This is a confusing thread! It’s called Seddon-Atkinson 401 but its full of 400s! Never mind. I drove the old 400s but according to Patrick Dyer’s excellent book published by Old Pond called Seddon-Atkinson 400, 401 & 4-11, the 401 was a huge improvement on the old 400 in all sorts of ways. Here are some pics of 401s only! Robert 
There were LHD 401, but as far as can ascertain they were only supplied with day cabs and only to the military (unlike the SA 400, which came with LHD sleeper cabs) - I’d love someone to prove me wrong on this one! They had Roller 265s and 9-speed Fullers. Here are some pics of them: Robert
It may be of interest…that in 1990 the Plastic front grilles of 401’s cost £200.
I know this because I broke one when I forgot to lift the grille before tipping the cab,
and I was charged for it.
…never did that again ! 
Here’s the book I was talking about. Robert
robert1952:
0123
The Charles Footman one now looks like this!
fryske:
robert1952:
0123The Charles Footman one now looks like this!
Nice! Robert 
Here’s my restored 401 and in my own opinion a very good reliable lorry
We ran over 20 401s plus its predecessor the 400
The only problems we encountered were wiper linkages rear hub seals nothing much else really
I may be a bit biased here but the Volvos I’ve driven the F7 waste of space the F10 good comfortable cab but it wouldn’t pull your ■■■■■■■■ back
The F12 a cracking motor but not a fleet lorry
The FL10 don’t even go there
The FH12 the ones we ran couldn’t hack the 24/7 operation we ran
Going onto Scanias the R112 and R113 I’ve driven good lorries but not fleet motors ok for one man one driver operation but start putting different drivers on them then reliability problems start again from my own opinion
The last good Scanias were the 113/143s by time the 4 Series came around
MAN Renault DAF IVECO and ERF had caught up and produced just as good lorries if not even better
The demise of the British built lorry was nothing to do with reliability but down to drivers going soft they wanted to be pampered
Before I get slated I can tell you a story of a driver I knew who came off a B series ERF for a topline 113 the only catch was he had to take a pay cut
I didn’t care what lorry I drove as long it was legal and I got paid well to drive it
gazsa401:
Here’s my restored 401 and in my own opinion a very good reliable lorry
We ran over 20 401s plus its predecessor the 400
The only problems we encountered were wiper linkages rear hub seals nothing much else really
I may be a bit biased here but the Volvos I’ve driven the F7 waste of space the F10 good comfortable cab but it wouldn’t pull your ■■■■■■■■ back
The F12 a cracking motor but not a fleet lorry
The FL10 don’t even go there
The FH12 the ones we ran couldn’t hack the 24/7 operation we ran
Going onto Scanias the R112 and R113 I’ve driven good lorries but not fleet motors ok for one man one driver operation but start putting different drivers on them then reliability problems start again from my own opinion
The last good Scanias were the 113/143s by time the 4 Series came around
MAN Renault DAF IVECO and ERF had caught up and produced just as good lorries if not even better
The demise of the British built lorry was nothing to do with reliability but down to drivers going soft they wanted to be pampered
Before I get slated I can tell you a story of a driver I knew who came off a B series ERF for a topline 113 the only catch was he had to take a pay cut
I didn’t care what lorry I drove as long it was legal and I got paid well to drive it 0
Brilliant, Gaza401, and I seem to remember you mentioning that motor behind you on the ‘Lorries with 9-speed Fuller Roadrangers’ thread! Robert
gazsa401:
Here’s my restored 401 and in my own opinion a very good reliable lorry
We ran over 20 401s plus its predecessor the 400
The demise of the British built lorry was nothing to do with reliability but down to drivers going soft they wanted to be pampered
Before I get slated I can tell you a story of a driver I knew who came off a B series ERF for a topline 113 the only catch was he had to take a pay cut
I didn’t care what lorry I drove as long it was legal and I got paid well to drive it
To be fair the ‘demise’ was more a case of too many operators wanting the Brits to go on producing sheds like the B series etc when most drivers would have been happy with the 400 series.Which was at least as good as its foreign competition and arguably a lot better with the decent power ■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller combination.As for soft there were/are probably as many,if not more,drivers who preferred to drive that typical Brit ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ combination as those who preferred the typical Scandinavian/Euro offerings.
Carryfast:
gazsa401:
Here’s my restored 401 and in my own opinion a very good reliable lorry
We ran over 20 401s plus its predecessor the 400
The demise of the British built lorry was nothing to do with reliability but down to drivers going soft they wanted to be pampered
Before I get slated I can tell you a story of a driver I knew who came off a B series ERF for a topline 113 the only catch was he had to take a pay cut
I didn’t care what lorry I drove as long it was legal and I got paid well to drive itTo be fair the ‘demise’ was more a case of too many operators wanting the Brits to go on producing sheds like the B series etc when most drivers would have been happy with the 400 series.Which was at least as good as its foreign competition and arguably a lot better with the decent power ■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller combination.As for soft there were/are probably as many,if not more,drivers who preferred to drive that typical Brit ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ combination as those who preferred the typical Scandinavian/Euro offerings.
