Rigsby our elder brother Dennis was an Instrument mechanic in the RAF stationed at Seletar, Singapore from 1952 til 1955 our sister has photos of him sitting on the wing of a Spit and Sunderland flying boats. clever bloke but he could nt drive a wagon, regards Crow. BTW i ll bet that Lancaster with it s 4 Merlins with all those horses kicking the pistons was something else.
newmercman:
Crow, the fact that we’re not speaking German tells me that the Merlin was the superior engine thereThey sound pretty decent too
It was a close run thing though. 
youtube.co/watch?v=EUcENor7X_0
That’s the genuine DB motor not a Bouchon turn up the phones. 
Luckily for us they didn’t have the FW190 D9 with Jumo 213 in August 1940 and if only we’d have had the Griffon Spit and Thunderbolt and Typhoon instead of Hurricanes during the battle of France. 
hiya,
Now isn’t this type of thread a darned sight better than knocking
my beloved Gardner which always got me home unlike some of the
other engined thingy’s which have left me sitting at the side of the
road on numerous occasions or up to the ears in grease when I’ve
had to wield the spanners to get a lesser heap home.
thanks harry, long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Now isn’t this type of thread a darned sight better than knocking
my beloved Gardner which always got me home unlike some of the
other engined thingy’s which have left me sitting at the side of the
road on numerous occasions or up to the ears in grease when I’ve
had to wield the spanners to get a lesser heap home.
thanks harry, long retired.
I’m surprised that Master Two Stroke hasn’t poured his usual scorn on these piston aero engines, declaring that the only way to power an aeroplane is with a gas turbine, and that the designers of the Merlin et al were a bunch of Luddites. Maybe that is to come.
CF I just knew you ld take the bait, initially the butcher bird FW190 had the edge over the Spit but those brilliant men at RR very soon engined up the Merlin and status quo was resumed. Let us not forget that just like wagon drivers some pilots were simply better than others, Gruss Gott Crow. btw there s no umlaut on this keyboard.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
CF I just knew you ld take the bait, initially the butcher bird FW190 had the edge over the Spit but those brilliant men at RR very soon engined up the Merlin and status quo was resumed. Let us not forget that just like wagon drivers some pilots were simply better than others, Gruss Gott Crow. btw there s no umlaut on this keyboard.
Some say that it would have been better to have gone for the bigger Griffon from the start and forget about the Merlin then they’d have had a higher start point just like when they beat the world with the RR R while ze Germans were still messing about viz Gliders.
The Butcher Bird that you’re talking about wasn’t the D9 version with the inline Jumo 213 that I was.Merlin powered Spit v that or in fact anything on the Allied side except the Griffon Spit would have been in a sticky situation in which luck would have been at least as important as skill.
Pilots like Alex Henshaw you mean.
CF i m going to meet some friends for a few scoops but will return to this thread with bated breath later, sorry to have interfered with your what initially was a fascinating topic Saviem but don t you think that without weighing the pistons or micing the crankshaft shells we can go any further with this once famous product.Crow.
[zb]
anorak:harry_gill:
hiya,
Now isn’t this type of thread a darned sight better than knocking
my beloved Gardner which always got me home unlike some of the
other engined thingy’s which have left me sitting at the side of the
road on numerous occasions or up to the ears in grease when I’ve
had to wield the spanners to get a lesser heap home.
thanks harry, long retired.I’m surprised that Master Two Stroke hasn’t poured his usual scorn on these piston aero engines, declaring that the only way to power an aeroplane is with a gas turbine, and that the designers of the Merlin et al were a bunch of Luddites. Maybe that is to come.
