The brands ’Biglorryblog’ and ‘Will’s Truck and Van Blog’ have merged with an equal 50:50% equity stake (although you can put money on it that Brian will write 90% of the stories!).
This should not affect customers in anyway, nor should they be alarmed. Speaking of the merger Brian Weatherley stated: ‘I am sure that given the strength of both brands in the marketplace, we shall see further development of blogging on RT.COM. There will however, be a natural ‘consolidation’ and the board of management of both blogs, together with our advisers on RT.COM will shortly be meeting to discuss further synergies and component sharing opportunities ’

Watch this space for a revised Truck & Van Blog

(pictured supplied by CM’s operations editor Colin Barnett)

Got an old van that could do with a re-spray? Well don’t bother spending hundreds of pounds on a proper job, just let your three-year old kid do it for you. Presumably that’s what the owner of this ridiculous-looking, self-proclaimed 'two-wheel drive Hummer' did anyway.
I have to confess that I have a bit of a soft spot for the Citroen C15, which was actually a very capable little machine. OK, so it wasn’t the most comfortable or most modern van on the market, but in terms of value for money nothing else came close. It wasn’t too bad at drifting either!

Last week Continental Tyres relaunched the ContiNetwork, and chose to do it at the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon. So, after hearing how great the new revamped network is going to be I managed to sneak off for a walk around the museum.
The only commercial vehicle I found was this old Morris, which is apparently the very first T-Type one-tonne truck it built.

I absolutely love this 1958 Road Rover prototype – which presumably was the forerunner to the Range Rover.

This beautiful Wolesley Wedge was the star exhibit for me. Apparently there’s only a few of these in existence.

Not quite sure I agree that the very first Toyota Carina E deserves to be here though.

Last week the BigLorryBlog ran a fantastic series of photos depicting what must be the world's stupidest driver - who thought it would be a good idea to take his 18-wheeler up a steep railway embankment at 55mph, with inevitable consequences. Luckily for the driver there weren't any trains coming, but America's stupidest truck drivers aren't always that lucky!

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Continue reading "When its a tie at the railroad crossing - you lose!" »

When I was a kid I used to love the TV programme Knight Rider - but something about it always used to bug me. It wasn't the fact that Kit (the car) could talk, jump over buildings or withstand nuclear exposions - it was because I couldn't understand how it could possibly drive into the back on the Knight Industries' truck while it was moving. It was a similar story with Italian Job when they managed to get the Minis into the back of thw coach without it stopping. How the hell did they do that? All is explained below:

The Mechanical Horse was once a familiar site on Britain’s roads, especially around its railway stations. Although the vast majority were built by Scammell, a handful of other truck makers had a go too – like Karrier for instance. This advert for the Karrier Cob appeared in Motor Transport in the early 1940s.
According to the Mechanical Horse Club, just one Karrier Cob is known to survive, and that is currently residing at the National Railway Museum in York.

I went to Manheim Auctions in Colchester this week to give my mate Carl some moral support. His 1998 Nissan Vanette is beginning to look a bit crap (not that it looked particularly great the day it rolled off the line) and he decided it was time to buy a replacement. He signed up for Manheim’s ‘hammer time’ service (which lets members of the public view what’s about to come under the hammer) and spotted a handful of rather nice ex-Sky TV Vauxhall Vivaros. The book price on these 2004 vans was £4,400 trade and £5,775 retail, and he decided that he was prepared to pay something in the middle. However, little did he know that he would come up against a particularly desperate trader who clearly had a buyer lined up for the vans. He wanted all four of them, and made sure he got them too – paying £5,450 a piece. While it proved to a wasted journey for my mate, he did get some satisfaction knowing that he had made the trader pay well over the odds – costing him a good few grand in lost profit. The next day Carl went to Manheim in Gloucester and picked up an identical van for £4,700.
Anyway, that’s a long introduction to this picture. It’s an ex-Surrey four-wheel drive Chevrolet Suburban ambulance, and it’s about to go under the hammer. I’m interested to know who’s going to be in the market for one of these. According to the UK Emergency Vehicle website, it’s one of just three that were put into service.

The Trade Description Act wasn’t introduced until 1968 – which is fortunate for the Rootes Group who are clearly ignoring it with this advert. I mean, I definitely don’t remember the Commer Cob being 17 foot long with sleek low-slung sportscar styling. And as for the ‘Supreme Comfort’……

I had no idea Kenworths were ever officially sold in the UK, but I guess they must have been if Paccar were running adverts in Motor Transport.
This one, which appeared in January 1977, talks about the marque’s “legendary durability” and ability to cover 2,000,000kms “in the toughest possible highway conditions”. It goes onto say they have proved themselves the world over: “Overburning deserts with heat up to 53 degrees, in the Arctic where temperatures dive below -40 degrees, and over city streets with bumper to bumper traffic”.
The advert tells readers to get in touch with their local Kenworth distributor, and then prints its Bellevue, Washington, USA address.
So, how many were officially sold in Blighty?
And on the subject of Kenworth, listen to this UK-registered example demonstrating its Jake Brake.

Have you got a ‘Jack the giant killer’ on your fleet? If you have, don’t let him do it! This was the wartime plea of tyre maker India, who wanted to help hauliers save rubber (which apparently was the nation’s No 1 war material).
So what exactly is a ‘Jack the giant killer’? According to this 1943 advert it’s the kind of driver who ‘backs into kerbs’, ‘drives on the brakes’ and ‘ruins his tyres’. Otherwise known as my girlfriend!