Punchy Dan:
IT didn’t make any money ,you need to push harder on the right pedal Pete
I daren’t Dan, not with the rotten floors in them! 
None of them made money, all loads were costed out at 20 tonnes and the Gardner engine ones could only carry 19.25. The Rollers were even worse, they had a job to squeeze 19 tonnes on whereas the Fodens were carrying 20+. The plus side for me was that I got a lot of 12 and 16 tonne loads of tarmac to save using an OD’s six wheeler! 
Pete.
Multiple Fruit Supplies,part of Glass Glover Distribution had five SA 400s,two with 240 Gardner with Fuller box and three with 180 and DB box. Fleet 304 was based at Maltby,a 240,along with 301 and 303 both with 180. When I first started there in 1978 I noticed there was always SAs parked up in a morning because the drivers preferred the Scania 81s we had.So me being on nights regular asked if I could be allocated Fleet 304,the one with the 8 pots.I was looked at in amazement int office,nobody had ever asked for a Sed Atki regular before,so the TM said yes you can have it regular and it will be the last of the three to go out in a morning,the ones with 180s will be used first.
I had that unit for 6 months and loved it,never had a problem with it,although the arse about face gearshift took a bit of getting used to.It would blow those Scania 81s off the road when on trunk.
I don’t have a photo of it but here is one in shot taken at our Hitchin depot,one with the 180 Gardner.
Punchy Dan:
Iirc John Thomas has an ERF trailer ?
Finding an ERF trailer nowadays Dan’l will be a rare find indeed, I recall an O/D in Milnthorpe, John E. Ion, had IIRC, a 31’ 6" tandem ERF trailer which when coupled to his then ERF unit he could drive into his single bay garage in the middle of the village and close the side folding door. However, when Cape Boards, his main customer, insisted he spec up to a 40ft trailer he was knackered so he came to see me and asked if he could park his 40 footer in our yard ! No problem I says but I want a £5 a week or £20 a month ( sky rocket ). You should have heard the greedy ■■■■■■■ moan and groan ! So I says OK then £30 plus vat or ■■■■ off you greedy ■■■■ ! He parked in our yard for a good number of years until he retired and I bought his 8LXB B series off him, I had bought his “A” Series off him in '79 when he got his B Series and the greedy ■■■■■■■ wanted me to pay him for the “A” Series a month before he got delivery of his new B Series so he could pay ERF direct as he didn’t have enough to pay up front before he “drew” for his old one. You’ve no idea how ■■■■■■■ greedy this ■■■■ was but he didn’t bat an eye lid. Unfortunately for him he picked on the wrong “Mug”. That wasn’t the only stroke he pulled either! Cheers Denzil.
Another Sed Atki belonging to J L Townson Tankers and on contract to Esso Trafford Park driven by the late Wally Faulkner
CNB159T
Parked in a yard in Middleton Manchester
gazsa401:
Punchy Dan:
Gary I remember when it was green .That’s right Dan when I first got her it was green but the cab had completely had it
I bought a brand new cab off Mick Thorpe from Earnest Thorpes
I became good friends with Mick
His workshop and yard were like a treasure trove for spare parts
They never chucked anything away
Slightly off the subject Mick still as a couple of ERF trailers
I was going to buy one but lack of space was the problem
Mick rang me one night desperate for a rigid the next day. After talking for a while I said I’d do the job ,he said something about curtains ? No iam a flat !
Punchy Dan:
0whos is the old Atki on the left ?
That would be Walkersteel, or C. Walker & Sons Ltd on a Sunday.
Punchy Dan:
What was Zf transmatic ? The only thing I’ve seen was a ex air craft refueler 400 series with a torque converter and a fuller box too behind a 250 ■■■■■■■ .
The ZF Transmatic Dan was in a word, weird. They had a manually operated clutch via a normal pedal, with a manual ZF gearbox, several ratio alternatives could be had I believe, never heard of one using a Fuller I have to say. Clutch and gearbox are separated by a torque converter, which spent most of its time locked up, but the driver could bring it to life by means of a kickdown switch under the throttle, just as in an automatic. I never drove or operated one, but I believe they were reliable and effective at getting up hills. Mainly bought by heavy haulage operators and for some reason ICI who, in the late 70s had a fair fleet of SA400S with them. They must have had a weight penalty, and I can’t imagine that they helped fuel either. It’s just come to mind that they had a retarder built in as well, that may have been optional I don’t remember. Other than the SAs most went into MAN and Merc Titan heavy haulers.
Used to run this one from Falkirk to Aberdeen daily. It was a good motor and the 9 speed fuller was easy to use.
We had these ones on the Burmah contract in Grangemouth, They had ■■■■■■■ engines which was the only good thing about them.
I think you sent me this one Dan [emoji1303]
Just wondered if anyone recognised the number plate on this one. My grandad bought it second hand from
up North. Possibly the Liverpool area from memory ■■? Reg TTU448R
Punchy Dan:
0
I’d forgotten that there was a second one of Pandoro’s 25-strong batch of 300 Series tractors, converted to a sleeper.
Here’s the other: flickr.com/photos/foden_djp … ist-cEuzFf
Because the wheelbase was longer than the day-cabbed 400 Series on the fleet, the sleeper conversions (by Longton Coachcraft) were correspondingly bigger.
Pandoro was instrumental in developing the 32T version of the 300 Series with the factory, and ran two prototypes well ahead of the production versions
Would you mind if the photo was posted onto the Pandoro Facebook page (suitably credited, of course)?
CKD kits for New Zealand:
400 Series CKD kits for NZ by Gardner 8LXB, on Flickr
Pandoro publicity photo, taken on Fleetwood quay c.1977
243 XBV 241R Seddon Atkinson T36C250 by Gardner 8LXB, on Flickr
Banbury, 2011, recovering a dead Iveco:
Q733 JBW by Gardner 8LXB, on Flickr
Q733 JBW by Gardner 8LXB, on Flickr
John Smith’s dray, broken up on a farm in West Wales in May 2017:
F728 DWX Seddon Atkinson 2-11 by Chris Gardner, on Flickr
Said to have been the first production 400 Series sleeper:
KBU 391P Seddon Atkinson 400 Series by Chris Gardner, on Flickr
This also featured in the 400 Series brochure
