Trev_H:
Well I did ask a mate who worked on Guys and has posted some pictures on the Guy motors site (he had one with a 280 rolls) and he said he had never seen one and doubted that it would go in. We had one ■■■■■■■ 290 unit that was off the road for 2 months waiting for a turbo, there was little clearance between the turbo, the exhaust stack and trailer headboard and with a set back king pin on full lock you could knock the turbo clean off ! This is what makes me wonder about the length of the 8lxb. Maybe they stretched the wheelbase for one who knows?
Can you imagine Leylands letting Fallings Park tool up to stetch the Big J chassis to fit an engine they would find virtually impossible to source from the manufactures ? Well niether can I mate !! Bewick.
Steady up Bewick me old mate, you’ll have a cardiac arrest !!! have a pink gin !
I’ve asked Bubbleman, he who has pictures of absolutely everything, if he can look up a
Big J 240 8 cyl, a photo, and hopefully with a write up as proof. Told him blood will be shed if he doesn’t find one !!!
Yea the Wife’s made me lie down and turned my Oxygen on mixed with a bit of Easy Start !! tells me the Ambulance won’t be long !!! Cheers Bewwwwww.Kaput .
Yea the Wife’s made me lie down and turned my Oxygen on mixed with a bit of Easy Start !! tells me the Ambulance won’t be long !!! Cheers Bewwwwww.Kaput .
[/quote]
Nice one !!
Hiya …me again i can’nt find one and looked everywhere.Maybe when the snows gone. But for a bit of fun look on the South wales site(on one of the last pages) pete359 has posted a heap of scrap. what at one time was a BigJ with a V6 ■■■■■■■ power plant well not power it was a pile of rubbish.
John.
3300John:
Hiya …me again i can’nt find one and looked everywhere.Maybe when the snows gone. But for a bit of fun look on the South wales site(on one of the last pages) pete359 has posted a heap of scrap. what at one time was a BigJ with a V6 ■■■■■■■ power plant well not power it was a pile of rubbish.
John.
Hiya John , The bloke that done that to the Guy wants prosecuting for cruelty to Big Js and then stringing up by the nuts !! Bewick
I did not realise it at the time,but SoM were obviously part of the United Group when I was driving for them in the 70’s,funny, don’t remember anyone talking about United Group during my time with them,although come to think of it,Jameson’s used to park their tilt trailers @ the Manchester Depot,and I think they had United Group on the tilt,might be wrong,but seems familiar?
Hiya…that Jamesons Seddon is fitted with a 8 LXB its shown on the Brochures site.Seddon and Guy had a 114 inch wheelbase 2inches longer than a ERF A series so i think a GUY chassis would take a 8cylinder possibly the price would have been a problem or of corse the weight as Seddon and Guy always made
a light weight chassis making the payload priority.
John
3300John:
Hiya …me again i can’nt find one and looked everywhere.Maybe when the snows gone. But for a bit of fun look on the South wales site(on one of the last pages) pete359 has posted a heap of scrap. what at one time was a BigJ with a V6 ■■■■■■■ power plant well not power it was a pile of rubbish.
John.
Hi here is that pile of scrap!!!
Had a word today with an ex R K Crisp driver he said that some of the Big J’s they ran were part of a cancelled export order of 12 vehicles for the Middle East, they were all sleepers fitted with either 235 or 250 ■■■■■■■ were long wheel base had a extra skin over the roof to protect from the sun, they had power steering ,a clutch brake and possibly jake brakes, and were extremely fast 90mph or more!!!
I did not realise it at the time,but SoM were obviously part of the United Group when I was driving for them in the 70’s,funny, don’t remember anyone talking about United Group during my time with them,although come to think of it,Jameson’s used to park their tilt trailers @ the Manchester Depot,and I think they had United Group on the tilt,might be wrong,but seems familiar?
Hiya…that Jamesons Seddon is fitted with a 8 LXB its shown on the Brochures site.Seddon and Guy had a 114 inch wheelbase 2inches longer than a ERF A series so i think a GUY chassis would take a 8cylinder possibly the price would have been a problem or of corse the weight as Seddon and Guy always made
a light weight chassis making the payload priority.
John
Thanks for this Gen on the Seddon John I did know that they built a few with the 8LXB engine as an old mate of mine Malc Woodhouse ran one for a while . But it is definite confirmation that Guy’s fitted the 8LXB we are looking for !! Regarding the Crisp Guy’s it seems quite possible that they were spec’d as described by Pat but looking at the photo I am doubtfull they were longer wheelbases than the standard 114" but I will stand corrected if somone comes up with what the longer wheelbase was!! Regards Bewick P.S. It looks like the standard W. B. to me!!
My twopenath… I had a new Big J in 1978 with locomotors sleeper 180 Gardner , AEC gearbox, 55mph flat out. Now if anyone went to the 1974 commercial motor Show there were 2 Big J’s on the stand with the Marathon dash fitted to them, the artic was bought by Dines Transport of Bicester, had a 250 ■■■■■■■■ 10 speed fuller . The lorry was written off in Belgium in 1978, the other was a ridgid don’t know who bought that one, does anyone know where it went.
Hi Pat I agree with you on the Crisp’s spec as I ran over with a few and they told me the same story about a cancelled export order,it was the first time I had ever heard a jake brake and if they passed you in a tunnel or something they let you know they were there, when switched on they came on when you took your foot off the throttle and when you used the clutch and they certainly could motor.
Cheers Johnnie
Hi, Ya All!
