Pretty sure i first arrived as Compound/Yard was being set up, No fences, just a few units and trailers in a sand patch, my trip before, no more than a few months before, there was nothing there at all, this was before ‘Joe’ turned up, my first visit was great, good blokes and great chat, i was just passing through and stopped off for a break, over the next year or so it all changed, i got roped into the ‘Caravan’ mob against my will, the fact i had to register my truck onto Saudi Plates worried me, but gave me a ‘Get Out’ when i needed it.
After a few run in’s with Joe i told Jeff i would NEVER stay in Damman compound for more than 2 days if Joe was there, I kept away and detoured Al Khobar without problem till i ended up with the weird 3 month trip via Cyprus and Beirut (smack into 3rd day of War) long story to follow sometime soon,
I was told by Jeff to run into Saudi EMPTY from Amman, surely the ONLY UK truck to go into the Kingdom empty, you try getting the idiot kids with tea towels to accept you into their wonderland, they wanted dashboard stripped out, headlining off, in fact total cab stripped, Nobody, but NOBODY goes into Saudi Empty, a nightmare, I knew Jeff had something in mind, we had an agreement that i would do a Kuwait, Doha, Jeddah, or an oddball compound in middle of nowhere, but i would NOT stay,I knew Jeff would make money from ‘Internals’ but i would never see a penny, i had private deal for Trip Money, and i did well from that as long as i was free to drive, get job done, no hold ups, i loved the freedom, thats why i kept well away from just about all of Jeff’s drivers, i did what i had to do, kept my head down, and just got on with it.
I had a summer job, way before ME Trucks, driving coach loads of Aussie & Kiwi tourists all over Europe/Middle East/ Russia,
In fact i got the truck bug when parked with coach in layby in the Dragoman Gorge and an English guy turned up in a Guy BigJ4, i wandered up to him wondering what the hell was a GB registered truck doing this far from home, after a chat about tea, he had his own, he said he was almost home■■?
This was back of beyond, south of Nis,
He then said he was on his way back from Karrachi, Pakistan, Yep, he was almost home,
My time going into and out of Russia in the early 70’s, big time Iron Curtain, taught me enough to cope with ME, got arrested just about Every trip, lots of fun stories, Red Guards, political police, KGB man on coach at all times, but we still got away with murder,
Stories if anyone interested, 70’s into USSR was something very few in UK knew about.
Jeff, and office guys knew about my Russian trips, and gave me time off between trips, in fact one year they were impressed that i ‘Disappeared for a Month’ and upon return asking for a load they asked where i had been, i said i had to ‘Pop Up’ to Leningrad to collect a couple of Diamonds i had left with my black market contact, and the only way to do it was to drive, i didnt have a car, so i found a car rental mob with no mileage limit, a brand new Fiesta, one of the first, i did round trip to Leningrad and back in mid winter, got my 2 diamonds back hidden in brake master cylinder, Rental mob could not believe the mileage on the clock, i could have driven twice over UK and still fallen over the edge,
So many stories to tell of the 70’s
Just wish i had more photo’s,
Young, Silly, Brave, New Challenges
Would i do it now■■?
NO WAY
skipvittese ye real nice in sunshine but in winter up old road fun and games 
stevejones:
skipvittese ye real nice in sunshine but in winter up old road fun and games
Yeah, Sunshine etc,
Big Bad Winter of '75, took me almost a month to get from Tehran to Istanbul,
-45degs, didnt switch engine off for over 3 weeks,
2 days on Tihir,
Nightmare, a few guys died that winter
Dont ever joke about ‘Fun & Games’,
That Winter was SERIOUS,
I left Tehran in convoy of 10 trucks,
Only 7 arrived back home!!!
