“I can live with the shame of the big A”
What kind of talk is that? When I was a young’un we had plastic cabs with 150 Gardners and 6 speed boxes, all to pull 32 tons. No heaters, drafty, boneshaking, rattling, ear-splitting ice/sweatboxes and still all the kids in comfy Fords and TKs used to look up to us in wide eyed admiration and envy. Shame of the big A. Never heard of such a thing. Still they aren’t really Atki’s anymore are they? Been in and out of more stables than Black Bess.
Seriously though, for sheer space and comfort go for the Magnum. If only it wasn’t for that ZFing Renault gearbox. One weeks holiday and 2 weeks tennis elbow and dislocated shoulder.
Salut, David.
Allikat: That sounds interesting, will take a look. Entering might be fun even if i stand no chance against the new stuff 
Bonditram: After 3 years on a 7.5, my Dad bought me “A real motor” 1979 Foden Haulmaster with the 12 speed foden box… does that explain why i am just a bit dubious about ERF, Foden, Atki & a few others 
My teens were spent out with the drivers in other “real trucks” Bedford KM, AEC Mercury, Foden S80 & even a Commer 2 stroke … I would love one of those now as a toy, but unless it’s for local shows it’s just not practical enough.
Now i CAN choose my toy & i think if theres any chance of getting a magnum for my budget, i will sit it out.
Thanks for the comments, made enjoyable reading 
Jan 2004 Truck and Driver has the details.
Pertinant quotes “Renault is looking for the best custom magnum on uk roads and is offering “A significant” cash prize”
“Competition is open to all UK registered Magnums irrespective of age. Entrants may be existing custom magnums or new projects”
Info from penny.randall@renault-trucks.com
Free entry to a truckfest just for entering and bringing your magnum to be judged is a part of the package 
Look up club magnum at : www.club-magnum.co.uk for more
Note: Allikat is not associated with Renault trucks or club magnum, but would give her left leg for an auto box magnum
Thanks for all that Ak
I have tried the club-magnum forums but theyre locked to members only, & applying for membership might be a bit premature right now 
Will email them anyway, like you say, even if i get the booby prize, it’s a fun weekend at truckfest
31 of you have now voted 
Some surprising results too !! Only one has voted for the Eurotech 
Just guess what i have been offered only tonight 
92 Magnum @ £3500
38% [ 12 ]
95 or 96 Sed Atki Strato for £2000
12% [ 4 ]
93 or 94 Iveco Eurotech for £2500
3% [ 1 ]
91 F10 globey for £3000
22% [ 7 ]
90 Scania 143 for £2750
16% [ 5 ]
Forget it & keep my bova
6% [ 2 ]
Toytown,
There you go again. What’s wrong with a Foden 12-speed? At least you were a king if you could manage it properly with no tunes. Not everybody could. It’s not a wagon you want, it’s a bloody Indian abattoir with all these sacred cows you’re slaughtering!
Salut, David.
Bonditram: After 3 years on a 7.5, my Dad bought me “A real motor” 1979 Foden Haulmaster with the 12 speed foden box… does that explain why i am just a bit dubious about ERF, Foden, Atki & a few others
I had a V reg (would that be 79 also) Fleetmaster with a blown ■■■■■■■■ I think it was a 240 not the 290 and a 9 speed fuller!
Talking of Fodens 12 speed, did anyone ever see one with the 3 position splitter switch dash mounted? Believe me, I know at least 1 existed! talk about more arms than an Indian god I just wondered if there were any more or was it a back yard mod!
“I can live with the shame of the big A”
What kind of talk is that? When I was a young’un we had plastic cabs with 150 Gardners and 6 speed boxes, all to pull 32 tons. No heaters, drafty, boneshaking, rattling, ear-splitting ice/sweatboxes and still all the kids in comfy Fords and TKs used to look up to us in wide eyed admiration and envy. Shame of the big A. Never heard of such a thing. Still they aren’t really Atki’s anymore are they? Been in and out of more stables than Black Bess.
I remember well those motors and the way you describe them there Bondi, good job! Correct me if im wrong, but even by the time the 400 series were out and about, International Harvester owned SA. Then the 401’s were some of them made by ENASA with that Spanish front axle? I spose the last real SA, or reaaly Atki, was the MK2? The first bender I ever drove, ive still got a origional A badge in the cellar, I lost the Knights head tho.
Mal.
Mal,
The 3 position splitter on the dash was the last one I remember, didn’t know they modified it. It certainly wasn’t a back yard job but the standard for many years. But if you think that was complicated you should have tried the Quad Box Mack B61 Thermodyne I had in Oz in the '60’s. Two gearboxes, main and compound, 5 in one and 4 in the other. Two sticks. Both crash, the most important thing on that truck was the rev. counter. If that was ok and you remembered where you were and where you were going, no problem. As usual with crash, hardly needed the clutch.