I worked at London Rd Glasgow in the mid 70’s with Smith’s. I also remember driving a Guy with a 240 Gardener, ND 999 was the fleet number and it went like a rocket. Not only that, but for a Gardener, the heater also worked. Now, that was something! I think the trunker was Irwin Watt.
Hi, Dave & Tony, just found this thread.
Alex
alexsaville:
Hi, Ya All!
I worked at London Rd Glasgow in the mid 70’s with Smith’s. I also remember driving a Guy with a 240 Gardener, ND 999 was the fleet number and it went like a rocket. Not only that, but for a Gardener, the heater also worked. Now, that was something! I think the trunker was Irwin Watt.
Hi, Dave & Tony, just found this thread.
Alex
Where have you been hiding Alex !! we could have avoided all this ongoing B******s if you had nipped it in the bud at the off !! With regard to heaters funny you should mention it but the first 240 we ran that had a heater that worked was a 1977 Sed/Atk sleeper but I remember we had 3 ERF C Series 8 cyl LXCs and the heaters were crap and had us retro fitting Eberspchers to use as normal cab heaters !! Cheers Bewick.
I’ve been busy doing my ‘Memoirs’, when I get time, I will post a few about Smiths here.
For the benefit of all the non-Smiths drivers, the company motto was ‘Smith for Service.’, the unofficial motto was ‘The only thing that will pas a Smiths motor is another one!’.
They weren’t kidding!
Alex
alexsaville:
Hi, Ya All!
I worked at London Rd Glasgow in the mid 70’s with Smith’s. I also remember driving a Guy with a 240 Gardener, ND 999 was the fleet number and it went like a rocket. Not only that, but for a Gardener, the heater also worked. Now, that was something! I think the trunker was Irwin Watt. Hi, Dave & Tony, just found this thread.
Alex
Hi Alex, glad you have, thought you might have seen it earlier, poor old Bewick’s nearly been hospitised worrying about this 240 / 8 cyl. As far as I’m concerened if you drove one, that’s good enough for me, couldn’t have been that many around though. Pity no one has a photo.
Take care mate
Dave
Dave, I said to you before, I think, that I could kick myself for not having a camera all these years ago! I make up for it now!
Murray Smith was the son of one of the Smith brothers, I cant remember which one, but I know a man who does! Next time I am in Falkirk I’ll ask him!
He got most of his work, if not all from Smiths. Then the word was put about that none of the depots were to give him loads. He was using S o M trailers instead of getting more of his own. Perhaps United thought the brothers Smith were trying to do a comeback via Murray.
I believe it was Stockton Depot that caused the situation that I relate.
I was sent to KG5 Docks in Glasgow with a CAT D8 on the back of the trailer. I was told to shunt down there between the boat and the trailers that were dropped there. The dockers didn’t start loading until after dinner. Meanwhile I discovered an empty Smith’s coil carrier at the back of a shed.
I phoned London Rd and they knew nothing of it. When one of our guys brought another cat in, I gave him the empty coiler as I had none of mine empty.
At about 3 pm a Murray Smiths driver came in looking for that trailer. Naturally, I told him I knew nothing about it!
How Murray explained to Stockton about their lost trailer, I have no idea.
I seem to recollect Murray traded under the Smith’s Motorway Express name, his units were painted orange and white with a blue stripe. In this part of the world, that amounts to a political statement!
Alex
alexsaville:
Hi, Ya All!
I worked at London Rd Glasgow in the mid 70’s with Smith’s. I also remember driving a Guy with a 240 Gardener, ND 999 was the fleet number and it went like a rocket. Not only that, but for a Gardener, the heater also worked. Now, that was something! I think the trunker was Irwin Watt. Hi, Dave & Tony, just found this thread.
Alex
Hi Alex, glad you have, thought you might have seen it earlier, poor old Bewick’s nearly been hospitised worrying about this 240 / 8 cyl. As far as I’m concerened if you drove one, that’s good enough for me, couldn’t have been that around though. Pity no one has a photo.
Take care mate
Dave
I’am speaking to from the Nuffield hospital Fergie no thanks to you !! I’ll be expecting a large basket of fruit from Interflora France in the morning ------ nurse ! nurse another bed pan and be quick !! Cheers Bewick.
alexsaville:
Hi, Ya All!
I worked at London Rd Glasgow in the mid 70’s with Smith’s. I also remember driving a Guy with a 240 Gardener, ND 999 was the fleet number and it went like a rocket. Not only that, but for a Gardener, the heater also worked. Now, that was something! I think the trunker was Irwin Watt.
Hi, Dave & Tony, just found this thread.
Alex
Glad you confirmed that Alex, i was beginning to doubt myself and was thinking senility had set in.
Hope you and family are keeping well…Tony.
alexsaville:
Hi, Ya All!
I worked at London Rd Glasgow in the mid 70’s with Smith’s. I also remember driving a Guy with a 240 Gardener, ND 999 was the fleet number and it went like a rocket. Not only that, but for a Gardener, the heater also worked. Now, that was something! I think the trunker was Irwin Watt. Hi, Dave & Tony, just found this thread.
Alex
Hi Alex, glad you have, thought you might have seen it earlier, poor old Bewick’s nearly been hospitised worrying about this 240 / 8 cyl. As far as I’m concerened if you drove one, that’s good enough for me, couldn’t have been that around though. Pity no one has a photo.
Take care mate
Dave
I’am speaking to from the Nuffield hospital Fergie no thanks to you !! I’ll be expecting a large basket of fruit from Interflora France in the morning ------ nurse ! nurse another bed pan and be quick !! Cheers Bewick.
I thought they only repaired vintage tractors in there,not vintage tycoons.
Cheers Dave.
