Middle East - Not Astran!

[oldishjoda]

David Miller:
But I must say that for me the real heroes are those blokes that drove for the Iranian and Afgan companies that were running to Germany long before we even knew where the place was. Just imagine doing regular trips Tehran to Hamburg in that Austin rigid, or come to that the old Mack, with the very short looking headboard sleeper. That’s what heroes were made of!

David

I used to see the Iranians come into Concorezzo in 63 / 64 / 65 and they had very old Macs, worn out tyres, no workable brakes on the trailers, but they used to line them all up well. They would buy Levi Jeans etc and wear them with pride, they would sit there for 3 to 4 weeks awaiting there return loads and never any problems.

[guesty44]

OldishJoda:

David Miller:
But I must say that for me the real heroes are those blokes that drove for the Iranian and Afgan companies that were running to Germany long before we even knew where the place was. Just imagine doing regular trips Tehran to Hamburg in that Austin rigid, or come to that the old Mack, with the very short looking headboard sleeper. That’s what heroes were made of!

David

I used to see the Iranians come into Concorezzo in 63 / 64 / 65 and they had very old Macs, worn out tyres, no workable brakes on the trailers, but they used to line them all up well. They would buy Levi Jeans etc and wear them with pride, they would sit there for 3 to 4 weeks awaiting there return loads and never any problems.

[jazzandy]

That red and white Merc is exactly the same colour scheme as the 1924 I drove for Freightlanes to Tehran.

Freightlanes (The Driving Force in Europe) was owned by Drakelowe Holdings which was part owned by Charley Drake!

[john_west]

tiptop495:

robert1952:
Here’s a pic I found on the net, which reminds us that about this time of the year the weather starts to deteriorate as the Middle-East driver heads into Eastern Europe and Turkey - time to forget about sun and sand for another thousand or so miles! Robert

0

Hey Robert, Always the same why no fuel heaters or airdryers as thy were already aviable from the '70 on.
Had for a while auto snowchains, not that it was THE solution, but nice in some points.
In France it began already with the fuel, lets alone Turkey or Russia, if you could was to buy at army guys but …

Eric,

Hi Eric,
I think there are a couple of points here. The continental companies were probably used to sending vehicles all over Europe, if not actually to the middle east in the early seventies. Long distance in the UK was London - Glasgow. Very long distance Southampton - Aberdeen. If you consider a Swedish Winter and a Spanish Summer, these were conditions that UK companies had never experienced, so wax in the fuel and frozen airlines really were another world. As for air conditioning, well you just open the window!

I was walking down the main street of my local town with my sister in law in Summer, 1978, it was a hot day, high seventies (maybe 25 centigrade). She wiped her brow and asked ‘Phew, is it this hot in Saudi John?’ I explained that it didn’t even get this cold in the middle of the night in Summer and this was more like a pleasant Winter’s day, I could see the look of disbelief on her face. It was impossible to explain that if you put the blower on ‘cold’, the air coming out would burn you!

Plus, most of the British companies and owner drivers who dived into this expanding market as well as having very little idea of what to expect were already struggling financially - transport costs were traditionally squeezed by manufacturers, and some of you chaps still doing it will tell me they still are!

So! Unsuitable trucks, poor equipment with no money to buy any more, very little knowledge of what we actually faced - plus when I set off on my first trip in january 1976, the coldest Winter for 50 years. I was lucky, I drove a Scania 140. A Swede asked a Scots lad how many trips he had done in a Guy Big J, with a Gardner 180 and one of those parcel shelf sleeper cabs. He replied ‘Three.’

The Swedish guy shook his head in amazement. The lad just said something like ‘Well, what am I going to do at home, there’s no work.’

Generally speaking, despite everything, with some exceptions, we got there and we got back, one way or another.

John

[archie_paice]

bestbooties:

Guesty44:

Guesty44:

Guesty44:

David Miller:
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

3

This is before it was dumped when it broke down.

I like that quote at the bottom of the pic, “H4 follow the oil drums to Saudi Arabia”. The secret was, to find the FIRST one!
Of the many times I crossed I only found the drums a few times, and after following several so called “Old sweats” on occasions and spending hours digging, I went on my own and had much less trouble. One of the memorable trips was meeting up with Sean Moran who advised a group of us English and Cloggies to follow him.
Never seen so many trucks bogged down or shovelled so much sand in my life, that was when I decided that in future I R would do it on my own and only have myself to blame if I came to grief.

I don’t know how this post appeared above, and under my name. I never wrote it, and have only just logged onto this site and there it was. Something fishy going on here.

site and there it was. Something very odd going on.

[mollie_2014]

Hi Guys

Has anyone got a copy of Truck Magazine 1975 with the Article ‘Long Distance Diaries’ by Phil Lewellyn featuring in it? Willing to pay for a copy.

