Its only a model I know but I remember Tilcon at Ballidon running a few but with insulated bodies.
The late Peter Hadfield drove one before he moved to Tarmac at M.Peak and he used to say they were scary things in Fog especially on the motorways.
Always thought that cab was best left on cranes and dumpers.Mike.
Yes Mike, TILCON had a whole fleet of S50 halfcabs and we had plenty of them at our Ballidon and Kevin quarries. Some of the 30 tonne gross ones were later recabbed with S40 cabs at North riding Garages, Middleton St George (near Darlington) who were part of the Tilling group. Originally they were cheaper to insure (no passenger’s could be carried, though some were at times) but then the insurer decided that as they only had one real access they could be awkward to exit in an emergency so they put the price up! One member of this forum is restoring one so that did well to survive, most rotted away within a few years! Have a couple of the models myself, our sales staff dished them out to customer’s.
Pete.
I bought this one from Sellers & Kent in the 70s, 150 G, 12 box & could it pull, It even went better when it was O/L, Regards Larry.
windrush:
Yes Mike, TILCON had a whole fleet of S50 halfcabs and we had plenty of them at our Ballidon and Kevin quarries. Some of the 30 tonne gross ones were later recabbed with S40 cabs at North riding Garages, Middleton St George (near Darlington) who were part of the Tilling group. Originally they were cheaper to insure (no passenger’s could be carried, though some were at times) but then the insurer decided that as they only had one real access they could be awkward to exit in an emergency so they put the price up! One member of this forum is restoring one so that did well to survive, most rotted away within a few years! Have a couple of the models myself, our sales staff dished them out to customer’s.Pete.
I remember going in one of the Bedford km’s with my grandfather many years ago loaded with tarmac out of ballidon when the engine blew up on the a38 south, outside the café at barton, we got a lift back up the 38 to shiptons recovery in a half cab foden all 3 of us! mind I must have only been abut 6/7 at the time.
once dragged back to ballidon I remember 2 loading shovels one each side to lift the body to tip off the tarmac, as the body was steel no chains were used just poke the teeth under and lift!
the truck had a patch welded over a tooth hole one one side till the day it was cut up a few years later! this was at the top of the ramp on the left about where you now water up before loading, or did as now the plant is no longer in use
roll on 30 odd years and I now have an old foden myself
moose
FODEN NAMES.
[ZB] Anorak wrote:Anyone reading this thread would think that old lorry enthusiasts had a collective screw loose. Perish the thought! These made-up names for things just confuse an already-complex web of historical details. If its an Atkinson, call it a Mk1 or 2. If it’s an S34-series Foden, give it its correct number, so that I might eventually be taught to remember the difference between the various derivatives. To bring the dialogue back on track, someone remind me what an S36 was, please.
Rigsby wrote:s36 was the model before the s39 , semi tilt cab . i never drove one but iirc you had to tilt the cab up halfway to access the oil filler . the floor pan was fixed and just the cab shell tilted and from all accounts the draughts round the edges were horrendous . my neighbour drove one and he said the cab moved about a lot and that wore the rubber seals away .
Stanfield:
I think this may answer your debate lads
Taken from Wikipedia
The S21 was initially nicknamed both “Spaceship” and “Sputnik” by the commercial vehicle press, although it was briefly known as the “Sabrina” in the early 1960s, while other people gave it the “Mickey Mouse” nickname. The more traditional metal-and-wood S20 cab, introduced in 1956, was still fitted to many Foden lorries until at least 1963, after which it was just fitted to special vehicles until 1968. The aforementioned GRP tilt cab, introduced in 1962, was designated S24 - the Sabrina nickname returned, because the S24 and the later versions S34, S36 and S39 are all collectively known as “Sabrina”, and this time the name has stuck ever since.
A photo of the Foden family taken in 1961.L to R James Edwin.William.Gordon.David & Hugh.0
[ZB]
Anorak:Trev_H:
It tells me that Wikipedia is only as good as the tripe that’s fed into it.
