bestbooties:
When I was doing M/E in the '70’s,I got to know a pleasant German trucker who spoke excellent English.I used to run into him as one did with other colleagues on the M/E,varying diferent places.His name was Berndt Braun(Bernard Brown),tall guy,about 6’3",almost bald,and he was a barrel of laughs.I met him once inthe pub in Dover just outside the Eastern dock,(The Albion?) .
He once told me the reason why he had lost most of his hair,he used to be a salesman for Maggy Deutz in Germany,and he said they were the worst truck ever built!
Rolandrat,
I was surprised to see in one of last months trucking mags,that a guy who had done a lot with promoting Maggies in the UK and thought they were the best trucks ever built!.
This seems in conflict with the guy I mentioned above.Funny how two people can have such opposing views about the same truck!
harry:
Maggie’s made excellent engines for boats but burned & crashed in trucks.;believe me ,when it takes 3 weeks to go to London-Turin-Milan-London because of breakdowns you always have a soft spot for wonderful Maggie’s. I ,of course, only know what happens in Europe with these rigs. What happens in Africa is maybe another thing. I drove ,for various firms, 3 different models of those dogs & was plagued by breakdowns Summer & Winter. They are rcap.
Lets get this right please.
‘Maggies’ did not make engines for boats or anything else.(since 1942)
Deutz made the engines in Maggies, and Deutz also made and still make Marine Engines . They are Water-cooled.
As I said there were cases of trucks receiving No maintenance as they needed so little. These were the ones which gave trouble.
Magirus Deutz were very popular with Owner Drivers due to the low maintenance costs and reliabilty.
The fact that they were used ( and still are all over Germany) extensively for Emergency vehicles all over the world , says it all.
Melbourne fire brigade just pensioned 2 off after 30 years service.
By the way if you are going to be abusive, it all falls apart if you spell the word wrong.
LOL ! Re; Abusive ? I am being generous here.Its the only way to describe the lump ! We will have to agree to disagree. Magies hate me ;I spent more time outside in sub-zero weather outside trying to fix 'em than I did inside the cab driving 'em. And you love 'em. Breakdown locations; GB ,France, Italy,Germany,Swiss , mostly in Winter. Not with just one truck & multiple breakdowns every trip.
RIP. Maggie.( Hopefully )
RolandRat:
By the way if you are going to be abusive, it all falls apart if you spell the word wrong.
He spelt the word wrong probably because he was trying to beat the auto-censor. Take another look Roland, I asked it and it said OK .
I know absolutely nothing about Maggies or the Deutzs in them, other than the fact that they were air-cooled, but I thought you previously said that Deutzs made no marine engines.
Also, again sitting well on the fence through ignorance, but I hardly think that the limited mileage of fire engines compares with repeated ME trips.
As Harry said, I think you will have to agree to disagree, but perhaps a contribution from someone who operated/drove them over long distances and liked them, would be useful.
My dad used to drive a maggie duetz 8x4 tipper for Brennan and Murphy civil engineering in the mid 80’s and he swore it was the best thing since sliced bread, although when ever I used to go to work with him during the holidays I seem to remember it spending more time off the road .
When they were going they were great. Went up M.Blanc the French side in deep snow at night & with the auto diff lock on the double drive as quick as a Summers day. The Webasto night heater was ahead of its time .But there is not enough space or time here to record multi breakdowns every trip.
Yes I agree. we will have to agree to disagree.
I am not very conversant with forums, so I accept your comment re avoiding the censor.
My final point on this string is to clarify the Marine Engine thing.
What I said was that the V10 used in the Magirus that was being decried, was not developed as a Marine Engine.
Deutz do have several groups of other engines specifically for marine use.
I hope this clarifies the situation.
Thank you for your intervention.
I drove a Maggie 232 to Bagdhad and back once, I have to say it was not the best truck I ever drove, it had a habit of snapping injector pipes and the constant mesh gearbox was a nightmare to use and I’m no stranger to double de-clutching having driven Leyland Hippos in my RAF days, indeed my fav box is still a Fuller 16.
Each to his own but give me a Scania V8 any time
For some stupid reason in 1971 a friend of mine let himself get talked into buying 2 ex SCA Maggies from Dorado Commercials, Guildford. (they were the local Scania agents). One 6 wheeler and one 4 wheeler. He got them painted up looking real nice but sadly the both let him down. He got the 6 wheeler fixed and sold it keeping the 4 wheeler to use. The first trip it broke down near Auxerre and got towed to a local agent. When it was fixed I went with him to pick it up and it broke down again just south of Paris. We left it there for him to come and tow back to his garage, saying if it was something he’d done wrong it would be fixed free. Well the fact was that all the oilways were sludged up and that caused the problem. He explained to me (and I aint no fitter) that people mis-understood the Maggie. Because it was air cooled and needed little maintenance it got abused. He said because of the construction of the engine it was imperitive to do regular oil changes. That meant a lot more frequent than on a conventional water cooled deisel engine. He said if you take care of the oil changes you’ll have no more trouble than any other truck would give you. The unit got sold to an owner driver and I do know he had no trouble with it for some time but was sold on again so I dont know the end results. What the fitter said to me made sense but it aint my field to really make any more of a comment. What do you think ?
Nice one Keith You beat me to it. Been looking for a pic of that Maggie for a while. Oh well, heres my " You call we haul " offering
Ive been reading this thread with great interest. I actually like the truck for its “looks”.
Found this advert in an old mag:
check out the Briggs day cab, here it is again:-
and then, blow me, if it doesnt crop up again…this time “on route” to Bhaghdad ! The grey one was operated by Harrisons from West Mids and I think (I may be wrong) the Briggs day cab was being run - second hand - by them also. Dont know whether you can see, but the driver is very happy indeed as he’s waving from the cab
Harrisons had a few Maggies (and DAFs) The fleet colour was a pale yellow but they also had some painted in Davies Turner greens.
I once knew a bloke called GEORGE BROOK who worked there. A few years ago he was running a car repair garage in West Brom. Anyone know of his whereabouts now? I still got his photos!!!
I think their lack of success tells its own story.
