Bewick:
coomsey:
First 8whlr Dodge for me,best bit only live a few miles down the road from them
1
Still going strong n out of original garage in the middle of a pretty village
0What kind of payload could the Dodge carry ? 16ton ? Cheers Dennis.
I got 16t on a Foden MM so she might have squeezed a bit more. What size engine/ box? Who’d have converted her? Did Dodge add axles?
Ray Smyth:
bubbleman:
Hello again,thanks to all who commented on the pictures,as an enthusiast I’ve been to Selby Garages to photograph examples of the fleet and always been made welcome and as quoted, in a very nice village,another Foden at the end for Coomsey,Cheers Bubbs,Hi Marcus, So pleased to see your pictures, Best regards, Ray Smyth.
Hi again,glad that you’re enjoying the pictures Ray,quite a few to come…and thanks to Dean and Coomsey for adding pictures,comments etc…ok heres todays stuff,Cheers Bubbs, 
coomsey:
Bewick:
coomsey:
First 8whlr Dodge for me,best bit only live a few miles down the road from them
1
Still going strong n out of original garage in the middle of a pretty village
0What kind of payload could the Dodge carry ? 16ton ? Cheers Dennis.
I got 16t on a Foden MM so she might have squeezed a bit more. What size engine/ box? Who’d have converted her? Did Dodge add axles?
I’m as curios as you Coomsey but I don’t think Dodge produced an 8 wheeler so it would have been one of the “conversion” specialists and I reckon that Primrose Engineering would be the favourite at that time. It looks like it could also be a Double drive backend although it is a bit fuzzy to make out but some of the Converters did use the Albion DD bogie as the single drive axle on a tipper was basically useless if they had to leave a hard surface and venture onto say a building site ! Oh! and I doubt whether the Dodge had Power steering either ! Cheers Dennis.
bubbleman:
Hi again,glad that you’re enjoying the pictures Ray,quite a few to come…and thanks to Dean and Coomsey for adding pictures,comments etc…ok heres todays stuff,Cheers Bubbs,
I am curious about the various non standard cabs like the Albion in pic 1, and on various other vehicles seen elsewhere in these pages.
Why would anyone bother to have special cabs built? Surely it was more expensive. I can understand the 8 wheel Dodge if someone was wedded to Dodges and needed more capacity, and the Krupp cabbed Atkis probably because of European non acceptance of plastic cabs, but not such as that tanker. Anybody enlighten me?
Spardo:
bubbleman:
Hi again,glad that you’re enjoying the pictures Ray,quite a few to come…and thanks to Dean and Coomsey for adding pictures,comments etc…ok heres todays stuff,Cheers Bubbs,I am curious about the various non standard cabs like the Albion in pic 1, and on various other vehicles seen elsewhere in these pages.
Why would anyone bother to have special cabs built? Surely it was more expensive. I can understand the 8 wheel Dodge if someone was wedded to Dodges and needed more capacity, and the Krupp cabbed Atkis probably because of European non acceptance of plastic cabs, but not such as that tanker. Anybody enlighten me?
Some lorry builders, including AEC and Albion didn’t build cabs of their own for much of their existence, or built very few. They may have had “captive” coachbuilders, like AEC with Park Royal, or Seddon with Pennine Coachbuilders, but many were cabbed by independent companies or by the local distributors (such as Oswald Tillotson). The one on the Shell-BP Albion Caledonian was built by Alfred Miles.
Bewick:
coomsey:
Bewick:
coomsey:
First 8whlr Dodge for me,best bit only live a few miles down the road from themStill going strong n out of original garage in the middle of a pretty village
What kind of payload could the Dodge carry ? 16ton ? Cheers Dennis.
I got 16t on a Foden MM so she might have squeezed a bit more. What size engine/ box? Who’d have converted her? Did Dodge add axles?
