Recently in concept trucks Category

SCOOP! Move over Volvo 'Vision 2020'...thanks to young Nikolay Suslov I can bring you an unique and exclusive preview of Renault's 'Roadtrain for 2020' (well possibly...). Nikolay has e-mailed me to say: "Hi! I am a designer from Russia. This summer I graduated from Saint Petersburg State Academy Of Art And Design. I want to post my diploma project on your blog, if it possible. Here it is:  http://mikola-piterskiy.blogspot.com/  Best regards. Nikolay."

And how about this for its interior layout? I never cease to be amzed by the imagination and inventitiveness of today's young automotive designers and Nikolay's work looks really interesting. Now click through here for more!

If there's one thing Biglorryblog likes it's a glimpse of the 'truck of the future'. So I welcome the contribution to BLB from Marek Bandyszewski who has sent me these superb design studies of tomorrow's tractors from MAN, Scania and Volvo....

Meanwhile Marek says: "I often visit your website where I find lots of interesting ideas. I live in Poland and have always been interested in 'motorisation', trucks in particular. Drawing trucks is my biggest hobby.  By the means of your website I'd like to present a small sample of a few drawings----more pictures are available at http://embeembe.deviantart.com/gallery/." Now click through here for the Scania concept and couple of excellent old-timers too!

I'm grateful to that young whippersnapper and hero of the MPG Marathon Ian Tonkin for tipping me off on the Ford 'Nucleon'----not, as it might appear, a pickup truck with a large hovercraft engine in the loadbed but a design study for a nuclear-powered vehicle which was unveiled in 1958. That round thing in back is actually a small nuclear reactor...yea...right. No really it is...though fortunately it never got beyond the drawing board. Can you imagine running into the back of a Nucleon? (Which should not to be confused with a 'Kalculon' who appears my Biglorryblog's favourite TV program 'Futurama.'.) Now click through here for more.....

'The Brochure King' Rich Stanier is back on Biglorryblog and he's picked up on the recent Steinwinter posting propmpted by the good folk at Hemmings Autoblog which you can find at http://blog.hemmings.com.

"Rich says: Hi Brian, it was interesting to see the Steinwinter Project truck on BLB, and like you I understand the truck was a concept built on Mercedes running gear. The picture on the Blog is of a load carrying lorry with a drawbar trailer, but I attach a brochure scan from ECK - The Dutch trailer people - showing one as a fifth wheel tractor. In either configuration the idea was to sit the driver beneath the load in order to maximise carrying capacity within length limits." Now click through here for more 'guzunders'!

Ring any bells with the Biglorryblog anorak army? I am indebted to Daniel Strohl, associate editor at the excellent Hemmings Motor News website (which you can check out by visiting this website http://blog.hemmings.com) For sending me these three terrific links to verious of its sites including the one where this photo comes from. I certainly remember seeing it at the Frankfurt Show many years ago, but under a semi-trailer, and I was convinced that it was built by Kassbohrer---but looking at the pictures and reading the comments on the Hemmings website it's apparently designed by one Manfred Steinwinter, who got Drogmuller to build one with a Mercedes engine. Anyway here are the links to the Hemmings site--enjoy! And if anyone has any information on this let me know.

You can't keep the Colani story quiet for long! George Fry has sent me this and says: "I found this picture of another Colani design, my son took the photo in Germany on his phone  27/01/2007 and sent it to me.George." Well I'm pretty certain that this one is based, not on a Merc but on a Daf for I saw it at a European truck show--possibly RAI but could have been Hanover."

If you've been reading today's posts you'll have probably noticed that once again Biglorryblog has drifted off into that evolutionary backwater known as gas turbine trucks and that today I discovered a new one---the GMC Astro Turbine Truck---but couldn't find pictures. Well thanks to the non-official GMT trucks website run by GMTman I've found these---which look to be publicity/PR/engineering shots from the 1970s featuring at least one GMC Astro Turbine truck (I don't know if there were more than one). Does anyone know anything about these guys or the truck they're standing in front of?

I'm assuming this is a line-up of engineering vehicles (the gas turbine is second from the left) but again if anyone knows anything about the truck and/or photoshoot above I'm all ears. And on that subject, according to the bottom of GMTman's website "all scanned or reproduced graphics or material contained on the (unofficial) GMT Blog are taken from publicly available sources provdied by GM to promote their trucks. They are offered on the GMT Blog gratis to all users." So I guess that includes BLB and thanks to GMTman for such a generous approach to sharing material.

And as if to prove it here's the badge--although the enormous exhaust is also a bit of a give-away too! Anyroadup having started the ball rolling on gas trubine trucks why stop now?

Here's an early publicity picture of Ford's 'Big Red' 600hp gas turbine experimental truck and trailer combination whcih was used in Coast-to-Coast trials from 1964.

Meanwhile here's an ad for the fantastic Chevrolet Turbo Titan III from the wonderful http://www.adclassix.com/ site too... A rare colour shot from 1966 Now click through here for yet more turbine tusslers...and if you know of any more gas turbine trucks let me know!