That’s not the same thing at all as just saying that the way to power a truck wasn’t with a Gardner just as the way to power a fighter plane in 1940 wouldn’t have been with anything less able than a Merlin to do the job which is my point to put the topic back on course.
so fly high again, i,ll can understand very well the old men driving gardners foe maybe 25 30 years and like them . have been driving scannie V8 for 24 years and love them, owning a volvo to it,s god but don,t love it but as god in the work as the scannie, what i,ll wan,t to say, there is nothing but opinion,s and when they are correct and you give room for others toughts you learn and get some understanding of why everythihng is what it is,and a part of discussions is to change opinion ,when you get god arguments from oposite,but 19 page no new is not funny at all,some arguments from many here are always meeted whit the same argument ,hej benkku
bma.finland:
so fly high again, i,ll can understand very well the old men driving gardners foe maybe 25 30 years and like them . have been driving scannie V8 for 24 years and love them, owning a volvo to it,s god but don,t love it but as god in the work as the scannie, what i,ll wan,t to say, there is nothing but opinion,s and when they are correct and you give room for others toughts you learn and get some understanding of why everythihng is what it is,and a part of discussions is to change opinion ,when you get god arguments from oposite,but 19 page no new is not funny at all,some arguments from many here are always meeted whit the same argument ,hej benkku
bma I worked with and learn’t from lots of people from the older generation of drivers and engineers during the 1970’s and 1980’s when I started out in the British truck manufacturing industry and road transport industry ,and I can’t remember any of them who (rightly) ever had anything good to say about the Gardner engine except the fact that it was known for being designed and put together to last a lifetime.Which unfortunately for many of it’s unfortunate drivers it usually did. 
It’s ironic that someone who ‘loves’ the Scania V8 seems to be trying to defend the case of those who take an opposite view to that idea. 
Carryfast:
bma.finland:
so fly high again, i,ll can understand very well the old men driving gardners foe maybe 25 30 years and like them . have been driving scannie V8 for 24 years and love them, owning a volvo to it,s god but don,t love it but as god in the work as the scannie, what i,ll wan,t to say, there is nothing but opinion,s and when they are correct and you give room for others toughts you learn and get some understanding of why everythihng is what it is,and a part of discussions is to change opinion ,when you get god arguments from oposite,but 19 page no new is not funny at all,some arguments from many here are always meeted whit the same argument ,hej benkkubma I worked with and learn’t from lots of people from the older generation of drivers and engineers during the 1970’s and 1980’s when I started out in the British truck manufacturing industry and road transport industry ,and I can’t remember any of them who (rightly) ever had anything good to say about the Gardner engine except the fact that it was known for being designed and put together to last a lifetime.Which unfortunately for many of it’s unfortunate drivers it usually did.
It’s ironic that someone who ‘loves’ the Scania V8 seems to be trying to defend the case of those who take an opposite view to that idea.
some love greta garbo and some a girl from naborhod and can be happy whit that cheers benkku
geoffthecrowtaylor:
CF i m going to meet some friends for a few scoops but will return to this thread with bated breath later, sorry to have interfered with your what initially was a fascinating topic Saviem but don t you think that without weighing the pistons or micing the crankshaft shells we can go any further with this once famous product.Crow.
Evening all, the last bales are coming in, the combines in the shed, (same shed as the LB76), Im knackered, filthy, and tired, and Crow, you are right!!! bma, so are you!!! But before I give the office shower a bending…
Seems Ive upset someone…tough, lorries are a rough old world,…but peopled by some of the best individuals that you could ever meet. And a good selection are contributors to this Blog. May I refer the “sensetive and well read… experts”, to the old saying about kitchens and heat!!
Oh, by the way, Micky Mouse was, is, a term of endearment, the majority would understand this.
Now, young Mr Gill, aircraft engines, our local Auctioneers, Cuttlestones of Penkridge, (Ben Gamble, a personable young man), have the dispersal sale of one of my late friends collections of “bits and pieces”. Catalogued as the, Machin Collection, at Garmelow, Manor, Eccleshall, Staffordshire, 19 September . Amongst the most interesting items…
Bristol Gypsey Moth Engine
Bristol Perseus Engine
Bristol Hercules Engine
Alvis Leonides 1207 Engine
4 bladed propellor
3 bladed propellor Quantity of Aircraft spares
Oh, and a fully restored Merlin C24C Serial 310595, mounted on a trailer, with correct header tank, and it runs well…and Gentlemen, what a noise, the roar of a thousand Siberian Bears, who cannot get served at the Bar!!!
