Thought it might be the right time to start a thread for all those Middle East veterans who paid their dues while working for non-Astran companies.
To kick off a pic. of an Eric Hunwick F88 somewhere in Turkey.
Great photo… good motor…
How can you say such a thing Jazzandy? Not Astran? When so many believe that there was ONLY Astran!
Here is a good picture of a non-Astran subbie. You see what happens if you are not pulling for the King?
David
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Hi David, was this not the Daf that sat at Ramtha many years ago. It slowly dissapeared piece by piece.
I remember a certain gentleman from Granada offering to take anything off of it that i may require as he would do it during the night wearing only his underpants and provided he did’nt smile no one could see him. It did make me laugh at the time with his humor. regards jamie.
The very one Jamie.
I wonder if it is compulsory to dismantle abandoned trucks wearing only underpants - and without a smile of course! Perhaps that was the mistake that Pat seal and I made when we liberated the diff from the F88 that was abandoned near the mirrors but which went on to give him many years of good service having been carried home in a frame welded to the chassis of an Altrex container trailer.
Regrettably the company, which came from Avonmouth, disappeared in much the same way, with or without drawers. 
David
And another that was pretending to be in Astran colours!
That’ll learn 'em. “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”
David
David Miller:
And another that was pretending to be in Astran colours!That’ll learn 'em. “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”
David
…And another who dispensed with the colours altogether, forsooth! Mind you, the cab’s the same shade of grey as that abandoned Guy Big-J - bet he had the 8LXB out out of it before Bewick found out! Robert 
I think you are right Robert - that was the replacement for the diseased Big J.
Driver looks happy too.
David
Sigh! Well I suppose we’d better stop taking the ■■■■ and let the thread run its course as Andy intended it! To which end, here are two contrasting pictures to show the difference between the fantasy and the reality of the Middle-East run. Robert
Here’s a photo of Kemal Hussein and Eric both driving for J and T, the predeccesor of Oryz Freight Lines. Taken around 1974 at Mocamp.
Glad this has started to get a bit more serious!
Had just decided it was a bit like the BBC, when ITV started - then thought a better analogy was Animal Farm - All animals are equal, some are more equal than others.
Remember meeting Kemal (at Kapik I think) and being wowed by his ability to chat in Turkish, then revert to his London accent. He was bragging about how handy he was as an employee. Then it was sort of spoilt by someone else saying ‘Yeah, but the trouble is Kemal, you spend a week in Istanbul every trip, visiting relatives!’
Happy Days,
John. 
Bill Kitt’s F12 subbing for F.G.Hammond Intl. loaded with exhibition equipment for the Tehran International Trade Fair.
Hiya…whats on with the scania.its got V8 on the door but looks like its got 180 on the grill
has someone squeezed a percy into the scania…must run now…for cover ha ha
John
Jazzandy:
Bill Kitt’s F12 subbing for F.G.Hammond Intl. loaded with exhibition equipment for the Tehran International Trade Fair.
That’s a nice looking Volvo, I drove an A plate F12, for a couple off years, But if our lot mentioned somewhere to the East where its sandy, they meant Lowestoft 
To the purpose off this reply, I notice that the Volvo is a W reg, which I’m confident in thinking makes it a 1980 registration, yet you’ve mentioned that the photo was taken on the way to the Tehran International Trade Fair, which would make that after the Iranian revolution. I didn’t realise that the Islamic Republic allowed such western people into there lands after the revolution. Wow I bet that was an eye opener. You lads really were at the sharp end off a very long and dangerous drive, thanks for sharing it with us 
eddie snax
Which revolution you referring to Gengis Kahn no problem in Iran when I went there late 70s and 80s head down mind your own business be polite to locals ,get in get out job done ,I owned a Volvo exactly like the one in the pic except mine was a T Reg 1978,the roads were bad not realy roads as such, but interesting all the same.
Roger
Hi jazzandy, I remember spending three or four day’s at Dover export customs, with a load of exhibition goods for a Tehran trade fair. Bill Kit and one of his drivers were both trying to clear export customs at the same time. He had so many alterations in his TIR carnet that the customs refused to stamp any more. if i remember correctly he had to go along to Shenkers office for another. I think this was the first time I had seen him with his portable typewriter which he apparently carried with him in the truck. I had a Promotors load on which had human bones in one display, which i think was part of my problem. the paperwork for the load was in three cardboard boxes, that i had to carry upstairs to the customs in Dover for checking, it was a nightmare before I even left the country. I had told my boss that I would not go back to Iran after the Revolution,as I had been stuck there for six weeks during it. So I was doing a trailer change at Polycastron in Greece With Ratchet neck Bob, who was turning round and delivering the load to the trade fair in Tehran. Regards Jamie.
3300John:
Hiya…whats on with the scania.its got V8 on the door but looks like its got 180 on the grill
has someone squeezed a percy into the scania…must run now…for cover ha ha
John
Hey 3300, In the mid '70’s there was a fuss, because of a Swedish driver who had changed the 4 in an 8 of an LB85/80
on his grille. Quickly it went one’s rounds that it was a trial truck for a new engine, and lot’s in that timedidn’t know
what it meant 80/110 or 140. They only believed that it was gowing up as it did before as the 71/75/76/110 etc…
And so several mimic him by doing the same. Even at that moment there was the talk of Volvo which
would put Scania’s LB cab on the F89 and Scania which would replace its bonneted trucks with Volvo’s new bonneted
cab of the N10/12, and so it went on talking about the Scania LB180, Volvo’s F90. 
Eric,
hi jazzandy,
great idea for a thread.j&m transport from bridgend south wales did many trips throughout the early to mid 70’s.
p.s. i really enjoyed your talk at gaydon.
regards andrew.
Loose-wire:
eddie snax
Which revolution you referring to Gengis Kahn no problem in Iran when I went there late 70s and 80s head down mind your own business be polite to locals ,get in get out job done ,I owned a Volvo exactly like the one in the pic except mine was a T Reg 1978,the roads were bad not realy roads as such, but interesting all the same.
Roger
Loose-wire has a point (hello Roger!). The macro politics often don’t affect the micro ones. I was in Tehran in 2009 when there were riots against Britain, complete with flag-burning etc. But people were charming and polite to me because they knew my name wasn’t Tony Blair. I experienced the same in Pakistan when the Taliban were moving into Swat valley and the same in Saudi when I drove a lorry in there just after 9/11. I knew the border official wasn’t Bin Laden and he knew I wasn’t Geo Bush.
While the political children destroy the world around us, we grown-ups just get on with commerce and industry (and education). Not rocket science. Robert