They were the Bad Days,
Its nice to look back at Fun Times,
But NEVER Forget the guys that never made it home,
I dont,
Plenty either died in accidents, or got jailed and died,
It was not a joke,
skipvitesse:
stevejones:
ye u got it remember s.siera at top pulling in and winding em all on for run down into madrid early eighties like u say gr8 days forever goneWhy am the ONLY driver Never to run over Sommer Sierra in the sun? I was always snow bound, Old road in 70’s was frightening,
Also remember having an old Pegasso (Pigs [zb]) and having to stop at EVERY hill top to wind on front brakes, pulling for a french mob that never had trailer brakes, the life of a subbie,
I ran over Soma Sierra in all weathers. It was there that I learnt the answer to the age-old question: how do snow-plough drivers get to work? Simple: they used to sit on the junctions near the top with their engines running and beacons flashing until a snow-flake appeared - miraculous (well, miraculous in UK anyway). Here is a picture I took in summer, stopping at that hostal restaurant at the very top in about 2000. Cheers, Robert
ye skipvetesse my cousin on m/e from 75/79 seen alot of pics and he told me about some of bad times . iv been canada ten yrs and ive seen the bad things that can happen in winter especially running b.columbia . coast to coast and thats on good tarmac roads .
stevejones:
ye skipvetesse my cousin on m/e from 75/79 seen alot of pics and he told me about some of bad times . iv been canada ten yrs and ive seen the bad things that can happen in winter especially running b.columbia . coast to coast and thats on good tarmac roads .
Yep, the bad times were BAD, not many drivers talk about them, we all tended to make light of it all, crack a joke and get on with job,
How many of you out there lost a mate? someone who started trip with you never to be seen again?
Russia scared the crap out of me in early 70’s, but before my 1st Tehran trip i was told by one of the pioneers that only 7 out of 10 would ever make it back home,
How true that was, i left on one trip and a driver never turned up at our night spot, nobody ever heard from him again, he just disappeared, Bad winter of 75 i got into Hotel, either Erzincan or Erzurum in severe snow storm, and there was a driver up to his neck in bandages, in a very bad way, apparrently hit with crow bars by drunken Turks when he jacknifed and blocked the road, we did what we could and thought he would be OK in ‘Hotel’, we heard later he didnt make it,
There was a jail in Turkey, a villiage somewhere near Bolu, a Brit was in there, no food, no help, nothing, I and a few others that knew of him (we had never met before) would always stop and deliver whatever we could for him. He had stopped for a nap and tea well off the road, nice and safe, till a Kamikazzi flew off a bend and straight into his truck, he was sitting in cafe on other side of the road, Turk Plod arrested him for causing deaths of coach passengers, poor bugger had been sitting in jail for over a year awaiting ‘Trial’, usual attitude, ‘if you hadnt been there, the accident wouldnt have happened’,
Job was great, as long as you knew the odd’s, lost 2 great mates whithin a year, but from what i gather dozens died in the early days,
skipvitesse:
1st trip out in new F12, must be one of the very first F12’s in UK, badged as a 12-17, Every other one i ever saw was badged 12-20, not sure of month, but late 76 or very early 77,
Where Jeff got them i have no idea, he had 6, way before they appeared in UK market, all LHD.Who remembers the weird Revs Per Second Rev Counters on very 1st F12’s??
I had this one in about '79, inherited it from “Billy Big Wheels” when he broke his ankle in Milan, I flew out and picked up the ready loaded motor which I had for about a year.
This pic taken by the Kaf oasis after coming through the new Saud border.
Looks like your truck was a 1220, i often wonder why my one was badged 1217, do you remember the reg number?
skipvitesse:
Looks like your truck was a 1220, i often wonder why my one was badged 1217, do you remember the reg number?
IIRC, GB market ones had an 11 ton back axle, so were 17 ton gvw. Other markets had 13 ton axles, making them 20 tonners.
Here’s the article describing the launch of the F10/12, in August 1977:
archive.commercialmotor.com/arti … e-28-ton-p
The picture shows an F1217.
Ice Factory, Damman,
A life saver on many trips without AirCon
Anyone doing ‘Internals’ should remember those god awful american ‘Xtra’ trailers, most had electric hub brakes fired off by stop lights, they were either ‘On’ or ‘Off’ nothing inbetween,
I soon found that removing bulbs cured that, but a problem for anyone following me,
They also had Rock Hard Nylon tyres, i once followed one of a bunch we had collected from port, we went round trailers, kicked all tyres, all seemed fine, but something looked odd on trailer in front as we drove away, i was looking at rear axle tyre but could see lead axle tyre, when we stopped for Chi, i took a good look and found rear tyre had no tread, nor even the centre carcass, just 2 sidewalls, so rock hard that even 25-30 tons on board didnt deflect it.
