rubbish pic but i dont think the gyppos at the palasharp would like me moving their rubbish so i can take a picture 
oh sorry its a f6
Pattersons of Batley had hundreds of the bloody things, they earnt him a fortune though
I drove F7’s but never on a permanent basis, only when they were hired in while my motor was off the road. My first experience with the F7 was great for me as I was still new to the game and normally drove a Scania 80 tractor, one morning my mate handed me keys and said you’ve got that new hired F7 today, I was feeling chuffed when he pointed out he had kept the keys for the Transcon they had also got in, then I realised why he was so keen to hand over the Volvo keys. All the same I thought it was a great little motor, a lot lighter inside with good vision and comfortable compared to the Scania, which to be fair was a bit older. We had to leave our trailers in Scotland and come back solo taking loaded trailers back up on Monday morning. We thought this was brilliant and got a bit carried away back down the A1 until a ‘Jam Sandwich’ shot past me then my mate farther up who was busy giving the Transcon a good try out.
He pulled him in and I barely slowed enough as I passed them (40 limit then). I never saw them anymore until my mate pulled into the cafe where I was waiting. He had got away with a good roasting and before he let him go said “And tell your mate the same goes for him I’ll be keeping an eye out for you both”. Needless to say we calmed down for a little while after that. I liked the F7 though it done what was asked, now the FL7 is a different matter what a pile of …
Cheers Franky.
Heres a picture of my old girl, most of our F7s on Cannons were ex car transporters apparently from Southampton way, traces of blue paint could be found inside doors etc.
adr:
Heres a picture of my old girl, most of our F7s on Cannons were ex car transporters apparently from Southampton way, traces of blue paint could be found inside doors etc.
X-Toleman’s perhaps ?
Hi Goaty,
You could be right, did Tolemans run F7s? Be interesting to know if they did to try & find any old photos of them, got to admit that despite having driven F88/F10s/F12 Globees over the years, I have always had a soft spot for the old F7.
adr:
Hi Goaty,
You could be right, did Tolemans run F7s? Be interesting to know if they did to try & find any old photos of them, got to admit that despite having driven F88/F10s/F12 Globees over the years, I have always had a soft spot for the old F7.
This was the spare motor on the volvo contract !
Well there you go, you learn summat new every day, never remember seeing them on Tolemans! Good wagon for that work, low cab for the overhang, nice to drive with comfy bed, lack of ponies not too noticeable cos not running at top weight. Nice one mate, like the photo!
used to work for wilsons transport out of wednesbury who ran mainly f7 artics pullin steel,and he swore by them.i drove an f86 with a f7 engine in it,it did pull well.
adr:
Well there you go, you learn summat new every day, never remember seeing them on Tolemans! Good wagon for that work, low cab for the overhang, nice to drive with comfy bed, lack of ponies not too noticeable cos not running at top weight. Nice one mate, like the photo!
The above photo is one of prowlands from the tolemans thread. I couldn’t type much the other day cos my keyboard was up the chute !
The F7 was a good wagon all round, and could punch above its weight & go across the water if required & still earn a dollar! I do not know where Volvo were going then, after the F86 & the F7 which were both cracking little workhorses, what they were thinking of with the FL7/10 I cannot imagine, to bring out a sleeper cab that the driver has to actually get out of the cab, walk round & get back in again just to be able to get into bed!!! I had an old “W” reg F10, total rust bucket at the end but what a flyer! When she eventually turned up her toes I was given a brand new FL10, actually going she was a flyer, good job too cos I used to give her some hammer to get home as often as possible just so I didnt have to sleep in that “Wendy House” cab!
Mate of mine had one exactly the same as that white one A476 Carl
Round about late 80`s Collinson Bros of Chopwell Tyne & wear bought it second hand
had 224 bhp I think but what was unusual was it had the 16 spd overdrive box same as the 88
will have to ask if he can remember the reg not sure whether it was on a A or B
Only a tipper, but a hard worked one.
there used to be a pair of F7’s operated for John Sinclair haulage of alloa!
One was sold to my fathers company, it went onto pulling accident damaged trailers, trailers for painting & moving trucks on a lowloader. it got painted with a white cab & light blue chassis in roughly 1995. when the contracts finished it was parked up in the corner of the yard until roughly 2000 when A & M Fleming had there closing down auction where it was sold off and exported to Africa.
It had 2 trailers as well as far as i can remember, a york tandem axle whiskey trailer that i believe was of the same year. and aslo a tandam stepframe that was a box van cut down to be turned into a recovery trailer but never happened. as far as im aware the stepframe is still sitting in a yard in stirling. the york trailer was sold off with the contents still inside including a spitfire car & a hotrod shell. not sure what else was in it
its twin was bought by A & M Flemings and continued to haul for a living, it ended up in bannockburn at first before moving into alloa when the company changed premises. it continued to run between Scotland & england before being parked up in the corner of the yard. it was swapped with clackmannanshire skip yard for a B reg erf that lay in the corner of the yard. last time i seen this it was sitting in the yard under a lowloader with every window on it smashed & the tyres slashed. shame to see it like that and it was cut up for scrap not long after
greek:
Mate of mine had one exactly the same as that white one A476 Carl
Round about late 80`s Collinson Bros of Chopwell Tyne & wear bought it second hand
had 224 bhp I think but what was unusual was it had the 16 spd overdrive box same as the 88
will have to ask if he can remember the reg not sure whether it was on a A or B
The 16-speed box was standard on the 38 tonne version - the ones I was involved in were on A, B & C plates. They also had a slightly longer wheelbase and 243 bhp by the ISO measurement.
My old mate Johny ‘the talk’ Kingsford (r.i.p) had a 38 tonne F7 with 16 spd box back in the 80’s when he worked for Derek Cooper transport. The 16 speed made that little engine a bit more flexible, but not much!! 
, but she did what was asked of her, witch was usaully Malt out of BAIRD’S MALT of Witham, and Sugar beet from all over east anglia. Derek Cooper seemed to like the little type of 38 toner, as i remember him having some L10 powered 38ton Cargo’s on bulk haulage work.
STRAIGHT EIGHT:
My old mate Johny ‘the talk’ Kingsford (r.i.p) had a 38 tonne F7 with 16 spd box back in the 80’s when he worked for Derek Cooper transport. The 16 speed made that little engine a bit more flexible, but not much!!
When the weights went up in 1983, apart from buying some F7s for domestic work, W. H. Bowker also operated a number of their older F7s at their design weight of 36.6 tonnes, with 224 bhp and the 8-speed box. I think the odd 1.4 tonnes was neither here nor there really! Strangely, the old ones seemed more on top of the job than the tweaked ones with the 16-speed.
when the weights went to 38t vin corbett had a 16speed overdrive box put into a y reg, what a transformation, only plated at 36t but still carried 24t,
Fergersons (Scotland) and C ■■■■ of Northhamton both ran some of their F7’s at 38ton, and i think they done the same with their early batches of FL7’s. Heavyhaul (chelmsford) Ltd ran an 8 wheel F7 tipper for a while, that was fitted with a 16 speed and what a little rocket that was!!, used to top 75 easily!