Best '70s Middle-East unit

[robert1952]

newmercman:
I did think about the Scania gearbox, but in a left hooked the awkward 1st/6th position was not really awkward and with a box of Swan Vestas you could fix the only reliability issues they had, plus the 141 had enough oompf to manage with only 10 speeds.

The ride was a bit harsh, but not significantly worse than the competition really, not to the point of shaking themselves to pieces, although the later Scanias were fragile compared to a Volvo, the 1 series was a pretty solid lorry. I had a 111 that had done many trips to the M/E and it was as tight as a drum, it was evil to drive bobtail and braking hard on a wet road without a trailer was usually accompanied by spinning round in circles before arriving at the scene of the crash.

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Spot on with the comment about the dog-leg 1st/6th position on the left-■■■■■■ - it made a significant difference in that 10-speed 'box. However, I used RHD & LHD 142s, and I was wondering how the early 140s/141s fared on the suspension front (the only Scania I drove of that vintage was a '73 Scania 80 artic, which was hardly representative of the marque!). Robert

[newmercman]

Anything with steel suspension and a design weight of 62ton is going to be a bit heavy duty, so unlikely to ride like a Cadillac, but the longer wheelbase of the Scandinavian spec versions will surely help remove some of the choppiness and understeer that a shorter UK spec version would suffer.

GS Overland ran both a 141 in that spec and a later example, so he’ll be able to give a balanced opinion on the merits of both.

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[saviem]

Personally…and with no actual Moyen Orient experience…it would have to be something with a three pointed star…

I ran them in the UK, and Europe, never the best at anything…but boy, overall, they were cheap to run…and totally reliable…and easy to repair, the total package, cost, miles run, took some beating!

It may be worth while to enlarge the catchment area, to include other European operators on this work, and what they ran…Fiat figures large here…basic, simple, reliable…that 619 was a gem…and the later ones were not bad…and that stonking V8… Easily eclipsed your Swedish offerings every day!

But what of the UK lorries that did that work…

Well what of them, lets hearyour experiences…

I will sit back with my Bollinger, there are sure to be great stories here…

Cheerio for now.

[robert1952]

Saviem:
Personally…and with no actual Moyen Orient experience…it would have to be something with a three pointed star…

I ran them in the UK, and Europe, never the best at anything…but boy, overall, they were cheap to run…and totally reliable…and easy to repair, the total package, cost, miles run, took some beating!

It may be worth while to enlarge the catchment area, to include other European operators on this work, and what they ran…Fiat figures large here…basic, simple, reliable…that 619 was a gem…and the later ones were not bad…and that stonking V8… Easily eclipsed your Swedish offerings every day!

But what of the UK lorries that did that work…

Well what of them, lets hearyour experiences…

I will sit back with my Bollinger, there are sure to be great stories here…

Cheerio for now.

Here’s the link to that thread started by Truckerash called ‘Ancient Brits Head East’. Robert

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=82202&hilit=ancient+brits

[andrew_s]

I was born in the mid 70’s so I haven’t had the pleasure of driving a unit from that era,to the middle east or anywhere.
however if I had to choose one to take next week it would be a transcontinental,without a doubt.
iconic/powerful/comfortable/reliable/fun to drive(as per robert1952’s criteria)-I think the big ford meets all of these.

my father owned a 1976 example with the ntc335 engine,13 speed fuller,and it was superb(but bloody thirsty lol).I just wish I was old enough to have been able to drive it when we had it!
the one we had had been to the middle east before we owned it -there is a pic of it in the desert in Patrick Dyers “ford transcontinental at work” book
it had no rear mudguards(just mudflaps,) and a great big Kysor aircon unit on the roof.my old man absolutely loved it !!

[newmercman]

That is the thing that makes this so interesting, I had a Transcon and I wasn’t impressed at all, I’m glad I’ve had one as they’re an iconic lorry, but in my opinion apart from their presence, there was nothing special about them at all, definitely not in the league of a Daf, Scania or Volvo.

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[saviem]

newmercman:
That is the thing that makes this so interesting, I had a Transcon and I wasn’t impressed at all, I’m glad I’ve had one as they’re an iconic lorry, but in my opinion apart from their presence, there was nothing special about them at all, definitely not in the league of a Daf, Scania or Volvo.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatal Evening all ,

Mark, I did the same thing and sold a Mack F786, ex Lagan Valley Steels, and ■■■■ Young of Penrith, and replaced he with an A reg 335 Transcontinental to lug my Russian T34 tank around…what a mistake!

The Transcontinental rolled, heaved, roared, and …well lets say broke wind…it was like herding a block of 1960s concrete flats on a Shropshire hillside…what a mistake

Not one of my better deals!

Apologies , I have no right to interject…maybe the Ford was good on sand…my goodness I would have buried mine in a sand pit!

Comfy bed mind you…

Cheerio for now.

[john_west]

I didn’t have massive experience on overland, I did it for less than a year. I drove a Scania 140, a Daf (sorry can’t remember the exact designation, but it was the 2800 cab, with the smaller engine and ZF splitter box) and a silver grilled Volvo F88.

I loved the Scania. I would have voted for it - except that - loaded for Doha, the gearbox started to groan on Bolu, and oil was dripping out of the rear. The back bearing had gone. I dropped the trailer at that big cafe where all the Kamikazes stopped and took the unit back to Aydin’s, opposite the mocamp. For some reason it was impossible to get a new bearing and I finished up being piggybacked home having swapped trailers with another NODAG driver (and all the paperwork that involved, sorted out by Taci Kocman).

