My Last job was driving for Newbold’s Ibstock .One of the drivers was Geof Corner he drove for Glover’s in the 70s .He worked them hard.
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Trevor was my dads mate he drove a sister lorry to my dads aec mark 3 with maudesley plates on it …………he started with a 4 wheeler Leyland comet cab over on with whitwick.the braking was nt air and a 60 mph lorry took a lot of stopping it had a two speed axle he went onto a 4 wheeler foden then onto bigger stuff…there was some business arrangement with emmersons from belton. My dad did a few trips down to brent at night for him…I still remembering him lecturing my dad over the brakes . I think the winter of 63 hit him hard and he went onto coal and scrap later. brent was a gravel dump just off the north circular road where hendon shopping centre stands today…the motorway ended at junction 17…in fact last trip over I was driving down to heathrow to fly back when I encountered a detour on the M1 I was totally lost but followed the first hgv this was at 0400hrs we came out at junction 17 and I travelled down the a5 which I had nt been on since I was a kid still recognised it. In fact one of his decendants now runs a trucking outfit in Austin texas USA I m told. I don’t know what he was like to work for but he was very nice to me and my family when I was young. Newbolds ? are they on a side street in ibstock opposite a pub ? looked like good equipment on bricks .Meanwhile back at the ranch fuel is at a 20 year low here owing to the price of oil falling to the floor ….under 70 cents a litre for regular gas about 10 cents more for diesel and marilyns niece now on a flight from London to Toronto…what a relief !!. Picture one like my dads note the confusing signage after nationalisation
Yes it is opposite the pub . It’s on a farm that they own. Still haul for Ibsock brick. I had an 8wheeler tipper .They have 4 MAN drawbar brick cranes.1MAN 8 Wheeler .2 Fodens.8 Wheeler’s .What a great picture.Yes it would be at the time of nationalism. When all this is over I will go and see them. Pete Newbold has some good photos . Hopefully will post some .Great news about your niece. Bet that’s a relief.
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I m wandering off topic again but could resist putting these on here…two vehicle my wife and I ran back in the early 1980 s on the left is a 1974 buick century 350 v 8 lots on miles on that one the second is a 1977 Chevrolet nova considered a compact car at that time 305 V 8
…note the front plates we don’t have now…how can you guess that theres no MOT in these parts.
Great picture .l love 70s American cars. Propper engines. Spot on.
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The older buick ran on leaded petrol when you could buy it here…unleaded for the chevy it went like a rocket drove it lots in the mountains would go up the side of a mountain as fast as it went down. They were both automatic and rear wheel drive needed something heavy in the boot winter time paid about $3000 for pair of them and sold them later for slightly less. Bought my first small car in 1987 and stayed with them ever since. We now have a Toyota and a Hyundai .4 cylinder and automatic. How the mighty have fallen. I had a ford focus from hertz heathrow last time I was in England almost new car had a 6 speed manual in it horrible gearbox I made a real pigs ear of driving it. Automatics on cars has clearly not taken off in England…with hertz you have to order it and pay more this must upset the thousand of American tourist who come to England each year…when things are normal that is .Standard transmission cars are hard to sell here unless it is in a high end sports car.
Yes those big engines ideal for mountain roads .I suppose small car’s the way we have to go. I have a Hyundai good car. It’s strange we don’t have so many automatics, although the trucks and buses are mostly automatic now. Push the button press the accelerator and away you go. Saves all that hard work with 16speed boxes specially in city’s.Spot on.Lorry driving is so much easier powerful engine’s auto boxes comfortable cabs and WARM. Even a trip down the M1 involved numerous gear changes crawling up hills and freezing cold cabs .Only good thing was light traffic. With all the gaps in the cabs and a Gardener engine heater’s were useless.Driver comfort was last on the operator’s list. If you got wet sheeting that was it for the rest of the day. Those were the days.
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I will be selling my much loved Citroen Berlingo soon with nearly half a million kms on the clock, had to change it, reluctantly, 3 years ago for a Peugeot Partner only because with knackered left knee and right shoulder I NEEDED an auto box. Doesn’t even have a lever, just a little dial knob on the dash but also 2 ‘paddles’ on the column to change up manually 
Heaven in traffic. 
My first encounter with an automatic box was in a rover 3 litre at bardon road garage I was only about 16 and unlicenced at the time . We were putting the better cars to bed one night this one was parked facing the road in front of a curb. Started the bloody thing up on full choke put it into drive and over the grass verge I went stopped it before it entered the A50 . The volvo trucks I delivered in 2018 were all automatics they were great but I dont know what they would be like in the mountains running at 63500 KG gross . There was a fatality a couple of years ago here where a loaded tanker was crawling up a grade spun out rolled backwards out of control over the side .this was on the salmo -creston mountain in south eastern british columbia 17 miles up and 17 miles down…I had to go with another driver once before they let me loose on it.I think the truck in this case was automatic .
