Welcome to Will’s Roadtransport Revival – my new daily photo blog of commercial vehicles from yesteryear. Every day I’ll be bringing you photos, press pictures, film stills, brochure shots and advertisements from my own personal collection and from the extensive Commercial Motor and Motor Transport archives.
I’ll want your help too. If you’ve got historic images of commercial vehicles then please email them to me.
And if you spot any mistakes (and I’m sure there will be a few), please let me know.

It might look like a photo-shoot from the mid-1970s, but in actual fact I took this picture 18 months ago in Southampton at the Ford Transit’s 40th birthday celebrations. The “S”-registered MkI Transit at the front has the extended “diesel nose”, which was required to house the Perkins engine. This was one of several early Transits that journalists were allowed to drive on the day.
It was in immaculate condition and drove exactly as it did the day it left the factory – in other words it was loud, underpowered, had appalling ride and handling characteristics and a sliding door that almost amputated a limb whenever you touched the brakes. What’s more, the interior was about as appealing as a fortnight’s holiday in Guantanamo Bay. Hard to believe that this van was class-leading in its day.
The similarly aged Bedford CF ice-cream van was nothing to do with the event and just happened to be parked there.

According to the scribblings on the back of this old Motor Transport photograph, Wolverhampton-based brewer Frank Myatt took these football fans to the 1921 FA Cup Final. They all look quite excited about the prospect of watching local team Wolverhampton Wanderers play Tottenham Hotspur.
When you consider that the game was 135 miles away at Stamford bridge, the dray had a top speed of about 20mph, solid tyres, not much in the way of suspension and bugger-all protection from the rain, this must have been quite a long and miserable journey. You can bet your life the return leg was even more depressing though as Wolverhampton lost 1-0.
Hopefully Frank supplied a few barrels of beer to help them drown their sorrows.

No you aren’t seeing things – it really does say ‘1981’ on the front of this Citroen Type H van. Admittedly this is the last ever one to roll off the production line, but it’s still incredible to think that this vehicle made it into the 1980s.
The Type H (or H Van/H Type/HY) first went into production in 1947, meaning it’s celebrating its 60th year. The first examples used Citroen Traction Avant running gear, later to be replaced by Citroen DS mechanicals. And there’s no prizes for guessing that those headlights were also found on the 2CV.
Over its 34-year run the Type H was built in France and Belgium, and found close to 500,000 buyers. As well as being particularly popular on the home market, it was also a huge seller in the Netherlands.
This example was pictured at the 'Conservatoire' – an amazing museum of automotive oddities at Citroen’s Aulnay factory in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris.

Back in 1907, when Motor Transport was just two years old, it got quite excited about this photograph. Not because the petrol-powered Dennis Bros 3-ton dray was particularly unusual, but because Wm Hancock & Co was one of the UK’s first brewers to use motor transport instead of horses to deliver its beer. I have to confess that I got rather excited about the picture for another reason – back in my university days I used to consume gallons of this stuff.
One-hundred years on and both Hancock’s beers and Dennis trucks still kind of exist today – albeit in somewhat different guises. Hancock’s branded beers are still brewed by Coors Brewers at their Burton plant under license from Interbrew UK, while Dennis Eagle trucks was purchased by Spanish municipal specialist Ros Roca earlier this year.

In my opinion the Peugeot 504 pickup is one of the most underrated trucks of all time – and one of the hardest working too.
Based on the 504 saloon (1969 -1982), the pickup derivative only arrived on the scene in 1979 as a direct replacement for the 404 pickup. The saloon and estate had already developed a reputation for reliability and longevity – and the pickup only enhanced this standing. Although it sold well in Europe, the truck really excelled in Africa. Here its unburstable mechanicals and good ground clearance combined to make it the perfect workhorse. In fact, it even had considerable rallying success on the African continent in the early and mid 1980s – competing in the Paris-Dakar among other races.
While European production finished in the early 1990s (a decade after the demise of the passenger carrying derivatives), incredibly they are still being built in Kenya.
This is the cover of a late 1980s British sales brochure.