Now here's a bit of a lark on Biglorryblog. Rummaging through my box of trivia I stumbled upon this drawing by Daf's then-design guru (he's now in charge of truck design at Merc) Bertrand Janssen---father of the Super Space Cab. It's a rather radical design treatment of a Daf CF - complete with one wheel lifted off the ground during some high-speed cornering! Anyroadup click through here for something more recent from him...

By now you've worked out that Biglorryblog is going through all those pictures I've squirrelled away for just such an occasion... So here's a good idea - unless you park it up against a wall nose first and get reverse... And for a pie what is it?

From the 1978 Motor Show (or it could have been 1980 I forget) here's the first in BLB's 'Mutton dressed as Lamb' contenders... The fabulous 'Aero Bedford' (smaller son of Aero TM)

More like Mutton dressed as er... Mutton? yes the equally fabulous Windfoil Leyland Terrier, complete with balsa wood body... Legend on the top of the cab says: "Deflector saves fuel"... No kidding Sherlock? Now click through here for more 'whatever happened to?' motors!

Now what bright spark has gone and left this Iveco Stralis in Biglorryblog's drive? But hang on a minute... This isn't just any old Iveco Stralis (cue M&S music) it's a an 'Engage' Stralis - yes the Italian truck maker's concept vehuicle that was so special I completely missed it at last year's Hanover Show (D'oh!) According to the official blurbthe Stralis Engage concept truck "is inspired by the value-based partnership between Iveco and the New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, combining, [as you do] an aggressive look with a series of innovative comfort and safety-related technological solutions that place it at the top of the range." Errr right. Well anyway it's certainly got a very nice interior as you can see below...

In fact there's enough leather inside to keep all you animal hide festish freaks happy for a month of Sundays! Now click through here for more...

Feast your eyes on this. As promised earlier today on Biglorryblog, here (for your delectation and delight) is the Royal Mail Safety Concept Vehicle - an artic with more safety kit on it than you can shake a risk assessment form at (no that doesn't sound right... But you get the idea) In fact, it's got no less than 55 (count 'em) safety-related items on the Daf CF85.410 and Cartwright double-deck trailer rig. Although to be strictly accurate 11 of them are required by law already including ABS, front underrun and side guards, blindspot mirrors, seat belts, and spray suppression. But it's what's been added to the standard truck and trailer that makes the Safety Concept vehicle so impressive from BLB's point of view...

And here's one of those extras...a ground level susie connecting system (similar to the original MAVIS concept). But what I like about this incarnation is the fact that it not only slides out beyond the front bulkhead (as you can see in the picture) so it's even easier to get too---but that you couple up the air lines from below, so as you push up you can get a bit of 'oomph' on them. Which, let's face it, is not always easy when you've got a conventional system and a close-coupled artic! (If only we could go back to taps then it would be alot easier to put them on... Right or wrong?) The version above also means you won't get a face full of air when you release them. But chatting to the Royal Mail driver above, what he really liked about the system was the broad plastic collars (you can see them just above his hand) which makes holding and pushing the air lines on that much easier - another simple but effective tweak on a common problem..the susies are also non-tangle 'microbore' type lines and the carrier automatically slides back into position so you can't leave it sticking out.

Having conducted an audit of its reportable accidents Royal Mail found that a high proportion involved falls from the back of the trailer. So it got Cartwrights to fit decent access ladder/steps which incorporate a flat top step that's easy to find when you're climbing out. (the flight of steps next to it was to allow the assorted guests to get into the trailer that little bit easier - ELFIN SAFETY guys!)

And no more sore backs having to wind up the trailer's landing legs either. The Safety Concept vehicle has powered landing legs from Jost--and they look pretty hefty too. If the power source is lost you can still pump them up or down using the emergency handle on the top (secured by the chain).

Mind you that double deck trailer IS tall--over 16ft---and getting air to pass over the top of it isn't easy. But thanks to the Cartwright Cheetah automatically-adjustable aerodynamic spoiler adjuster it's now a piece of cake. First of all here's a shot of it in the lowered position... To run with a regular Royal Mail trailer...

Then, when you neeed to work with this tall double decker, you just give it quick squirt of air from a dash-mounted control in the CF85 and hey presto it pops up to its full running height and the air goes smoothly over the high trailer. What's more the top of the trailer has a sensor fitted to it which automatically detects what height the trailer is running at and that's displayed in the cab in a special display... Before the driver decides to take an unscheduled detour under a low bridge! And to let him know he's got a 'BIG' trailer the front bulkhead has been deliberately painted white... Simple but effective.

Apparently Royal Mail artic drivers were also hurting themselves with the roller shutter - not least by using the classic 'hang onto the shutter strap and 'Geronimo' jump off' technique'... Only unfortunately as they descended they then tended to put their hand down on the trailer floor to steady themselves whereupon the shutter (descending at a not inconsiderable speed) landed on their hands... Ouch! However, on the Safety Concept Vehicle it's not only an electric shutter but it has a built in safety beam which detects when a hand or boot is about to be trapped and stops the shutter closing any further before anyone gets hurt.

