That 2800 ( 3300 ) ATI could do Feltham to Dewsbury in around 3 hours without much effort ( according to it’s regular driver ).
BRS also used 3300’s on the Coca Cola contract London Bristol trunk they also didn’t hang around on the M4.
To be fair night trunking then was usually very light traffic conditions.While days then would be similar to night now.
By all accounts McDonalds are still around been going since 1933.Also still using big DAFs but I’m sure I remembered they had black livery then but seems to be all red now.
Give us a link to where you get the 1933 origin CF. This is the only Scottish McDonald Haulage firm I am aware of and they were only established in 2011.
Oily
Indeed, my Kew Dodge did 75 in the fast lane of the M1, perfectly legal in those days, with a 4 in line trailer loaded with asphalt blocks from Matlock.
I remember pulling back into lane 2 after the overtake only to find one of those black furniture vans from Ashton under Lyne fly past me . 
Shush! You and CF aren’t helping me to remind Franglais that pre-limiter days were dignified and civilised 
. That’s precisely why I omitted to say the Transcon I mentioned could do 90mph with 22 pallets of oranges in the Insuliner trailer (remember those? Tautliner with a fridge motor 
).
The speedlimiter came in gradually - something else people forget! I remember driving an elderly F10 which was pre-limiter. The new limited lorries couldn’t do Faversham to Rotherham in under 4.5 hrs, which meant they couldn’t get back in time either. But I could still do the run in just over 4hrs, with a fair bit of 70mph motorway running. So a lot of our schedules were buggered in the end.
Here’s something I heard or read years ago and I want to know whether it’s true or apocryphal. The Germans invented the limiter. The EU adopted it. The Germans realised that elephant racing was more dangerous than fast lorries and asked the EU to abandon the scheme. EU refused. Germany was left with no choice but to bung no overtaking bans on most of its hilly two-lane autobahns. I’m happy to believe this plausible narrative till told otherwise 
Ro
I think I might have mentioned before that when I returned to work at Econofreight after injury they gave me a brand new DAF 3300. This was in pre limiter days so imagine my chagrin and concern when halfway past a slower lorry the pedal went floppy and the revs dropped right off. In the end I had to give up and stay behind.
Later I discovered what the mysterious ■■■■■■■■■ box bolted to the floor on the passenger side (which I thought was a footrest 
) was for. It clicked when I got to about 50 I think and it turned out to be a forerunner of the limiter.
Don’t tell Tom Llewellyn, if he is still with us, but I soon found out that it was connected through a simple fuse, which could be, and was, removed to disable it. Mind you I did have to remember to put it back in whenever I stoppoed at Thornaby for a service.
BTW a note to the children who run this forum. are we not adult enough to allow the words ‘big’ and ‘black’ to be put together in one sentence now?
Absolutely beyond words and belief. 
testing ■■■■■■■■■, big green, big blue, big red. Really??
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The days when all drivers were friendly, courteous, and accidents never happened.
When we were all better paid; traffic jams didn’t exist…
…and every day was sunny and warm.
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At Lambert’s we had some vehicles fitted with a speed limiter. Cummins powered, not the 180 Gardner ones!
If your foot was flat on the mat when you went over the set limit then it would keep the juice flowing in, but if you backed off at all then it would cut the fuel until you were below the set limit. Quite a primitive design.
Mind you doing 70 in an Atki with no power steering was never a good idea to be honest.
On the contrary, what on earth do you want steering for at 70? Nice, solid straight ahead will do nicely. At that speed you don’t want to sneeze and find yourself in a ditch.
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Many years ago I once overtook a Kammac motor …and lived to tell the tale. 
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Fused limiters were the thing for a long time after they became obligatory.
Also fused speedos…as far as 95 in Scanias as I remember.
I had a new N reg 143, I had my little daughter trained (some may say corrupted 
) to pull and replace fuses when I asked her.
On the East Lancs road (I think it was) I had the fuse out, on other work mode, saving driving time, and was followed by a Police car.
My little girl as soon as we stopped put fuse 24 whatever it was back in with the plastic cover back on, lid shut…job done.
Copper gets in cab, smiled and said hello to the sweet innocent 8 yr old little girl…, he noticed tacho was showing no speed trace.
I told him ‘It had done that all day, some fault with it’’
This guy knew his stuff , checked the appropriate fuse …he knew ehich one, he looked all around with a torch for ‘a wire’, he even asked for the provided spanner to remove the fuse holder or whatever …he was baffled.
Different days then, he told me to go on my way, and get it repaired…I suppose today I would be impounded for further investigation.
Just to say none of those type of shenanigans with me nowadays, and no lasting effects on my little girl and her ‘criminal past’ 
…
She is now a respected wife and mother, working as a teaching assistant
I was wondering if the vehicle you overtook was stopped for a coffee break…but realised I was just being silly.
Another way of over-riding the fuse, if you had an Eaton Twinsplitter, was to knock the lever out of cog in top gear, then immediately slot the lever almost back into place, but resting on the gate - there must have been a little ledge or flange there. If you held it against this ledge, you could take the lorry up to 70 and pass the knot in the traffic and it wouldn’t show on the tacho. It only worked for very short distances because the lever would slip off the shelf after a minute or two of bumpy surfaces. I used it often!
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You could also override the limiter on the early ‘new generation’ automatic Actros around 13 plates.
If you put it in reverse whilst going forward at speed 
I wonder who was the first to be brave enough to try that one out.
One of our lot discovered it…, now I dont know about you, but if it had been me I would have kept that little gem to myself, and use it accordinglly, as in my earlier post.
But no, true to form, he gobbed off and broadcast it to every driver , until they blocked it off on all the vehicles.
The newer models…Mercedes got wise to it.
Test my memory fuse 19 DAF85 ?.Later given a wax seal
Found it on fotki site. John McDonald airfreight Renfrewshire but it won’t link here.
The link I checked was right name right trucks but South Africa.
What I remember I think was black livery 3600’s I think doing Prestwick to Heathrow airfreight trunking.Might have remembered the name wrong.
That company started in 1986 and dissolved in 2016.
Somewhat before my time. What’s the lorry?