Biglorryblog never ceases to be amazed at where a seemingly innocuous story on BLB can take my beloved anorak army... For instance after posting that recent picture of the short-wheelbased International wrecker, Richard 'The Brochure King' Stanier has been in touch: "The short International immediately made me think of an interesting truck International produced in 1971. Now the other anoraks reckon the tunnel truck is a Transtar CO 4070A, and they are almost certainly right, but could it possibly be the far rarer Unistar CO 7044A?. I have attached a couple of photos of the Unistar. In the first photo above it looks similar to a standard Transtar 6x4, but in the second picture you can see what makes the Unistar a different beast altogether!"
Rich continues: "The third axle is actually a detachable 'Jifflox Dolly' so that the truck could draw a 40-foot semi-trailer with the dolly attached to the tractor as a trailing axle, or two 27 foot 'doubles' with the dolly linking the second semi-trailer. Ingenious eh? And the Unistar didn't stop there - it had a 'split bogie axle' to give the tractor 4x4 capability, so the same truck could be operated in either 4x2, 6x2 or 4x4 configuration. As a two axle unit the Unistar had a wheelbase of a meagre 121!".
Fascinating stuff 'TBK'. During BLB's trips to the US I've occasionally seen 'double bottom' rigs, operated by the mainly big parcels carriers, where you have a 4x2 tractor, short single axle trailer, convertor dolly and then another single axle trailer. Martin--got any shots of those outfits? Now click through here for a Classic Commer and notes on the Sed Atki 401!
Rich adds: "It was good to see the snap of the old Sed Atki still earning it's keep. I would be interested to find out more about this wagon, as I have seen it about myself and so has one of my anoraky friends." however, he then goes on to say: "I don't reckon it is a 401 though - my money is on it being the later 4-11 which was in production for only about a year before the introduction of the Strato. Seddon Atkinson reckoned the 4-11 had many detailed improvements over the earlier model (including more Spanish Pegaso components) but they can be recognised externally by the long cab corner deflectors with the indicators set into the bottom, and internally by their grey (rather than brown) trim."
"My own 401, which I bought 10 years ago for preservation. D21 OTH is ex - Charles Footman of Carmarthen and has a Cummins 320 14-litre driving through a Fuller 9 speed box."
He concludes with this little cracker: "Pete and Vic's adventure was rivetting too - They really managed to find some old gems! The pre- war Commer in the barn was of interest, and to illustrate how the war ham-strung vehicle design, I have attached a scan of a 1 and a quarter ton truck that they were producing in 1952 - It's hardly changed visually!
While I appreciate they were based on the same design, the two Commers are different models. The one in the barn is an N series Forward Control whereas this is a Q25 forward control. The radiators are slightly different and the headlights are larger items, whereas the Q has the smaller items shown in the brochure. There were many smaller changes through evolution- hydraulic brakes replacing cable brakes, etc
One of these later Q25 Forward controls is just 10 minutes up the road from my home - sadly in a very dilapidated state and unlikely to be prised off the owner until he passes away. He actually has an amazing collection of vehicles including 1 of 2 1930s Singer Airstreams known to survive,
A contact in Western Australia has restored an N2 as well as finding a few other prewar examples. You can see it here;
http://www.commer.org.nz/Commer_Connections/JohnSquire.html
You can see the similarity in the radiator and headlights on this N2.
Cheers
H
Inter esting stuff ( pardon the pun) about the Unistar Richard, have never seen one but I thought they were only 4x4.
Now I think I saw a lorry today that you wont have a brochure on...stay tuned to BLB.
WRT to the IH Unistar, available with the DD 12V-71 if I remember correctly, this configuration was offered a short time after the Western Highways Safety Administration concluded that for optimum traction and road holding in winter over the icy Rocky Mountain roads a 4x4 tractor was actually a better set up than a tradtional 6x4. However, the Unistar/Jifflox arrangement - although doubtless effective - was also costly and complicated so very few were sold. I never saw one in operation anyway. And yes Brian I have lots of images of 27-foot doubles outfits but 99% are 35-mm slides so I have no way of getting them to you for BLB. Sorry!
well richard,you little tinker!all the time i have known you on the show circuit and you never mentioned that you had an ex-footman 401.an excellent choice of vehicle,i think i painted that at sometime?i have painted many for charles over the years,he is a gentleman amongst welsh hauliers.
Sorry Andrew! I honestly thought I had mentioned it to you before!
A bit more on the UniStar, the 4x4 was not selectable or full-time. Instead of having a transfer case to split power between the rear and front axle, there was an over-ride clutch and drive shaft coming from the rear axle. When the rear axle started slipping and turning faster than the front axle, power was transferred forward to drive the front axle, making it a 4x4.
That 4x4 system sounds good but must not have been a great success in practice. With a 6x4 prime mover you dont really have that much traction until the power divider is locked.