This picture may only be a couple of decades old – but how times change.
Today British Steel is called Corus and is owned by the Indians, Seddon Atkinson is owned by the Italians and no longer builds trucks, 4x2s definitely don't haul steel any more and day cabs are virtually non-existent.
The truck is one of a batch of seven Seddon Atkinsons that went into service at British Steel’s Shotton Works in 1985. They were all powered by Perkins Eagle 300 Li engines.

I have to confess that I don’t know where this photograph came from. I found it at the back of a filing cabinet in RBI towers, so it could have been published in Motor Transport, Commercial Motor or Truck & Driver magazine. More importantly, I don’t know when it was taken.
We are looking at a 1976 Guy Big J4T 4x2 tractor, which judging by its condition, is being used as a shunter by Nailstone-based JW Pallett. Whether it’s still in use today I have no idea.
This picture got me thinking – who is running the oldest shunter? If you think it could be you then please tell me about it.

Before the Nazi Party adopted the swastika, and turned it into the most potent icon of racial hatred, it traveled the world as a good luck symbol. It would crop up all over the place – including at Danish brewery group Carlsberg. Although the company dropped it from their trucks and bottles in the late 1930s, apparently you’ll still find a couple carved into huge granite elephants at the brewery entrance today.
This truck, which was photographed in Copenhagen and featured in Motor Transport in late 1935, is a 2-ton Morris with six-cylinder engine.

Back in the late 1960s Mixconcrete was one of AEC’s biggest customers. At this point it already had 150 of them on its 400-strong fleet, but was keen to purchase another 250 over the next few years. Whether it did or not, I have no idea.
This Marshall 6x4 was one of 12 similar trucks delivered in August 1969. For those of you who are interested in the technical spec, it had a 20-ton GVW and was powered by the AV505 engine, developing 151hp at 2,400rpm. It had a six-speed constant mesh transmission and two single-reduction 7.14:1 ration driving axles.

Although his old Motor Transport photo doesn’t have a date on the back, those headlight black-out covers immediately date it to some time during the WWII. Note also those white wheel arches, which were painted this colour in order to maximise its visibility to other light-starved motorists.
We are looking at an Albion, which according to the number plate, was registered in 1938. It’s being operated by Frank Pickard Haulage & Removals of Leeds – and it doesn’t take a genius to work out which of these two men is Frank. Look at the state of the driver’s overalls – do you think they have ever been washed. He certainly wouldn’t get a job at Eddie Stobarts would he?

According to Motor Transport, back in the 1960s, “Ford Motor Company of Holland developed an interesting unit for the transport of up to three heavy commercial vehicles.”
So how did it work I hear you ask. Well, no surprises for guessing that in involved a series of hydraulically operated ramps, which back in the 60s was apparently big news.
This picture shows a Ford D-Series transporter carrying three similar trucks – a pair of D700s and one D200. Other than the odd horsebox I can't remember the last time I saw a D-Series on the road. If you know of one that's still working for a living I'd love to hear from you.

It's only recently that the UK has warmed to the pickup truck concept, and when you consider what rubbish used to be available it's no wonder that we took a while to show any interest. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s anyone wanting a pickup was forced to pick from such rubbish as the Morris Marina/Ital, the Ford P100, the Renault 12-based Dacia and this - the Hyundai Pony.
According to the 1982 sales literature, this "eye-catching workhorse" combines "economy, efficiency and engineering excellence". It also talks about the vast list of luxury items that came as standard - including vinyl-covered seats, inertia seatbelts and a warning light for the handbrake. They really knew how to spoil us didn't they?
The brochure also boasts that the front half of this vehicle was penned by famous design house Guigiaro. I've just been on the Guigiaro Design website, and funnily enough there's no mention of it!

