Fantasy Fleet 2: the Rubber Hits the Road

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
1

The original Fantasy Fleet came out years ago: this, finally, might be the follow-up.

Whereas the original was quite specific FF2 is less so, although there are rules.

Context
You have always wanted to run your own transport outfit (don’t ask me why) and recently you’ve come across some serious wedge (an inheritance, for example) which allows you to indulge your (frankly unhealthy) dream.

Rule 1) Pick a decade;

Rule 2) Choose the type of freight: is it general haulage or specific;

Rule 3) Specify where you are operating (local, nationwide, international);

So far, so easy, but…

Rule 4) Fantasy Fleet must include everything from the top (road trains, artics, wag-n-drag) right the way down through heavy rigids to vans (and, if you want, company cars).

Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it…

2

I’ll just start by completely pi55ing on yer chips.:joy:.
So…

  1. ‘‘You have always wanted to run your own fleet’’

If you have you must be either mad, deluded, naive or all 3.:flushed:

  1. ''You have come up with some serious wedge…an inheritance.

The ABSOLUTE LAST investment for your ‘serious wedge’ should be road transport in todays industry, climate,.and nature of the job.
Cut out the middle man, put it in a heap and torch it …(a la KLF in the 80s.:smiley: )

3.‘‘Pick a decade’’
.
Only 1 available is today…So it gets worse.:flushed:

4.‘‘Choose type of freight…general haulage or specific’’.

Gen haul ?..aint worth a crap, rates are cut to ribbons, and you are in a large tank amongst much bigger fish,.and a load of sharks.
Specific…All sewn up and spoken for,.and see above.

5.‘‘Where are you operating’’

European?..Not a chance.
Local/Nationwide?..Only the scraps left, wouldnt bother…get a job with Stobarts instead, more lucrative.

6.‘‘So far so easy’’.

No it aint, anything but, there are loads of hoops to jump through knee deep in b/s like a performing dog before you get to step 1.

7.Fantasy fleet?

No doubt it will be top range overblinged V8 Scanias :roll_eyes:, which will make things even worse for your profit/expenditure ratio.

8.Your mission if you choose to accept it Jim (or in this case Rob.)

No it aint, I dont choose to accept it, I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.:smiley:

Mainly because in my case…Been there, done it, got the t.shirt…AND the hooded sweatshirt.
So.a lesson well learned.

(Note…Anybody who thinks I am talking ballcocks…ok, check with Carryfast for his version, he knows all about being an owner driver/small fleet operator…apparentlly. :smiley:)

@O/p…ok I know you are just having a bit of fun, but so am I,… even if it is in the style of Victor Meldrew…:joy:

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3

I’m amazed you got in before him. :astonished:

4

With a remarkably similar background, I’m firmly in the Robroy camp, but I will indulge you PR.
It would have had to have been a very serious wedge, serious enough to operate as an own account outfit.

1: Any time this century, before 2020, for reasons upon which I will elaborate later.

2: Supermarket or fuel, or a combination of both. (I did say a very serious wedge, I’d need to own a string of remote supermarkets with bowsers attached. Both commodities being essential, regardless of the economy.)

3: Remote Queensland, NSW, SA & NT.

4: Road train Western Star 6900, Cummins 15 litre @ 550~600 hp. 78" sleeper, Icepac reverse cycle air conditioning.
Single trailer/ B-double, Western Star 4800, Cummins 15 litre @ 450~500 hp. 48" bunk HVAC as above.
The latest model Stars do not offer a Cummins engine option. Western Star is owned by Mercedes Benz, as is Detroit, so now only ofer in house engines.
Wag-n-drag have no use in my operation.
Body trucks of limited use but either Hino or Isuzu.
Can’t see a van getting much use, but my call would be Sprinter.
Car, only two, both for the boss top of the range Range Rover and Ineos Grenadier .

There’s only one way to make a small fortune from transport, start with a large one.

5

OK well I’ll throw in my two-pennyworth!

