Heritage Commercials February 2014

across the pond – focus on Us fords

COMMERCIALS A WORLD OF CLASSIC LORRIES, TRUCKS AND VANS

riding aboard

RaRe scammell

1939 Rigid 8

The pig’s nose!

Citroen’s H van

emerging classic

DAF 2500

archive album

The boys with the black stuff

1953

LeyLand martian Still at work

history of

the thames et

Ford’s first ‘English truck’

No.289 February 2014

£4.20

The working days of The ‘TransconTi’

The reluctant gardener

I

hate gardening. It’s isn’t that I haven’t tried though. When we moved into our first house I really made an effort but the only thing that grew well were dandelions. When I came to work at Mortons I had another go, but this time it was inspired by our Kitchen Garden magazine – and a packet of radish seeds cadged off Steve, the editor. However, aer loads of work my ‘harvest’ consisted of two small cabbages, three very weedy asparagus ‘twigs’ and more dandelions. I did manage a good crop of tomatoes though, but the radishes must have dissolved because aer planting I never saw anything of them again.

One thing I don’t mind is lawn mowing though, as at least we’ve got a petrol-powered one (it came free with our house – bonus!), and all engines are interesting to me. In fact old lawnmowers are now becoming collectable, and there’s even a lawnmower museum up in Southport in Merseyside (www.lawnmowerworld.co.uk) and also a racing series! e lawnmower was invented by Edwin Budding in 1830, and was yet another British innovation. And as well as cutting grass it has also added to the English language, and most people don’t even know it. e term ‘shanks’s pony’ for example, relates to a horse-drawn mower for parks etc, where the operator had to walk behind. Also the cricketing term, ‘in the slips’ is also mower related. In years gone by only the pitch itself was mown, and people would oen keep sheep on the rest of the field

to keep the grass down. Now, the sheep would obviously remove the grass and replace it with an ‘offering’ of their own, which would become slippery little traps for fast running fielders!

What’s this got to do with commercials?

Well, many unlikely British companies have been involved with mower manufacturing in the past including Royal Enfield, Vincent, Rolls-Royce and Hawker Siddeley.

Commercial vehicle makers are also in this list, including Dennis and Leyland.

Dennis made its first mower in the early 1920s, and still makes high-end machines for sports grounds etc., to this day. ey are however, no longer connected to the bus maker Alexander Dennis, or lorry maker Dennis Eagle.

Leyland, on the other hand, can trace its roots back to the production of a steam lawn mower in the 1890s. is was made by James Sumner and Henry Spurrier, founders of the Lancashire Steam Motor Company. at company later made steam vehicles and went on to become Leyland Motors.

So don’t dismiss the humble lawnmower as totally uninteresting. ey are an example of British engineering innovation – and also have an unlikely place in the history of lorry making in the UK.

Stephen pullen spullen@mortons.co.uk

Without this old steam lawnmower, there would never have been any Leyland lorries.

Photo BoB tuck.

Contents F E B R U A Ry

2 0 14

06 News

What’s been happening in the world of classic commercials.

22

10 Readers’ letters

Your chance to ask a question, put things straight or record a memory.

16 Riding high

Thanks to the efforts of driver Alan Dixon, the striking, elegant lines of Tom Riding’s 1939 Rigid 8 have been seen at shows and events all over the country. Bob Tuck goes to Longridge and discovers ‘Locomotion’ is simply a joy to drive.

22 Ford’s first

With the Second World War at an end Ford decided to design its first completely British lorry. Alan Barnes tells the story of the development of the ET – English Truck – and tracks down a restored survivor.

30 Subscription form

Save money and get your copy of HC delivered early by subscribing.

32 The pig’s nose!

Mike and Julie Blenkinsop take a look at the ubiquitous Citroën H van as it reaches a ‘certain age’.

38 Punctual Pullage

The AEC Mercury was one of the most popular commercials of the Swinging Sixties. Bob Weir went to Aberdeenshire to meet Bill Milne and his late model Mk II.

32 46 US Fords focus

With an illustrious history that once embraced the full spectrum of weight classes, Ford has been a major player in the US market. As Ed Burrows relates, although its heavy end was sold to Daimler North America during the Nineties, Ford has continued to produce light/medium trucks.

56 Big friendly giant

It may be about 60 years since Chris Lawes’ Martian came off the Leyland production line but there’s no stopping the beating of its Rolls-Royce heart. Bob Tuck goes to Braintree in Essex to discover there’s nothing alien about this Leyland’s appeal or its working ability.

42 Archive album

Four pages of pure nostalgia from the archives of NA3T.

46 4 Heritagecommercials.com

38

56

76 62 The lost years

At the beginning of the Second World War, many companies, both large and small, had their lorries requisitioned by the military.

Most were never seen again – but Geoff Fishwick has found one that’s just resurfaced after 74 years!

