I was reading Fenmans thread and had a thought, out of all the senior drivers on here, there must be some recolition as to the first truck they drove, mine was a 1962 Thames Trader with a day cab then went onto an artic Spanish Dodge, so what is the oldest truck you have had to drive.
My first ever driving lesson with my old man was in a wartime bullnosed Bedford with a cut and stretched chassis and dropside flat body plated at 3.5ton ULW, used for carrying agricultural goods around the Yorkshire Dales. I have no idea what the maximum load capacity was and nobody really cared! This beast had a straight 6 petrol engine and 4 speed crash gearbox, it had the luxury of brakes on all 4 wheels but brake fade when loaded going downhill was scarey, emergency stops needed an appointment!
I advanced to a 1958 Commer 7.5ton ULW flatbed, I think this had a very weird 3 cylinder, 6 piston horizontally opposed diesel engine. It actually had a sleeper cab, well a drop down bunk that never got used! I took this truck up Sutton Bank loaded several times and never got stuck, just had to make sure the engine was cool and nobody slow was in front before starting the climb!
i remember mine,not the first i drove,but the first that i could call mine,was L915 LFS,a half cab drawbar mercedes1734 with eps and a 200 litre tank,apparently the slag of the fleet,cos everyone had her!
My first truck was a 1971 AEC Mandator with a custom built double sleeper for the fruit market work. 
first truck i drove
all be it around a yard was a Fiat 159 at Malcolm Harrisons in Barlaston
though i was quite old at the time i didnt even have a car licence
My first truck to call my own a Marathon 2 for Howard Tenons in Wellesbourne
Passed test on an old Dodge with a 20’ flatbed trailer, those were the days!!
First drove an ex Chris Hudson Scania 111 (I think) followed by a Renault Turboliner, Daf 2100 (Gutless is an understatement) Daf 2800, Sed Atki 401 with a 240 Gardener. Moved on then to Merc 1628 then 2033, ■■■■■ F7 and Fl10 then F10, then on to the more modern stuff…Like Renault Premiums 
Been thinking dont recall EVER having a drive in an Iveco… 
OPT 912M a bedford km at the tender age of 14.(me,not the km 
)
Simon 
1st was BMC on a dray wagon, and then onto a TK Bedford for knowles transport. A load of potatoes down to Kings Cross potatoe market. Coming back the truck was so rusty that the nearside mirror arm dropped off. When I got back the TM says you are going back there tomorrow, can you manage without the mirror. No says I.
First truck i ever drove was an old bedford tk round about 1975 and it was a few years old then,
my first proper job gave me an even older ford D series ( i’d swap that for the Axor i have now).
when i joined the TA,in my second year i sat my class 2 in an old Leyland knocker (ten tonner) which had allegedly seen service in the desert in ww 2. (i’d still have that instead of an Axor).
grousebeater
my first truck was a scania 113 p cab 320 either a l reg or j reg i cant remember which. its an ex macro lorry. it went ok but everytime you changed up a gear it went into neutral which was a nucense so it was like double clutching all the time.
drove a dodge 7.5tonner first a reg no power steering. then progressed onto a tk bedford when i passed my hgv t reg still no power steering. then ford d series hooray power steering but the gear box was like stirring porridge.next motor volvo fl6 amazing even had an air clutch and nightheater pure luxury.thems were the days 
First truck legaly was a Austin fg550 with the threepenny bit cab 1968, followed by a 1960 Bedford TK with a 300 engine running at 14 ton gross,there is more power in a transit van than either of those two.Good ol days, back in the sixties, 
My oldest truck I drove was an old ex-army Star which belonged to a friend of my friend. He bought this at the ex-military auction and wanted to build a motorhome on this, so I drove it for him from the military place to his home, but after he realised how much diesel it’s using, he gave up and sold it
But it’s really nice off road lorry from 60s and you can remove the roof and put the windscreen flat like in old jeeps (and then swallow all flies and beed flying above the road 
)
But I also had a ride of few kms driving old fire engine from early 50s like this one:
It has crash gearbox that you have to accelerate between all gear changes.
First ruck I drove AEC Mercury artic, drove it round Dagenham dock and Cardiff dock, that was when i was 14
next was a ford D1000 4 wheeler from Peter’boro to Leicester age 15
then and Albion Clydesdale artic from Watford Gap to junction 13 age 16
and my favorite one a 1959 ACE Mercury 4 wheeler from Keel to B/Ham age 16.
my first one was the day after my 18th old 813 merc think it were y reg 7.5 tonner on fruit and veg
first one for me was a scanny topline for phil hanleys at bilsthorpe (notts),a week after passing class one (agency) then second magnum for rh freight at nottingham (where i was actually a tm… ) then it was to italy for two weeks in magnum…hmmm then you could get a good job with little experience…
7’5 ton mercedes 814 sleeper cab… passed my test then ended up on an ERF with a small cab had to fold the bed away evey night then i ended on a leyland road train lol
BRICKTROTTER XL:
7’5 ton mercedes 814 sleeper cab… passed my test then ended up on an ERF with a small cab had to fold the bed away evey night then i ended on a leyland road train lol
could of been worse great mate…could of been ROSES…
my first truck was an A reg volvo F7 but i did used to take for annual M.O.T test a 1972 Seddon diesel , a 1976 Atki Borderer and a 1974 Volvo F86 (1974 as old as me only in better nick lol) and a mighty F88 have to say just for the pure sound the 1972 Seddon was my favourite although as many older hands proffess the F88 was light years ahead of it’s British counterparts night and day
i drove a 66 d series ford many years ago…guy big j wrecker…not sure how old it only ran on trade plates.that was in the late 70s.
at that time we had a driver nearing retirement that used to tell stories of doing scotch…over shap long before motorways in winter with a wooden cabbed truck…rod brakes…old newspaper and rags jammed in the holes in the floor to keep the cold out…
his boss then bought one of the first d series artics…the guy thought he had died and gone to heaven!!lol…twice a week scotch in a d series.
the oldest vehicle ive driven recently was a v reg(79)leyland atlantean double decker…last year…proper roadtrip…from aberdeen to maidenhead…2 days. 
guy bought it on ebay to convert to motorhome…i flew up to aberdeen from brum…drove it down in 2 days and got a train home from maidenhead.
it had a dodgy radiator…had to slow/stop every now and then to cool it…broke down at gretna…when stopped for feul…flat batteries…got a jump…into carlisle and got 2 new batteries at the leyland dealer at 2200 hrs.carried on to carnforth and stopped the night…next day on to maidenhead and home.