Harry I did the same, I gave up my Hgv1, I told them I was not renewing, Wish my wife could drive, she just loves to drive me to dis-traction, she keeps on to me to get on with my book, ( Have Wheels Will Travel) By Sandman Norman, But I have done about 60 pages, and I only started in oct, but my one finger typing, makes me tire of it sometimes, so some light entertainment with you fellows, keeps me going, but my bowling & again the gardening comes around, and the grandchildren, fill in the gaps. Some times I wonder how we managed to work all them hours. Sometime I get a flash memory, then I put up a new topic. Just thought a good song for the truckers,“Keep right on till the end of the road”, but I’m Tired and weary, bye Sandman Norman
hiya,
i’m tired and weary norm but not quite at the end of the road yet, very suitable number that fits me down to the ground, drove an aged marathon once can’t remember who for (worked for that many company’s) but that never got me anywhere near the end of the road had to keep stopping to pick the bits up,what a shed that was, the guy who’d had it since new reckoned it had always been the same must have cost the guvnor a bomb moved onto a f88 talk about chalk and cheese it was heaven by comparison, norm you must have a medal the size of a frying pan for doing the middle east in them unless the one i had was a one off, true it was the only one i’d ever driven so couldn’t compare it to another of the same breed, i think the gaffer must have got it for a song and certainly not keep right on to the end of the road, 
thanks harry long retired.
harry–gill
I drove a Marathon when I too wore a young mans clothes [photo of it somewhere] – The main problem appeared to be the fact that I had to keep topping the power steering oil up ! Never did find a leak or to where the oil was going [truck even went to Aldenham Works for inspection], only good point was the filler at the rear of the cab was easily accessible !
hiya,
big leggy can’t say i had that problem it was just little bits and pieces needing tightened up and the fuel filter had to be looked at regular or something would come loose and then would air lock, i was pretty good on the tools in those days and you needed to be with that tub was always black as a crow made the job harder than it should have been, didn’t reign there very long but it was only local on tipper work just a filler between jobs, happy days.
thanks harry long retired.
harry-gill
Still cannot find the photo of the Marathon [taken around 1976 ?] – another thing I’ve remembered - it was a bas***d to start in really cold weather. I’m pretty sure I can remember an inlet at the front grill [■■] where you had to introduce “Easy Start” gas !! Maybe I’m wrong but that still rings a bell after 30+ years !!
The one I drove had the normal double bunk layout [on an angle iron frame] - but I do remember seeing one at Earls Court Commercial Motor Show where a Middle East version had a fully kitted cab & for sleeping the bed ran front to back & folded away for driving !! Perhaps my memory diminishes with age but with the exception of the “too tiny” steering wheel [was it legal in Germany] I found it comfortable to drive !!
Harry, as long as bits do not keep falling off of you, I think you will do the 100, to be honest, if I had not been army trained mechanic, I would not have done the trips, I even made a bush & key for the water pump, in salonika Greece, back on the road in two days, after information it would be two weeks to get a part flown to me. When the marathon kept together, I could cover a lot of miles, and it was a good ride, but did not do a trip, that I never got my hands dirty, I would have loved to have done a trip in a Volvo, just to find out what it was like, this was was we was promised, when we first volenteered, or a DAF, I was shocked when they sent us on a Leyland course. Sandman Norman
Bigleggy, you are , correct about the gas, I tried not to use it too much, for it was like a drug addict, and then they would not start without it. the cable accelerators, because of the wrong lubrication, would freeze up, it got quite dangerous, if it was stuck at 70mph, I had one snap off, and left a small rod, I had a hole in my shoe, and in my foot, by the time I got to Felixstowe, and I know several more had it happen to them. Sandman Norman
hiya,
big leggy the one i drove was only short term during the summer months so bad starting didn’t come into it, it was comfy enough to drive and pretty sure it didn’t have sleeping equiptment can’t really remember much about it really the only things were the bad points, i can remember the gaffer asking me to stay on when i told him i was leaving i think i was the only driver who make any sort of money with it, the odd breakdown is always probable but having to be a driver mechanic every day wasn’t for me the money if i remember rightly didn’t warrant the hassle, i always carried a good array of tools so could always get an old girl home, maybe i shouldn’t have and phoned in when something went amiss too late now.
thanks harry long retired.