I’m as curios as you Coomsey but I don’t think Dodge produced an 8 wheeler so it would have been one of the “conversion” specialists and I reckon that Primrose Engineering would be the favourite at that time. It looks like it could also be a Double drive backend although it is a bit fuzzy to make out but some of the Converters did use the Albion DD bogie as the single drive axle on a tipper was basically useless if they had to leave a hard surface and venture onto say a building site ! Oh! and I doubt whether the Dodge had Power steering either !
Well Dennis I suspect there’s someone on here who does know but must be saving his finger for bum scratching 
Only know of Primrose but must have been others. If you were buying a 6whlr with the intention of converting how did you get the bigger engine able to do the job ? Or did you stick with the one in it?
Plenty of the Is about, they stand well. Cheers Coomsey
Hi all one to take you back a little, cheers Buzzer
Buzzer:
Hi all one to take you back a little, cheers Buzzer
With aircon on full bore ! 
Bewick:
coomsey:
Bewick:
coomsey:
First 8whlr Dodge for me,best bit only live a few miles down the road from them
1
Still going strong n out of original garage in the middle of a pretty village
0What kind of payload could the Dodge carry ? 16ton ? Cheers Dennis.
I got 16t on a Foden MM so she might have squeezed a bit more. What size engine/ box? Who’d have converted her? Did Dodge add axles?
I’m as curios as you Coomsey but I don’t think Dodge produced an 8 wheeler so it would have been one of the “conversion” specialists and I reckon that Primrose Engineering would be the favourite at that time. It looks like it could also be a Double drive backend although it is a bit fuzzy to make out but some of the Converters did use the Albion DD bogie as the single drive axle on a tipper was basically useless if they had to leave a hard surface and venture onto say a building site ! Oh! and I doubt whether the Dodge had Power steering either !
You’re correct in your Primrose assumption Dennis. You commented earlier on the front axles spacing and that was definitely a Primrose characteristic on the steer conversions they carried out. HKR Transport of Little Lever who I knew well had two Dodge 310 six-wheelers, with York trailing third axles. Those two had AEC AVU 470 engines, DB 5-speed gearbox, and Eaton 2-speed axle. My uncle had a LAD Leyland Comet converted to a six-wheeler by Primrose. That conversion required the chassis to be flitched and an air-assisted hand break to be fitted. It gave an extra 4 tons of payload, well worth the cost of the conversion back in the day when virtually all loads were paid on a tonnage rate. Incidentally the restored Dodge 308 six-wheeler, Boys third axle, that I had a good look at at Gaydon last year did have power assisted steering, which did surprise me.
Spardo:
bubbleman:
Hi again,glad that you’re enjoying the pictures Ray,quite a few to come…and thanks to Dean and Coomsey for adding pictures,comments etc…ok heres todays stuff,Cheers Bubbs,I am curious about the various non standard cabs like the Albion in pic 1, and on various other vehicles seen elsewhere in these pages.
Why would anyone bother to have special cabs built? Surely it was more expensive. I can understand the 8 wheel Dodge if someone was wedded to Dodges and needed more capacity, and the Krupp cabbed Atkis probably because of European non acceptance of plastic cabs, but not such as that tanker. Anybody enlighten me?
The 1962 Goods Vehicles Year Book I have lists 32 builders of commercial vehicle cabs. Virtually every lorry manufacturer and assembler offered customers a choice of cab builder. The mass producers of steel cabs were Briggs (used by Ford and Dodge), Motor Panels, (L.A.D. cab used by Leyland, Albion, Dodge, then the later cab used by Seddon, Guy and others), Pressed Steel Fisher (Austin, Morris), Sankey later GKN Sankey, (Ergomatic cab used by AEC, Leyland, Albion) and so on. With several marques sourcing cabs from one supplier the unit cost was lower than it would have been if each individual marque had made its own cabs.
Willenhall Radiators made cabs for the BMC FE/FFK/FHK ranges, plus the same cab used by other companies, some actually had their nameplate mounted in the cab.
