After all the conjecture and repeated chanting of tired cliches on some other threads, let’s have some discussion of the decade in which the British lorries still had a shout across Europe- or did they? Tales of Continental dealers/hauliers selling/using British iron, comparisons of specifications, science, economics, even speculation is allowed. Idealistic dogma, fanciful hypothetical scenarios, speculations built on other speculations and needless repetition is banned. Ignore such posts- just skip over them.
don,t no what you exacty mean ,but the two finnish manufacturers did use sisu leyland RR and brittish made ■■■■■■■ and Vanaja AEC from 50 to (vanaja was fusuned to sisu 68) late 90,s so 
[zb]
anorak:
Idealistic dogma,fanciful hypothetical scenarios,
speculations built on other speculations
needless repetition
Type any of the above phrases into your google search box and they come up with two words…
Carry and Fast 
I think that you may find that there was about the same number of continental lorries in the U.K. in the 50s as there is British Lorries on the roads today. There was more yankee ex WD than European Lorries as it would the mid 60s before they started to be seen over here.
It could be better if the title was 50s and 60s which would cover when European manufacturers first ventured over here.
cheers Johnnie
P S you did have such lorries as Diamond “T”, Ward Le France, Latil and Pacific’s but mostly for specialist use
sammyopisite:
It could be better if the title was 50s and 60s which would cover when European manufacturers first ventured over here.
cheers Johnnie
I did think of this but, by the sixties, the Continentals had already taken their stride ahead. I did not want to start another thread comparing F88s with Mk1 Atkis etc. No harm in mentioning this sort of thing along the way though.
I remember in the late 50’s seeing foreign Mercedes lorries normal control (LK’s ?) with sleeper cabs !! on the A 34 in Cheshire, They seemed to be light years ahead of the Bedford A series we were travelling in.
There were quite a few cancelled export lorries run by British hauliers nearly all bonneted from AEC, Guy and Leyland and when I first started going over in the 60s I did see a few British wagons being run by the local firms there was one firm in Belgium which ran a lot of AECs but they did have sleeper cabs on mark 5s.
cheers Johnnie
Trev_H:
I remember in the late 50’s seeing foreign Mercedes lorries normal control (LK’s ?) with sleeper cabs !! on the A 34 in Cheshire, They seemed to be light years ahead of the Bedford A series we were travelling in.
I would say that is a 60s wagon and I think this could be 60s as well
cheers Johnnie
Carryfast:
sammyopisite:
I would say that is a 60s wagoncheers Johnnie
These Maggies were built from 1951. This is a post-1955 example. I guess they would have been comparable to the bonneted export-model Leylands of the period.
[zb]
anorak:
These Maggies were built from 1951. This is a post-1955 example. I guess they would have been comparable to the bonneted export-model Leylands of the period.
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Source: fotoalbum.seniorennet.be/veluwez … r_pagina_2
Carryfast:
[zb]
anorak:
These Maggies were built from 1951. This is a post-1955 example. I guess they would have been comparable to the bonneted export-model Leylands of the period.
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Source: fotoalbum.seniorennet.be/veluwez … r_pagina_2
That’s super site Cf. Good find. Those Buffalos are impressive beasts, aren’t they? I reckon they would have made stiff competition for anything available anywhere in the world, if they had that Albion 900 cu in engine the Aussies mention (although they do say that the thing was hard to drive). Were any sold in Europe? Leyland experts may know.
[zb]
anorak:Carryfast:
[zb]
anorak:
These Maggies were built from 1951. This is a post-1955 example. I guess they would have been comparable to the bonneted export-model Leylands of the period.
0
Source: fotoalbum.seniorennet.be/veluwez … r_pagina_2
That’s super site Cf. Good find. Those Buffalos are impressive beasts, aren’t they? I reckon they would have made stiff competition for anything available anywhere in the world, if they had that Albion 900 cu in engine the Aussies mention (although they do say that the thing was hard to drive). Were any sold in Europe? Leyland experts may know.
As I’ve always said we had the engineering ability here to compete with the Germans but we needed the same demands in the domestic market as the colonial ones and some help with fuel costs to give us a chance.But notice the comment about the best way to make a Brit truck better was to fit it with a US engine 
.But the answers to all your questions,about what we could do,given the right market demands and conditions and where we went wrong,are more likely to be found in the colonies not closer to home. 
I reckon those Aussie spec Leylands may have been too much for '50s Europe.
I can remember as a boy waiitng for the bus on a Sunday morning on the A2 at Kearsney just outside Dover there would almost always be two or three brand new bonetted Mercs coming in on import plates. This would be circa 1956/7.
Jazzandy:
I can remember as a boy waiitng for the bus on a Sunday morning on the A2 at Kearsney just outside Dover there would almost always be two or three brand new bonetted Mercs coming in on import plates. This would be circa 1956/7.
Were these for sale in GB, or foreign operators’ vehicles? If it was the former, it would be interesting to know who bought them.
The normal control Mercedes I saw in the 50’s around Cheshire and Manchester (no M6 then, apart from the Preston by pass ) were on foreign plates, artic tankers IIRC but what I did remember was the little porthole window in the sleeper section, was there anything British at that time that had anything like a sleeper ?
Trev_H:
The normal control Mercedes I saw in the 50’s around Cheshire and Manchester (no M6 then, apart from the Preston by pass ) were on foreign plates, artic tankers IIRC but what I did remember was the little porthole window in the sleeper section, was there anything British at that time that had anything like a sleeper ?
Yes. As far as I can make out, all the British makes which exported lorries had a sleeper option, whether it was a modified “standard” cab or a foreign-built coachbuilt one. The British stuff seemed to be competitive with anything in the world, until about 1955. During the next five years, the Continentals changed up a gear, while the GB lot, en masse, engaged Aberdeen overdrive…or so it seems.