Lawrence Dunbar:
ramone:
Lawrence Dunbar:
There was an ERF Dealer at Skipton IIRC,Cant remember their name but the also ran a lot of tippers, Regards Larry.The only one i can think of was Taylors they ran white and blue Atkis and ERFs i think
Hi, Ramone that’s them, I had a window replaced by them in the 90s, A great set of lads, IIRC They lost their O/Licence at that time but kept the repairs side going, Regards Larry.
There was a Dodge dealer at Corbridge but I cant remember their name, Anyone any knowledge about them ?, Regards Larry.
gazsa401:
Bewick:
gazsa401:
Some from Nottingham
R . Cripps Dodge agents
RH Commercial Vehicle (Renault)
Blackwood Hodge (Seddon Atkinson)
Scott’s (Atkinson/Seddon Atkinson)
Ford and Slater (Leyland)later Sherwood truck and van
B and S Trucks (Bedford later Seddon Atkinkson)
Morville Trucks (Scania)later East Midland Trucks
TopTrux (ERF)
Crossington Commercials (Mercedes) later MertruxIIRC Coalite Group were the parent of Scotts of Nottingham and Scotts also opened the Atky dealership in Penrith in 1971 and IIRC The Falkland Island Trading co. belonged to the same group and they were involved in sheep farming on the Falklands prior to the war with the Argies,not just sure what happened to Coalite Group,I think they fizzled out or were taken over perhaps.I’m not too sure but I think there was some tie up with Blackwood Hodge and Coalite as well and IIRC a bloke called Stuart Eden-Smith was “Boss Man” at Scotts of Nottingham .Cheers Bewick.PS I got our first P cab Scania 82 via Morville Trucks,which I believe became part of Keltruck eventually.
Hiya Dennis my elder brother was garage foreman at Morvilles in the 80s and early 90s before he emigrated to Oz
Hiya Gaz,this is a 1982 shot of the first P cab we put into service and it came from Morville via a dealer pal of mine.Cheers Dennis.
Murkett’s of Huntingdon were Bedford dealers
Day’s of Chelmsford were Renault/Dodge dealers
ramone:
LeeJ:
I bet no-one has any old pictures of Volvo - Gomersal Crossroads Commercials before it moved to Birstall?
Or what about the Leyland dealer at Selby?I
ve been there but never took photos , its a housing estate now
Hi Paul before Crossroads Commercials were at Gomersal they used to be up at Birstall were the ikea is now in some old nissan huts ,they were called Bridge trailers and besides building trailers also did repairs and convertions ,when they started selling volvo trucks they used thiis old site for all the trade ins that could not go on the forcourt at Gomersal
Cheers Richard.
A few from Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire
Peterborough Engineering: Foden/Dodge
Sellers & Batty Peterborough: ERF
PM Trucks Peterborough: Ford
Marshalls Peterborough: Leyland
Murketts Huntingdon: Bedford
Hunts Motor Co St Neots: Ford
Ouse Valley St Ives: Dodge
Marshalls Cambridge: Leyland
Gilbert Rice Cambridge: Ford
Charles King Motors Bedford: Ford
Scotts Bedford: Seddon Atkinson
Marshalls Bedford: Leyland
There will be more that I cant remember at the moment!
Evening all , Keighley in west yorkshire used to have a few truck dealerships there was Ferrands at stockbridge who sold bedfords, there was Burgess,s who sold Fords and Grace and Sutcliffe who sold dodge ,commer and seddon they were on all ings opposite the rugby ground ,all are gone now but Burgess still sell cars.
Cheer,s Richard.
Saviem:
Evening all,Lorry Dealers, and where did they come from…boris an interesting question…
Derek Jones, a very amiable fellow, became a Saviem Dealer in Thrapston, during the 70s, then was "chopped in the Peugeot Citroen Merger for the ex Chrysler Dealer Brookside Garages, (run for Findon Holdings by an equally amiable , but ex Spitfire pilot). Meanwhile the boy who used to work in the field for Saviem, had joined Scania…and bingo Derek`s future was assured…and Im glad for him!
Then in the Midlands Chris Kellys WestMid was almost certain to take on DAF…but then the, (soon to be ex), “Management” of Hartshornes persuaded Norman Lloyd, (Lloyds of Ludlow), to stump up the cash, and Midland DAF were born in the ex Fiat premises at Station Road Colleshill.
But all was not lost, for Scania was trying to bring its distribution network under close control, and had recruited ex Scammell man Cliff Groves to work along side Anders Siewertz, to create a “new” network!.. The Bradburn family concern of B&W Motors was in a parlous financial state…Chris put his head above the parapet, and KelTruck was born in the ex SCM Typewriter factory inWest Bromwich!