Thanks Mollie ■■

[robert1952]

MOLLIE 2014:
Hi Guys

Has anyone got a copy of Truck Magazine 1975 with the Article ‘Long Distance Diaries’ by Phil Lewellyn featuring in it? Willing to pay for a copy.

Thanks Mollie ■■

Hi Mollie. Phil Llewellyn wrote LDDs and tended not to feature in them, which was part of the effective charm of his style. TRUCK magazine ran several LDDs a year, so it may help narrow things down if you can provide the month it came out. Incidentally, I too wrote LDDs from TRUCK, but rather later on. In the meantime, I’ve rummaged through my cuttings but all I can come up with any from Phil Llewellyn that year is a Middle-East piece called which I’ve scanned for you (see below). It appears to be partly about a Syrian character called Sameeh, and I think he’s the same chap (‘Sami’) who appears in Destination Doha. Someone will confirm or deny that. Cheers!
Robert

[robert1952]

PS I think I have some later (than '75) LDDs of Phil’s. Robert

[david_miller]

Confirmed indeed Robert. That was the great Samee Sirissi who was of such great assistance to so many a European driver. His customs agency was called SS Sirssi, known by Jerry Wheelan and I as the Steam Ship Sirissi, and his office was in a little street in central Damascus called Halbouni Street which, to add to it’s quaint charms, had a narrow gauge railway line running through it which featured charming little steam tank locomotives passing by regularly during the day.

Say what you might of Syrian people by Sami was an absolute diamond always ready to help anybody, even if they were not actually customers and he did indeed appear in Destination Doha. I hope, without knowing, that he is enjoying a happy retirement - if such a thing were possible in his Country.

David

[tiptop495]

John West:

tiptop495:

robert1952:
Here’s a pic I found on the net, which reminds us that about this time of the year the weather starts to deteriorate as the Middle-East driver heads into Eastern Europe and Turkey - time to forget about sun and sand for another thousand or so miles! Robert

Hey Robert, Always the same why no fuel heaters or airdryers as thy were already aviable from the '70 on.
Had for a while auto snowchains, not that it was THE solution, but nice in some points.
In France it began already with the fuel, lets alone Turkey or Russia, if you could was to buy at army guys but …

Eric,

Hi Eric,
I think there are a couple of points here. The continental companies were probably used to sending vehicles all over Europe, if not actually to the middle east in the early seventies. Long distance in the UK was London - Glasgow. Very long distance Southampton - Aberdeen. If you consider a Swedish Winter and a Spanish Summer, these were conditions that UK companies had never experienced, so wax in the fuel and frozen airlines really were another world. As for air conditioning, well you just open the window!

I was walking down the main street of my local town with my sister in law in Summer, 1978, it was a hot day, high seventies (maybe 25 centigrade). She wiped her brow and asked ‘Phew, is it this hot in Saudi John?’ I explained that it didn’t even get this cold in the middle of the night in Summer and this was more like a pleasant Winter’s day, I could see the look of disbelief on her face. It was impossible to explain that if you put the blower on ‘cold’, the air coming out would burn you!

Plus, most of the British companies and owner drivers who dived into this expanding market as well as having very little idea of what to expect were already struggling financially - transport costs were traditionally squeezed by manufacturers, and some of you chaps still doing it will tell me they still are!

So! Unsuitable trucks, poor equipment with no money to buy any more, very little knowledge of what we actually faced - plus when I set off on my first trip in january 1976, the coldest Winter for 50 years. I was lucky, I drove a Scania 140. A Swede asked a Scots lad how many trips he had done in a Guy Big J, with a Gardner 180 and one of those parcel shelf sleeper cabs. He replied ‘Three.’

The Swedish guy shook his head in amazement. The lad just said something like ‘Well, what am I going to do at home, there’s no work.’

Generally speaking, despite everything, with some exceptions, we got there and we got back, one way or another.

John

Hey John I agree with you lots of ignorance, like Spanish in Scandinavia in those days.
But I meant the pic that shows a 112/142 so must be in the '80’s.
And yes here was in the mid '70’s no work too, and the Middle East was the only option, but most here
disappeared the Belgians had mostly no collegiality or hit the jackpot and drove mostly at very low prices.
We did it three times and de game was over otherwise we were out of business, and it was even in '74 just before the big rush. At a time the company had the financial power and half the lorry park was in the yard for some time.
And yes it wasn’t even so far, I saw lots of Brits without sleepers, I think it must been heaven on earth as you got the F88 with standard sleeper or LP1418 and so on, and no option as lots of LB110 I saw and often non turbo’s.

