What did/do you drive and how do you rate it?

[newmercman]

Here are mine,

Bedford, KM, nasty, TM with V8 Detoit, OMG what a noise!
Daf, 2300 with ZF 12sp constant mesh box, comfy, but slow and the gearbox was evil, 2800 with same box was evil, 2800 with 13spd fuller or 16spd ZF were good motors in their day, had an E reg 95 brand new, lovely motor.
ERF, C series L10 ■■■■■■■■ outdated, a short spell in an EC11, thankfully short, it was crap.
Foden, an 8 wheeler with the big headlights S??, 180 gardner and Foden 12 spd, hard work.
Ford, Transit, a legend, D series, good lorry, very comfy, Cargo, again, a good lorry. Transcon, not a week went by without the cab being tilted for something or the other, sometimes because the keys were still in the ignition and the poxy doors were still locked.
Hino, need I say more.
IVECO, 220-30, ok, 190-48 marvellous machine, 520 Eurostar, Scania eater, 540 Stralis, very good lorries.
Kenworth T800, American ERF.
Leyland, Clydesdale, good skip wagon, Roadtrain, junk.
MAN, 280, ok, 321, flying machine, especially as an 8 wheeler.
Merc, 1617, good 4 wheeler, 1625, POS, 1632, lazy V10, very reliable, 1633, turbos made all the difference, finally a Merc that went uphill, 1735, nice, 1748, even nicer, Actros’s, I liked them a lot.
Peterbilt 379 CAT550, present truck (no lorries over here) an American Scania 143.
Renault, 340 turboliner, very nice in its day, Magnum, I liked it a lot. Premium, underated lorry.
Scania, 111, classic, 113, workhorse, 124/144, almost perfect, 142, awesome, 143, the best lorry ever made.
Seddon Atki, 400 with 180 Gardner, dreadful, with 290 ■■■■■■■■ totally different, I liked it, Strato, nasty, a 95 Daf was leagues in front of these pieces of junk.
Volvo, F7, slow, FL10, really liked these, so comfy to drive, F10, solid workhorse, F12, lovely, F16 in its day WOW, FH12, early ones very good, FH12 with I shift, autopilot, FH16-610, don’t know what all the fuss is about, VN series, nice, very nice.

[bender]

harry_gill:

Bender:
I always found it was much more enjoyable driving trucks/lorries before the speed limiters became compulsory.

The way an engine ‘pulls’ is now largely lost as they are much more powerful, but because the majority seem to have automatic transmission you just stick your foot flat on the floor and off it goes until you reach 56mph.

hiya,
Never drove anything automatic except a 2 pedal ergo Leyland thingy years ago and that was for only a short distance did’nt like it one bit, but if the fancy new stuff only creeps along at 56 mph i don’t think i could do with that either, i did go through the crawling about period as a young wag and drag driver but have had motors that have flown since, i think the best i could do at todays speed would be the nearest bus stop and use my bus pass to get home, i’d nod off stuck at that speed especially having no gearstick to fiddle about with, when i was still a driver I did have a home made cruise control which i transferred from motor to motor very simple,a length of broom shank which i used to wedge the throttle down but i would have been doing a darned site more than 56 mph more like 70+.
thanks harry long retired.

Hi Harry, I remember the broomstick trick, did it with a Daf 2500 when I was doing an night out down to Cornwall to pick up a load of poinsettias from a nursery the other side of Plymouth.

I left first and got there about 4pm, helped the nursery staff to load up and set the fridge. The owner was very grateful for the help and let me park the trailer up the end of the yard where it wouldn’t keep me awake, he then lent me a bicycle so I could go down the pub for a pie and a pint, and even left the showers and mess room unlocked so I could get a shower and a cuppa in the morning.

The other two lads parked up on a rough industrial estate in Plymouth for the night and didn’t get much sleep…

[ramone]

They book em off now where i work if the cruise control dosent work

[harry_gill]

ramone:
They book em off now where i work if the cruise control dosent work

hiya,
Do you think i might get a contract to supply your outfit with broom shanks?? it would save the firm a few bob in repair bills, nowt to go wrong is there??.

[bender]

harry_gill:

ramone:
They book em off now where i work if the cruise control dosent work

hiya,
Do you think i might get a contract to supply your outfit with broom shanks?? it would save the firm a few bob in repair bills, nowt to go wrong is there??.

The price has gone up since the Harry Potter films…

[chris_webb]

Bender:

harry_gill:

ramone:
They book em off now where i work if the cruise control dosent work

hiya,
Do you think i might get a contract to supply your outfit with broom shanks?? it would save the firm a few bob in repair bills, nowt to go wrong is there??.

