The Truck & Van Blog

The end of the Truck & Van blog - for now.

2008-04-01T14:37:21Z

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

Paint your wagon - badly

2008-03-10T16:11:39Z

(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!

Old vehicles in Gaydon

2008-03-04T12:07:16Z

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.

When its a tie at the railroad crossing - you lose!

2008-03-03T16:29:20Z

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! Click below for more videos ]]>

Knight Rider myth explained

2008-02-27T17:20:25Z

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:

Rare three-legged horse

2008-02-26T09:20:45Z

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.

Under the hammer

2008-02-22T17:59:19Z

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.

A load of old cobblers

2008-02-21T18:08:02Z

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’……

Kenworth sounds even better than it looks

2008-02-20T11:45:49Z

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.

Save rubber

2008-02-19T11:14:56Z

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!

Old beavers never die

2008-02-18T15:14:28Z

It’s official, old beavers never die – nor seem to fade away! “That’s an overstatement, of course; all good things must come to an end. Still, the following figures supplied by C&T Harris (Calne) Ltd….of bacon fame….do make you wonder!” says this 1950s Motor Transport advert. The figures it is referring to are 342,146 miles from one bacon-carrying Beaver. What’s more, the engine required absolutely no attention – except for the replacement pistons, sleeves and big-end bearing shells. Apparently it was a similar story with the company’s Octopus eight-wheeler – which had 279,102 miles to its credit. It too had proved perfectly reliable – ignoring the new rings, big-end bearing shells and number 2 and number 3 main bearings, all of which needed replacing. And on a completely different subject – check out this advert for Kismet garage equipment. No prizes for guessing in which decade this was published.

G Webb goes British, but not for long

2008-02-15T09:49:30Z

Back in 1983 Cambridgeshire-based G Webb made a big fuss of buying British, having taken delivery of a fleet of Leyland, Scammell and Foden tippers. I don’t know what they were running prior to this, but I would guess Volvo. I would also guess that the switch to British trucks was a short-run thing, after all, when I spoke to MD David Webb in 2002, he told me that he drivers are used to being behind the wheel of the best trucks – namely Scanias and Volvos. According to the DVLA, this Leyland eight-legger was registered in May 1983 – and was taken off the road less than three years later. Was it exported, did it have a number plate change, or was it scrapped? If it was the latter, then maybe it would explain the company’s decision not to buy British for long. For more old Webb tippers you can check out this link.

Global warming hits Lapland

2008-02-14T15:02:13Z

Global warming is hitting Northern Sweden hard, although you wouldn’t think it to look at these photos. I’ve just been to Avidsjaur with tyre-maker Continental, which, like numerous other vehicle companies, has a couple of winter test tracks up there. The tracks are normally open for five months of the year (November through to the end of March) – but this has been the warmest winter sense records began and the tracks look set to close early. While I was there the temperature was just a couple of degrees below zero – whereas it would normally have been about -25 degrees. Whilst my colleagues were tucking into their reindeer steaks I went for a walk around the test track and found these trucks hiding in the snow. The first one appears to be a Volvo N88, the second is presumably another Volvo – but what’s the third one? From this angle it looks like one of those Forward Control Jeeps – but is too big. Can anyone tell us what it is?

Could this be the ugliest van ever built?

2008-02-08T09:38:13Z

What you are looking here is the Brazilian-built Transtina – Brazil’s answer to the Ford Galaxy/VW Sharan. I’d like to pretend that it was the product of an official joint venture between Ford and Volkswagen, but I think it’s more likely to be the result of someone with a sense of humour drinking one too many Caiprinhas. I found the photo on Autoshite, but I don’t know who to credit for the picture.

The fourth emergency service

2008-02-06T13:29:21Z

Back in the early 1960s (when I'm guessing this photo was taken) Austin was making vehicles for all four of the emergency services - police cars, fire engines, ambulances and brewery drays. The caption on the back of this photograph reads "Austin 25cwt used by Ansells Brewery for emergency deliveries". I can't believe how trusting they were back then. Can you imagine delivering beer in an open truck today? It would more than likely be empty by the time it reached its destination.