Carl:
nian that does sound like white trux i didnt know but funstons ran f88s to the middle east better known now for fridge work .if any one gets the book on the story of the f88/89 theres loads of picks in that book of firms who ran to the middle east
Like a lot of instances on the M/E,you got to know some lads really well while some others you never managed to meet over all the years.I got to know two of Funstons lads,Noel Walker and big Cliff.I met Noel several times in different places,a few times on the Volos ferry,on the Tapline,in Spain.
Big Cliff I only met him once,but we spent so much time together on that one trip.I think Cliff had the first F12 Globetrotter on Funstons,and we met at the border crossing from Iraq into Saudi that comes out at Ra’fa halfway down the Tapline.He had been several days at the border,but we both cleared at the same time.He was goint to Riyahd and I was going to Buraydah which meant us both going down to the “Mirrors”,then taking the new road as it was then.When we parted to go to our own drops,I had the phone number of where he was delivering so I could call him when I was tipped so we could meet up again on the new road,as there was not a lot of English trucks doing M/E then,and it was always handy to run with someone.
Sure enough,I met him on the way back and we hit the Tapline and started to cover some miles,Cliff was in front.
After a couple of hours,my engine gave a bang and a clatter and I had to shut it down and pull onto the desert. This was my first M/E trip for Expo Freight in the latest truck he’d bought,a 5 year old Scania 111.
Cliff had done a few miles before he realised I wasn’t with him,but he turned round and came back.While he got a brew on,I tilted the cab and started to investigate,turned out the motor had dropped a valve,no way was this going to get me home.
I had a straight bar for towing and a towing eye on the back of my trailer,so we swapped trailers so Cliff could pull my trailer with the bar pulling me with his trailer on.He towed me out of Saudi,through Jordan and into Syria.While coming along the dual carriageway out of Damascus,we overtook a scruffy jeep type thing with some uniforms on,we were doing about 60!Of course,I was on an 8’ straight bar and couldn’t see naff all,I just had to follow Cliff.Next thing I know,this jeep thing pulls us over,it’s Old Bill isn’t it?Cost us 100 DM to get away from that!We eventualy arrived at the "Oryx " garage at Incerlik,the first civilised place we could 'phone home from.Cliff had towed me for 1,000 miles!
We both spoke to our respective bosses and they asked if we could strip the tilts down and top my rig onto Cliff’s and carry me back to somewhere a little more civilised while they considered the next move.
We stripped the tilts and found a ramp where we could load me rig onto Cliff,with some other driver’s help pushing from the rear.
By the time we got back to Istanbul,my boss,Ray Phillips,Knowing my fitting abilities and that I had my tools with me,said another of our drivers would be shipping out shortly and would meet me in Belgrade and have all the spares I needed to repair the motor!
We met up at the “National Hotel”,then went round to the railway station,the only place with a ramp,and towed my rig off Cliff’s trailer,then towed me back to the “National” car park where I spent the next couple of days rebuilding the top of the engine with a new cylinder head and gaskets.
I thanked Cliff and he pushed off,I’ve never seen him again!
I got the engine fired up again,collected a load of tractor tyres in Belgrade and made for the ferry!
Well I was going great until 30 miles from Zeebrugge,when a valve dropped on the other cylinder head!Within 5 minutes another mate driving a Mack for OHS stopped behind me and asked if he could help. I said he could tow me if we could swap trailers on the hard shoulder! He said bugger that,get the straight bar out and I’ll push you!And he did.The only problem was,he could not see what I could see,and he didn’t see the roundabout at the end of the motorway as you come into Zeebrugge!
Anyway,we dropped my trailer at the docks and a tugmaster put my trailer on the ferry then towed me on,same proceedure getting of in Dover,then got my tractor towed back to Loughton,for a new engine.
So when your motor gives up the ghost 4,000 miles from home,what do you do?GET IT HOME!That’s what driving the M/E was all about
I have been looking this afternoon for a few pics I have of my rig on tow and being unloaded at Belgrade Railway station,when I find them I’ll put them up.