66 Ford’s big idea

We have a look at some of the working examples of Ford’s 1970s and ’80s heavyweight, the Transcontinental.

72 From our archives

This month we feature extracts from the March 1955 brochure for Austin’s three and five ton lorries. Did you drive one?

Transport heritage

Riding Thanks to the efforts of driver Alan Dixon, the striking, elegant lines of Tom Riding’s 1939 Rigid 8 have been seen at shows and events all over the country, but few are aware of its previous hard life. Bob Tuck goes to Longridge and discovers ‘Locomotion,’ is simply a joy to drive.

Words: Bob Tuck Photography: Bob Tuck/Tom Riding collection

I

t was one of the most aesthetically pleasing sights you could see. e vision of a W&J Riding outfit – oen with a superbly sheeted flat trailer behind – steaming its way down the road warmed the heart of anyone with the slightest drop of diesel in their veins.

Established in 1924, the father and son combination of William and James Riding, based in the sleepy settlement of Longridge in northern Lancashire, had long believed in doing things their own way. And even aer James decided to sell out to the Transport Development Group (TDG) in 1970, in practice nothing changed, as his two sons James (junior) and Tom stayed very much involved. e management of the TDG saw that the Riding formula was a winner. So, while virtually every other member of this huge group was to adopt a corporate style of livery and even to standardise on vehicle buying policy; in lots of respects, W&J Riding was just le to its own devices. is meant the traditional style of Riding signwriting was adorned on Tom’s much favoured Gardner powered Atky/ERFs which were all given strong-sounding personal names. While the

16 Heritagecommercials.com

The Scammell Rigid 8 was in production for around 20 years, but only approximately 25 were built each year.

Transport heritage

Fords

FIRST

With the Second World War at an end Ford decided to design its first completely British lorry. Alan Barnes tells the story of the development of the ET – English Truck – and tracks down a restored survivor.

Words: Alan Barnes Photography: Alan Barnes/ As stated

22 Heritagecommercials.com

M

My first encounter with Alec Scott’s 1958 Ford ames was at a vintage rally on the showground at Kelso in May 2012. e nicely restored but as yet uncompleted dropside in its grey, red and black livery caught the aernoon sun quite nicely but unfortunately there was no sign of the owner. I returned to the lorry several times during that aernoon but the owner seemed to be keeping a rather low profile.

My second encounter later that year was far more successful and the plain but smart looking lorry which I had seen at Kelso had been enhanced by full signwriting. is time it was a lot easier to find the owner as Alec was actually sitting behind the wheel of the lorry as he was about to take his place in the line-up of commercial vehicles. With the sun shining brightly on a crisp October morning this was too good an opportunity to miss and it did not take too much persuasion to get Alec to spend a short while posing his lorry for some photographs. e show, which was organised by the Northumberland Vintage Tractor Club, was being held on the old wartime airstrip at Brunton where the remains of the old runways made ideal display areas for the vehicles attending the event. Satisfied with my ‘snaps’ I waited for Alec to park the Ford and later he told me the story of how he came to buy and restore the lorry. “is very nearly was a case of the ‘one that got away’. I was at the Lincoln Steam Rally in 2011 and had taken along my ames 400E pick-up and while on a wander around the show I came across the Ford. I asked the owner if it was for sale and his response was that it was but only at what he thought was the right price. I had always wanted one of these lorries so I had a couple of friends who were at the show and who were both commercial vehicle enthusiasts to give it the once over.

“As they inspected the vehicle they pointed out various faults, some minor others a little more serious, and their opinion was that I would be better off continuing my search for a vehicle in better condition. Rather confusingly the grille sported the 4D diesel engine badge but the lorry was actually fitted with the ‘Cost Cutter’ petrol engine which was fitted from 1953 onwards. If the engine was original then the grille wasn’t – or vice versa. One other point was that as the lorry had been built in 1958 it was technically a 500E if it was built with the petrol engine or a 502E if it had been a diesel. Ford had dropped the ET designation in 1953 when the ‘Cost Cutter’ engine was introduced. I later established that the lorry had first been registered in February 1958 as a petrol engined vehicle so it does seem likely that it is the grille that has been replaced.

Alec Scott has restored his 1958 Ford Thames to represent a typical builder’s lorry from the 1950s/60s.

February 2014 23

Transport heritage

The

Lost years

At the beginning of the Second World War, many companies, both large and small, had their lorries requisitioned by the military. Most were never seen again – but Geoff Fishwick has found one that’s just resurfaced after 74 years!

Words: Geoff Fishwick Photography: Geoff Fishwick collection

62 Heritagecommercials.com

A

BELOW: Although sold by the Blackpool Distributor, these vehicles carried Lancashire County registrations. ETC 504 was requisitioned within days of entering service. DTC 383 operated into the early 1970s, was sold and bought back by John Hull (third generation) and restored to a high standard. The author worked on DTC and ATJ very occasionally.

s the technical correspondent for the Morris Commercial Club, I get plenty of surprises, mainly because many of the large and complex range of models produced by Morris Commercials in Birmingham have survived – from early Soho-produced vehicles all the way to those from the Adderley Park years (1924-1955).