Meanwhile, the Cartwright trailer and Daf CF85 6x2 both come with roll stability kit, plus various other devices such as a kerbside proximity warning system at the front of the truck, on-board weighing, parking distance sensors, ramp approach braking which automatically stops the truck one metre from any obstacle (including a loading dock), before allowing the driver to inch back slowly... Reversing and blindspot cameras, reflective trailer marking - in advance of the new regs due in the Autumn - plus tyre pressure monitoring all-round. And that's just SOME of the stuff on it.

And here's the sensor for the automatic height indication system... Now click through here for more...

Regular Biglorryblog readers may recall I recently posted up shots of the above truck-a Scania Longline-taken by 'The Boss' on one of his trips to France. Well the old curmudgeon thought there was something starnge about it and the driver insisted that it was a 'special' Longline (only 1 of 7). Intrigued I asked the oracle in Sodertajle, Per-Erik Nordstrom, who came back with this picture and the following words: "Brian, clever detective work by some colleagues has produced some details about this vehicle. It is in fact the first prototype (an R164 which you actually slept in it one glorious night at the DemoCentre). Scania Sverige, the Swedish distributor, bought it from the lab and used it to sponsor Tony Rickardsson, our multi-speedway-champ (6 individual ones), who ventured into Porsche racing after his speedway career. Besides using the vehicle for transporting the Carrera around, Tony has participated with the vehicle in some Scania events over the years with great success. As you see from the photos, the vehicle has a lot of exterior embellishments and a special interior from Elbe. The gang pictured here around Tony Rickardsson is the national 2007 Scania Young European Truck Driver winners from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Estonia, who as a special price got "a day with the Champ". So the vehicle is not one out of seven, but a total oddball... A lab prototype saved for posterity! Per-Erik." And my thanks for that bit of intelligence. and here's a shot of yours truly and the same protoype that night I slept in it...

And here's Bigloryblog and that prototype Longline--though back then it was called the 'eXc' just outside the 'wire' of the demo centre. had a nice night in it as I recall. Acres of room inside as you can see.

And to help orientate yourself this view is looking back from the driving compartment that and window is in the rear wall-the bed on the left is actually running along the right-hand-side cab wall of the truck. Obviously the interior has been re-trimmed since then as per Per-Erik's e-mail above. Now click through here to see what the eXc (nee Longline) looked like on the road...

Regular Biglorryblog readers will recall me recently blogging on Renault's super-slippery aerodynamic Optifuel Lab artic which recently recorded a 13% average fuel improvement in back-to-back tests with a conventional artic---and you can read all about it in Commercial Motor shortly.  However, I thought you mght like to see some of the design sketches for it...

And from the front...

And a three-quarter rear showing a classic 'coke bottle shape'!

And here's a shot of the computational fluid dynamics work on the final design and if you click through here you can see the finished vehicle 'in the flesh'....

regular Biglorryblog readers may recall me doing a bit on the super slippery Renault Premium Optifuel aerodynamic concept artic that saves up to 15% in terms of fuel economy thanks to a whole shed load of things like its reworked front end, wind-cheating trailer and optimised driveline and tyres. Well on Tuesday I'm goign over to France for the day to get up close and personal with it and maybe even get a go in it on a test track...so stay tuned. Meanwhile click through here for more....

Instead of simply asking you to come up with yet another futuristic design, as part of the competition brief we want you to pick an non-automotive 'Big-name brand' (like Apple, Sony, Nike, Google or Starbucks) that you particularly admire. Then we want you research that brand until you understand its' corporate whilst at the same time you'll also study the requirements of a typical truck (in any world market). Armed with that information you'll then create a truck design that offers an improvement over the equivalent vehicle on the market today---but one that also represents and reflects the values of your chosen 'brand'.  Besides this, you're free to be as creative as you wish!

The top entrants will walk off with some terrific prizes. Letraset is offering a fantastic selection of equipment for you to win, including markers from their very popular Tria range. What's more, the winning entries will also be featured in Commercial Motor, Truck & Driver and of course Biglorryblog! And as if that wasn't enough, the first-placed winner will also receive the fantastic opportunity to send their folio to Kristofer Hansen, Chief of Design at Scania AB for personal suggestions and guidance.  With many years experience leading the design of one of the world's most successful heavy truck brands his advice and feedback should prove invaluable in advancing your work. 

Sounds like something you'd like to have a go at? To find out more, and to get a copy of the entry form and the rules, click on this link and get designing! 

It's futuristic truck time again on Biglorryblog. "Hi" says Kioko Muthui, "I'm an avid follower of your blog and I thought you might be interested in a future concept truck I designed: It's nothing fancy, but I believe that it presents an innovative direction for future trucks.If you find the time, I would greatly appreciate any feedback.Kind regards,Kioko Muthui."