It might look like an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the world's largest display of synchronised tipping, but in actual fact this was just JW Hurdiss of Lincolnshire's way of showing off its new fleet of 1993 Fodens.
According to Commercial Motor, the company had just taken delivery of seven 2000-Series 17-tonners. Apparently they were chosen for their strength and low weight, while the "stylish and modern narrow cabs" allowed them get into places with difficult access - like farms, building sites and sometimes quarries.
Is access really an issue with quarries?

Check out the corrosion on this 1975 British Leyland Sherpa, which I found abandoned in a South Wales quarry.
You might be thinking that this amount of rust is excusable on a 32-year old van, but this isn't a 32-year old van. The picture was actually taken in 1989 when the Sherpa was just 14 years old! How's that for disgraceful build quality?
Twenty years later and things hadn't improved a whole lot either. I've just bought myself a 1993 Leyland Daf 200 Series (which is basically the same van), and on a quiet night you can hear it rusting. I haven't bothered with a "No tools left in van overnight" sticker on the back - as I'm assuming any potential thief will simply peer through the rust holes in the back doors.

Delivering cigarettes is a high security business today - with unmarked trucks, security curtains and vehicle trackers. But it was a very different story in 1940. Looking at this picture it's easy to understand where the "off the back of a lorry" phrase came from.
These two long-wheelbase Leyland Lynxes joined the Player's fleet in January 1940.

Check out this incredible wartime photograph from Motor Transport's archives.
Birmingham played a key part in the war effort - and because of this it was a major target for the German Luftwaffe bombing offensive. The protection of the population was down to the Air Raid Precaution (A.R.P) services - thousands of men and women who voluntarily risked their lives for the safety of others.
What you are looking at here is a controlled test of ARP shelters - which have just had a building collapsed on them to see how they withstand the impact. The job of clearing up the aftermath fell to demolition contractors G Williams & Sons of Aston, which removed the rubble in one of its 1938 Bedfords.

This Iveco TurboTech was one of eight similar trucks to join the P&O Ferrymasters' fleet in 1990 - the first UK-registered 190-32s to be fitted with air suspension. This one is pulling one of 65 Montracon-Tasker curtainsiders that joined the company's Anglo-French self-drive operation that year.

This might just look like a normal Morris Minor van - but in actual fact you are looking at a real rarity. The photograph was taken in an Oklahoma junkyard, and shows one of just a few hundred Minor vans to ever make it across the Atlantic. While the Minor saloon, convertible and Travellers were all relatively popular Stateside in the 1950s, BMC couldn't give these things away for love nor money. It seems Americans couldn't be persuaded to swap their gas-guzzling sedan deliveries.
Of the 300 or so Minor vans to be registered in the US, the vast majority were used by BMC dealers as parts delivery vehicles. So you can bet they worked hard for a living!

It doesn't seem like long ago that our roads were full of original Ford Cargos, but other than a handful of horseboxes and recovery vehicles, they seem to have largely disappeared. I can't remember the last time that I saw a tractor on the road.
I couldn't resist publishing this photo as it's almost identical to the ex-Royal Mail Ford Cargo that I took my HGV test in - complete with those massive rear windows that made the reversing exercise a lot easier than it would be in the real world.

Here's your chance to buy a one-off piece of commercial vehicle history.
What you are looking at is an eBay advertisement for an ultra-rare Hustler ice-cream van, which CM's operations editor Colin Barnett stumbled upon while trying to locate a van for our Desperate Van Challenge.
For those of you who can't remember what a Hustler is - here's a very brief history. It was devised in 1978, having been penned by William Towns (of Aston Martin and Jaguar fame). It was built around a pair of Mini sub-frames, connected by a low-slung monocoque floorpan. The exterior was a mix of glass, plywood and fibreglass while a couple of canteen chairs could be found in the quirky interior. Over a ten-year period a couple of hundred were sold in kit form. While this one has a 1.3-litre petrol engine, apparently Towns was responsible for making one with a 5.3-litre Jag engine.
Check out this fantastic website for a thorough history of the Hustler, and information on every car and van produced by BL and Austin Rover.

