Heritage Commercials - January 2014 - Sample Edititon

Mercedes 814 – 23 years old and still at work

COMMERCIALS A WORLD OF CLASSIC LORRIES, TRUCKS AND VANS

sUMMers’

time!

30 years to restore a 1953 foden

c s high

Ellis company history

the working dAys

of the ERF B Series

Archive Album

Motor movers

mAnufActurer’s history

Canada’s lumber truck

Fordson Model 61

Unrestored Austin8van

‘Uncle Henry’s’ Rare V8 1940 AV The last one left!

No.288 January 2014

£4.20

First word

T

he other day HC contributor Bob Tuck sent me this superb photo.

Now this is the sort of picture I really love. An image of a vehicle is one thing, but this is one you can ‘lose yourself in’. And one taken at a dockyard has special significance to me as my first ‘real’ trip in a lorry was when I was about 10 years old and I went with a relative in his DAF 2200 to deliver a load of Massey Ferguson tractors to Grimsby docks for export. at one trip changed the course of my life, making me a lorry enthusiast.

Anyway, what’s happening here? e main item of interest is the Morton’s AEC, reg CRW 227C. I must point out this has no connection to the Mortons which publishes HC. Anyway, it’s carrying a load of Triumph 1300 car body shells, which may seem to be an odd thing to export, until you remember that British industry once spanned the world,

with many firms having overseas assembly plants – and these Triumphs were among many BMC/BL cars to be assembled in Belgium for sale in Europe. Of course, there used to be quite a bit of money to be saved/made in bringing these British cars back from Europe and converting them to righthand drive. e easiest was obviously the Mini, as the dashboard didn’t need to be changed, and I actually had one of these imports many years ago.

To add to the export theme, there are also several complete LHD cars – Ford Cortina Mk.2 and Hillman Hunter – ready to go abroad. In the background is a load of chassis/scuttles – I’ll leave them for you to identify! And while you’re looking, any idea where this dock is?

It really surprised me what memories can be brought back by one photograph, but it didn’t surprise me as much as HC’s designer

did the other day. Mike is also a part-time firefighter and recently passed his blue light training, doing up to 120mph. Now, round here they use MAN appliances with Marshall bodies, and I suddenly had visions of such a vehicle at that speed! I was well impressed with this German speed machine until Mike said it was actually part one of the test, done in a Ford Focus. Not quite the same is it?

Finally, if you’re lucky enough to unwrap an iPad or other device on Christmas morning and you’re itching to play with it, HC is available as a digital magazine and can be downloaded from the outlets advertised below.

Stephen pullen spullen@mortons.co.uk

A photo to take you back in time.

Courtesy Bob Tuck

Contents J A n u A Ry

2 0 14

06 Classic world

54

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

12 Readers’ letters

Four pages of your queries, observations and memories.

18 Haulage company history

44

How many haulage companies have successfully completed 80 years in the industry? Alan Barnes tells the story of one that has – CS Ellis Group Ltd.

26 Summers’ time

The transformation of Barry and Peter Summers’ 1953 Foden FG 6/12 may have taken 30 years to complete but the wait was certainly worthwhile.

32 Subscription form

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

34 Archive album

Four pages of nostalgia from the superb NA3T archives.

38 Dora the Explorer

Jo Roberts finds out about a Scammell restoration that’s proved to be a real labour of love!

44 Moving story

The removal firm of John Mason International is quite justifiably proud of its collection of fine photographs which depict this Liverpool based firm’s history. Dave Bowers went for a look.

66 4 Heritagecommercials.com

38 50 Horse of the year

If you mention the words ‘mechanical horse’ to most people who are interested in lorries, they usually think of Scammell’s Scarab or the Karrier Cob. But there was another lesser known type, as David Vaughan found out.

52 On location

This month Gyles Carpenter reports on the Retro Truck Show held at Gaydon.

54 They’re only original once…

Dean Reader tracks down a very rare Austin Eight van that’s never been restored.

