BigLorryBlog

Leyland, at a guess,

Leylands in Canada? They must have been showing their loyalty to the British Empire, I guess. But I must agree with Pete for a change, I'm pretty sure it is. It looks like the Leyland nameplate on the top of the radiator and I have seen Leylands of the 20s with wheels like that.

I reckon we could call this a stem truck, Brian

Yes Leyland, like many other manufacturers, had a presence in Canada at different times. Indeed sometime between the end of WW11 until the very late 1950s they had a factory in Longueil near Montreal which built the bonneted Leyland "Canada". My old boss at Mack used to joke that in the winter time they (the Leylands) were so slow climbing the hills that the rabbits used to jump into the cab through the cracks around the doors hoping for a bit of warmth. After a while they decided it was colder in than out (presumably the heaters weren't a match for Canadian winters!)and jumped back out again. He reckoned that the Macks used to push them up the steeper hills too, but he may have been kidding.

Will,
Leyland had a depot in Canada immediately after WW1 and I'm told sold quite a number there.
Like all the manufacturers, Leyland suffered immediately after WW1. Having massively increased their business to meet the demands of the war effort, they then found their War Office orders (almost all their production) cancelled and the domestic market flooded by war surplus vehicles from Slough Dump at ridiculously cheap prices. Export markets were very important if the manufacturers were to survive and the obvious markets were English speaking and colonial markets such as Canada, Australia, Africa, etc. I've not looked too hard at the USA position, but I'm guessing that their manufacturers had their order books full with customers and they didn't have the problem of huge numbers of war surplus stock as very little was returned to the USA from Europe.
I'm also told that the long stick on the Leyland is actually a flagpole, some 200ft long.
The Leyland in the piccy is a RAF type or 'Subsidy Model' so called as most of the ones supplied to the War Office were allocated to the RFC which became the RAF, and because it complied with the Subsidy Scheme of the day.
Do you supply the same pies as Brian? If so, a nice stodgy one please.
Best wishes,
Roy.