STRAIGHT EIGHT:
Thats the kiddy!! Well done Haddy , he loved a create a different looking vehicle did’nt he? There certainly were some weird and wonderful ‘home brewed’ sleepers about at the time
There certainly were mate, here’s another (from this site I think) also Grimsby reg.
Think this was quiet a tidy job, not easy with the shape of the Micholloti!, Was’nt this built by Osbornes from the Sheffield area?, was meant to have a turbo Gardner fitted when it was being re-built, but wound up a 280 Rolls eagle i think.
Trevor’s Volvo used to Swiss and back l forget who the driver was. l had the Dutch left ■■■■■■ best motor l ever had until he gave it to a Pole who couldn’t drive a right handed truck.
Does he still do continental not seen him down here in Spain for ages. mine you not seen any GB trucks here except l saw a Long’s truck the other day with a tilt. Not UK plates though.
Keep on Trucking.
Hi Bob ,where abouts in Spain are you ? My wife and I have been doing Spain over winters for the last 4 years in our R V .This year we are doing Italy ,but would be good to have a meet with you sometime .We are still living in Norfolk ,but get away as much as possible (itchy feet )
Cheers David AKA Concrete Cowboy
bootneckbob:
Trevor’s Volvo used to Swiss and back l forget who the driver was. l had the Dutch left ■■■■■■ best motor l ever had until he gave it to a Pole who couldn’t drive a right handed truck.
Does he still do continental not seen him down here in Spain for ages. mine you not seen any GB trucks here except l saw a Long’s truck the other day with a tilt. Not UK plates though.
Keep on Trucking.
Hi bob,
Interesting to know it did Swiss , i didn’t see it very often, guess that explains why ,i thought it quite an unusual vehicle for Matthews was it bought for a specific job?
Matthews definitely still does continental work ,i saw a couple of there vehicles transiting through Dover a couple of weeks ago ,they have quite a few on dutch plates now , as far as i am aware the first Dutch registered one was BD SL 90 ,a Volvo fh12 4x2 LHD globetrotter …
That’s a nice photo of Archie Day’s Wrecker there. He came into my workshop one afternoon when I was welding up a tilt and slide platform upside down on the floor.“How do you keep it flat?” he said. I went into great detail about packing underneath and spreading the welding to avoid distortion, hoping to impress him and maybe get an order. “Does that work” Yes! Ive built loads of them and now have it down to a fine art. “No I meant telling people all that ■■■■■■■■”
l Think that was the one l had Dutch spec sounded beautiful. Used to do Hamburg with hanging meat then over to Bernard’s factory at Oldenburg. lf l wasn’t doing 8 drops in Italy with South China Sea fish. I Remember parking on a round-about next to the Coliseum in Rome with my nose inches from the Tramline being unloaded by about 20 Transit Vans. Coppers never said a thing.
l could always managed to gain a day with all those drops. Used to put my Ski’s in the back and stop off at either Mont Blanc or the Fraseus Tunnel and go Sking for the day.
.
Val still tells me the time she used to stand on top of a load of Corrugated Board at Fishagate to rope and sheet. Ahh those were the days. That’s the trouble of being married to a trucker. Can’t tell her anything!
l’m here in Tortosa and l saw one of Richard Longs low-loaders ( that’s another story ) on the A 340. That’s 2 this year. Doubt if he spoke any English!! All the Spanish Trucks seam to be brand new. l wonder why!
You can pop in any time you want to David. always welcome. Make sure you go to Lake Garda little town right at the bottom near the A4 Autostrada called Pescara. Lovely place.
Keep on trucking boys.
Hola Bob,
Thanks for the invite ,may take you up on that when we do Spain again .
Certainly remember the Norwich corrugated job when I was with Carnell’s ,you wouldn’t want to attempt a jack-knife reverse into that warehouse these days ,never a break in the traffic .