The price has gone up since the Harry Potter films…

When I got a Marathon the hand throttle was the best thing since sliced bread - no more bits of tailor made lengths of wood to use when pumping off or as cruise control.
From 1968 I drove:-
LAD Albion Reiver - it was ok - I was cab-happy,owt would do.
LAD Albion Chieftan (or was it a Clydesdale) tractor unit - still got the bruises from that splitter lever at the back of the cab.
LAD Leyland Badger - loved it!
LAD Leyland Octopus - ditto!!
Ergo AEC Marshall and
Ergo AEC Mercury - both would catch racing pigeons,great motors.
AEC MK5 Mandator - loved it !
KM Bedford 6-legger - not bad.
TK Bedford 6-legger - about as much use as a pair of ■■■■ on Tarzan.
AEC MK3 Mammoth Majors - a good old tool if it had a six-speed box.Watch yer fingers if it had sliding doors and you had to brake a bit sharp .
AEC MK5 Mammoth Major - my favourite lorry of all time,the last one I had with the AV691 engine was a grand piece of machinery.
AEC ergo Mandator - I liked them but those air wipers…thank f… they were changed to electric.
Leyland Marathon - with the TL12 and 9-speed Fuller it would go all day at a steady 65 mph with a bit left.Brakes were rubbish though.
Seddon-Atkinson 400 with the 240 Gardner and Fuller box - another great motor and never let me down.
Scania 81- the most underpowered piece of crap I ever drove,especially on drawbar work.
Scania 82 - as above.
Scania 112m - a lot better.
Scania 111 - would ■■■■ all over the above Scanias on drawbar work.
Ford Transcontinental - what a great tool,apart from cab leaks,loved mine to bits.
ERF E14 with the 320 ■■■■■■■ and twin - splitter has to be the best wagon I ever drove - even at 8 years old when I got it.
Foden 3-axled unit - can’t remember the model but was a 1984 “B” reg with 280 RR and 9-speed Fuller.Shook me to bloody death and leaked more oil than that Gulf of Mexico BP oil rig.
I only got to drive a Bedford TM3800 for one shift on nights.A demo unit,and it flew but not sure if I would have liked it regular.There were one or two others I drove like a MAN and a Leyland Roadtrain but only for one shift so no opinion really.

That’s about it as I went shunting - another great tool was the Terberg shunter,does that count?

[bender]

Chris Webb:

Bender:

harry_gill:

ramone:
They book em off now where i work if the cruise control dosent work

hiya,
Do you think i might get a contract to supply your outfit with broom shanks?? it would save the firm a few bob in repair bills, nowt to go wrong is there??.

The price has gone up since the Harry Potter films…

…another great tool was the Terberg shunter,does that count?

Yes, of course!

I drove a few shunters, one was a specially converted Roadtrain at Geest (AEG 837Y if my memory serves me correctly) and they later got a Sisu, which was worlds apart from the Leyland, low profile tyres, automatic transmission.

Later at Eurotunnel they bought a Douglas 4WD with a completely reversible driving position for pulling wagons off the shuttle.

[numbum]

Lorries I drove 1965 to 1996, all tankers or artics.
Commer QX petrol. Commer TS3 6 wheel and aric.Scammell Highwayman,Foden FG 4 wheel Foden S34 eight wheel,Atkinson Borderer,Ford D800 artic.
AEC Monarch,Mammouth Major 3 and 5,ErgoMammouth Major.Leyland Ergo Beaver manual and semi auto,Ergo Lynx,Ergo Retriever.Seddon 4 wheel
Seddon Atkinson artic,Guy big J, ERF B series,E12TX and E10.
Could give people a scare with the petrol engine Commers.Turn the ignition off going downhill in gear until the exhaust was full of petrol vapour and then turn it back on again. Result one big bang. I will never forget having to climb over two handbrakes to get in the Scammell or having to tuck my trousers in my socks because of the draught that came through the floorboards. The gate gearchange is also unforgetable. The old Monarch with two gearlevers and a metal steering wheel is still fresh in my memory.I think it had 12 volt electrics but a 24volt starting circuit. The manual beaver also had a small second gear lever. My fondest memory is of the Mammouth Major V with 6speed box and power steering. It was about the last basic lorry I drove before all the bells and whistles began to appear.
From 1996 to 2008 I used to work away at other depots and also moved tankers around the country and drove all different models of ERF,Scania,Volvo,Daf,
Foden,Leyland,Mercedes,Foden and Renault. After the old stuff all these seemed mundane and like driving a big car with no character.
I never liked the old Seddon 4 wheel but I think the worst ones were the three models of Renault that I drove.
The only lorries I would like to have driven but never did were a Transcon and a Marathon. Sadly today it is not possible to drive seventeen makes of lorry.
A couple of lorries that I delivered around the country.