I get your drift, CF but it wasn’t quite as black-and-white as that. For a start, the 400 may have had a reasonable cab but its Fuller gearbox installation was nothing like as good as in the B-series ERF and was back-to-front and inside-out into the bargain; furthermore it was 9-speed rather than 13 
. That said, I wouldn’t have minded the LHD version of the 400 with the 335 ■■■■■■■ in it 
. The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to believe that drivers followed the fashionable ‘celebrity’ motors of the day (Scania) instead of following their hearts (ERF). I may be a little biased, of course. Robert
robert1952:
Carryfast:
gazsa401:
Here’s my restored 401 and in my own opinion a very good reliable lorry
We ran over 20 401s plus its predecessor the 400
The demise of the British built lorry was nothing to do with reliability but down to drivers going soft they wanted to be pampered
Before I get slated I can tell you a story of a driver I knew who came off a B series ERF for a topline 113 the only catch was he had to take a pay cut
I didn’t care what lorry I drove as long it was legal and I got paid well to drive itTo be fair the ‘demise’ was more a case of too many operators wanting the Brits to go on producing sheds like the B series etc when most drivers would have been happy with the 400 series.Which was at least as good as its foreign competition and arguably a lot better with the decent power ■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller combination.As for soft there were/are probably as many,if not more,drivers who preferred to drive that typical Brit ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ combination as those who preferred the typical Scandinavian/Euro offerings.
I get your drift, CF but it wasn’t quite as black-and-white as that. For a start, the 400 may have had a reasonable cab but its Fuller gearbox installation was nothing like as good as in the B-series ERF and was back-to-front and inside-out into the bargain; furthermore it was 9-speed rather than 13
The 400 series seems to have gone through a reasonable development programme at least to the point where the bigger power engine options and 13 speed fuller option was available by the mid 1980’s.Which I’m guessing was sadly delayed more than it should have been by the demands of the domestic market.I’d guess that probably applied just as much in the case of the issue of a 13 speed option being fitted.IE like the bigger power engine options the 13 speed availability was probably more a case of needing to wait for the demand to increase to viable levels as opposed to anything stopping it actually being fitted. 
Carryfast:
robert1952:
Carryfast:
gazsa401:
Here’s my restored 401 and in my own opinion a very good reliable lorry
We ran over 20 401s plus its predecessor the 400
The demise of the British built lorry was nothing to do with reliability but down to drivers going soft they wanted to be pampered
Before I get slated I can tell you a story of a driver I knew who came off a B series ERF for a topline 113 the only catch was he had to take a pay cut
I didn’t care what lorry I drove as long it was legal and I got paid well to drive itTo be fair the ‘demise’ was more a case of too many operators wanting the Brits to go on producing sheds like the B series etc when most drivers would have been happy with the 400 series.Which was at least as good as its foreign competition and arguably a lot better with the decent power ■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller combination.As for soft there were/are probably as many,if not more,drivers who preferred to drive that typical Brit ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ combination as those who preferred the typical Scandinavian/Euro offerings.
I get your drift, CF but it wasn’t quite as black-and-white as that. For a start, the 400 may have had a reasonable cab but its Fuller gearbox installation was nothing like as good as in the B-series ERF and was back-to-front and inside-out into the bargain; furthermore it was 9-speed rather than 13
The 400 series seems to have gone through a reasonable development programme at least to the point where the bigger power engine options and 13 speed fuller option was available by the mid 1980’s.Which I’m guessing was sadly delayed more than it should have been by the demands of the domestic market.I’d guess that probably applied just as much in the case of the issue of a 13 speed option being fitted.IE like the bigger power engine options the 13 speed availability was probably more a case of needing to wait for the demand to increase to viable levels as opposed to anything stopping it actually being fitted.
I think that you are, like some at the start of this thread, failing (or perhaps ‘forgetting’ is better) to distinguish between the SA 400 and the 401. The 400 was a pretty rough old beast (I drove one) and even the top of the range 335-powered LHD Middle-Easter had a frack-to-bunt 9-speed Fuller in it (no problem to me, but Scania-centrics wouldn’t have been impressed!); BUT the 401 (which I suspect is what you are thinking of) was a vastly more impressive beast! And I would that I had driven one - who knows(?), I may get to drive one yet…And if you like the 13-speeder, the 401 was way more likely to have one than a 400, and I agree with you that it may have been delayed by the domestic market. But hist! There was hardly an overseas market for them, so why bother with 13-speeders. The 9-speed Fuller ‘direct top’ was well-suited to the higher speed limit (60 mph official, 70 mph unofficial) of the era; against 50 or 56 mph on the continent. Which, by the way, is why DAF put a 9-speed Fuller in the ‘new’ DKSE (UK) but put a ZF 16-speed sychro Eco-split in the DKSE (Continenent). I think we maybe more or less in agreement here… Robert
robert1952:
Carryfast:
robert1952:
Carryfast:
gazsa401:
Here’s my restored 401 and in my own opinion a very good reliable lorry
We ran over 20 401s plus its predecessor the 400
The demise of the British built lorry was nothing to do with reliability but down to drivers going soft they wanted to be pampered
Before I get slated I can tell you a story of a driver I knew who came off a B series ERF for a topline 113 the only catch was he had to take a pay cut
I didn’t care what lorry I drove as long it was legal and I got paid well to drive itTo be fair the ‘demise’ was more a case of too many operators wanting the Brits to go on producing sheds like the B series etc when most drivers would have been happy with the 400 series.Which was at least as good as its foreign competition and arguably a lot better with the decent power ■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller combination.As for soft there were/are probably as many,if not more,drivers who preferred to drive that typical Brit ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ combination as those who preferred the typical Scandinavian/Euro offerings.
