A close-up photo of an Oz-spec Crusader (Super Scammell | Leyland badge engineering on this Detroit 8… | Flickr). This one has mesh over the vent and an 8V71.
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I wonder if the double headlights were an option, model change or operator modification.
The two in PR’s link seem to have aftermarket parking lights, no doubt because originals were unobtainable.
Were rectangular or other shape lights allowed in Aus?
I seem to remember some Euro cars having round lights in the USA? Mercedes etc had twin round lights rather than single rectangular lights.
A lot of sense for operators to spec round lights given cost and availability whatever the regs say.
Square and other shapes have little advantage on the flat front of a truck, but do have some utility on an air cheating design on cars etc.
Absolutely - see for example XD/ XE Ford Falcons, and the Falcon AU (featuring Ford’s New Edge design cues), not to mention the VK et. sq. Dunnydore (Holden Commodore). M-B wagons came with the headlights in the bumper like Euro-spec ones, Volvo F16s and later F12s with rectangular headlights, Scania 112/ 142 and so on, all passed ADR regs.
On a side note, I am still baffled by the standard fitment of flat-glass mirrors to new European wagons: the new FH Volvo with the taper at the top of the main mirror is designed specifically for a (slightly) convex glass. Fit a flat glass mirror and you can barely see 3/5ths of both halves of … all.
Earlier than those, Capri and other than round were Mercedes 220 etc and VW Beatle with eclipse lights.
I think the popularity of 5¾" and 7" semi and sealed beams was cost and external availability.
It was handy being able to buy a replacement headlight, cheaply at almost any corner store.
It would appear that the double headlights were a feature of early Australia export examples, and for some reaston, were retained on miliatary 6x4s here. Later exports to Oz had the rectangular ones, as did the domestic UK examples. Here are some pics of both types in Australia.
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What timeframe are we discussing, '69~'70?
Yes! I think Oz exports preceded general haulage use here. Military used it here. A bit later in about 73 / 74 IIRC BRS & Scammell collaborated to produce the 4x2 general haulage options with Rolls 265 / Fuller 9-sp.
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P.R that Flickr link you put up has some great photo’s on it.
We were discussing Marathons last week. Check out the sleeper on this NSW example.
Access would be interesting. Those sleepers were made by various companies, designed to be fitted to normal control trucks. The back window of the cab was removed and a sock fitted between the cab and sleeper. Access to the bed was to crawl through the back window.
Interesting, but a bit shorter than the ones I knew, any idea of the make?
A bit grandad’s axeish.
https://www.rosewoodrailway.org.au/rm55-red-fred/
There’s some great archives on flickr, I’ll post a few more that I know of directly. Tis a shame the conversation on there has died a death these days, people would swap notes and stories (which seems a vaguely familiar story…). The Marathon looks like it was (is?) in Cobar, western NSW.
I saw this oddity at the NSW Rail Heritage Museum (Thirlmere, NSW) some years back.
I made a few notes from the info plaque:
“A NSW ‘Rail Pay Bus’. Originally designed and built by Waddington (Granville, Sydney) in the 30s as railbuses for use on branch lines in Central Western NSW, these had petrol powered 221cu in (3.6l) Ford V8s and were built on truck chassis. The experiment failed and all six were converted for use as paymaster’s vans, and apparently were used all over the NSW rail network right up till the late 60s.”
A tasty morsel for SDU and Spardo: a restored XY Falcon GT with (I was told) a rebuilt warmed-up 351 Cleveland:
It’s said by many that there are more GT Falcons on the road now than Ford (AU) ever made 
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Ain’t that the truth.
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About the same number of lorry drivers who can fit on an embassy balcony? Or who were booked on The Herald, but just missed it?
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The mists of time, you see
Brambles, Port Kembla (early '70s?). Link only:
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Not a clue mate. In that era every man and his dog were making sleeper boxes, they were all the same to look at, only the quality differed. I can’t even remember most of the brands.