Happy New Year to everyone Phil.

[jfc999]

Had a Leyland clydesdale , uncomfortable, unreliable, unstoppable but it was my first proper wagon (preceded by a D series 7.5 tonner which didnt count)
Then came an F88 290 !! Guess which one I liked the best !

[jerry_truckartist]

hi all, had some crackers over the years…

Commer walkthru… made you deaf
Dodge 50 series
Ford D series
Commer Highline ( Dodge commando)
Bedford TK
Bedford TL
Ford Cargo 1615
Mercedes 1617
Daf 1900 sleeper… loved that … brand new E reg
Leyland Boxer
Leyland Clydesdale
Leyland Roadrunner
Leyland Freighter
Leyland constructor
Leyland Roadtrains, most variants, 2032 14 ltr ■■■■■■■ my favorite, 2034 Rolls, went well but seemed to spend a lot of time in the workshop…
Seddon Atki stratos, 14ltr ■■■■■■■■ Eaton twin splitter, loved them, once the gearbox was mastered…
Bedford TM, L10 ■■■■■■■
Volvo F10 320,with rear lift axle, F reg , hired, had it for a week… nice motor
Renault 290 GT… horrid
Renault 340 turboliner, ok but wasnt keen on the B18 gearbox
Mercedes 1729 powerliner… a joke…
DAF 95 350 Ati spacecab, F reg, one of the early ones with lots of teething troubles, loved all the room though…
DAF 2700 Ati… a blast from the past, why DAF built them , i dont know ?
Scania 113 360 topline, G reg, Hired, had it for a week, was gutted when it went back…
Since 1993, probably every municipal vehicle you could think of…

Jerry

[quinny]

In no particular or historic order:

Leyland 550FG. First driven on the road at 14 as a van boy for a well known bread company (1978 ) Warm in winter, too hot in summer, as the exhaust was on the passenger side.

Leyland Terrier. Vast improvement

Ford D0710 Like slug with only 100bhp but went ok when wound up.

Then came my foray into hgv2 driving:

Volvo F6S bloody horrible with a sleeper pod on.

Scania 93m rigid comfortable but heavy to get going.

Then finally a big trucker:

Volvo F10 4over4. Only 320bhp, but pulled like a train to 56mph and kept going. Last seen as the yard shunter at my former employer, and I left there 11 years ago.

Seddon Atkinson Strato. 14ltr ■■■■■■■■ twin split, single Eminox, and whistled like a good un, however after driving it for about 2 months, my employer found out it was only plated at 32 tonne, and they promptly took it off me as I needed 38 tonne.

Then my favourite…

ERF EC14. (No air kit.) Complete with twin split, and reworked injectors. Only 340bhp, and 53 mph, but bugger me could it get there quick. Unfortunately for the old girl, she came to grief with me at the wheel on the TVTE at Gateshead, and I still have some of the scars to prove it. I was gutted. She was also mint inside, despite being double shifted.

More ERF’s at the same company, including another EC14, but nowhere near as good as my old girl.

Renault Premium 340 day cab. Bag of ■■■■ as it was a day cab on supermarket work

Volvo FM340 at the same supermarket and a HUGE improvement.

Renault Premium 420 DCI sleeper. Went all over in it, and my first auto. Got it from new. Not as bad as some people think.

Then into my agency years:

Volvo FH Globey in 380/420 and 480 power. Up there with my all time favourites as a real drivers cab.

Daf CF/XF from 340 to 480 bhp. Do like them, as they are comfy as hell, but the XF has the edge for liveability.

ERF/MAN TGA. In ERF form not as good now they are/were owned by the Germans. MAN form same cab different engine so the same applies.

Mercedes 1820. Got the turning circle of a cruise liner

Mercedes 2544. Comfy but traction problems in the wet.

Iveco Stralis. No comment.

And the best of all…

1971 Atki Borderer. I was a passenger in this on the 2009 Trans Pennine, then got to drive it myself 1 month later on the Sheffield bus rally from it’s home in Huddersfield. I must thank Mick and Steve Ridgwick for it. I was like a dog with 2.

Edit: Took my neighbour with me in the Borderer, a non truck man, and he had a huge smile on his face as well and loved it’s simplicity.

Ken.

