5yr intervals.
However when I left the magazine the feature got binned. Obviously I’m a little biased as it was my idea and hard work that got it up and running, but I thought it was a good evolution of the truck in service articles.
I thought those Year in the Life regulars were a good idea. I’ve still got some of them filed away! Robert
Including my mum, that makes three of us that thought they were a good idea [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]
Evening all,
Now somewhere in here is an interesting fact…forget Truck, just remember Commercial Motor, Motor Transport…then came Truck…and the difference with todays offerings is the nub of the nostalgia for the original, (HGV as my dear late friend Pat Kennett wished the title to be), Truck really bridged the gap between the “owner/operator” titles Commercial Motor and Motor Transport, and the yawning gap, (and opportunity, for those brave enough to jump into it), filled by the “original” Truck Magazine. The unwashed legions, that either aspired to owning/operating/drove/or driving/ or just were fascinated by the industry, that few in the outside world knew little about!!!
There was a romance, and a longing to learn about it…what was, and what could be, and Pat got it right…he opened the door, and the light shone in…and not everyone liked that at all! Least of all the Manufacturers!
Why?
Well lets go back into history…who were the journalists who reviewed the latest offerings to the market place? They were , (in the main), real Road Transport Engineers, and I recall, (with both affection, and in some cases disgust at “blinkered” thinking), men that I worked alongside, John Dickson Simpson, Jon Barras, the “Mad Monk”, dear, Graham Montgommerie, (both decisive and analytical in his work), Tony, AJP Wilding, “Cruncher” Mike Cunningham, Gib Grace,and the Giant, who harnessed great talent and potential under his command, the late Iain Sheriff of Commercial Motor, and his protégé, the former “snapper” Brian Weatherley, (the creator of the long lost, (in its former superb format), Big Lorry Blog…and arguably one of the last, and at the same time one of the first “new breed” of lorry Journalists.
Lorry Manufacturers lived in real “fear” of the words of these engineering experts, and in those days the balance of power was held by the Journalists. What they wrote was the “word”, that was the truth about a product! Their word sold the product… people purchased the magazines for "their " reports, and their word was the guide…and the advertising revenue, (and lifeblood) followed behind…“ours is the best lorry…read all about it…and buy it here”
But today, with the Internet, and the publications so dependent upon advertising revenue, …well, is it any wonder that the reviews are “neutral”?
The advertising revenue is King…and the journalists…well they are journalistic trained, writing about lorries…Not “lorry men”, let alone Road Transport Engineers! That is why the lorry magazines are light Crocodiles with no “Willies”…Glossy, but with no GO!!!. (blame the female Urine full of Contraceptive pills in our water courses).
And the nostalgia for Pats original Truck Magazine…it was raw, it was true to its roots, Pat was an Engineer, well steeped in the Industry, he had been the Technical Editor for Motor Transport, he could drive, he knew the fiddles, and he never lost his roots. And those LDD`s that Phill used to write, were full of the guile of a real journalist, who could put the shine on a dullest days work, and above all loved people, and individuals. No wonder in todays politicaly correct, homogenised climate there is a ■■■■ to read the originals…if only the milk and water present crop could turn out such work…
But at least they will boost their corporate income by re publishing such superb works…(but I bet they cannot recognise the really good ones)…
Definitely worth a purchase , one to treasure and enjoy…something , I fear lost forever!
Cheerio for now.
Saviem:
Evening all,Now somewhere in here is an interesting fact…forget Truck, just remember Commercial Motor, Motor Transport…then came Truck…and the difference with todays offerings is the nub of the nostalgia for the original, (HGV as my dear late friend Pat Kennett wished the title to be), Truck really bridged the gap between the “owner/operator” titles Commercial Motor and Motor Transport, and the yawning gap, (and opportunity, for those brave enough to jump into it), filled by the “original” Truck Magazine. The unwashed legions, that either aspired to owning/operating/drove/or driving/ or just were fascinated by the industry, that few in the outside world knew little about!!!
There was a romance, and a longing to learn about it…what was, and what could be, and Pat got it right…he opened the door, and the light shone in…and not everyone liked that at all! Least of all the Manufacturers!
Why?
Well lets go back into history…who were the journalists who reviewed the latest offerings to the market place? They were , (in the main), real Road Transport Engineers, and I recall, (with both affection, and in some cases disgust at “blinkered” thinking), men that I worked alongside, John Dickson Simpson, Jon Barras, the “Mad Monk”, dear, Graham Montgommerie, (both decisive and analytical in his work), Tony, AJP Wilding, “Cruncher” Mike Cunningham, Gib Grace,and the Giant, who harnessed great talent and potential under his command, the late Iain Sheriff of Commercial Motor, and his protégé, the former “snapper” Brian Weatherley, (the creator of the long lost, (in its former superb format), Big Lorry Blog…and arguably one of the last, and at the same time one of the first “new breed” of lorry Journalists.
Lorry Manufacturers lived in real “fear” of the words of these engineering experts, and in those days the balance of power was held by the Journalists. What they wrote was the “word”, that was the truth about a product! Their word sold the product… people purchased the magazines for "their " reports, and their word was the guide…and the advertising revenue, (and lifeblood) followed behind…“ours is the best lorry…read all about it…and buy it here”
But today, with the Internet, and the publications so dependent upon advertising revenue, …well, is it any wonder that the reviews are “neutral”?
The advertising revenue is King…and the journalists…well they are journalistic trained, writing about lorries…Not “lorry men”, let alone Road Transport Engineers! That is why the lorry magazines are light Crocodiles with no “Willies”…Glossy, but with no GO!!!. (blame the female Urine full of Contraceptive pills in our water courses).