The 'Space Ace Van' is how the 1972 sales literature described this Commer.
"Stand back and admire the practical good looks of the Commer," it continues.
"Sleek, modern lines and a smartly curved front-end to reduce drag at high speed, save fuel and minimize wind-sway for better handling and roadability."
Is roadability a real word?
This is the Deluxe version, which had a "well-appointed interior designed for comfort and convenience with more refinements than some saloon cars on the road today". Notice the words "on the road today", and not "on sale today". These luxuries the brochure is referring to are a "cushioned driver's seat", a "large ashtray" and "grained headlining". Those boys at Chrysler certainly knew how to look after us didn't they?

OK, I admit it, not all Sherpas are rot boxes.
This rare 1982 CV306 pickup was photographed over the weekend, and appears to be totally original. Yes it has picked-up a few minor dents and scrapes over the years, but it appears to be totally rot-free.
Over the years the Sherpa wore a number of different badges on its grille, 'Leyland', 'Sherpa', 'Sherpa Austin Rover' and Sherpa Freight Rover' - and this is the final incarnation. Anybody interested in a full history of the Sherpa is recommended to visit the Unofficial Austin Rover site.

This Atkinson Borderer was one of several similarly aged tractors I discovered in the entrance to a South Wales limestone quarry in the mid 1990s.
The truck, which had been operated by local firm TS Rees throughout the 1980s, sat in the same spot until the late 1990s - at which point it was dragged away for scrap metal. Local haulier Sammy Rees, who today is in his 90s, was heavily involved in the construction of the M4 through South Wales.

Last year Dennis Eagle issued a press release about this distinctive fleet of refuse trucks it had just supplied to Southwark Council (above). And not surprisingly the story was picked up by a number of publications. But this wasn't the first time that Southwark Council's refuse trucks had graced the pages of Motor Transport. This image (keep scrolling down as I seem to have messed-up the scanning of this photo!), depicting "five Dennis machines in service in the borough of Southwark" featured in the issue of December 19, 1927.

Check out this beautiful late 1970s Scania 141- which has recently been painted in Astran's famous colours.
The truck is owned by Karl Jarmann, a Volvo driver. His son Paul tells me "it's a tribute to the lads who used to do the Asian runs in these motors". He says the trailer will soon be finished in Astran's livery too. You can expect to see the truck at the Peterborough Truckfest later this year.
If you want to learn more about Astran - then you really need to get hold of a copy of the legendary 1970s documentary 'Destination Doha' - which follows the journey of three drivers as the take on the mammoth journey from England to Qatar. It's what inspired me, and countless others, to get into this industry.

This 6x8 Multidrive MTL33 was part of an order destined for Iran, according to the caption on the back of the press photo.
Badged as an AWD, the truck featured Multidrive's famed off-road technology. A propshaft ran under the length of the vehicle, and the rear trailer bogie was both driven and steered. The truck would have featured the Cummins B-Series engine and Eaton transmission - and according to a friend who was lucky enough to drive this particular example, "it was unstoppable."

Full marks to the Seddon Atkinson press office for setting up this amazing shot of Gilbert Brown & Son's new Strato 380 drawbar outfit. The truck, which was christened the 'Lakeland Logger' by its owner, was photographed in 1998 somewhere in the Lake District.
Does anyone know whether the truck is still working for a living? More to the point, is the bridge still standing?

Ever wondered what happens when a 1971 VW Transporter has a 30mph head-on collision?
Well this overprinted 'before and after' photo shows exactly what would happen. Although the van is clearly shorter than it used to be, it hasn't fared too badly. According to the info on the back of the press picture the footwell has gone back, but is still large enough, the steering wheel has been pushed forward and the doors have remained closed. Having said that, I don't think I've ever seen anyone brave enough to banger race one.
I bought the picture on eBay a few years ago.