Eric,

[robert1952]

tiptop495:

John West:

tiptop495:

robert1952:
Here’s a pic I found on the net, which reminds us that about this time of the year the weather starts to deteriorate as the Middle-East driver heads into Eastern Europe and Turkey - time to forget about sun and sand for another thousand or so miles! Robert

Hey Robert, Always the same why no fuel heaters or airdryers as thy were already aviable from the '70 on.
Had for a while auto snowchains, not that it was THE solution, but nice in some points.
In France it began already with the fuel, lets alone Turkey or Russia, if you could was to buy at army guys but …

Eric,

Hi Eric,
I think there are a couple of points here. The continental companies were probably used to sending vehicles all over Europe, if not actually to the middle east in the early seventies. Long distance in the UK was London - Glasgow. Very long distance Southampton - Aberdeen. If you consider a Swedish Winter and a Spanish Summer, these were conditions that UK companies had never experienced, so wax in the fuel and frozen airlines really were another world. As for air conditioning, well you just open the window!

I was walking down the main street of my local town with my sister in law in Summer, 1978, it was a hot day, high seventies (maybe 25 centigrade). She wiped her brow and asked ‘Phew, is it this hot in Saudi John?’ I explained that it didn’t even get this cold in the middle of the night in Summer and this was more like a pleasant Winter’s day, I could see the look of disbelief on her face. It was impossible to explain that if you put the blower on ‘cold’, the air coming out would burn you!

Plus, most of the British companies and owner drivers who dived into this expanding market as well as having very little idea of what to expect were already struggling financially - transport costs were traditionally squeezed by manufacturers, and some of you chaps still doing it will tell me they still are!

So! Unsuitable trucks, poor equipment with no money to buy any more, very little knowledge of what we actually faced - plus when I set off on my first trip in january 1976, the coldest Winter for 50 years. I was lucky, I drove a Scania 140. A Swede asked a Scots lad how many trips he had done in a Guy Big J, with a Gardner 180 and one of those parcel shelf sleeper cabs. He replied ‘Three.’

The Swedish guy shook his head in amazement. The lad just said something like ‘Well, what am I going to do at home, there’s no work.’

Generally speaking, despite everything, with some exceptions, we got there and we got back, one way or another.

John

Hey John I agree with you lots of ignorance, like Spanish in Scandinavia in those days.
But I meant the pic that shows a 112/142 so must be in the '80’s.
And yes here was in the mid '70’s no work too, and the Middle East was the only option, but most here
disappeared the Belgians had mostly no collegiality or hit the jackpot and drove mostly at very low prices.
We did it three times and de game was over otherwise we were out of business, and it was even in '74 just before the big rush. At a time the company had the financial power and half the lorry park was in the yard for some time.
And yes it wasn’t even so far, I saw lots of Brits without sleepers, I think it must been heaven on earth as you got the F88 with standard sleeper or LP1418 and so on, and no option as lots of LB110 I saw and often non turbo’s.

Eric,

The Brits had ERF NGCs!! Bloody LUXURY! Robert

[hutpik]

David.As you say Sami was a real character.The first time i met him was with Phil Lewellyn and Pat Hawkes.

Mollie 2014.If you look on this thread or the Astran thread a few pages back you will see someone else [i Think Pat Hawkes son] was asking the same question If it is the article ‘‘On the desert trail from April 75’’ I have a copy of the article and can send you a copy.Mike

[jelliot]

We used SSS a few times, if I remember right it was down a fairly tight street near some rail lines. The boss had a strict policy not to get cash of him unless there was no other option… We also used Young Turk’s services as well…

Jeff…

[jimski]

Hi all found this old photo it was taken in France can’t remember where it was around 1980ish you can just make out the Reg MYM 5459 or 459P Jazzandy old firm maybe he may know who it was

R Jimski

[archie_paice]

Jimski:
Hi all found this old photo it was taken in France can’t remember where it was around 1980ish you can just make out the Reg MYM 5459 or 459P Jazzandy old firm maybe he may know who it was

R Jimski

A bit too small to see I think

[robert1952]

Jimski:
Hi all found this old photo it was taken in France can’t remember where it was around 1980ish you can just make out the Reg MYM 5459 or 459P Jazzandy old firm maybe he may know who it was

R Jimski

What old photo? Can’t see it! Robert

[jimski]

robert1952:

Jimski:
Hi all found this old photo it was taken in France can’t remember where it was around 1980ish you can just make out the Reg MYM 5459 or 459P Jazzandy old firm maybe he may know who it was

R Jimski

What old photo? Can’t see it! Robert

Sorry bout that Robert but I’ve tried a dozen times can’t right it up !!

[sammyopisite]

there you go Jim

cheers Johnnie

[robert1952]

‘Sorry bout that Robert but I’ve tried a dozen times can’t right it up !’
Jimski

Very sweet of you to share our personal endeavours, Jimski but why go public!! However, the picture was worth waiting for Jimski! Robert

[jimski]

Cheers Johnnie ! Sorry Robert !!