Hyundai got off to a bad start in canada with the “pony” they d got better ever since .we bought a elantra new at the end of last year to replace a 17 year old toyota …the wife wanted a hatchback this was several thousands more that a sedan …we love toyota but not with the cvt transmission good for about 5 years .it was either the hyundai or mazda and after the local mazda dealership ripped of my neighbour i avoided them and bought the hyundai. We had a couple of automatic trucks at manteis the last company I worked these were western stars plate for around 45000 kg pulling tridem trailer these were assigned city work only but once a
I had do a short highway trip and they were horrible unpredictable downshifting I was nt impressed. The best comromise I felt was a leyland leopard coach with a semi automatic box I liked them but again in the lower weight range,
It catches up with us . When you are young you don’t think jumping off trailer’s kneeling on concrete and muddy floors matter,even when the older men warn you. When I worked at Bardon we had a Doge Kew L,A.D cab tractor unit with an A.E.C 470 engine and gearbox squeezed in, horrible to work on. 1964, like it from new.
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Wow that mountain sounds scary. Guess you need some sort of training for that.I have not driven anything above 44tonnes. Sounds like a case of the tail wagging the dog.
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No knowing what a vehicle will do on a steep slippery surface. I once loaded my tanker with sand at a quarry near Ashbourne but couldn’t get up the hill of the pit lane due to snowfall. So me and several other stranded drivers put our gear in the changing rooms (underfloor heating 
) and walked down the lane to the pub. Had a great evening in front of the blazing fire and walked back happy in the moonlight.
In the morning, after some breakfast, went to the wagon to find it resting peacefully in the ditch. 
Apparently the snow under the tyres froze during the night and then a partial thaw and refreeze sent the beast on her way.
A quick drag from the handy giant front end loader and I was soon on my way to Stirling. 
That’s making a good job of a bad one.spot on
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These days with automatic brake adjusters its a lot easier before this it was a lot harder at each brake check you had to crawl under and adjust the brakes a half inch spanner tighten up completely then back off half a turn. Well one day a new kid on the block showed up and turned the adjuster the wrong way on each wheel and he went down the mountain to meet his maker .there are runaway lanes but probably not one available in this situation.Have you ever watched a show called “highway through hell” or" rescue 401"…highway through hell is about wrecking crews on the coquihalla highway in british columbiia rescue 401 is about the same job on the 401 highway in ontario the busiest road in canada…these are available on u tube. Also there are chain up lights at different locations if your caught without them big fine…I didnt do this very often its a horrilbe thing to do when its minus 25 C and dark.If you are on the same truck all the time it isnt bad but I was always slip seating so I ve been spun out . Also to put the weight of a super b tanker in prespective there are usually 5 compartments 3 on the lead 2 on the pup the number 5 compartment cane be loaded to 17000 litres a 24 ton gross eight wheel tanker in england in the fifties carried about 18000 litres so I was driving three 8 wheelers
Hi everyone I received a private message on sunday from a member of this website commermaxiload762 ….I will avoid using this gentlemans name here he says he has pictures of whitwick granite commers and of Ron Meek who was a family friend he lives in Leicestershire .I ve tried to reply back by private message and I don’t think the messages I sent got through I ve send in the past haven’t got through either. Can anyone make any suggestions?I am not the most computer literate person on this site but I would love to get these photos I know paul has been looking all over the place for these and similar .
robinswh:
Hi everyone I received a private message on sunday from a member of this website commermaxiload762 ….I will avoid using this gentlemans name here he says he has pictures of whitwick granite commers and of Ron Meek who was a family friend he lives in Leicestershire .I ve tried to reply back by private message and I don’t think the messages I sent got through I ve send in the past haven’t got through either. Can anyone make any suggestions?I am not the most computer literate person on this site but I would love to get these photos I know paul has been looking all over the place for these and similar .
Not that savvy myself either, but, from past experience I know that PMs are funny things, Just because you’ve sent one doesn’t mean that it has been read. That won’t happen until the person sees he has one and opens it. This can take weeks till the penny drops.
Is your PM still in your ‘outbox’? If so that means he hasn’t opened it and there is nothing you can do till he does.
Thanks I sent it again…just don’t want myself look bad if this chap went out of his way to contact me and I m ignoring him. Nick I send you a pm a couple of weeks ago ? did you get it?
Hi. No I didn’t get anything. What did you send it on. Love to see the pictures.
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I cant get the pictures until I contact commermaiload762…I ve tried 3 times and it doesnt work the chap lives in hinckley and owns a restored commer maxiload I dont like putting peoples names on here . Also my e mail I sent I asked for your e mail as at the time there was something I wanted to tell you I didnt want to put it on a public forum . I cant figure how to get that now this PM thing doesnt seem to work well.
meanwhile lovely winter day in calgary minus 15 degrees C and a couple of inches of new snow,. I read in the leicester mercury this morning that some lady volunteer had her tires slashed on her car near the thornton reservoir…one of my favourite walks …wonderful world isnt it ?She was taking food supplies to the old and infirm.
Ok .I wonder If I could find him. Will ask my son if he can help with the PM. Wow that’s cold .That story makes you wonder about some people.
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