It also carries a disclaimer that it can’t guarantee it’s information source.Anyone can type stuff into Wikipedia. We may know the identity of the contributor of the paragraph mentioned by Mr. Stanfield. As far as the nicknames being popularised in the transport press goes, I can find one CM article in the archives which mentions the S21 being called “Sputnik”. The rest is moot.
VALKYRIE replies:-
Motor vehicle historians,authors,enthusiasts,transport people and fairground people have always given nicknames to motor vehicle models,such as: Rover P4 = AUNTIE ROVER,Ford Model T =TIN LIZZIE,AJS Porcupine = THE BANSHEE,Austin K5 = THE SCREAMER,certain modern Kenworth T-Series normal control conventional lorry models = AARDVARK,Peterbilt 372 Bullet=DARTHVADER…and a load of other names,such as Atki,Foden Sabrina,Mack Cherry Picker,Foden Spaceship,Freightliner Bubble Nose,Kenworth Bull Nose,Foden Sputnik,Peterbilt Bubble Nose,Atkinson Skippy,Morris/Austin FG Threepenny Bit,Atkinson Panoramic,Kenworth T600,etc,Aardvark,Seddon Premium,Renault Magnum High Tower,AEC Tin Front MkIII,etc.
These names add colour and interest to the motor vehicle hobby and help with identification 
Foden S36 Sabrina cab was the fixed version of the S34 Sabrina tilt cab,and I think the Foden Sabrina cab that only the body of the cab
tilted and the floor remained fixed was the original Foden S24 Sabrina cab and also the S34 cab
Hello Stanfield Thank you very much for the information on Foden cabs and Foden history from WIKIPEDIA …the Wikipedia
Foden article was a new one on me 
But,as I and others,including friends,relations,etc,keep on saying:The Internet is certainly breaking down the information barrier on every subject under the sun - including Foden cabs!
Wikipedia is generally reliable
THE COMMERCIAL VEHICLE PRESS.
The commercial vehicle press,I’m sure that you know,was not solely THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR,but also COMMERCIAL VEHICLES,MOTOR TRANSPORT,MODERN TRANSPORT and so on,so these almost certainly mentioned both the Spaceship and Sputnik names for the Foden S21 Spaceship-Sputnik cab
Furthermore,Pat Kennett,Wobbe Reitsma,Eric E.L Cornwell,etc,all mention both Foden S21 Spaceship and Sputnik cabs in their Foden books …
As for the Foden Sabrina cab,I’ve already stated all the facts for the Foden S24-S39 cabs on this forum and elsewhere on the Internet ,as have a load of other enthusiasts and people
FODEN S21 SPACESHIP SPUTNIK DAE6/32 TWIN STEER TRACTIVE UNIT,CMA 684F:-
Some photographs of the Foden S34 Sabrina,below,of it’s cab tilting were published on this thread earlier on,and here is a portrait-photograph of this lorry:-
FODEN S34 SABRINA 4AE6/30 TWO STROKE 4x2 TRACTIVE UNIT,MJR 600E.Crow’s Transport,Gateshead.Ken Taylor,Huddersfield:-
VALKYRIE.
i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l61 … 7cc84d.jpg
Oooh, missis, that’s handsome, I’d love to have a day with that but I’m afraid I can’t, It’s got one of those 12 speed Foden boxes that to me are wizdardry and witchcraft. I tried in my youth, I really tried, but it had me beat. 
As I said I passed my test in a S34 tilt cabbed model and yes, the oil could only be topped up when the cab was tilted. There was a sight guage so that oil level could be checked without tilting it though. The S39 could be tilted fairly easily, we did it when replacing cylinder blocks. You needed a couple of strong lads though as it had no torsion bar facility to assist you, access was good but you still needed to remove the fibreglass panel on the manifold side of the cab which never seemed to go back as well fitting as it was before you removed it! 
