Was having a chat with a mate the other day and the subject of mirror mascots cropped up and how they are pretty much a thing of the past.
What self respecting truck of the 70s was properly " dressed" without a Michelin Man on each mirror?
Do you remember his mates?
The Volvo Viking- never that common but I saw recently some on ebay for about 150 quid each said to be a limited run of 50 but seemed a bit pricy to me.
Holland Duck- again not that common, a drivers club mascot run in conjunction with the Dutch Truckstar magazine.
The UK outlet was at Cardington / Elstow Storage Depot and I think closed down after a fire.
Flipje- common on Dutch & Continental motors, was the berry shaped character in the chef’s hat, what was Flipje■■?
The Toyo tyres sumo- Never saw him riding on any UK trucks but again the Dutch took to him.
John Bull- I think CDC or maybe Truckers Paradise bought out a figure of John Bull but again never saw any fitted.
Do you remember any more ■■
How about posting a few pictures of these forgotten " heros" for a bit of fun!
Harry, anything counts, buckets cab flags etc, just anything that is a bit individual and a bit fun in these days of fleets of sterile white Volvos,Scanias & DAFs that all look the bloody same, that no one dares personalise because they share it with at least 2 other blokes!!
harry:
There was the German ’ Brummie ’ ;fat geezer on wheels.
I think you’ll find that it was “Gummi” – You still see a lot of stickers of this character on German trailers !!
No one corrected me on saying “Gummi” when Brummi was correct !
I was trying a bit to hard to make a “joke” as Gummi is an expresion used in U.S. for a name for a Hillbilly – in his Blue & Red logo + bib & brace overalls etc
I’ll get my coat
In a similar vein on this thread – Firestick C.B. ariels on both mirror arms was de rigeur…
The stickers on the sleeper windows just had to be the foreign equivalant of a GB sticker plus of course the Union Jack flag …
Les Routiers stickers had to appear somewhere on the truck (usually front bumper)…
Following on came the Picador items in the cab window – M/E drivers usually had their own adornment at the top of the windscreen …
The line of flags across the centre of the windscreen [had to be removed before MOT test] …
Then don`t forget the can holders to keep your Coke cool in the melting Italian sun!Only thing was once you opened it,it filled up with little flies and mossies!Plus,it never really kept the drink cool did it?
harry:
There was the German ’ Brummie ’ ;fat geezer on wheels.
I think you’ll find that it was “Gummi” – You still see a lot of stickers of this character on German trailers !!
No one corrected me on saying “Gummi” when Brummi was correct !
I was trying a bit to hard to make a “joke” as Gummi is an expresion used in U.S. for a name for a Hillbilly – in his Blue & Red logo + bib & brace overalls etc
I’ll get my coat
Hi Big Leggy, Harry was right like you say with the little fat geezer on wheels.
If ever you go to Hungary make sure that you dont get your Brummi mixed up with your Gummi, believe me it can be very embarrassing .
mushroomman
Thanx for the tip – I’ll try to remember that about Brummi & Gummi in Hungary !
Mind you I’ve not been to Hungary since I was on OHS back in 1977 & 1978 so there isn’t much chance of a return trip soon !!
I’m assuming they mean something in Hungarian and not just one of those words that means something different in another language !
Remember the problems Lloyds of Ludlow [Swains of Stretton ?] had with the word Salop on their trucks when in France ?