However, occasionally I get a shock.

A few weeks ago a club colleague sent me an email – just a two liner, asking me to provide a build date for a Morris Commercial LC. is was the smallest of the Equiload range, introduced at the 1937 Earls Court show. Nothing unusual about that, except the new club member who wanted the information lived in Germany. I knew it was prewar by the old chassis number, and the fact that the chassis type was preceded by the build sanction number, a practice dropped in 1939. e sanction number was issued on June 1, 1938.

Knowing that the Nuffield Organisation had no export ties with Germany – certainly not in the late-1930s, despite ‘peace in our time’ – the word requisitioning flashed into my head, but I quickly dismissed the thought. No way would a volume-produced 74-year-old vehicle, used throughout the war, have survived. Nobody in Germany would be interested in a little 25cwt British-built vehicle. It must have been taken into Germany by an enthusiast from some other European country where Morris Commercials were used and it will have had several restorations. Wrong on all counts!

I am now in direct contact with the German owner whose command of English is excellent – putting me, and no doubt many readers, to shame! is LC was used by the British Army and then by the Germans. e massive front bumper is, apparently, typical of those fitted to civilian-type vehicles by German engineers to

drag them out of mud. To date, we don’t know who carried out the cab roof and back panel repairs, but we are told the headlamps have (or had) to indicate the width of a vehicle for night-time driving in the postwar German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Goodness knows how the lamps are supported under the wings. e front wheels are non-standard.

We are told that in May 1945 the main roads in Germany were littered with abandoned military vehicles, some just out of fuel – the vehicles were there for the taking, if you could lay your hands on some fuel. e owner is not specific, but I formed the impression that the LC was one of these. e LC was used by a ‘private company’, and no doubt being used has been the secret of its survival.

Its original engine – NEB 15.9hp 2050cc 42bhp@3250rpm – still powers the little lorry.

Any ex-post office mechanics reading this may be a little puzzled – it is the forerunner to the NPFC, with postwar changes to pistons, carburation and fuel feed. is vehicle must have had just sufficient attention to keep it going, but has certainly never been restored... yet.

Requisitioning

ere will be readers with more knowledge then I on the subject of requisitioning. I know the dreaded ‘ministry men’ paid you a visit if you operated commercial vehicles. ey took the newest and best off you because Britain was so unprepared for hostilities.

What were their guidelines? I just know the Blackpool scene where I served my apprenticeship. It had very little industry, being a holiday resort, so there weren’t many heavies, which, at that time, were six and eight wheelers. ere weren’t any ‘artics’, except the heavy-haulage boys of course. Many questions have arisen: Did they take diesels? Was there a

Tommy Peet had about a year’s use out of AFR 366, a CVS 13/5 normal control five-tonner. I wonder if the military would keep the body as photographed?

February 2014 63

next month

on sale February 20, 2014

rebel with a cause

there’s no business like snow business...

Stewart Kaye certainly has a passion for motorway gritters, so much so that he has actually bought and restored the same 1972 Atkinson 6x6 lorry twice. Alan Barnes paid him a visit.

Being involved in the specialist world of recovery has allowed Phil Nash to indulge his passion into things which are different. And wreckers don’t come much more different than his 1980 White and his 1987 Freightliner.

Bob Tuck heads for Phil’s home town of Braintree in Essex to discover the power of the ancients.

Power to the PeoPle

After spending something like 35 years crumbling away under a tarpaulin sheet in South Wales, the 1947 DG 6/7 Showman’s tractor ‘Lonesome’ has been returned to its original, fabulous, power generating condition. The painstaking project showcases the restorative talents of John-Leonard I‘Anson but as its owners Gary and Maggie Grysa recall, it was a task they couldn’t walk away from.

Plus

Haulage company history – Guest Road Services.

Airfield guardian – the Alvis Salamander.

News and events.

Archive album.

On location. & More.

Editor Stephen Pullen Publisher Julie Brown Design Michael Baumber Reprographics Jonathan Schofield Group production editor Tim Hartley Divisional advertising manager Sandra Fisher sfisher@mortons.co.uk Advertising representative Andrew Bruce abruce@mortons.co.uk Tel 01507 524004 Subscription manager Paul Deacon Circulation manager Steve O’Hara Marketing manager Charlotte Park Production manager Craig Lamb Publishing director Dan Savage Commercial director Nigel Hole

Managing director Brian Hill Editorial address Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle LN9 6JR Website www.heritagecommercials.com General queries and back issues Tel 01507 529529 24hr answerphone Archive enquiries Jane Skayman jskayman@mortons.co.uk Tel 01507 529423 Subscription Full subscription rates (but see page 32 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £50.40. Export rates are also available – see page 32 for more details.

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