I get your drift, CF but it wasn’t quite as black-and-white as that. For a start, the 400 may have had a reasonable cab but its Fuller gearbox installation was nothing like as good as in the B-series ERF and was back-to-front and inside-out into the bargain; furthermore it was 9-speed rather than 13
The 400 series seems to have gone through a reasonable development programme at least to the point where the bigger power engine options and 13 speed fuller option was available by the mid 1980’s.Which I’m guessing was sadly delayed more than it should have been by the demands of the domestic market.I’d guess that probably applied just as much in the case of the issue of a 13 speed option being fitted.IE like the bigger power engine options the 13 speed availability was probably more a case of needing to wait for the demand to increase to viable levels as opposed to anything stopping it actually being fitted.
I think that you are, like some at the start of this thread, failing (or perhaps ‘forgetting’ is better) to distinguish between the SA 400 and the 401. The 400 was a pretty rough old beast (I drove one) and even the top of the range 335-powered LHD Middle-Easter had a frack-to-bunt 9-speed Fuller in it (no problem to me, but Scania-centrics wouldn’t have been impressed!); BUT the 401 (which I suspect is what you are thinking of) was a vastly more impressive beast! And I would that I had driven one - who knows(?), I may get to drive one yet…And if you like the 13-speeder, the 401 was way more likely to have one than a 400, and I agree with you that it may have been delayed by the domestic market. But hist! There was hardly an overseas market for them, so why bother with 13-speeders. The 9-speed Fuller ‘direct top’ was well-suited to the higher speed limit (60 mph official, 70 mph unofficial) of the era; against 50 or 56 mph on the continent. Which, by the way, is why DAF put a 9-speed Fuller in the ‘new’ DKSE (UK) but put a ZF 16-speed sychro Eco-split in the DKSE (Continenent). I think we maybe more or less in agreement here… Robert
I was certainly referring to the 401 ( in terms of the 400 ‘series’ ) in that reply to gasza’s comments.In which he seemed to be making the correct conclusion that many Brit drivers had ( justifiably ) had enough of being given older,by that point,long outdated designs to drive.But then the erroneous one that they were arguably ‘also’ applying that to later designs like the 401.When it seems obvious that ( by that point ) the British manufacturers had moved on sufficiently to compete head on with their Scandinavian/Euro competition and many/most British drivers knew it.
IE I don’t think there would have been many complaints by many/any drivers given the keys to a new decent power ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ and 13 speed fuller specced 401 instead of the Scandinavian/Euro competition.It was sadly more a case that domestic customer demands had made the development of such products too late to be able to take back the market share they’d lost to that competition during the previous years 
and probably not ‘soft’ Brit drivers.Certainly in my case I think I would have preferred something like that 340 Rolls and fuller 13 speed 401 for example,which probably would have been awesome in the day compared to an F10/12 for example.
Sorry, just removed the pic as I’ve just realised it was a Strato not a 401 ! robert 
Chris Webb:
I thought I was right about Sproston Marky but I can’t remember any more in there unless Harris Road Services was one of them.
Right here goes…
JH Hourd ran 2800 DAFS yard at end of M56
Burnholme Transport…aka hard shoulder haulage 
from Carlisle
Alf Parry, ran foden and ERK from Connahs quay
Shones from Buckley, mainly volvo and seddon atkinson
George. Mayers, Chester, Merc’s previously Atkis
Waltons haulage Liverpool, volvos
Drurys transport
Len. Lindfields, Wirral volvo and seddons
Springfield haulage, from the a41
parry from mollington chester
Joint motorways
Harris Road services…TDG
Boswellls , connahs quay with guy big Js
Direct transport, gobo wen,
WG Hargreeves , ERFs from Cannock
Robinsons, from Chesney Hay, Walsall
Smally and Simpson
Dixons, used to do the Irish work, ERFs
lynch from SOT
Paul Perks, OD with marathon
■■ Husband and wife with 2 guy big Js , blue trucks…
Who else?
