ParkRoyal2100:
@ Carl & jakey, thanks for the photos gents.
@ jakey, I’ve no memory of coming across Jacob’s before, how long has the company been around? Re heavy steering on the 308, same as the 307s I assume. I only ever drove one Sprinter and that was an ordinary van - how does yours stack up agaisnt its predecessor? The ones we get here in Oz are all built in Brazil os while the design is OK sometimes the build quality ain’t all that and they seem to come apart much quicker than the old 'uns did.
Carl I’m still working my way through your epic thread. I can remember things called Boalloy pantechs - were these the predecessor to Marsden/ Vanplans or quite different?
Hi park Royal,
A company called Syd Abrahms, main Bedford dealers from Manchester decided to sell Bedford integral vans from stock. They approached Jeff and Ken Marsden to see if they would build the bodywork for them. (This was before the breakaway by Gerry Crowe and Arthur Rathburn to form Vanplan)
Marsden considered that it would take up too much of their production, and preferred to carry on supplying removal customers, like us. They had so many that they had built up a relationship over the years.
They approached Boyer Brothers, who produced the Tautliner and who eventually changed their name to Boalloy Ltd. Although they developed a van with fibreglass cab and roof they never managed the complete fibreglass van instead using the old fashioned plymax sheeting and inferior ridged aluminium.
The vans were cheap and nasty, badly finished and dropped to bits. The cabs in particular rained in and were obviously made to cut costs. We inherited two from a fleet we took over, but they did not last long
JAKEY:
Hi Parkroyal2100 , we new at the game , 1824 , thats when the company was founded , my great grandfather took over in 1930 from the orignal owner , my dads 87 and he started with his dad when he was 11 years old .
Not as old as shore porters but not doing bad eh ?
“New at the game” heh heh
No, nott bad at all, in fact it’s quite surprising how long many removals companies have been in business, especially compared to haulage.
Carl Williams:
A company called Syd Abrahms, main Bedford dealers from Manchester decided to sell Bedford integral vans from stock. They approached Jeff and Ken Marsden to see if they would build the bodywork for them. (This was before the breakaway by Gerry Crowe and Arthur Rathburn to form Vanplan)
Marsden considered that it would take up too much of their production, and preferred to carry on supplying removal customers, like us. They had so many that they had built up a relationship over the years.
They approached Boyer Brothers, who produced the Tautliner and who eventually changed their name to Boalloy Ltd. Although they developed a van with fibreglass cab and roof they never managed the complete fibreglass van instead using the old fashioned plymax sheeting and inferior ridged aluminium.
The vans were cheap and nasty, badly finished and dropped to bits. The cabs in particular rained in and were obviously made to cut costs. We inherited two from a fleet we took over, but they did not last long
Best wishes
Carl
Thanks for that info Carl. Never having driven integral pantechs I wasn’t aware of the various makers or their history until I took a bit more interest recently. Going by what you say about the quality of the Boalloy versions that would probably explain why they are rare compared to the Marsdens or Vanplans.
This was my brothers truck from new , pictured in Rush green breakers yard several years later , Now this was a great truck , no sleeper but did have curtains and a night heater .
shot of Marsden van plans workshop about two years before they folded , Terry sinnott ( leading salesman ) set up on this own and now runs unquiqe van bodies in Warrington .
This Atego is driven by Phil houseman " the hoff" , its now ten years old and has just gone to js frasers where it was built for a light refurb " bloody tree branches have taken its toll on the side door seal s and the paint .
Marseden (Coachbuilders) Ltd took photographs of every new vehicle they completed. I know they had albums going back into the forties at least. I wonder what happened to them? There is a treasure box out there somewhere.
Carl im sure the boss at the time burnt the lot , It was because he knew Terry was going to M1 body builders and didnt want him to take any info with him .
Terry and a few of his men then started up on there own , All of my trucks except the Atego were built by Terry .
JAKEY:
Carl im sure the boss at the time burnt the lot , It was because he knew Terry was going to M1 body builders and didnt want him to take any info with him .
Terry and a few of his men then started up on there own , All of my trucks except the Atego were built by Terry .
I think Terry has more details than he lets on about He built this for me in the late 90’s
2 years ago I ordered yet another scania and this arrived
The only question Terry asked me was are we painting it the same as before
huh?
He built this for me in the late 90’s
