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"Good morning Brian" says Andrzej Bakowski in Poland: "I hope the above picture of a Unipower S24 Contractor recovery vehicle would be somehow topical in the light of the recently published shot of a S24 Unipower from Scottish Nuclear and Bob Tuck's comments. I took this picture at 1991 Truckfest at Peterborough and still have the negative (somewhere). Unfortunately, I know nothing about the vehicle or what has become of it. It looked like a factory demonstrator at the time but there was no one around to talk while I was there. The display board on the right reads 'UNIPOWER S24 Contractor Recovery Chassis'.I do hope it has survived. All the best from Poland,Andrzej." So did it/has it survived wonders Biglorryblog?
I believe that was a one off built by Unipower and Wreckers international, it was sold off to a firm called Chariots who ran coaches and did recovery. They had it sprayed in a bright turqoise and pink colour scheme.
The last I heard it was being run by Crouch recovery of Liecestershire who had it in orange.
I seem to recall it was a one-off recovery chassis, and the recovery equipment outfit that ordered it might conceivably have gone bust before or soon after it was delivered. Again from memory, the problem – at the time, anyway (early 1990s) – with heavy recovery trucks in the UK was that with a maximum permissible GVW casualty on the towing arm, the front axle of a conventional recovery truck was prone to either lifting or having barely enough weight for the wheels to maintain ground contact and possess effective steering effort. Travelling in that mode, a conventional recovery truck of the time would be illegal.
As I recall, the S24 recovery special had an extra heavy front end/axle. Though it overcame the problem of front axle lift when moving a casualty, when travelling solo the front end exceeded axle weight limit. Thus the Unipower was technically legal in an ‘on the job’ laden condition but illegal when un-laden. The idea, I seem to think, was to use the vehicle as a demonstrator to influence a change in the law and make and make a ‘special types’ exception for this type of truck. Had the legislation been passed, all other recovery trucks would be rendered illegal when recovering a maximum weight HGV.
My guess is that today, two front axles, perhaps with one lifting, would get round the problem.
As I indicated at the beginning, I am relying on memory (from my one-time capacity as consultant PR/media relations guy to Unipower). However, I will not be too surprised if anyone reading this who happens to be in the recovery business tears the foregoing to shreds. It is all a very long time ago and, in point of fact, the only time I’ve ever remotely buzzed off a ‘breakdown lorry’ was playing with my Dinky Commer when I was a kid. As it happens, I came to dislike of this particular toy due to its inaccurate cab. Several years ago, I overcame my sense of being cheated by ‘remanufacturing’ the said Dinky Commer by re-modelling the cab/engine cowl etc and using it for scratch built British Army Commer 3-ton GS truck. How boring is that?
Think perhaps I should stick to listening to Ry Cooder, Andrzej!
I don't know if it is the illustrated one but there is still a Unipower wrecker L10NRT on the DVLA website, I understand that it belonged to a firm called Crouch in Leicester where it was painted orange and to someone call Choices where it was turquoise and red, but who owned it first I do not know.
Theres a picture of it in orange with an 8 wheel Volvo on th back on the Crouch recovery website.
I think at one time it was in a purple and green livery of a firm called Chariots from the London area. I later saw it in the livery of David Crouch the well known recovery operator from Kibworth Leics. Whether he still has it or has since moved it on I don't know.
Off the top of my head I think this was a demonstrator built by Unipower and bodied by Wreckers International. As far as I know it passed through the hands of a coach operator around London called Chariots and was subsequently sold on to (and is still with) Crouch Recovery in Leicestershire
A Unipower like this would never be cut up prematurely (one hopes). I'm sure I did a story - many moons ago - on a guy from Leicestershire who had a massive collection of odd ball vehicles. And I've a sneaking fancy this motor was amongst it. He let me drive a Scammell badged Roadtrain artic with Multidrive conversion. This saw the prop shaft drive extended through to the trailer axles. Another great invention of the late David Brown. The military took a few of them but in Foden ? and Sed Atk ? versions I seem to recall.
Must have had a senior moment as I forgot I have had a drive of a similar (could have been this one) four wheel Unipower S24 wrecker when David Crouch of Leicestershire had it back in 2000. We did a big profile of this specialist recovery operator in Truck June '00 issue and to me this was his star exhibit. I'll try and get in touch with David and see if he knows where it went.
Unipower fans can rest easy because the four wheeler is still working hard for the Crouch recovery company in Leicestershire. 'It's due for a refurb perhaps later this year' says Adam Crouch, 'but we still rate it highly and it does a good job for us.'
You cannot beat a good old un.
Hi im a big scammell s24 fan, would any one know what happened to the two s24 of Hills, and the s24 of Ward Bros of County Durham. All of these scammells had sleeper pods on the back . I have seen a picture of a green s24 with a sleeper pod on on another website and I wondered if anyone has any info on this as well?
And here it is on the Crouch website: scroll down a few pics
http://www.crouchrecovery.co.uk/recovery-vehicle-gallery.htm