hiya,
norm, big leggy, come to think of it there was a few cans of laughing gas behind the passenger seat no doubt squirting through the vent in cold weather,for the use of but the time i had it didn’t apply,just pleased it wasn’t only me that thought they was a horrible tub, when you’d been spoiled with scania’s and volvo’s it was a bit of a let down, to me they looked the part with a nice paint job but the breakdown downtime must have nearly cleaned a few bosses out,by the way norm as for me reaching the ton i don’t think so but i had an old seddon with a 290 roller in it which would do 90+ best motor ever for making dodgy night out possible made a few bob out of the old red and rust with that one and never used a spanner on it ever oh happy days,
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Norman
Do not think i have spoke to you on here before. I remember about the time when BRS overland was set up Leyland advertised in the trade papiers that they had back up and service depts all along the ME route. when we did a few trips in 1976 for Chapman +Ball the only sign we saw of them was a very small sign in the window of one of Irans bodge it up garages in Tabriz. Was there any more? and were they any help.
Regards Keith.
Keith, nice to hear from you,what you comment about in the paper is true, but what is not true, most of the depots for service, was bogus & a sham, we went to a lorry factory in Yugo, all it was for, was to have the head tightened down and a couple of minor repairs. I ask how long, they would be, they said several days, because, they had to strip the unit down, because they knew nothing about, all they got was a phone call, saying would they be a service depot. Whoe I said, one you are not taking my vehicle apart, and I want to be out of here, within the hour, give me the tools, or a man with the tools, and I will show him what to do. After I gave him the order in which to tighten the nuts, I was out of there like a shot, with my mate right behind me. Every place I tried, was a tin pot place with a couple of spanners, no spares, one place in Turkey, I wanted to have my linkage to the turbo welded, he only had a gas torch , so I brazed it my self, and gave him a few lira, in Greece, in a small corrigated shed, this guy named otto, a great mechanic, no spares, so I got a lump of bronze, and went to one of his friend who had a lathe, and made a bush & key, for a water pump. Later I found out our manager had pretended to travel the route, and set up these service area’s, even put in for a claim that he had his car broken in to, and ex- spensive things stolen. The truth was he never left England. We were the only ones to lose out on the deal. Sandman Norman
Hi Nornan
I had a suspecion that was the case after seeing that artical in the papiers. we did come accros a BRS overlander in Turkey on one trip and remember him saying there was no back up. By the look of the photos you posted of your accident I think the Turkish Leyland agents would have had there work cut out to repair that one. 
By the way you never did say what exactly happend, we had stopped doing ME by then and was only doing europe but still heard through the great vine.
Hello Keith, have posted on this site, but you being a old M/E driver, I will repeat it, Elections was at there peak in june 1977, to advoid the crowds, we started at 3am in the morning. Three british overland marathons (BRS) pulled out of Londra Camping, to go to Bagdad, me in the lead, Wink cotterill next, followed by Joe Baker ( Joe 90 ), almost as soon as we pulled out on to the 3 lane carriageway, we had a monsoon type of rain, it hit the road and bounced up 3to4 feet, was only 5km away, near to a village of Bakirkoy, through the poor visibility, I saw a edge of a tauntliner, I braked, and moved to the centre of the road, my trailer was trying to snake, then I saw a french artic was blocking the three lanes, I knew there was noway of avoiding it, made my mind up to stick with it, and when I was heading towards the three axles, I had been pumping my brakes, but I slammed the lot on, including the handbrake, the cab sheared off, flew up in the air, spun around and landed on the ground. Not a scratch on me, and no shock what so ever. Read the rest I have wrote. Sandman Norman
Hi Norman
Thanks for that, I had read the rest a while ago but did not know what the cause was. At least you were not hurt, did you give the chassis to the Turkish Leyland agents for spares? it sounds as if they needed some.There was no mention of the other two i presume they managed to avoid the mayhem. Unlike three of us in Paris, when just starting of from a set of lights a frog was first and decided to stop. My brother was in front did an emergency stop, I was next and managed to stop 6" of his trailer. I just had a sigh of relief when bang my father hit me up the back. You could not imagin the amount of damage that was caused while still in second gear. We used to keep further appart after that.
Regards Keith.
