In France.
> ramone:
> Ha ha nice one , now can you lower it so it could fit the rest of the range , oh and put the proper three letters on the front 
As you wish:-
whisperingsmith:
> ramone:
> Ha ha nice one , now can you lower it so it could fit the rest of the range , oh and put the proper three letters on the frontAs you wish:-
0
Top man , now if you had worked for Leyland you could have saved `em
Couldn’t resist giving a decent paint job too!!
whisperingsmith:
Couldn’t resist giving a decent paint job too!!0
whisperingsmith:
More like this Robert?0
Cheers
Geoff
Is that the Range Riover full of spares that accompanied that motor to Doha and back?
Was the Range rover full of spares standard or did hauliers have to specify it as an extra option?
Soldier z:
whisperingsmith:
More like this Robert?0
Cheers
GeoffIs that the Range Riover full of spares that accompanied that motor to Doha and back?
Was the Range rover full of spares standard or did hauliers have to specify it as an extra option?
I think there were 3 Range-Rovers, all supplied by BL - 2 for the film crew and their equipment and one with spares for the Marathon and other Range Rovers. Truckerash will know the definitive answer! Robert
robert1952:
Soldier z:
whisperingsmith:
More like this Robert?0
Cheers
GeoffIs that the Range Riover full of spares that accompanied that motor to Doha and back?
Was the Range rover full of spares standard or did hauliers have to specify it as an extra option?I think there were 3 Range-Rovers, all supplied by BL - 2 for the film crew and their equipment and one with spares for the Marathon and other Range Rovers. Truckerash will know the definitive answer! Robert
Did the film crew sleep in said Range Rovers?
VAL74:
Hello from FranceThis is my brother’s Marathon 2 TL12, he is a carpenter
truck works perfectly (painted by me), it is mainly used for crane :Is this Marathon for sale■■?
Think it’s about time we had a thread on this motor . What were they like? which were best, the Mk1 or 2 ? TL12 or ■■■■■■■■ were they really competitive with the europeans? Oh & if anyones got some pics
Here’s one to start you off with.Sadler Tankers ltd Leyland Marathon MK 2.I found the interior of the mk2 a little more refined than the mk1 just about, and the 290 ■■■■■■■ was a flyer.
Don’t remember which model we had on Brit European,but it was sent out on a m/e trip and all but fell apart.It was then limited to doing France which was not too much trouble,never had another one though!
After some of the old tot I have driven, I found the Marathon not a bad old bus to drive.The sleeper version cab was roomy. Well lets face it any sleeper was roomy in those days 
The steering always seemed a bit light on the one I drove a bit. The brakes were not that brilliant, well, not as good as an ERF… of which the brakes were the only good thing!
I really liked the mk1 sleeper I had, The ■■■■■■■ 290 was a powerhouse for those days and the fuller 9 speed was a slick change. The cab had loads of room and was comfortable ( I liked the left footrest), vision was excellent , although the standard mirrors were small.
Brakes !!! What brakes?? , they were a nightmare, braking was only planned in advance, but sort of traditional for Leylands (they always went well but never stopped). I was told that they sorted the brakes on the mk2, yeh right ! that didn’t stop either.
I reckon they were a good motor that could have been sorted out .
The problem with the brakes on the Marathon MK1 was that the brake foot valve was situated half way down the chassis and was controlled by a cable which if not well lubricated tended to seize up hence the slow reaction with the braking system as though the vehicle was’nt going to stop,they altered it to under the pedal on the MK2 and they were slightly better,unit only you may aswell have had an anchor.
Stanfield:
The problem with the brakes on the Marathon MK1 was that the brake foot valve was situated half way down the chassis and was controlled by a cable which if not well lubricated tended to seize up hence the slow reaction with the braking system as though the vehicle was’nt going to stop,they altered it to under the pedal on the MK2 and they were slightly better,unit only you may aswell have had an anchor.
Sounds like they nicked that from the transcon, or was it the other way round… same problem though !!
Unfortunately, the Marathon was like everything else that carried the … British Leyland badge, The designers at Leyland never had a prayer of a chance, because everything came down to cost cutting, when the Marathon came out , Scania and Volvo were already established as trucks with long haul capability, Leylands answer was a , Half ergo, half Bathgate cabbed truck, with a modified AV760 engine that was notoriously unreliable. All trucks in the 70’s suffered from tin worm, but the Marathon was terrible, as a kid i lived near" Isles of Stanningley, a large Leyland truck dealer back in the 70’s ( now chatfields DAF ) There yard used to be full of brand new Marathons in beige leyland primer… going rusty before they’d even been registered. I spoke to a man from Leyland many years ago at a Leyland Trucks open day ,when the T45 had just been launched, he had originaly worked for AEC, He told me that the sketches for the high datum cabbed Roadtrain were done in the early 70’s but the people in charge of the ■■■■■ strings made them make do with a modified ergo cab for the heavy range… makes you wonder doesn’t it ■■? The Roadtrain was the truck of the year in 1980, if it had been launched in 76 it would have been a real revelation !!! Britains designers were never the problem, all the early Datsun cars had engines based on Leylands A & B series 1300 & 1800 engines, early Saab’s had Triumph based engines, and of course, Scania’s legendary V8 was based on an AEC engine, they just knew how to make them work ! our designers never got any financial backing !
Jerry
jerry truckartist:
Unfortunately, the Marathon was like everything else that carried the … British Leyland badge, The designers at Leyland never had a prayer of a chance, because everything came down to cost cutting, when the Marathon came out , Scania and Volvo were already established as trucks with long haul capability, Leylands answer was a , Half ergo, half Bathgate cabbed truck, with a modified AV760 engine that was notoriously unreliable. All trucks in the 70’s suffered from tin worm, but the Marathon was terrible, as a kid i lived near" Isles of Stanningley, a large Leyland truck dealer back in the 70’s ( now chatfields DAF ) There yard used to be full of brand new Marathons in beige leyland primer… going rusty before they’d even been registered. I spoke to a man from Leyland many years ago at a Leyland Trucks open day ,when the T45 had just been launched, he had originaly worked for AEC, He told me that the sketches for the high datum cabbed Roadtrain were done in the early 70’s but the people in charge of the ■■■■■ strings made them make do with a modified ergo cab for the heavy range… makes you wonder doesn’t it ■■? The Roadtrain was the truck of the year in 1980, if it had been launched in 76 it would have been a real revelation !!! Britains designers were never the problem, all the early Datsun cars had engines based on Leylands A & B series 1300 & 1800 engines, early Saab’s had Triumph based engines, and of course, Scania’s legendary V8 was based on an AEC engine, they just knew how to make them work ! our designers never got any financial backing !Jerry
You are right there Jerry, the same with british bikes , cars, trucks all the right ideas and ingrediants but no one willing to put the cash on the line.
The company I worked for at the time had quite a few Marathons Mk1 & 2s plus other leyland models eg Buffalo and we had one or two on test from Leyland @ chorley ie engine,gearbox,brakes etc in different models.The engineers from leyland used to tell us that the Marathon was a makeshift and everything was being tested for the T45 until it was ready, but has you say we had to wait for the 80s because of whoever was holding the money, by then it was to late Scania & Volvo had cornered the market.
I had a Mk1 Marathon from new and once the brake foot valve was moved to a position under the pedal the brakes were acceptable but certainly not great.I remember what a difference there was between my old AV760 Mandator and the TL12 Marathon with the Fuller RTO9509 box - talk about fly,a real money earner she was. 