We had five S39’s at the quarry, three tipper’s and two powder tanker’s, and the rest were a mixture of S50, S40 and S80 until the Haulmaster and S10 appeared in the late 1970’s. Most had the patent Foden airconditioning system whereby you could get two finger’s through the gap around the cab door’s, handy for signalling goodbye to the TM! 
Pete.
adr:
skandiahamn:
adr:
Can’t say I’d have fancied one myself, but would have made a interesting Restoration project!Hello adr,
Is this the half cab mixer that is lying somewhere near Ramsey Forty Foot? I was told that there was one still intact but nobody I spoke to knew its whereabouts. I’m wanting to scratchbuild a model of one and could do with some measurements, so its condition’s not important.Cheers Nick
Hi Nick,
The mixer was on a Farm at Connington Fen near Huntingdon, but it was back in early 90s so chances of it still being there are probably…
Regards Chris
I’m pretty sure this mixer ended up in Rocky Shelton’s scrap yard in Ramsey about 20 years ago, along with another two the same. I nearly got caught out buying a gearbox from them, they pulled a 'box from the heap and it turned out to be from one of these - with really low underdrive gearing!.
VALKYRIE:
I now quote Flickr member,E R F,and link the Flickr page
"
replyThe nickname ‘Sabrina’ was applied to these Foden cabs (for unknown reasons) very regionally by showmen when the vehicles were acquired second hand. Many very well known families I have spoken to since these comments first began to appear had never heard the name, but some in the North East of England had.
The name did not originate with first ownership road haulage operators. To haulage men, a ‘Sabrina’ was and always will be the ERF KV ‘Semi Forward (SF)’ Control cab - applied because of the perceived visual similarity with the 1950’s ■■■■■ TV star Norma Sykes.
This particular vehicle was supplied new by the Peterborough Engineering Co Ltd., Eye Road, Peterborough".
flickr.com/photos/carrickman/5030349697/So my friends and I,showmen friends,enthusiasts,and other people have been right all along
and the Foden Sabrina name probably DID originate in the road haulage industryMy friends and I,etc, are REPORTERS -NOT inventors,Saviem.
VALKYRIE
You quote me here in your ‘argument’ VALKYRIE.
After you (VALKYRIE1), and Flickr users KADENACY, MIRISCH1 and FUN FAIRS, who I assume are all either you or your friends (the comments were all just too similar for it be anything other), began bombarding my, and other contributors Foden photos on Flickr with your very very similar ‘Spacehip-Sputnik’ and ‘Sabrina’ comments, I did indeed ask a good number of Showland families that I am in contact with if the name was true and correct for these Foden cabs, as nether I, nor any 60’s / 70’s Foden factory, dealership staff or operators that I am in contact with all around the UK had ever heard ‘Sabrina’ applied to a Foden before, despite a lifetime around haulage.
As you quoted above, only in the North East had a Showman ever heard the name ‘Sabrina’ applied to these Foden cabs, although ‘Spaceship’ or ‘Sputnik’ (but not both together) was more widely used for the S21, they all stated that ‘Mickey Mouse’ was the generally accepted and adopted name both within haulage and within Showland.
Please accept that here on Trucknet you are in the presence of hundreds of combined years of first hand Foden experience and knowledge working and operating these vehicles within their first use of road haulage. Not one person has said that this name (applied to a Foden cab) originated in, or was used within road haulage, because quite simply it didn’t exist. These names were applied by a few Showmen to a few lorries, that does not mean they were a generally accepted industry nick-name for a cab, in the way that ‘Sabrina’ WAS for the ERF KV SF cab, or that the ‘Mickey-Mouse’ name WAS widely used for the Foden S21.
Please accept this my friend.
You have valuable and very interesting information on these vehicles to share with us all, but please stop trying to re-write history as you see it by ramming this nick-name point down our throats with each and every comment you make. It is very wrong of you and your friends to do so - we are all just REPORTERS, not INVENTORS as you quite rightly say.