Hello again Keith, no my mate just pulled up in time, because he saw my trailer, it had stopped in a straight line, it gave him more braking time, but he only stopped inches from the froggy, then his lights , saved Joe & everyone else from piling into the trailers, if you saw the paper photo, there was a taxi & a tipper truck, who started the accident, one for parking, the other was a stolen tipper truck, the poor old frenchman, who jackknifed into them. Only found out a month ago, from Joe Baker, the poor old frenchman had another accident in Turkey near to Ankera, and lost a arm, and was found by british truckers, and taken to hospital, and told them he had had a collision with a Brs Overland truck, name of Norman, was the driver. I wonder who that was Ha Ha Ha. The two turks had their hair shaven off and put in prison. Sandman Norman
Hi Norman
I had a bit of time spare this afternoon and was browsing through the old threads and came accross the photos you posted on page 10.Sorry i did not pick them up before else I would not have asked you to go through it again.It must bring back some bad memories. I know i have made fun of Turckish Fitters in the past but do you agree that considering the equipment they had to work with they did a remarkable job. We had a clutch go in our 110 90ks before Ankera and the Volvo agent from Ankera sent out five young lads, not one of them would have been over 15 with just a jack. With a little help from us managed to fit a new disk and got us going the same day.On another trip near Bolu I saw fitters fire welding a drive axle that had cracked through the diff cassing off a “Tonker”, proberly due to over loading. All this on the side of the road. Desperate fitting 
Regards Keith.
Turkish fitters were very good so as to fettle up damaged parts or fashion new parts because of their rareity or cost.
Most of us know of the legendary Aydin from outside Istanbul.He was well established and had a well equipped workshop by Turkish standards.I’ve related the tale in another thread somewhere on here about the time I flew out to Istanbul to recover a Volvo F 89 that had been sabotaged by a driver who dropped some nuts and bplts into the inlet manifold then driving the motor until it stopped with a clunk.
I did a preliminary examination at the Londra to find out what the problem was,then got a mate to tow the unit up to Aydin’s for him to do the job.
We were lucky the damage was limited to one cylinder.Some of the debris had got into the cylinder,damaging the valves before becoming buried in the top of the piston.
Aydin removed the piston which had mushroomed out at the top,put it in his ancient lathe and turned it up,cleaned out the ring grooves and faced off the top.
He fitted new piston rings and new valves,and when finished it ran as sweet as a nut.In England we would have dropped another piston and liner in,put a new head on and job done,but as Aydin said to me,“If you could get those parts in Turkey,(in those days,1978,),you could not have been able to afford them!”
The Turks were also great at welding.Again,Aydin has weled up things for me that you would not think about twice in England,mud flap brackets and such like,that could be like a jigsaw,but always welded back and usually stronger than the original.
In the early days,(1974),on Brit European,we were using Eurofleet trailers that had the new fangled mono leaf springs.
On my first trip to Baghdad I had one break while going over Mardin,but we mnaged to jack the trailer up and wedge a block of wood in until we got to Baghdad where I bought some spring leaves and a centre bolt from the street of a thousand clutches to make up a suitable spring to get me home.
However,another of our drivers have both springs of one axle break on top of Tahir of all places!We all feared for his safety,but he was really well looked after by the locals.While we were trying to organise replacements for him,after a few days he called on a squeeky line to say the local welder had repaired the broken springs,with a gas welder!It was good enough to get him to Teheran and back home.
Just a few examples of the ability of Turkish fitters.
Aydin in Istanbul was not just a great fitter I.M.H.O. the man was a magician.
In 1980 I saw him make a radiator cap with the help of a piece of 80mm scrap steel pipe and what looked like his home made steel sawing machine, I also remember him using his antiquated lathe.
I never actually used the radiator cap as I managed to get hold of a genuine part a couple of days later but I do regret not keeping the one Aydin made if only to back up this story.
Regards Steve.
Aydin was indeed a very good mechanic, although I was not aware that he had moved his premises from the side street that was across the road from the Londra. He gave me a set of Turksih Air Horns for my 110 Scania and he fittted them under the front bumper. Boy, did they wake the dead.
Steve & colnel, Adin was not only a brillant mechanic, he was a very nice man, and he went out of his way to help people, even though he was getting paid, he would not worry about the money. in 1977 he was at a big yard ten minutes up the road on the oppersite side of the road from Londra Camping, I think he said he used to be near the camp. Sandman Norman