Why did the Middle East spec Marathon’s have a silver line down the screen ? doesn’t look like a proper split screen like an Atki for example I’m sure some of you ex Middle Easter’s will know ?
southlondoner:
Why did the Middle East spec Marathon’s have a silver line down the screen ? doesn’t look like a proper split screen like an Atki for example I’m sure some of you ex Middle Easter’s will know ?
Was it not a chrome rod or bar that held one side of each of the windscreen blinds?
David
southlondoner:
Why did the Middle East spec Marathon’s have a silver line down the screen ? doesn’t look like a proper split screen like an Atki for example I’m sure some of you ex Middle Easter’s will know ?
I’m sure I read somewhere that they were optional two-piece windscreens held by the metal strip. Windscreens came in for a fair amount of aggro on M/E work so it would have been cheaper to replace the half that got broken. I’ve trawled through the LHD Marathons thread but I can’t find reference to them in there, even though there are numerous pictures of these split screens there. You might have better luck and more patience so here’s the link if you want it:
Graham Edge has written a lot about Marathons so he might know, as he posts on here. Cheers.
Hi thanks for the thread looking at all the left ■■■■■■ pic Marathons now they didn’t all have the silver bar as I thought perhaps it was for the blinds ?
Here’s another Marathon thread you might like to explore. It’s got 27 pages so good luck with the search!
R.
Somewhere, on here, there is a Leyland Ergo thread. In that, there is a brochure showing all the options you could have. I think it dates from 1965, one year into Ergo Time. One of the options is a split 'screen. It is similar to a Yank truck split, IE the two glasses are not separated by an actual pillar, as it was on an Atki. I guess these were fitted to the ME ones, for the reasons Robert alluded to- 'screens broken by Kurdish urchins who wanted more cigarettes than you were prepared to throw at them. 
On the subject of ME specials (I think there is a thread for those, too, somewhere), I put a video on the Saviem’s Fan Club thread- in it there is footage of the Berliet one.
[zb]
anorak:
Somewhere, on here, there is a Leyland Ergo thread. In that, there is a brochure showing all the options you could have. I think it dates from 1965, one year into Ergo Time. One of the options is a split 'screen. It is similar to a Yank truck split, IE the two glasses are not separated by an actual pillar, as it was on an Atki. I guess these were fitted to the ME ones, for the reasons Robert alluded to- 'screens broken by Kurdish urchins who wanted more cigarettes than you were prepared to throw at them.On the subject of ME specials (I think there is a thread for those, too, somewhere), I put a video on the Saviem’s Fan Club thread- in it there is footage of the Berliet one.
I think this’ll be the thread you refer to, Anorak - here’s the link:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=98062&hilit=ergo+cab
At 39 pages, we’ll have to wade through a fair bit to get the nub of the question. Good luck (and I’ll have a peep later if my busy lockdown regime allows me time )
EDIT to say that over and above the call of duty I filled a coffee pot and waded through all 39 pages (38 of which are Carryfast’s take on the world, the universe and everything) and I can find no reference to the split screens.
This scan of the 1965 brochure refers to split 'screens. The accompanying discussion refers to them:
flickr.com/photos/semmytrai … otostream/
I would have copied and posted the pic, but am on an android device, and they are a bit ■■■■, in some ways.
[zb]
anorak:
This scan of the 1965 brochure refers to split 'screens. The accompanying discussion refers to them:
flickr.com/photos/semmytrai … otostream/I would have copied and posted the pic, but am on an android device, and they are a bit [zb], in some ways.
Well done Anorak! Yes, it quite clearly states: an optional two-piece windscreen. Notice the wording: ‘two-piece’, not ‘split’. I think these were originally offered on export models but the option obviously hung around in the archives long enough to make its re-debut in the Middle-East spec Marathon 2.
Rowena
The very early Ergomatic cabs had a problem with windscreens falling out, usually when the cab was tilted. The cab A pillars were quite thin and for its time, 1965, it was a big single piece windscreen. Toughened glass does flex, and the weight of the screen when the cab was tilted was sufficient to pull the extremity of the screen out of the A pillar. So a two piece-option was offered and this continued with the Marathon, and was recommended for those likely to be travelling bad and rough road surfaces. The cure to prevent windscreens dropping out was quite simple, - thicker and deeper rubber sealing surrounds. Like much of the Ergomatic cab design, it was new and unproven in 1965.
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Not relative to this thread so I apologise but that’s why the BMC FFK/FHK models had those four ‘tabs’ pop rivetted around the screen as they suffered initially with the screens falling out due to them being wrap around. They were allegedly the largest single piece screen around at that time (mid fifties) but look like a letterbox nowadays!
Pete.