The interior pic is interesting re all the switches being bunched together. Anyone remember the Scania Worldwide magazines that used to get sent out from the PR department?, in one of those - it would have been around 2 or 3 series launch I can’t remember, they explained that the switches were in groups of 4 scattered around the dash, so that you could find whichever switch you wanted without taking your eyes off the road - you learnt to feel which switch was which. This actually made sense to me, and on occasions when I drove an ERF or Foden for example, I noted that the switches were in a long line and you did need to take your eyes off the road to find the switch you wanted, so point proven I thought. Now Scania are putting all the switches together, so perhaps it was all bull sh*t all along.
But on this point - most new vehicles - cars especially have touch screen controls - you definitely can’t use those without taking yours off the road. Progress?
And also, I noted in one of the magazines during the ‘new’ FH launch, that Volvo had ‘done a great job of removing all the trim from around the mirrors’ - greatly improving visibility at round a bouts etc… Bloody hell - it was Volvo that first put the big trims around mirrors, back on the original FH. Sometimes I wonder… is it me?
Happy to say that my time with Scanias was in 2 & 3 series. I’ll leave it there.
Looks like it would be a problem to service it without having a pit or ramp handy, also a small problem such as an air pipe chaffing through which is normally an easy fault to rectify could be a pain to just gain access to it. I understand the need for maximum economy these days, but all the under dams and side skirts sure don’t make a mechanic’s life any easier !!!
Personally, I still think - after 45 years - the best looking Scania is the old LB cabbed 110/111/140/1 as depicted below.
As for actually driving Scanias: Well, I loved the 142s and 143s for their performance (and even that 10-speed 'box - probably the most satisfying synchro manual of its day, so long as it was a LHD unit!); but I never liked the series 2/3 driving position - it was way too much of a ‘boy-racer’ experience for an ERF driver like me! The series-4 was little better. But don’t get me wrong chaps, I wasn’t averse to winding the window down in tunnels to listen to that throaty V8 echo off the walls whenever I got the opportunity ! Robert
Well, same old same old I reckon…
I’ve always liked the older models, started with (for a brief stint though) a 3 series which was replaced by the 4 series, and later on the first R serie… in my humble opinion, the 4 series were the last proper build ones, the follow up was absolutely the biggest mistake they’ve made in Sweden… bad engines, even worse 'boxes let alone the interior…
I’ve included a pic to remind us of the time that they did build proper wagons, saw this fine example at the Dorset steam fair.
. Robert
! Robert