And the nostalgia for Pats original Truck Magazine…it was raw, it was true to its root
s, Pat was an Engineer, well steeped in the Industry, he had been the Technical Editor for Motor Transport, he could drive, he knew the fiddles, and he never lost his roots. And those LDD`s that Phill used to write, were full of the guile of a real journalist, who could put the shine on a dullest days work, and above all loved people, and individuals. No wonder in todays politicaly correct, homogenised climate there is a ■■■■ to read the originals…if only the milk and water present crop could turn out such work…But at least they will boost their corporate income by re publishing such superb works…(but I bet they cannot recognise the really good ones)…
Definitely worth a purchase , one to treasure and enjoy…something , I fear lost forever!
Cheerio for now.
This incisive, insightful, pithy, fabulously written piece is worthy of a Sunday paper! I beseech the producers of the retro-TRUCK mag due out at the end of this month to include it before they put the paper to bed. I notice that dear Saviem doesn’t mention Headlight magazine, whose rambling test features were also filled with gems of the day! Oh, ye Gods how times have changed: tempus fugit (or time fidgets!), alas! Robert
Used to Iive for truck mag to come out as a kid in the mid 70s used to love the euro test they used to run,still got most of them including the first one
robert1952:
Saviem:
Evening all,Now somewhere in here is an interesting fact…forget Truck, just remember Commercial Motor, Motor Transport…then came Truck…and the difference with todays offerings is the nub of the nostalgia for the original, (HGV as my dear late friend Pat Kennett wished the title to be), Truck really bridged the gap between the “owner/operator” titles Commercial Motor and Motor Transport, and the yawning gap, (and opportunity, for those brave enough to jump into it), filled by the “original” Truck Magazine. The unwashed legions, that either aspired to owning/operating/drove/or driving/ or just were fascinated by the industry, that few in the outside world knew little about!!!
There was a romance, and a longing to learn about it…what was, and what could be, and Pat got it right…he opened the door, and the light shone in…and not everyone liked that at all! Least of all the Manufacturers!
Why?
Well lets go back into history…who were the journalists who reviewed the latest offerings to the market place? They were , (in the main), real Road Transport Engineers, and I recall, (with both affection, and in some cases disgust at “blinkered” thinking), men that I worked alongside, John Dickson Simpson, Jon Barras, the “Mad Monk”, dear, Graham Montgommerie, (both decisive and analytical in his work), Tony, AJP Wilding, “Cruncher” Mike Cunningham, Gib Grace,and the Giant, who harnessed great talent and potential under his command, the late Iain Sheriff of Commercial Motor, and his protégé, the former “snapper” Brian Weatherley, (the creator of the long lost, (in its former superb format), Big Lorry Blog…and arguably one of the last, and at the same time one of the first “new breed” of lorry Journalists.
Lorry Manufacturers lived in real “fear” of the words of these engineering experts, and in those days the balance of power was held by the Journalists. What they wrote was the “word”, that was the truth about a product! Their word sold the product… people purchased the magazines for "their " reports, and their word was the guide…and the advertising revenue, (and lifeblood) followed behind…“ours is the best lorry…read all about it…and buy it here”
But today, with the Internet, and the publications so dependent upon advertising revenue, …well, is it any wonder that the reviews are “neutral”?
The advertising revenue is King…and the journalists…well they are journalistic trained, writing about lorries…Not “lorry men”, let alone Road Transport Engineers! That is why the lorry magazines are light Crocodiles with no “Willies”…Glossy, but with no GO!!!. (blame the female Urine full of Contraceptive pills in our water courses).
And the nostalgia for Pats original Truck Magazine…it was raw, it was true to its root
s, Pat was an Engineer, well steeped in the Industry, he had been the Technical Editor for Motor Transport, he could drive, he knew the fiddles, and he never lost his roots. And those LDD`s that Phill used to write, were full of the guile of a real journalist, who could put the shine on a dullest days work, and above all loved people, and individuals. No wonder in todays politicaly correct, homogenised climate there is a ■■■■ to read the originals…if only the milk and water present crop could turn out such work…But at least they will boost their corporate income by re publishing such superb works…(but I bet they cannot recognise the really good ones)…
Definitely worth a purchase , one to treasure and enjoy…something , I fear lost forever!
Cheerio for now.
This incisive, insightful, pithy, fabulously written piece is worthy of a Sunday paper! I beseech the producers of the retro-TRUCK mag due out at the end of this month to include it before they put the paper to bed. I notice that dear Saviem doesn’t mention Headlight magazine, whose rambling test features were also filled with gems of the day! Oh, ye Gods how times have changed: tempus fugit (or time fidgets!), alas! Robert
Awwww Robert the good old Headlight magazine I had quite a few copies until last winter when a frozen water pipe burst in my garage and sadly damaged
many of my magazine collections some not worth saving
When I go to lorry shows I always scour stalls to buy old copies of Truck magazine and Headlight also older copies of Commercial motor as I love to read old road tests and I used to love the versus series in Truck when they put 2 different lorry manufactures against each other sometimes I’d read the conclusion part first to see who’d won then read the article afterwards
I forgot to mention my dad has still got is Headlight drivers club badge
You’re bang on there Saviem, TRUCK was what it was because the people that put it together were lorry men for most of its life, it floundered a bit when the man at the helm was a journalist first and foremost, but went back to its roots when Andy Salter took the helm and Brian Weatherley was Editor in chief.
During my time there we did things the Pat Kennett way and we were held in very high regard by the manufacturer’s people during tests and launches because of that, they knew they couldn’t dazzle us with a good meal and a new jacket, we told it as it was, no matter who it upset.