hi all, I remember the tick over on the traders, use to shake you to bits. also I remember, if you took the air filter hose off, they would go a bit quicker. ray.
mike thomas:
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A dead ringer for my first wagon in Transport only missing wooden headboard on top of cab with name of company on. I was 19yr old & it weighed 2t 19cwt 6lbs just legal. Wouldn`t be for sale would it Mike, I show an old Mk1 Transit at the minute but keep looking out for something else 
callme57:
hi all, I remember the tick over on the traders, use to shake you to bits. also I remember, if you took the air filter hose off, they would go a bit quicker. ray.
Couldn’t be much worse than the J type Bedford with the 220 4 cylinder diesel I used to drive. When it was ticking over you had to look for the gear lever before you could get hold of it to put it in gear! Here’s a picture of a Trader that I took on the Wisbech road run yesterday.
Bernard
albion1938:
callme57:
hi all, I remember the tick over on the traders, use to shake you to bits. also I remember, if you took the air filter hose off, they would go a bit quicker. ray.Couldn’t be much worse than the J type Bedford with the 220 4 cylinder diesel I used to drive. When it was ticking over you had to look for the gear lever before you could get hold of it to put it in gear! Here’s a picture of a Trader that I took on the Wisbech road run yesterday.
Bernard
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A friend had a J series 4 potter as a horsebox that would shake itself to bits a tick over, we altered the engine mounts and the crossmember and fitted a 330 TK with a 5 speed which turned it into a flyer and of course a lot smoother.
The Trader would shake a lot especially with a low tick over but soon evened out with a few revs, we used to have a piece of wire through the gear lever hole to pull the cold start button in for a hard climb 
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hi all, hi trev h, we had same prob with tick over.but our biggest prob was injector pipes we used to carry a spare and bend it to which one had gone.
charliemjp:
hi all, hi trev h, we had same prob with tick over.but our biggest prob was injector pipes we used to carry a spare and bend it to which one had gone.
I think everyone carried a spare injector pipe in those days, once one would go several others would follow ! Mind you the Traders had an oddball pipe with a long nut and large rubber washer where it passed through the cylinder head wall to the injectors underneath the rocker arm, if they broke at that end they could pump diesel into the engine.
That’s right I dipped mine for oil and it was about half an inch above the level a wee sniff confirmed diesel and a leaking pipe was the problem. Eddie.
An Uncle of mine ( Not Tony this time ) ran a plant hire & groundworks firm in the Colchester area for many years.Nayland Contracts.Here is a picture of one of his old lorries a Thames Trader with me sitting on the top in 1970.
Will:
An Uncle of mine ( Not Tony this time ) ran a plant hire & groundworks firm in the Colchester area for many years.Nayland Contracts.Here is a picture of one of his old lorries a Thames Trader with me sitting on the top in 1970.
A very versatile lorry was the Trader -found in every possible industry we had very many of them and were popular amongst drivers if there was a choice against the BMC s, --TOSHBOY
This Thames Trader looks like a proper workhorse, - with both dropsides and over-cab extension .
Probably the extra loadspace was for hauling hay/straw , or wool.
Photographed at Scorton ( Lancashire ) Vintage Rally , a few years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Bewick:
Dave the Renegade:
Bewick:
Fergie47:
Stanfield:
What a fantastic and evocative photo “Stanfield”. Driver nipping in for a quick cup of tea or lunch perhaps.!!
Who was he ? is that street still there ? what happened to the wagon ?If memory serves, didn’t they do a Trader 75, presumably that was an up-rated engine to cope with the tag axle and higher GVW. What was the original HP ?
Didn’t they also fit an 8 cyl Gardner 8LXB engine in them ? Think I may have a photo somewhere !!!
Sorry Den, only kiddin !!!OK OK you P*taker !! I think the “75” designation was right at the latter end of production and was classed as a 7:5 tonner I don’t think the engine was “tweaked” it was just the stronger springs and I think they could have gone onto air over Hydrualic brakes in place of Vaccum (which were st) The engine was about 90/95BHP from memory but mine did have the 8LXB/Fuller/Eaton (and a 10ft flat!!!)No doubt some of the Trader experts will put me straight.Cheers Dennis.
A Mk 2 version was introduced in mid-1962. Externally it is very easy to differentiate between Mk1 and Mk2 versions; the Mk1 has the words THAMESTRADER in red on a chrome strip along the bottom of the bonnet opening and the white painted grill between the headlights has a vertical divider with a red circular badge with 4 stars, whereas the Mk2 has just the word THAMES and TRADER in white letters spaced out between the headlights replacing the divider and badge. The Mk2 Diesel engined variants had either a 4D or 6D chrome badge on each front wing, on the Mk1 it was a squarish chrome badge with either a red painted 4, 6, 4D or 6D to indicate the engine configuration. The lower edge of the badge had a horizontal chrome strip running the length of the lower part of the wing.
Steady on Dave your baffling us lads with science here!!! What sort of badge did the Traders that were fitted with the 8LXB have? Anon.
Hiya chaps I learned to drive in the old thames trader.Iwas only 17yrs old and it was under 3ton
The examiner sat on a old apple box on passenger side.He ended up on his ass when he gave me an emergency stop down Duke street L/pool.
told me after clambering up he wouldn’t ask me that again,
I worked on the old fruit market Queens square then if any body out there can remember it.
Stay happy.
guesty
The the muckaway lorry of the 60’s, as an apprentice my mechanic and I used to have “private jobs” on Traders at the weekend brake relines & resealing rams “Pilot”&“Telehoist” come to mind the “Edbro” did’nt seem so troublesome,the later Traders with air/hydraulic brakes,2 speed axle & power steering were a good motor!
splitshift:
The the muckaway lorry of the 60’s, as an apprentice my mechanic and I used to have “private jobs” on Traders at the weekend brake relines & resealing rams “Pilot”&“Telehoist” come to mind the “Edbro” did’nt seem so troublesome,the later Traders with air/hydraulic brakes,2 speed axle & power steering were a good motor!
Ah! now my Trader lacked the air/hyd brakes and power steering,I’d have thought “I’d died and gone to heaven” with that full spec Trader But I thought that my Trader was great,never let me down ! 
Cheers Bewick.
I seem to remember that spec Trader was on “B”&"C"reg plates the D series was introduced on “C” plates but the muckaway boys avoided them and started to move on to Albion or Leyland 6 wheelers!
when I worked at ciceley commercials in Blackburn in the late 60s before they got involved with mercs we had a local grain merchants who used to come to the garage with a trader.it would never start on the battery so the driver always used the starting handle and was happy to do so.would drivers do that today? jack preston. 