Under Rule 1 : 1970s

Under Rule 2 : TIR tilt work; general haulage

Under Rule 3 : heavies on Middle East work, with the rigids on UK / Europe collections and deliveries

Under Rule 4 :

  • Artics – ERF NGC Europeans with Cummins 335 (all LHD and well-proven on that work)
  • Drawbar outfits – ERF B-series with LHD and Cummins 290
  • 24-tonners – ERF B-series with Cummins 250
  • 16-tonners – Mercedes 1617 (dull but reliable)
  • 7.5-tonners – Mercedes LPS 813 (slow but bullet-proof and came with sleeper cab)
  • 30-cwt panel van – Transit LWB diesel (what else would you choose for a puddle-jumper in the ‘70s?!)
  • Service van – Landrover Series 3 V8 LWB
6

Yes and no. It’s fantasy football for freight forwarders if you like. There are oodles of threads on this sub about the perfect Atki or the best ERF or the mostest Foden and the definitive gearbox and so on and so forth. None of those threads really talk about the dozens of other oiks who drive old shtt3rs: so, come up with your fantasy fleet with all the tasty wagons you want but it has to be an entire fleet, right down to a Trannie van.

If it isn’t already clear, the aim of this thread is to get people thinking.

7

That’s the spirit of this thread :+1:

8

Don’t indulge me - indulge yourself. The point is, you have to make your case all the way down to the lowliest van or ute. Remember, Rule 4.

9

As you will know, mate, apart from tippers, truck and dog are of extremely limited use here.

10

Oh and here’s my offering for the 1960s

Under Rule 1 : 1960s

Under Rule 2 : TIR tilt work; general haulage

Under Rule 3 : heavies on Southern Europe work, with the rigids on UK collections and deliveries

Under Rule 4 :

  • Artics – ERF MGC with LHD and Cummins 335 (yes, available in ’69)
  • Drawbar outfits – AEC Mk5 Super Mandator with LHD, Bollekens cab and AV690:192 lump / TET D203 box
  • 24-tonners – AEC Marshal
  • 18-tonners – AEC Mercury
  • 7.5-tonners – Austin FF
  • 30-cwt panel van – BMC LDM 30
  • Service van – Morris Minor 1000
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11

I’m beginning to enjoy this game! So here’s my 1980s offering.

Under Rule 1 : 1980s

Under Rule 2 : TIR tilt work; general haulage

Under Rule 3 : heavies on Middle East work, with the rigids on UK / Europe collections and deliveries

Under Rule 4 :

  • Artics – ERF C-series with LHD and Cummins 350
  • Drawbar outfits – ERF C-series with LHD and Cummins 350
  • 24-tonners – ERF C-series with Cummins 290
  • 16-tonners – Volvo FL6
  • 7.5-tonners – Volvo FL4
  • 20-cwt panel van – VW Transporter T4d
  • Service van – Peugeot 205D (extremely robust little van)
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12

And for pudding, here’s my offering for the 1990s!

Under Rule 1 : 1990s

Under Rule 2 : TIR tilt work; general haulage

Under Rule 3 : heavies on Middle East work, with the rigids on UK / Europe collections and deliveries

Under Rule 4 :

  • Artics – Iveco Eurostar 420 with LHD and Twin-splitter option*
  • Drawbar outfits – Iveco Eurostar 420 with LHD and Twin-splitter option
  • 26-tonners – ERF EC14 with Cummins 350
  • 18-tonners – DAF CF mk2
  • 7.5-tonners – Volvo FL4
  • 30-cwt panel van – Mercedes Sprinter
  • Service van – Landrover Defender LWB diesel

*But if it’s me has to drive it, I’ll have an ERF E14 ‘Supertruck’ with Cummins 400 and Fuller RTX14609, but it only has a sleeper cab and I don’t think it was offered in LHD (but it’d be worth it for the Fuller).

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13

Interesting choice, I drove a few of them and I quite liked the cab - good instruments, plenty of glass. The slap-over range-change less so.

7.5-tonners – Mercedes LPS 813

I never had the opportunity, mostly because it was all TK/ TL and D-series and Terrier. Some years later the mob I worked for got the 814 and I thought that was a terrific thing.

14

For the 80s I’d have picked the Merc 307D (which is I suppose a 70s design). Quirky but very reliable (and they all got flogged on our fleet) and despite its measly 67bhp could keep up with a 2.0L twin-wheel Transit on a country road (DAMHIK).

I did do a few stints in an early FL6 and I did like it, but the engine wasn’t quite up to the 6-sp box it had and the gearchange wasn’t all that (it might have been the one I drove).

15

Agreed, but I’m trying to appeal to as big a catchment as I can :wink:

16

Totally with you there. Like like you, I didn’t like that stiff slap-over nonsense in the 16tonne plus lorries.

And like you I thought that the 7.5 tonne Merc basic was still better than the Bedford and Ford alternatives.