[straight_eight]

Driving an R reg ERF EC11-340 8X4 Sleeper with a 4000 Gallon Valley tipping tank on various liquid and hazardous waste work. 1 of 2 left on the fleet, the other being an S reg with same lump set at 380. Cant fault the old girl, she just gets on with the job day after day. The M11 ■■■■■■■ is now getting tired after nearly 14 years of hard graft (remembering that it powers the pump to load and discharge), but being fitted with a Twinsplitter, you can still make it go like a motor a fraction of its age!!. These motor’s were certainly built to last, and are better engineered than the new R and P Series Scanias that along with some Foden Alphas (mostly cat powered) make up the rest of the 16 vehicle fleet. Although not as comfortable as the new vehicles with four-point air suspension on the cab (mine being two point), it is still a comfortable ride with good feel of whats going on underneath you (something that new lorries lack) and road-holding on these old ERF’s is second to none, she handles like she is on rails! Since being purchased new in 1997 it has had several driver’s, most of which are still on the firm, and not one of them has a bad word to say about the old girl, it really is as good as the day it arrived, with all cab fixtures and fittings still where they should be and not a rattle to be heard. Some of the younger drivers hate the gearbox (probably frightend because they actually have to move the leaver to change gear, without synchro!!!), but those in the know (drivers, not steering wheel attendents) love the box for its flexibility and lightening-fast shifts, and i really appriciate having something to drive, not just steer, as i just dont get on with the latest Opticruise boxes on the latest Scanias. Dont get me wrong, they are smotth to drive and effortless to operate, but on a long run i have trouble staying awake, in my opinion, they have taken too much away from the driver, i find i am alot more alert and have sharper reactions when piloting a lorry that needs to be driven.
I must say that new Scanias in the fleet certainly do look the part with the latest high tech JHL moving-wall tanks and pump and jetting gear fitted (the newest being built Denmark at the moment at a cost of £450,000!), and they do create a good image for the firm. who, established in 1953, are the very best i have ever worked for.
The two ERF’s were meant to be pensioned-off four or five years back, but because they have remained so reliable and good at what they do, they have remained on the fleet and look set to do so for the forseeable future.
ERF’s are not to everyones taste, but they will last as long as you want them to, and get a job done time after time in a no-frills way. The last thing that has to be said about my EC11, is that durring 2010 it was amoung the top 3 earners on the fleet, not bad for a 14yr old up against 57, 58, 09 and 59 plate Scanias that cost three times the price!

[pat_hasler]

harry_gill:

Bender:
I always found it was much more enjoyable driving trucks/lorries before the speed limiters became compulsory.

The way an engine ‘pulls’ is now largely lost as they are much more powerful, but because the majority seem to have automatic transmission you just stick your foot flat on the floor and off it goes until you reach 56mph.

hiya,
Never drove anything automatic except a 2 pedal ergo Leyland thingy years ago and that was for only a short distance did’nt like it one bit, but if the fancy new stuff only creeps along at 56 mph i don’t think i could do with that either, i did go through the crawling about period as a young wag and drag driver but have had motors that have flown since, i think the best i could do at todays speed would be the nearest bus stop and use my bus pass to get home, i’d nod off stuck at that speed especially having no gearstick to fiddle about with, when i was still a driver I did have a home made cruise control which i transferred from motor to motor very simple,a length of broom shank which i used to wedge the throttle down but i would have been doing a darned site more than 56 mph more like 70+.
thanks harry long retired.

I never used the broomstick trick but the old Volvo’s has hand throttles that pulled out to maintain speed.
I was chatting to some old geezer last month while I unloaded in Scranton PA, he was the caretaker in the boiler room but used to be a truck driver in the 50’s and 60’s, he told me that one snowy night he was climbing a mountain and the wipers froze up so bad he couldn’t see a thing, he pulled out his hand throttle and climbed out on to the running board outside to clean the ice from the wipers and the door closed He struggled to re-open it and get back into the cab before he ran off the road Crazy old git.

[harry]

Good old gal - only broke down when I wanted it to.

[volker]

I have driven since 1973

Bedford tk
Ford d1000 ■■■■■■■ engine
ford D1614 turbo
Volvo F86 not good sleeper wise
Daf 2300
Ford Transcontinental good trucks brakes leave a lot to be desired
Erf a series
Mercedes 1418
Mercedes 1729 underpowered
Scania 113 streamliner nice truck
Mercedes actros early model
Mercedes actros megaspace good trucks
Scania 124 not fond of 4 series
Daf 95xf ssc lovely truck
Daf 105 xf ssc reliable / comfortable
Volvo FH Globetrotter 460 XL current truck well pleased good all round

[joer580]

…

[glenman]

best i had was a man 460 roadhaus, the worst was a wee ford d 610 (i think thats the model number)