As others have remarked, a long way from my question, but it has been answered well,thank you all for sharing your knowledge, and as my final words on this thread, at the weekend I attended my pal Paul Adams “vintage party”, along with my little Scarab. But the vehicle that took my heart, a 66Reg, Scammell Highwayman, resplendent in Sheffields, S Harrisons evocative crimson livery, …I could climb into that old girl and do a days toil behind that Gardner, and Gate Change box, any day I was ever asked. And she would always get me home!!!
Im away to my Bollinger, roasted Chicken, and a little Damson pie, adieu mes braves, Cheerio for now.
I doubt this thread is drawing to a close, but just in case, there’s one important thing to remember…
A Gardner Engined Lorry would alsways be the first to arrive at its destination, the true leader of the pack…
Because everything else had caught it on the first hill and was stuck behind it
newmercman:
I doubt this thread is drawing to a close, but just in case, there’s one important thing to remember…A Gardner Engined Lorry would alsways be the first to arrive at its destination, the true leader of the pack…
Because everything else had caught it on the first hill and was stuck behind it
Mark, that is a classic, I shall raise (several) glasses to you tonight, good luck! Cheerio for now.
newmercman:
I doubt this thread is drawing to a close, but just in case, there’s one important thing to remember…A Gardner Engined Lorry would alsways be the first to arrive at its destination, the true leader of the pack…
Because everything else had caught it on the first hill and was stuck behind it
Genlemen I ve just returned from the Crusty Crab after stopping more than a few going sour and find to my consternation that a few are determined to keep this over worked over emphasised thread going despite my seemingly futile attempts to introduce some levity into it I m dismayed that after so many pages of meaningless unrelated facts and figures that some and some there be will see it thru to the bitter end where ever it maybe, as a man who knows sod all about Gardners other than that theywere made at Patricroft Eccles I will leave it to my betters,Crow.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Genlemen I ve just returned from the Crusty Crab after stopping more than a few going sour and find to my consternation that a few are determined to keep this over worked over emphasised thread going despite my seemingly futile attempts to introduce some levity into it I m dismayed that after so many pages of meaningless unrelated facts and figures that some and some there be will see it thru to the bitter end where ever it maybe, as a man who knows sod all about Gardners other than that theywere made at Patricroft Eccles I will leave it to my betters,Crow.
hiya,
clap clap clap clap clap clap, and a standing ovation, sense at last.
thanks harry, long retired.
newmercman:
I doubt this thread is drawing to a close, but just in case, there’s one important thing to remember…A Gardner Engined Lorry would alsways be the first to arrive at its destination, the true leader of the pack…
Because everything else had caught it on the first hill and was stuck behind it
Class.
Carryfast:
newmercman:
I doubt this thread is drawing to a close, but just in case, there’s one important thing to remember…A Gardner Engined Lorry would alsways be the first to arrive at its destination, the true leader of the pack…
Because everything else had caught it on the first hill and was stuck behind it
■■■■■■■■, I drove a 4 wheeler Atki with a 5 Pot Gardner & going over Standege on the old A 62 with 10 Ton on I only dropped one gear, & went all the way up at 21 MPH, So what was wrong with that in 1957, Regards Larry
newmercman:
I doubt this thread is drawing to a close, but just in case, there’s one important thing to remember…A Gardner Engined Lorry would alsways be the first to arrive at its destination, the true leader of the pack…
Because everything else had caught it on the first hill and was stuck behind it
Obviously not Detroit two stroke engined then or they would have had the power to overtake it?
Pete.