![Wrecker_at_Ndola[1].jpg](http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-blog/Wrecker_at_Ndola%5B1%5D.jpg)
Here's one for all you old African hands and especially Jerry Burley. It's from Bruce Elston who e-mails me to say: "I've been dipping into BLB over the last few months and notice that you have some definite preferences within the subject of trucks. Prominent are:
'Vintage trucks', 'Recovery Vehicles', 'American trucks' and recently a bit on
the GM-Detroit Diesel's emergency stop device..." (Guilty as charged on all counts Bruce-BLB.) Anyway he goes: "In order to preserve your, no-doubt precious, band-width I'm attaching a one size fits all snap covering all four of those categories! Taken at Ndola, Zambia mid-1970's. First three topics are pretty obvious, as for the fourth, 'Sunshine' behind the
wheel had got himself into a bit of a pickle on a long down-hill stretch of gravel
road and had resorted to the big red button!! Anyway, after he finally came in
to land (it was only the banks on either side that had kept him roughly within
the vicinity of the road), he had somehow managed to work out how to re-set
the stop flap valve. So he set off once more on his merry way..for a while,
that is, until a paucity of lubricant in the workings slowed him down again
which is how I came to be involved!" And click through here for rest of Bruce's story and another shot of that African half-cab wrecker!
"One thing I can't recall," says Bruce, " is why on earth I've put a block behind the rear wheel -- especially that old girl had an excellent ratchet-type parking brake."
![Wrecker_at_Mpika[1].jpg](http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-blog/Wrecker_at_Mpika%5B1%5D.jpg)
"And now we come to this second pic," adds Bruce. " About to enjoy the luxury of a tar surface for the last 300 or so miles of a 1,000 mile round trip. Mpika, Zambia. mid 1970's. NB. I always popped the bonnet on those Mercs for towing -- it enabled a direct purchase on the front of the chassis rails (without stripping anything off), plus a chain from my tow hitch to front axle worked fine. I nearly lost my rear diff on that trip -- on arrival at the mishap I was losing wind out of a rear tyre and the client's spares were so handy to the ground we
'borrowed' one of his for the trip back (ours were way up in the back). Well, it must have been a smidge less worn than my set and when I had to pull off to let an approaching truck through a washed away piece of road, I noticed a smell of 'frying tonight'! On checking I found the rear diff smoking away merrily and emitting bubbling and popping noises. Without the luxury of an
inter-axle diff everything had got wound up, so when I jacked a wheel to relieve the stress I must have had nearly a complete wheel revolution of potential energy stored away. Whipped out the half-shafts and inter axle propshaft and orf we chuntered again, but as a 6x2. Lucky it was the rear diff. -- would have been real sweated labour to pull one out and swap the other
over. But, in Africa as your friend Jerry would no doubt agree -- we have to make a plan.
Regards, Bruce." Great story mate, and once again the trick is to stay 'flexible'!
My mate Swishy the Kenworth fanatic will just love that photo of one getting hauled home by an Albion. Or is it an AEC ?
What a great story. Obviously an Albion radiator but just look at how small those half shafts are in the six wheeler's rear bogie.
I can remember some MOD trucks with similar half cabs to the one shown but I think these were Dennis Jubilants and were used as a carrier for a Blaw Knox excavator. I wonder if this wrecker was originally something similar?
I can assure Bob it was all pure Albion, except for the Leyland 0680 engine that had been grafted on to the original Albion box at some time. When I acquired her from Leyland Albion, Zambia, the engine was out and stripped due to knocked out big-end. All the bits jumbled up in a big packing case. When re-assembled I couldn't get the transmission to mate to the engine -- the flywheel had ben missing so I had fitted a standard Leyland wheel which was too "deep" and fouled the gearbox bellhousing. Tried turning it down but still no luck. Went out to Leyland Albion's yard and actually located the wheel in their scrap heap. Couple of days later a scrap dealer was in to clear out the lot!!
The half shafts were splined both ends and slipped into a female splined cap on the rear hubs. IF you managed to break a shaft they tended to pop the welch plug out of the hubcap for easy location of the problem.
She originally arrived in Africa about 1946/7 as part of the kit for the ill-fated Tanganyika Ground Nut Scheme, so could have been ex MOD.
I've since had this extra e-mail back from bruce-BLB
Brian,
Perhaps I should have mentioned that the old Albion was about 1947 vintage
and a refugee from the ill-conceived Tanganyika Ground Nuts Scheme (If you
can remember what that was!!) Thirty years old and still highly productive for
me.
I bought her derelict, about 1970, from Leyland-Albion Central Africa Ltd with
the engine (Leyland 0680) stripped with a knocked out big end; resurrected
her for a new lease of life till I moved to Botswana 1978. Last time I saw her
was 1980 and still operative, but probably dead by now -- that's Africa.
Regards, Bruce
Sounds like you had your money's worth from the old girl Bruce, what model would it be ?
I honestly can't remember the Model for sure, but am pretty certain she was an HD55.
Probably the best return on 250 notes invested by anybody!