Cheers Popeye (aka concrete cowboy)
haddy:
Here it is again with Trevor’s name on it, looks like it was in a bit of trouble!
jmc jnr:
That’s a nice photo of Archie Day’s Wrecker there. He came into my workshop one afternoon when I was welding up a tilt and slide platform upside down on the floor.“How do you keep it flat?” he said. I went into great detail about packing underneath and spreading the welding to avoid distortion, hoping to impress him and maybe get an order. “Does that work” Yes! Ive built loads of them and now have it down to a fine art. “No I meant telling people all that [zb]”
Hi Everyone.
l have just heard that Micky Moore aka Bulldozer has just passed away. Can anyone confirm this as my informant is notoriously unreliable. Up a mountain in Spain you can’t get the service like you used to.
Bob.
bootneckbob:
Hi Everyone.
l have just heard that Micky Moore aka Bulldozer has just passed away. Can anyone confirm this as my informant is notoriously unreliable. Up a mountain in Spain you can’t get the service like you used to.
Bob.
Hello Bob, yes Mick died on the 10th Oct. of cancer only weeks after being diagnosed. I was at his funeral last Friday along with several hundred more people, many from the shooting fraternity and many old drivers. The service and interment was at Weston Longville church and the wake was at The Bridge in Lenwade.
It’s a shame that someone has to pass away to make us old boys to meet up again. For a lot of them the years haven’t been too kind, going by the walking sticks,hearing aids etc. and I had to ask one or two who they were which I found a bit embarassing. Thankfully most of them recognised me !
There was talk of a rememberance party for Micky, I can’t remember who suggested it but I’m all for it. By the way Micky was known as “Maverick” on the CB, “Bulldozer” was Mick Akers. Regards Haddy “The Joker” ex Perfects Gt. Yarmouth.
Bob… a few of those old faces, taken in 1982, see if you can recall a few! I’ve got some more from the early East Coast Truckers in my collection, I will dig them out when I get time! Regards Haddy.
Hiya Haddy,
Looks like my old Globetrotter ,don’t think I was driving that day .As you say in your earlier post , shame one of us has to pass away to bring us together again ,but on the good side it shows the relationship we must have had ,as for most of us it was well over 20 years ago we were all pulling out of G Y .
Cheers Popeye (AKAConcrete Cowboy)
Archie told me about going to a recovery on the A11 and a policeman was in the cab with him. He mentioned that the Volvo happened to have the sirens off an ambulance on it. The Copper said “why aren’t we using them then. People would get out of the way” Archie explained it was against the law - only for emergency services. The policeman said " this is a f…g emergency! Put them on." Only Archie! He used them every time when there was an accident after that hoping a jobsworth would challenge him.
Thanks Haddy.
Sorry l missed his funeral l should have liked to have gone. Both Val and l thought a lot of him. We were in the UK at the end of Sept. Went to a Royal Marines reunion in Devon. A bit thoughtless of him not to tell me he was going to leave us.
The memory is not what it used to be. l remember when l was secretary and Mick was chairman and we meet the Lord Mayor of Norwich . l told Mick to watch his Ps and Qs . What did he say " How the F-in ell are you " They were mostly good ole days.
l remember Bulldozer came from KL.
l recognise Micky Cleaver ( Trouble shooter )- Fred ( Gismo )- Val ( Butterfly - l think ) and Micky Jones( Romany ) ls that Colin ( East Winds ) next to him and looks like Lindsey Baker ( Gypsy ) at the table. Like some more photos please.
Regards from sunny Spain.
Bootneck and Butterfly.
Hello again Bob, I’ve dug three more out. The first one is another shot of the presentation to Repton House for the truck pull. The second was taken near the Hartsease roundabout of us in action the Sunday before Christmas 1981, that’s me immediately in front of the truck on the kerbside wearing the wide collared jacket. I didn’t realise how long the ring-road was, I could hardly walk on the Monday.
The last one is from the Eastern Evening News of the presentation the following April, thats me on the extreme right of the picture.
I can’t remember how much we raised for Repton House but it was all good fun and look what it eventually lead to…last year 100 tractor units in the annual August Bank Holiday convoy ! Best regards Haddy.
, he loved a create a different looking vehicle did’nt he? There certainly were some weird and wonderful ‘home brewed’ sleepers about at the time
That E H Clarke volvo Drawbar looks very similar to one that Matthews of Yarmouth operated…