ERF:
adr:
skandiahamn:
adr:
Can’t say I’d have fancied one myself, but would have made a interesting Restoration project!Hello adr,
Is this the half cab mixer that is lying somewhere near Ramsey Forty Foot? I was told that there was one still intact but nobody I spoke to knew its whereabouts. I’m wanting to scratchbuild a model of one and could do with some measurements, so its condition’s not important.Cheers Nick
Hi Nick,
The mixer was on a Farm at Connington Fen near Huntingdon, but it was back in early 90s so chances of it still being there are probably…
Regards ChrisI’m pretty sure this mixer ended up in Rocky Shelton’s scrap yard in Ramsey about 20 years ago, along with another two the same. I nearly got caught out buying a gearbox from them, they pulled a 'box from the heap and it turned out to be from one of these - with really low underdrive gearing!.
VALKYRIE:
I now quote Flickr member,E R F,and link the Flickr page
"
replyThe nickname ‘Sabrina’ was applied to these Foden cabs (for unknown reasons) very regionally by showmen when the vehicles were acquired second hand. Many very well known families I have spoken to since these comments first began to appear had never heard the name, but some in the North East of England had.
The name did not originate with first ownership road haulage operators. To haulage men, a ‘Sabrina’ was and always will be the ERF KV ‘Semi Forward (SF)’ Control cab - applied because of the perceived visual similarity with the 1950’s ■■■■■ TV star Norma Sykes.
This particular vehicle was supplied new by the Peterborough Engineering Co Ltd., Eye Road, Peterborough".
flickr.com/photos/carrickman/5030349697/So my friends and I,showmen friends,enthusiasts,and other people have been right all along
and the Foden Sabrina name probably DID originate in the road haulage industryMy friends and I,etc, are REPORTERS -NOT inventors,Saviem.
VALKYRIE
You quote me here in your ‘argument’ VALKYRIE.
After you (VALKYRIE1), and Flickr users KADENACY, MIRISCH1 and FUN FAIRS, who I assume are all either you or your friends (the comments were all just too similar for it be anything other), began bombarding my, and other contributors Foden photos on Flickr with your very very similar ‘Spacehip-Sputnik’ and ‘Sabrina’ comments, I did indeed ask a good number of Showland families that I am in contact with if the name was true and correct for these Foden cabs, as nether I, nor any 60’s / 70’s Foden factory, dealership staff or operators that I am in contact with all around the UK had ever heard ‘Sabrina’ applied to a Foden before, despite a lifetime around haulage.
As you quoted above, only in the North East had a Showman ever heard the name ‘Sabrina’ applied to these Foden cabs, although ‘Spaceship’ or ‘Sputnik’ (but not both together) was more widely used for the S21, they all stated that ‘Mickey Mouse’ was the generally accepted and adopted name both within haulage and within Showland.
Please accept that here on Trucknet you are in the presence of hundreds of combined years of first hand Foden experience and knowledge working and operating these vehicles within their first use of road haulage. Not one person has said that this name (applied to a Foden cab) originated in, or was used within road haulage, because quite simply it didn’t exist. These names were applied by a few Showmen to a few lorries, that does not mean they were a generally accepted industry nick-name for a cab, in the way that ‘Sabrina’ WAS for the ERF KV SF cab, or that the ‘Mickey-Mouse’ name WAS widely used for the Foden S21.
Please accept this my friend.
You have valuable and very interesting information on these vehicles to share with us all, but please stop trying to re-write history as you see it by ramming this nick-name point down our throats with each and every comment you make. It is very wrong of you and your friends to do so - we are all just REPORTERS, not INVENTORS as you quite rightly say.