Another problem when collecting Xtra trailers from docks that had been loaded in the States and shipped over, was that you never knew what was inside, or how heavy,
If you couldnt pull off in 3rd or 4th Low, and had to use 1st low just to get moving, then you knew it was a ‘Heavy’,
One trip with a Heavy stands out,
A Container with an open top covered with tarp, (and as i found out later was loaded with over 30 tons of Oil Pipe plus a few crates of valves and gates, well over 35T of load alone, plus container, plus trailer)
Delivery was to an incredibly tight compound, i had 5 or 6 men shouting instructions in 5 or 6 different languages, not one of them English,
They got me jacknifed at 90degs, not recommended at anytime, when i felt trailer going over,
Tried to reverse straight but drive axle bogged in sand,
As my unit was my passport out of country i wasnt going to loose it,
Out of cab very fast, pull pin, no time for suzies, back in cab and wheelspin a foot foreward
Ever so slowly the trailer toppled
Note Big Guy in bedsheets hamming it up pretending to push trailer, smile soon came off his face when he realised the wire you see under trailer was his electric supply, he was NOT a happy bunny 5 mins after photo taken
Black John was with me behind, he couldnt stop himself ■■■■■■■ with laughter, took us forever to get a bucket loader and shift all the crates and pipes, as many chains as we could find and 2 units to pull trailer back upright, get the dockets signed, get trailer and container back to docks and run for it, John was still giggling when we got back into yard, but bless him, he stuck by me and we sorted it
Not only Truck Drivers can mess up (Me?)
On my ill fated trip to Beirut (more to come) i arranged shipping to Cyprus out of Pireaus,
Not a good sight to see that morning in harbour
The funnel you see is attached to the Harbour Masters Tug,
Came in the night before at a great rate of knots and forgot to stop,
Everyone on docks were delighted, he was obviously not too popular,
SKIPVITESSE what some excellent posts to read, and the photographs brilliant where have you been it is brilliant to read of your trips.
as you may gather most of us who read these ME posts never got anywhere near the ME. or never did European until the 1980s so the more you write the better .
Most of the M.E men who share their times they had in them unforgiving countries keep me very entertained ,[maybe a little jealous] so I hope you keep on writing ,are you FROM THE NEDERLANDS?.
deckboypeggy:
SKIPVITESSE what some excellent posts to read, and the photographs brilliant where have you been it is brilliant to read of your trips.
as you may gather most of us who read these ME posts never got anywhere near the ME. or never did European until the 1980s so the more you write the better .Most of the M.E men who share their times they had in them unforgiving countries keep me very entertained ,[maybe a little jealous] so I hope you keep on writing ,are you FROM THE NEDERLANDS?.
I bumped into this site by accident a week ago,
No, i live in Ireland now,
Started driving in USA 1971, driving an International Harvester CO4070 for Bekins Removals, NY down to Florida, Then Europe and Asia in a Dutch Coach, Vermaats in Helevoetsluis, Rotterdam, Then a couple of years in Russia during Summer, Middle East in Trucks in winters, then full time ME with trucks.
Did lots of truck stuff up to 2 years ago,
Have the achievement of Only Truck to go from Ireland to USA in 2002, i had a job to get 8 race cars to Mid Ohio and going by road was the most sensible option, built Trailer myself to take cars, Took my Magnum across Mack470, a trip to remember,
Still digging out old photo’s and scanning them, takes time,
Lots of stories if anyone interested?