58 58 Pacific Island giant

Vancouver Island on Canada’s Pacific coast is not the first place you’d expect to produce probably the world’s biggest-ever 8x4. Ed Burrows uncovers the history of the Butler Mark 5, an 800-1000bhp, 100-200 ton payload off-highway giant of mid-1970s automotive creativity.

66 The pride of Tregadillett

When John Andrew undertakes a restoration job, his track record tells you that only the highest standard will be entertained. Bob Tuck heads to Cornwall to admire his 1987 ex-Radio 1 Road Show Leyland Cruiser.

Transport heritage

Diamond How many haulage companies have successfully completed 80 years in the industry to celebrate their ‘diamond’ anniversary? Alan Barnes tells the story of one that has.

Words & Photography: Alan Barnes

I

t was driver Colin Wright who described Derek Ellis and Diana Morgan as the Dynamic Duo during his time with the C S Ellis (Group) Ltd as he recalled how he started working for the firm in June 1969. “I started initially as a holiday relief driver shortly aer the company had moved to the Wireless Hill premises and at that time there was just Derek and Di running the operations, with Derek’s wife Barbara coming to the office on some aernoons to do the costings and some other admin work. But on the whole the running of C S Ellis was down to Derek and Di, the Dynamic Duo. Diana had started with the company as an admin clerk and rose through the ‘ranks’ to become finance director. “e first week I started I was driving a sixwheel ERF known at the company as e Flyer. e name came from the aeroplane painted across the front of the vehicle and was by no means a reflection of its performance.

Fly it most certainly did not and the underpowered lorry was used mainly for carting loads of grain. My days with e Flyer thankfully lasted only a week, and then I moved on to a six-wheel Ford with a custombuilt cab. e contract I was working on at that time was for Grey’s of Kettering which involved making deliveries to foundries in Wales and back loading coal.

“My next lorry was an eight-wheel Atkinson and with this it was back to delivering grain and at this point in the company’s history they only had eight vehicles and due to lack of space in the yard some of the drivers who had allocated lorries were allowed to take them home. ose years during the early 1970s were very different from the set-up at the company today. We only had one part-time fitter on site and the garage workshop itself was so small that you could only fit the front of the vehicle in – and it was only available on Saturday mornings.

“Most of the time we did what maintenance we could ourselves although Derek was usually around to lend a hand when it came to changing a wheel. With no such things as MoTs to worry about this approach seemed to work for us and it was not oen that a lorry was off the road for any considerable time.

18 Heritagecommercials.com

Moving on

“My first allocated lorry was a four-wheel ERF which was contracted to Ketton cement and used for bagged cement deliveries, although on occasion it did carry bulk cement. Aer a while I moved on to one of the eight-wheel Atkinsons and was carting grain full time. A couple of years later Derek bought the company’s first artic unit, an ERF tractor, and I shared this vehicle with another driver on day and night contract work delivering sugar to Silvertown. Before starting with this new lorry we both had to take our artic driving test and with the luck of the draw I was the first to take and pass the test. I can proudly say that I was the first artic driver for C S Ellis (Group) Ltd. “Many years later I was allocated a Seddon Atkinson with a metal cab and in this vehicle I was the first company employee to haul a load across the Channel; in fact I was the first on many new jobs and contracts as Derek used to say ‘Colin, you try them out’. I had many, many enjoyable years driving all over the country and I recall that among my ‘firsts’ for the company were deliveries to the construction site of the Severn Bridge and also the Oakhampton bypass. In later years aer I had retired I continued to drive Derek around as his sight was failing and he could no longer drive himself and when he sadly died a couple of years ago it was more like losing a friend than a boss. Today I am still regularly on site at the company helping out with odd jobs around the yard. I feel like part of an extended Ellis family and it is nice to think that I am regarded as a friend as well as an employee and I have many years of happy memories from years gone by.”