Hello ERF Thanks for confirming what I and many other enthusiasts have been sayng on the Internet for quite some time now:FODEN S24,S30,S34,S35,S36,
S37,S38 and S39 cabs are indeed nicknamed SABRINA And have been for above twenty and more years - probably forty years.
The use of the Foden Sabrina name on the fairgrounds is wider than you think:I’ve heard Yorkshire,Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire showmen use the Foden Sabrina name. And Sepo,a TruckNetUK member has stated that “when growimg up this model was always remarked to as the Sabrina cab… ERF also used the name on one of there rigid models …”,AND that was in the road haulage industry in the early 1970s! 
The Internet is breaking down the information barriers,I,my friends and other people keep saying - a TrucknetNetUK MEMBER WROTE THIS VERY RECENTLY:-
Re: Re, Re, Foden
by davepenn54 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 9:39 pm
OK I’m not going to fill the original thread (Old Foden) with any more rubbish but just for the record the first Marathon’s in the UK where nicknamd ‘Twiggy’s’ because the day cab’s were so thin and were so flat at the front
Regards
Dave Penn;
RIP Michelle Marie Kerry 26/02/1978 - 03/02/2012
davepenn54
Another piece of Internet information come to light ,in the same that the Foden Sabrina came to light!:Via the Internet!
The reason for the Foden Sabrina name:The front panel is rounded and projects out. ERF did not know the reason.
I and my friends and other people are not really “ramming the Sabrina and Spaceship -Sputnik names down people’s throats”,any more than Peter Davies,
Alan Millar,etc,are plugging the Sputnik and Mickey Mouse names in their books and so on.
I usually just use the Spaceship name and sometimes the Spaceship Sputnik names,while others just use Sputnik.
But we will CARRY ON using the Foden Sabrina,Spaceship and Sputnik names
VALKYRIE
the point here erf is that when you had punched the foden up and down the country all week and shut the door on saturday morning , it wasn’t a "sputnik " or a "sabrina " , it was a pain in the bum ( literally )
This Foden was over twenty five years old and still working when this photo was taken for a feature about Sharples in one of Truck magazines.
Cheers Dave.
A proper lorry.
Great to see the Sharples pictures Dave – did they ever sell that yellow one that they were advertising a while ago?
A very old Foden - a 1933 DG as found - worked until 1987
fryske:
Great to see the Sharples pictures Dave – did they ever sell that yellow one that they were advertising a while ago?A very old Foden - a 1933 DG as found - worked until 1987
As far as I know Steve, its still in a shed at their premises.
Cheers Dave.
Here it is Steve, this one had a payload of 26 ton running at 38 ton gross.
That’s the one!
windrush:
LeeJ:
but did you drain your air reservoir daily?Oh yes, and I continued to do that right up until I finished driving in 2002. A tank half full of oil/water doesn’t leave much room for air! Never relied on air dryer’s and condensor’s to do the job.
Pete.
You can’t drain your air reservoir these days, at least you can’t on my Merc Actros.
Where the drain valves used to be there are now electronic gubbins.
This thread is going to the dogs it started with, SABRINA’S, SPUTNIC’S, and now ELECTRONIC GUBINS mind I did wonder what them THINGY’S were called. Eddie.
FODEN:Oil and Poetry :-
FODEN OG4/6,S19-CABBED,4x2 HEAVY RECOVERY VEHICLE,773 BRE.1954.Sam Satterthwaite Ltd,Streetly Garage.It’s appearence is delightfully used and oily-looking :-
And a more artistic and poetic image of this same Foden OG4/6 4x2 HRV,773 BRE :-
FODEN OG4/6,S19-CABBED,4x2 HEAVY RECOVERY VEHICLE,773 BRE.1954.Sam Satterthwaite Ltd,Streetly Garage.Image photographically superimposed “in England’s geen and pleasant land”* :-
*From the beautiful hymn:-
Jerusalem
Music:Sir Hubert Parry.Words:William Blake.
VALKYRIE
If only Streetly looked like that image 