Leyland Marathon...The "Nearly" Truck of The 1970s?

[gingerfold]

Following Ramone’s suggestion here goes. “The Leyland Marathon” written in 2006. If you click on the pages they will enlarge. Please feel free to add Marathon photographs. Here is the introduction and Section 1 to be going on with.

By one of those uncanny coincidences just as I had found a way to share this with you, yesterday I received my latest copy of the AEC Gazette, and in it is an article written by a former AEC employee who was part of the development and testing team working on the Marathon. He writes that the Berliet cab, as used on the Ford Transcontinental was considered for the Marathon…an intriguing idea. And even more than 40 years after the truck was introduced new information still comes to light.

[punchy_dan]

I’ve never heard of this firm since ,this marathan my dad bought in 1983 for £2000 from auction ,it broke in half at one point as it was grossing 50 tonne some times in the miners strike ,it served him well for 5 years but at times loaded in every direction it was down to 3 mpg !!!

[punchy_dan]

it looked really good when he first sprayed the unit and trailer .

[stevejones]

1 from down in the desert

[windrush]

Punchy Dan:
0 I’ve never heard of this firm since ,this marathan my dad bought in 1983 for £2000 from auction ,it broke in half at one point as it was grossing 50 tonne some times in the miners strike ,it served him well for 5 years but at times loaded in every direction it was down to 3 mpg !!!
[/quote]

Knowing your old chap the ‘pedal would have been down to the metal’ all day long as well Dan! Did he have two Marathons, I seem to remember a red one but I’m possibly (most probably!) completely wrong!

Pete.

[punchy_dan]

Pete I think the red one was Don or Derek Naylor ? I think old mans was eventually used for bits by them ?

[chris_webb]

I got my Marathon at A E Evans Sheffield depot in 1976. PCL 553R Fleet 238,with TL12 and the Fuller RTO9509.To say it was a powerful and fast machine would be an understatement,especially after a AV760 Mandator,but the brakes were useless until modified by A E Evans’ fitters at Sheffield.Apart from that I had no problem with it and it earned me some brass for the two and half years I had it.Photo of yours truly int cab at Sheffield,loaded for Marchon Whitehaven,sunday delivery in 1977 and a couple of Paul Gees photos he took of it on the M50.

[ramone]

Great stuff Graham , keep it coming

[erf-ngc-european]

Good thread and input, Gingerfold!

As a quick reference, here is the link to my ‘LHD Leyland Marathons’ thread on here:

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=121419&hilit=LHD+Leyland+marathons

Robert

[gingerfold]

Continuing with Section 2

[chris_webb]

Great reading Graham,thanks.

[frankydobo]

Probably worth having look at the TL12 engine that Graham began Section 2 of his Marathon story with and the Leyland brochure cover showing the Mk2 Marathon. Franky.

[erf-ngc-european]

[gingerfold]

With Robert confirming the date of the Ford Transcontinental as April 1975, (Bewick thread) some 18 months after the Marathon, the latest information that AEC / Leyland were considering the Berliet cab for the Marathon is even more interesting. Hazarding a guess then I would suggest that cost would have been the deciding factor that made BL make do with a re-worked Ergomatic cab. The writer of the Marathon article in the AEC Gazette states that no matter what they tried they couldn’t easily eliminate the choppy riding characteristics of the day-cabbed Marathons and the main reason was that the raised cab was top heavy and unbalanced. The sleeper cabbed versions gave a much improved ride; the extra weight of the sleeper giving more balance to the cab.

Incidentally I drove a demonstrator TL12 Marathon in 1974 and quite frankly it terrified me for the first hour or so until I got used to it. Up to then I had never driven an artic as powerful and fast as that. The cable operated gear change felt sloppy and the brake pedal felt unresponsive, but to echo Chris Webb’s comment, the performance had to be experienced to be believed.

[ramone]

Thanks for posting Graham I found it a great read. My dad had a Marathon with an E290 ■■■■■■■ in and it was bought from Lex Tillotsons for £16000 new . The registration was JCP 49W

[carryfast]

I had the misfortune of nights out with that short sleeper as opposed to the longer version shown in the Mid Easter photo.While to add insult to injury it was obviously an excessively narrow cab which then didn’t leave enough room for a decent steering wheel which was another flaw which I hated about the thing.As for the brakes what brakes especially when pulling knackered old unaccompanied trailers.The thing was a joke in trying to make a decent truck out of the Ergo and compared to the DAF 2800 which was the truck it should have been.

[frankydobo]

I agree with others a very interesting read and informative with its insight into British Leyland’s problems and attempts to solve them. No doubt the Marathon Mk 2 enabled Leyland to continue to develop the T45 Roadtrain further, not a vehicle I have to say I thought was very inspiring to look at and rather like the Bedford TM quite boring in its cab design.
Thankfully for Leyland the power train options had been well tested in the Marathon to enable them to offer customers the right combination for their operations with the Roadtrain. Interesting to think what a Leyland Berliet cabbed unit may have looked like, would they just tweak it slightly as Ford did or do a similar GUY, Seddon, etc Panels Cab front panel change, wonder if it got to the drawing stage! Franky.

[stanfield]

HNE338V Fitted with ■■■■■■■ 290

SNC538R Fitted with ■■■■■■■ 250

Sadlers Marathons with a couple of odd ones in the ranks

Marathon Day cab in kit form

[gingerfold]

Frankydobo:
I agree with others a very interesting read and informative with its insight into British Leyland’s problems and attempts to solve them. No doubt the Marathon Mk 2 enabled Leyland to continue to develop the T45 Roadtrain further, not a vehicle I have to say I thought was very inspiring to look at and rather like the Bedford TM quite boring in its cab design.
Thankfully for Leyland the power train options had been well tested in the Marathon to enable them to offer customers the right combination for their operations with the Roadtrain. Interesting to think what a Leyland Berliet cabbed unit may have looked like, would they just tweak it slightly as Ford did or do a similar GUY, Seddon, etc Panels Cab front panel change, wonder if it got to the drawing stage! Franky.

I am hoping that we might see a Berliet cabbed Marathon drawing from our very talented artistic contributor…

[gingerfold]

Carryfast:
I had the misfortune of nights out with that short sleeper as opposed to the longer version shown in the Mid Easter photo.While to add insult to injury it was obviously an excessively narrow cab which then didn’t leave enough room for a decent steering wheel which was another flaw which I hated about the thing.As for the brakes what brakes especially when pulling knackered old unaccompanied trailers.The thing was a joke in trying to make a decent truck out of the Ergo and compared to the DAF 2800 which was the truck it should have been.

Yes, the car-sized steering wheel wasn’t every driver’s cup of tea.