This one is a bit odd, used to attend rallies in my area, I think it’s been sold on now. It’s got the snout from a bigger FG, and the six-pot diesel, but the smaller chassis with 16inch wheels, must be a bitsa.
Bernard
That is odd, it has the split rear axle of the smaller FG’s as well. The cab has the later lower mounted mirrors, yet the registration number doesn’t seem correct to me, maybe it was a ‘home brewed’ job, we will never know!
Pete.
windrush:
That is odd, it has the split rear axle of the smaller FG’s as well. The cab has the later lower mounted mirrors, yet the registration number doesn’t seem correct to me, maybe it was a ‘home brewed’ job, we will never know!Pete.
JFO is a Radnorshire registration Pete,so if that is the correct reg,just spoken to Paul Griffiths who reminded me that Radnorshire numbers ended on EFO in 1964 prior to the suffix coming in.
So you are correct in saying its not the original number.
Cheers Dave.
That cab cap makes the threepenny bit look even stranger, especially with the “snout”. Talking of strange looking FGs, does anybody remember the integral coachbuilt vans that Stowells of Chelsea used to run? Dad drove them, they replaced the FEs like the one in my earlier post. I haven’t got a picture, but there’s one in the Peter Davies section of the current C and V C. I think the builders must have had a lot of bits of glass they wanted to use up, there were 12 glasses in the cab!
Bernard
I know that the FG cab wasn’t popular with a lot of driver’s as it was cramped and got very warm in summer (when we had summer’s) but of all the various designs by different manufacturer’s to design an easy access cab for stop-start deliveries it was the most successful one. Looking back I wonder how I managed to squeeze myself into the drivers side footwell to remove the injector pump etc but somehow I did! The seat cushions lifted straight out which gave more room, in fact the cushion often followed the driver/passenger out of the cab when alighting! 
An easy vehicle to work on generally though, and certainly popular with bakeries etc who used them for the task they were designed for, NOT to run the length of Britain with. 
Pete.
Windrush. The blue twin steer Morris Comercial that was seen around Stoke-on-Trent and Staffs Moorlands area in the 80s/90s ? was owned and driven by Bill Hall & young Bill Hall who were coal merchants from Biddulph. They also ran a couple of cream & blue AEC coaches on school contracts, day trips etc and always guarranteed an eventful day out.
If was not unknown to have a few bags of coal on the vacant bus seats when taking the kids to school,to save going twice. They were regular visiters to Tideswell`s Kingsley for AEC spares to keep the coaches running.
Sadly both father and son are no longer with us. I will try to find out more of the twin steer and post later…
3piece-wheel:
Windrush. The blue twin steer Morris Comercial that was seen around Stoke-on-Trent and Staffs Moorlands area in the 80s/90s ? was owned and driven by Bill Hall & young Bill Hall who were coal merchants from Biddulph. They also ran a couple of cream & blue AEC coaches on school contracts, day trips etc and always guarranteed an eventful day out.
If was not unknown to have a few bags of coal on the vacant bus seats when taking the kids to school,to save going twice. They were regular visiters to Tideswell`s Kingsley for AEC spares to keep the coaches running.
Sadly both father and son are no longer with us. I will try to find out more of the twin steer and post later…
That’s great news, it means that I wasn’t imagining it! 
They replaced it with a chinese six Ford D series, another oddity! I used to see it mainly on Victoria Road, Fenton, and I seem to think that there was a coal dispersal depot up there near Tilcon’s readymix plant?
Would be a shame if it wasn’t saved (the Ford as well for that matter) as it appeared in good condition. Further information would be welcome.
Pete.
windrush:
I know that the FG cab wasn’t popular with a lot of driver’s as it was cramped and got very warm in summer (when we had summer’s) but of all the various designs by different manufacturer’s to design an easy access cab for stop-start deliveries it was the most successful one. Looking back I wonder how I managed to squeeze myself into the drivers side footwell to remove the injector pump etc but somehow I did! The seat cushions lifted straight out which gave more room, in fact the cushion often followed the driver/passenger out of the cab when alighting!
An easy vehicle to work on generally though, and certainly popular with bakeries etc who used them for the task they were designed for, NOT to run the length of Britain with.Pete.
I drove a FG 3 tonner in 1967/8 for a builder in Kington.It was only six months old when I took over from the regular driver who was off sick from an injury.I was doing anything up to 1500 miles a week with it,going all over the place with it.
Under powered with a four cylinder diesel engine,heavy on the steering,cold in the winter with all those windows,they were fast on the flat empty and wouldn’t pull your Granny off the ■■■■ pot when loaded. But they did a lot of work and were a handy little lorry for builders.
By the time the regular driver came back after many months off, I was 21 and went back onto a Bedford TK tipper running at 14 ton gross.
Cheers Dave.
windrush:
I know that the FG cab wasn’t popular with a lot of driver’s as it was cramped and got very warm in summer (when we had summer’s) but of all the various designs by different manufacturer’s to design an easy access cab for stop-start deliveries it was the most successful one. Looking back I wonder how I managed to squeeze myself into the drivers side footwell to remove the injector pump etc but somehow I did! The seat cushions lifted straight out which gave more room, in fact the cushion often followed the driver/passenger out of the cab when alighting!
An easy vehicle to work on generally though, and certainly popular with bakeries etc who used them for the task they were designed for, NOT to run the length of Britain with.Pete.
Hi Pete,
You are right the FG’s made great bread vans and certainly were not designed for running the length and breadth of Great Britain, however they did and managed quite well, and probably achieved it better than the poor drivers who suffered the cramped cabs and noise.
But so many other vehicles did huge mileages on long trips those days, and many of these were not designed for it either. Over the years we ran over 100 Bedford diesels and most of these achieved well over 600,000 miles in their lives with us, with 1,300 miles a week being not unusual for our drivers.
CPT404L, one of our 350FG’s managed to make it from Spennymoor to Naples and back and only the other week I was talking to one of our ex drivers Eric Nelson who took the same vehicle to Paris, so this van did at least two European runs.
However even with the larger engine it overheated going over the Alps (empty) on the way over and I stopped at the top at the restaurant/hotel for a meal (SEEN IN PHOTO) to let it cool down. Loading at Naples I was horrified to discover that, although carefully packed the load went on the van, but he collected stones (Probably lava from Vesuvius) and I was grossly overweight. To say the least I was worried that it might overheat again and not make the journey.
I climbed up in second gear for two and a half hours, after waiting for twilight and subsequent nightfall hoping the temperature outside would be lower. We made it and I stayed overnight at the same hotel I had stopped at to ‘cool down’ on the way over. You can just make out the little FG parked at the side the next morning in the attached photo.
The problem then was going down the other side as I had no brakes, because of being overloaded. So it was back to steadily going down held in second gear. The FG made it and I lived to tell the tail, but that was a journey it certainly was never designed for.
Carl