The Daf went to Baghdad and back without any problem, and the old F88 didn’t have as comfortable a cab as the other two, but was reliable on 3 trips to Khobar, plus several round trips from Iskenderun to Khobar.

So, I would plump for reliability every time.

Working internals in Saudi, I bought a day cab Scania 110 with a five speed box from Paul Kerr ( who moved on to a Transcon, with which he did overland for a few years, and he liked it). The Scania was reliable, which is what you want when you’re 500 miles from anywhere! It was so hot the exhaust and turbo glowed in the dark, but it didn’t break down.

I only sold it and bought one of Douglas’s Saviems to get a bigger cab. Apart from handbrake problems and a tendency to overheat in summer, it wasn’t bad.

I’ve earlier said, and CF picked upon that, that I thought the Kenworth was the ideal vehicle and wished I’d bought it after a two week trial - but to be absolutely fair, I was referring to internals in Saudi, not overland. You needed a desert to turn it around, the turning circle was so poor. How that would have affected some of the tight spots in Europe I don’t know. As CF also said, Frederici used them and they did look the Dogs B’s.

I’m sure that doesn’t help define ‘best’. As others have stated, reliability and availability of spare parts was a huge factor, and although I never drove one, the Mercs did have a good reputation and spares were everywhere.

John.

[panx]

Drove both Scania 141 and 111 to ME, 375,HP in the V8 was just a great bit of kit, Drove LHD 141 6 x2 to Europe and Turkey, it was a Dutch spec 385HP longer chassis. Even better…
All the very best
Mick B

[panx]

This old F88 wasn’t too bad either…

[tubbysboy]

Sorry to put my opinion on this thread, as I was far too young to do the m/e.
But me old dad did a few trips and his drivers several more than him.

Transcon all the way. According to him, unbeatable, and even though they had their foibles along the way… The first one he sent done a piston in turkey think it was a 335…

Several more went and came back with various different bodge job get you home repairs…

Think as has been said before the motor that always gets you home is the best 'un

[stacked_it]

Hi All - great thread.

I was born in 73 so have zero authority on the ME run but I am glad to see the Crusader get a mention. I have just bought one - 290 Roller with 9 speed Fuller. At the moment it has no chance of getting out of my mates yard let alone down to Bagdag but it has no floor, so the air con is pretty good.

During my bouts of planning its restoration, I sometimes wonder off in a day dream of doing a ME run in it in the future. After a name change of corse - then I pull myself back to reality.

Drove quite a few Mercs and hated them. Loved the Swedish stuff and always thought Leylands were underrated. We had one that had done well over 1 million miles with no engine work at all - only oil an flters. All domestic work though.

[jmc_jnr]

Right or wrong - whenever I hear mention of M.E. lorries I think of Bob Paul et al and that Guy and AEC.
It’s the stuff of Boy’s Own magazine and for me the star is the AEC. I would set off now in one of them. Jim, (Biased).

[bullitt]

Great thread this Robert! I didn’t start driving “continental” until 1981 aged 19 but it was the vehicles of the 70`s the first awakened a keen interest in long distance driving

Firstly though, I have never been to the M/E so cant possibly comment on the "best 70s Middle East Unit" vehicle for that run, especially one from the 70s era.

But the most “Iconic” for me would be the Transcon. Whether seeing them in Dover, covered in mud and grime, or trundling away from or heading back to Oostende or ZeeBee and up and down the Autobahns of Deutschland, they just shouted of long, long distances and far off, exotic lands!

A left ■■■■■■ Transcon with Khysor on the roof, custom fuel tanks and a step frame trailer with side lockers and belly tank and of course the ubiquitous TIR plates. That for me is an Iconic 70s / 80s M/E set up.

[robert1952]

bullitt:
Great thread this Robert! I didn’t start driving “continental” until 1981 aged 19 but it was the vehicles of the 70`s the first awakened a keen interest in long distance driving

Firstly though, I have never been to the M/E so cant possibly comment on the "best 70s Middle East Unit" vehicle for that run, especially one from the 70s era.

But the most “Iconic” for me would be the Transcon. Whether seeing them in Dover, covered in mud and grime, or trundling away from or heading back to Oostende or ZeeBee and up and down the Autobahns of Deutschland, they just shouted of long, long distances and far off, exotic lands!

A left ■■■■■■ Transcon with Khysor on the roof, custom fuel tanks and a step frame trailer with side lockers and belly tank and of course the ubiquitous TIR plates. That for me is an Iconic 70s / 80s M/E set up.

Thanks Bullitt! You are one of several to flag up the old Transcon in recent posts. Although it did have a strange electrical set-up and was a little inclined to wallow in the hands of more cavalier drivers, it was quite a beast in its day. I only ever drove Transcons in the UK but one of those I drove had a 350 ■■■■■■■ and that absolutely flew! When I was doing North Africa I often used to run with Billy King who had a jacked-up Transcon with a high roof; and that was still going strong in the early 2000s. They certainly deserve a place up there with the M/E icons, I would say. Robert

[robert1952]

Found in cyberspace. Robert

[robert1952]

I know which one I’d be driving here…

…and here!

Robert

[robert1952]

Here’s one to please most tastes and it did M/E with an Astran subbie. I was parked next to it in the docks at Tangiers in 2000 and the driver, John Allen, talked me through it. It was a 142 with LHD, an Esteppe roof and a 13-speed Fuller 'box. That’d do me! (I’d want a straight-frame tilt, though!)Robert

[dirty_dan]

Here is one for NMM evan got the robsondrive,makes it almoste good as a dubbledrive!

Danne

[scania141lbs]

Thanks for this picture, Dan!
Absolute beautiful!!