Pete.
gingerfold:
Spardo:
bubbleman:
Hi again,glad that you’re enjoying the pictures Ray,quite a few to come…and thanks to Dean and Coomsey for adding pictures,comments etc…ok heres todays stuff,Cheers Bubbs,I am curious about the various non standard cabs like the Albion in pic 1, and on various other vehicles seen elsewhere in these pages.
Why would anyone bother to have special cabs built? Surely it was more expensive. I can understand the 8 wheel Dodge if someone was wedded to Dodges and needed more capacity, and the Krupp cabbed Atkis probably because of European non acceptance of plastic cabs, but not such as that tanker. Anybody enlighten me?
The 1962 Goods Vehicles Year Book I have lists 32 builders of commercial vehicle cabs. Virtually every lorry manufacturer and assembler offered customers a choice of cab builder. The mass producers of steel cabs were Briggs (used by Ford and Dodge), Motor Panels, (L.A.D. cab used by Leyland, Albion, Dodge, then the later cab used by Seddon, Guy and others), Pressed Steel Fisher (Austin, Morris), Sankey later GKN Sankey, (Ergomatic cab used by AEC, Leyland, Albion) and so on. With several marques sourcing cabs from one supplier the unit cost was lower than it would have been if each individual marque had made its own cabs.
The “big” three if I can call them that Atkinson, ERF and Fodens built their own cabs for many years until C & U Regs scuppered the wooden frame and fibreglass designs although ERF continued using GRP panels on their B and C Series units. Cheers Dennis.
There was a long gone tipper Operator from Nether Kellet nr. Carnforth, G E Moore ( Ernie Moore), who’s nick name was “The Nether Kellet Dangle Axle Tipper Co” Ernie was a Legend at running mainly 6 wheeler York conversions and the odd Albion tippers, I don’t think he ever ran a converted 8 wheeler though. In 1969/70 he piled into BMC/Leyland Mastiffs and Neville Dump trailers which were a disaster for him according to my late Pal Malc Woodhouse Snr. Ernie’s Mastiffs were a regular site parked on the hard shoulder of the northern end of the M6 with a pool of oil underneath them ! Cheers Dennis.
Possible answer here, this diagram showing the Dodge six wheeler chassis and the two lengths available, so did someone put a second steer axle on the longer chassis to result in the 8 Wheeler in the pic. Franky.
Thanks to all who have answered my cab question, I suppose that I assumed that all the most popular cabs were factory built, I had no idea that there were so many independent cab builders, although I am familiar with most of the names.
I think my puzzlement is still valid though, the fact that some cabs, like the Albion that gave rise to my question, were so unusual in comparison, proves the point about the financial advantages of the common (to me standard, but now I realise, popular) makes.
Ref coachbuilt cabs I recall as a youngster there was a small coachbuilders premises near to where I lived that had a large sign outside showing a lorry cab, presumably from this sign being advertised they built cabs for customers that supplied the chassis and scuttle. I never did see the inside of this place although I was very curious nor did I see vehicles going in and out, by the time I was a teenager mid 60’s it had closed down, its feasible many towns had these workshops where companies could have cabs built to plans possibly supplied by manufacturers. Franky.
Frankydobo:
Possible answer here, this diagram showing the Dodge six wheeler chassis and the two lengths available, so did someone put a second steer axle on the longer chassis to result in the 8 Wheeler in the pic. Franky.
0
No itchy bum then GF !
So I’m guessing if you fancied an 8whlr go for the biggest engine/ chassis length ?
I’m led to believe that adding an axle was cheaper than buying an 8whlr, surely that’s wrong. Cheers Coomsey
I’m not just sure which thread the shot was on but IIRC the shot was taken in Manchester or Warrington and it was a extra long WB Dodge 308 6 wheeler flat that belonged to a firm from Widnes again IIRC and it looked like it had a 24 ft flat and it would certainly have stood having a second steer fitted. Cheers Dennis.
bubbleman:
Hiya,For Froggy heres the rescanned pic of the Atki chassis with the info,Cheers Bubbs,
That looks a familiar piece of text… from Historic Commercials, by any chance??