History lesson

It was rather a coincidence that the story of the C S Ellis (Group) Ltd begins with two different Ellis families which were eventually brought together by the marriage of Derek Ellis to Barbara Ellis in 1953. e two families had both started their respective businesses in Northamptonshire. Derek’s grandfather, Charles Ellis had served in the Army during the Boer War and on his return to England le the service and was able to buy a horse and cart and set up his own general delivery

An Ellis DAF XF photographed in 2008 after the firm had been in business for 75 years.

delight

January 2014 19

Classic Restoration

Summers’

TIME

The transformation of Barry & Peter Summers’ 1953 Foden FG 6/12 may have taken 30 years to complete but the wait was certainly worthwhile. However, biggest surprise for Bob Tuck is the startling performance from its original Gardner 6LW engine.

Words: Bob Tuck Photography: Bob Tuck/Barry & Peter Summers collection

26 Heritagecommercials.com

The two brothers – Peter (in the cab) and Barry.

T

he brothers barry and Peter summers have long been cornerstones of the very active North east england preservation scene. In fact their first ever historic vehicle purchase – in August 1977 – of the distinctive MLZ bedford furniture van was done before the hCVs (historic Commercial Vehicle society) had even set up its North east branch. e brothers joined the hCVs in 1977 and Peter summers’ subsequent claim to fame is that he (and the bedford) is the only driver/vehicle combination to have done every annual tynetees road run since its inaugural running in 1982. e bedford Luton body van – which the brothers painted in Pickfords colours – has even greater claims to fame as over the last 36 years it has probably been in more period films/tV shows than any other restored commercial vehicle around. e brothers have taken all the publicity of this cracking van in their stride but they have kept one vehicle something of a closely guarded secret. at’s not really true because close friends and associates knew that back in 1981 they bought a 1953 Foden FG 6/12 in cab and chassis form. e only thing is that it disappeared from sight and almost no one knew of its fate – until it came back to life in 2011. two years on, Heritage Commercials magazine is invited to give it the once over, and what a revelation the completed vehicle is.

The Foden was new to Scottish engineering giant William Beardmore & Company in 1953.

“If Barry had been on his own, he might well have walked away from it but the three friends he had with him all thought he should buy it” January 2014 27

Transport heritage

Moving story The removal firm of John Mason International is quite justifiably proud of its collection of fine photographs which depict this Liverpool based firm’s history, so Dave Bowers went for a look.

Words: Dave Bowers Photography: Dave Bowers/John Mills/John Mason International

J

ohn Mason International is rightly proud of its history, which started off with horse-drawn wagons in the early days and then became more increasingly motorised as time went by.

Briefly examining some of the pictures that are mounted on the corridor wall of the offices occupied by the company in Huyton on the outskirts of Liverpool seems to indicate that the registration number 8218 KC was first used on one lorry and then transferred to two other Leyland models, but with different types of bodies, over the years; none of which have the more usual frontal aspect which you would normally expect to find on an early Sixties Leyland Comet.

e three lorries were, respectively: a fullsized removals pantechnicon of conventional design; a flatbed that’s to be seen collecting a large wooden container from the Liverpool docks; and a third vehicle adaptation bearing a chariot-style rear body of a type normally associated with recovery work. To my surprise I then came across this final vehicle shortly aerwards parked up in the firm’s warehouse.

Look a bit closer at the photos of these lorries and all is revealed: the fleet number ‘52’ is identical on all three vehicles, and despite what would appear to be three different vehicles, all three are the same – it’s just the bodies that have changed.

A Mason Bedford Scammell driving off the first Ro-Ro ferry.

44 Heritagecommercials.com

Welcome aboard! Note that superb wooden roof.

The Leyland Comet has been a faithful servant of the company, ďŹ rst with removals and now on publicity work.

My guides for the day: Pat Reilly and Caroline Mason.

January 2014 45

next month

riding high

Thanks to the efforts of driver Alan Dixon, the striking, elegant lines of Tom Riding’s 1939 Rigid 8 has been seen at shows and events all over the country. The stunningly presented Scammell eight wheeler may have graced the preservation scene for more than 28 years but very few people may be aware of its previous hard life. Bob Tuck goes to Longridge and discovers ‘Locomotion’ is simply a joy to drive.

on sale jANUARY 16, 2014

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.

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.

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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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Plus

Emerging classic – 1985 DAF 2500 History of the Citroen H van News and events Archive album On location & More

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ISSN No 1476-2110

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