just let me know,
My Irish Magnum parked up in middle of Ohio USA
7 of the 8 cars i carried across, everyone said it couldnt be done, so i did it. most expensive ferry ticket i ever bought, £9,800 return way back 13 years ago, Liverpool Seaforth Docks to Newark New Jersey, ACL RO-RO every Sat Morn back then
@ Skipvitesse: as it is clear that you crossed Saudi both as an ‘overlander’ and an ‘internals’ driver it is highly likely that in that period you came across some of those left-hand drive ERF NGC ‘Europeans’, such as the one pictured below. If you’ve any pictures or tales of these beasts, I’d be very interested! Cheers, Robert
robert1952:
@ Skipvitesse: as it is clear that you crossed Saudi both as an ‘overlander’ and an ‘internals’ driver it is highly likely that in that period you came across some of those left-hand drive ERF NGC ‘Europeans’, such as the one pictured below. If you’ve any pictures or tales of these beasts, I’d be very interested! Cheers, Robert0
I remember them well, not sure how many, but more than 3 or 4, I seem to remember them on Dutch Plates originally, i never spoke to any of the drivers though, i have an idea they were driven by cheap guest drivers, phillapine indonesian or indian, but not certain.
The Cardboard flap above drivers window was always a dead giveaway of a ‘guest driver’, they didnt like air con (even though truck has one) just window open and cardboard Sun Shade
They seemed to be going 24hrs, never saw one parked.
Rare shot of PVX 949R & PVX 948R together
Probably on way back from Girisun
(looks like dodgy box van with no front roof left)
But there were 3 of us on that trip? (perhaps Mr Miserable parked all on his own)
On way back home one year or another, i forget,
Switzerland, what a breath of fresh air,
Still have the ‘Caravan’ signs on, but new number plates,
Do you remember the days when we just picked our own route home? just turn up at a border and bluff your way through, i loved going over Alps on small passes before they were forbidden, into Switzerland, up to Zurich then North toward Schaffhausen,
Here was my reason, pound notes!!!
I had found a few years before a sneaky route,
The road to Schaffhousen (Switzerland) passed through a couple of miles of Germany, you just stopped at police post and got a Transit Paper,
About a mile down the road was a left turn, a very minor road marked with a 3.7Mtr bridge, out of sight of police post,
Turn Left, he, he, along to Waldshut ( yes you COULD get under bridge) up to Titisee then across to Frieberg and Autobahn, transit paper to Schaffhausen had been tossed out of window many miles ago,
So, sneaked into Germany, No Tankschein, NO ROAD TAX entry!!!
Remember when you got mileage written down on entry and on exit and paid for kilometers travelled, assuming of course you had a transit permit, rare to get back then,
Now the trick was to get out of Germany,
Run up as far as Koblenz then turn off toward the Nurburgring Race Track, follow road to Monschau, in middle of village was a left turn with customs post 100 mtrs up the hill, it was just a hut in middle of road, and they went home at 6 every night, so time it right and just sail through into Begium.
I did this many times back then,
Money was tight on ‘Trip Money’,
Jeff never asked, or told me, where or what to do, He gave me a certain amount of paperwork (mostly dubious) a fistfull of cash, and a destination, i can never remember just how i got hold of backloads, usually Italy as better rates back then, but some of my methods of getting across borders was very questionable, and usually involved small villages, even smaller roads, and smaller than small Customs, locals did it everyday, so i copied.
Some people sneered at my doing Coaches in Summer, Trucks in Winter originally, but by god i learnt how to sneak accross just about every border from Calais to Kapicule (and even then, if i got a sniff of a problem at Kapic, then down south at Nis, back way into Greece above Thessaloniki, and back into Turkey on a deserted border,
Like i said before, i liked running on my own and sorting stuff out as it came along, turning up mob handed at my crossing points would have raised flags big time, sneak around slowly at low revs and nobody notices,
Left over tactics from running into USSR and Iron Curtain, act small, keep small, and no one notices
@ Skipvitesse:
-
Thanks for comments about the ERFs. The guest drivers you saw would have been Philipinos, as you suggest, as they worked for Trans Arabia in Jeddah.
-
I too preferred running alone -far more efficient - but enjoyed meeting up with others at good watering holes.
-
I loved the pic of your motor parked at Kaf in Saudi. I pulled off the road once and drove into the deserted village of Kaf and took some pictures of my lorry there (see pic below).
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I once rowed a little boat across Lake Titisee that you mentioned.
Keep 'em coming old mate! Cheers, Robert