The last Foden 12 speed I drove was the (first, I think) steel cab back in the mid seventies. 205 ■■■■■■■■ great wagon, no sleeper of course but the bonnet was flat enough to make it a good “kipping cab”. The 12 speed was so versatile that one afternoon during heavy snow climbing Swinscoe on the A52 just north of Ashbourne with an empty trailer I lost traction and came to a stop. Thought that was it for the night but tried several gears with different splits in turn, gently letting in the clutch until just the right one was found. Pulled away very gently and completed the climb. An empty artic in the snow on a steep hill? You wouldn’t believe it. Mind you after I loaded the powder tank at Oakamoor, couldn’t get out of the quarry. There are limits, still, wasn’t far from the pub. During the night with the melting snow she slid sideways all by herself into the ditch. Pulled out of that in the morning though, no trouble. Great gearbox and engine.
Next time I had a Foden was in the eighties with a ■■■■■■■ 280 and Fuller Roadranger. Another great combination. I like crash boxes. Get the revs right and they don’t pull your bones out of location!
You’re right about the Atki. The last real one before the Seddon takeover (I remember well that saga, would it be Foden ERF or Leyland? I never spotted Seddon coming up on the rails) was the MK2 Borderer. I had a couple, the last being a converted rabbit hutch sleeper cab at Econofreight Leicester. Another very good wagon, by the standards of the day. We hadn’t known comfort, so didn’t know we didn’t have it! My Knight badge got stolen, a common occurrence, and I was seriously considering getting a big A for my Magnum but didn’t think anyone would appreciate it over here.
Salut, David.
Mal,
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Yep A friend of mine has just sold it, a 1971 Mickey Mouse foden unit with the 12 speed das mounted. That was the early foden bod that worked the same as a t/splitter. 4 gears & low/mid/high on each one.
My Foden was on the stick & 4 over 4 with splits on the top 4, same as the fuller 13 speed but no crawler 9well, with a 201 gardner every one was a crawler
David, the reason I asked was that the only ones I ever got into were on a firm called CA&EC Howard, or cacky howard as they were called here! Just before I took me class one, I was a tyrefitter with ATS, and I got a lot of fun driving trucks round the yards where they would let me, the blokes were great at cacky’s. I still see one or two occaisionally and they had motors ranging from mickey mouse’s till that weird square tin cab foden did (I dont remember the model) and a couple of B series with rollers in them. Well, I only remember seeing one on the dash, it looked like an old BMC indicator switch to me at that time the others were like a paddle under the knob, and looked (and felt) a bit handier to me. Tunes were well played, and a few times I got the sequence explained. I wouldnt like to try one now, thats 24 years since!
I know what you mean about the cab for kipping by the way! The worst I ever had to cab hotel in had to be a Buffalo, the hump was sort of angled forwards, do you remember that neat feature? So youd wake up in the dash!
Those rabbit huch as you call them were like a coffin wernt they, and believe it or not, mine had a hammock strung on two ally scaffold tues attatched to lugs on the wood door posts, it was the only one I ever saw! Shame about the Knight, but the big A on a magnum would have been cracking, …never mind what they over there think!
Mal.
Thats the one Toy, low Direct & Overdrive, really I spose like a twin split. A bold style that MM cab. Funny I drove a Foden 8 leg tipper recently, and that had a 4 over 4 with a split on the top 4, progress eh!
Mal.
Mal & Toytown,
Mickey Mouse cab. I had one of those with K&M of Hucknall for a time before I graduated onto the steel cab. Never mind the lack of heaters that was such a sweatbox that I remember driving in shirt sleeves in the dead of freezing winter. Something to do with the fact that the side of the bonnet was cut away to allow you to get all the gears in the, very floppy, gearbox. But the racket! That was the old Foden 2-stroke. Good job the windows were down and good job I didn’t have it in the summer.
Well remember Cacky Howards. White wagons from Bedford. Used to see them a lot when I rolled for Ian Cheverall at Luton. Wonder what he’s doing now? Packed up transport long since I think.
Blimey! We used to say more miles are done in the caff than in the cab, but this computer of mine is looking a bit treadbare.
Salut, David.
Tarmac took them over David, for the Hemelite blocks and the like. Yes, they were white and red. More miles in the caff! Certainly the case this week mate! Im still off till 5th, and have a lovely flu to make me appreciate the holiday all the more!
Mal.