Check out this incredible Motor Transport photo depicting a Trojan delivery van parked outside Durbin & Allwright's Chiswick, London shop.
According to the signs on the van, the chickens, rabbits and pigs you can see hanging up have come directly from the butcher's own farms in Colyton and Honiton. I wonder how fresh they would be travelling in the back of a non-refrigerated van that would struggle to do 20mph.
The picture was published in January 1928.

Check out the writing on the front of this late Leyland Super Mastiff cement mixer. Operator Redland used the same font as the original Leyland badge that would have adorned the front of this truck, and has only needed to change two letters.

When did you last see a Citroen GS van on the road - come to think of it, when did you last see a GS car? A high price ensured that very few of these Gallic commercials found buyers, and I will be surprised if any have survived in right hand drive form.
Note the air muff on the grille of this one, which was used in winter to reduce air flow and get the engine up to temperature quicker. Every GS came with one of these in the boot, but few owners actually knew what they were for.

I don't envy the photographer at this Heathrow airport runway photo shoot - which must have been an absolute nightmare to set up in the few minutes between planes taking off!
You have to admit that he did a great job though - and I especially like the way in which he successfully managed to hide 10 out of the 11 Leyland Daf 400-Series vans in the background.

This is the scene of devastation that greeted W Jelks & Sons' employees when they came into work on the morning of November 23rd 1940.
It might look like they've caught two of their removal trucks in the act of reproducing - but I'm guessing this is the result of a night of heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe.
I wonder whether the trucks were repairable, or were they scrapped and melted-down to produce Spitfires?

I know it's not actually a van or truck, but I just couldn't resist showing you this intriguing Motor Transport picture anyway.
As you might well guess from the kid with his foot on the step, the 1920s photograph was taken in the USA. I haven't a clue what the vehicle is, but what I can tell you is that it was taken at a Hollywood film studio. The actual caption reads: "American film producers use buses to carry artists from one place to another."
Who says obesity is a 21st century problem?

We thought the BL Sherpa rusted badly - but that's nothing compared with its predecessor the Morris J. Just check out what's happened to the seams - every single one has gone and the panels are literally falling off. Standing very quietly taking this photo I could actually hear it rust!
The picture was taken in Woodley, Cheshire - in a far-flung corner of Robert Walker Haulage's yard.

Spare a thought for these two poor sods over-nighting in a Sentinel DG6 'sleeper' steam wagon back in 1928. No mattresses, no curtains and no windows either. This really would have been just one very small step away from sleeping rough.
But what they did get was a huge amount of heat from that massive boiler. I'm sure it was welcome in the winter - but not particularly pleasant in the summer months.
What¹s the worst truck you've ever slept in?

'Out by road and back by train' was the slogan often used to describe the notoriously unreliable Leyland Roadtrain.
I know it's not the most popular truck in the world, but I'm always going to have a soft spot for the Roadtrain as it was the first truck I ever rode in. A friend and I were hitching from Swansea to Paris and a British Steel driver took us from Port Talbot to Newport. I remember him complaining bitterly about the truck that he claimed 'couldn't pull a foreskin back', but I was hooked. A year later I turned 21 and immediately took my HGV test.
This 1985 example, in service with MAT International Transport, was powered by a Rolls Royce designed Eagle six-cylinder engine.

Bodybuilder Gray & Adams is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year - and as part of the celebrations I've been given access to its photo archives. And over the next couple of days I'll be sharing some of these rare gems with you.

A Foden S24 eight-legger reefer emerges from G&A's Fraserburgh, Scotland, factory.

I am reliably informed that this beautiful Volvo F88 240, in Daniel Steward colours, has been fully restored. But what was the fate of the Salvesen-liveried reefer?

Check out this beautiful early 1970s ERF A-Series with refrigerated semi-trailer.