Sadly, (despite the efforts of Ronnie Keith), Norman Lloyd lost a lot of cash…and Chris, and the KelTruck Group, is now the largest private owned Scania Dealer in the World.
But real volume selling, and customer loyalty dealers success lay in the less well known sellers…
Ex finance rep, Peter Colby, turned the unlikely location of Wyndham into Fiat Trucks largest selling volume Dealership, (as well as founding the Collease trailer rental operation). When dear Dr Giovanni Brasca had his financial fingers so cruely burned by the cowboys that ran Stoke on Trents Sneyd Hill, Commercial Engineers operation, it was Peter who took over the operation, before selling it to his ex Lex Group Manager.
But down in the West Country Leonard Parsons doubled the average market penetration for Magirus Deutz year on year in the 70s…before the family began to feud.
Then there were the London Boys…and none more so than the Bowden Family…do you remember those wheezing 684 Fiat 32 tonners up and down the M1 with gargantuan loads of plasterboard…but that was only the haulage side…BFI had three Fiat Dealerships, North, and South of the Thames, plus a satellite at Wellinborough…and they moved some chassis…7.5 to 32 tonne, and even more when the 619 was supplanted by the 170 serie!
Then down West again we had that delightful family outfit Unit Commercials…when the receivers finally arrived at the Scania outlet they really had a hard time reconciling registration numbers on the rental fleet against the “books”…a 111 Day cab tractor seemed to have the same registration as …a Rolls Royce Motor car!!!
Back in Alfreton the delightful Knowles family ran a futuristic, (and it really was back in the 70s) dealer facility for Foden…and innovated just about all the improvements that the product really needed, from transmission, to lighting…were it that they had more influence, Foden would have been stronger…
Knowles were “on line” before most in the industry…and had a unique credit policy…behind the parts counter was a “stop” list…if you had not paid…then your name was there for all to see…(ours was never on it)!..but the National Coal Board always was…witness the gaggle of HA Vauxhall vans in yellow and black, always waiting outside…one of the few dealers who had Gardner engines in stock, on stillages…and Mrs Knowles, would step from behind the computer…don her “pinnie”, and go and prepare lunch for the staff…a fabulous company, and people…
Walsall, AT Hartshorne was a substantial motor carrier from pre WW11, then in the 60s Ted Carrington, who worked for Jim McKelvies Ailsa Trucks persuaded AT to handle the new Volvo Truck range. He recruited Stanley Batchelor to head up the operation, but it would be run to serve the operator…and it was.
24/7, that phrase so often quoted today…but it really was back in the 70s. No one ever left our door in trouble. A small dedicated team, who had lots of fun in what we did, Hartshornes was a real dealership, with a great product.And we liked our customers.
Sadly things change, and the" second generation lost it", and now its owned by Crossroads…(who were the first dealership to digress from the Ailsa policy of selling chassis at a uniform “net” price…thus preserving dealership profit margins,to re-invest in customer service), and thus depleting the profitability of the franchise.
My Bollinger is becoming warm…Ive gone on far too long…and have not covered the Whale Family, Ryland Group, or any of our Scottish Friends, or the Ford outfits…
Big subject boris…
but Im away to my Bollinger for tonight.
Cheerio for now.
Hi Saviem,i found a photo of a Hartshorne vehicle,Cheers Pete
gazsa401:
There was also George Neviiles from Mansfield
Bedford agents who also built tipper bodies they went on to become Neville Charold body builders
Here’s a Neville body.There was a lady who advised and quoted.
By the way in view of the conversations on another subject this had a ■■■■■■■ in it.Did two trips a day to somewhere in Lancashire.Steve will know as I’ve forgotten, but Maurice Burford (?) drove it.I think this was the first motor in Derbyshire to run on Super Singles. J.H.Allen from Hilton Derbys’ always tried something a bit different.I’ve got another pic of it but I’m trying to clean it up as it’s quite bad
Tony
George Neville also fitted tilt cabs to Bedfords back in 1944.
ournottinghamshire.org.uk/page_id__854.aspx
Pete.
Bewick:
gazsa401:
Bewick:
gazsa401:
Some from Nottingham
R . Cripps Dodge agents
RH Commercial Vehicle (Renault)
Blackwood Hodge (Seddon Atkinson)
Scott’s (Atkinson/Seddon Atkinson)
Ford and Slater (Leyland)later Sherwood truck and van
B and S Trucks (Bedford later Seddon Atkinkson)
Morville Trucks (Scania)later East Midland Trucks
TopTrux (ERF)
Crossington Commercials (Mercedes) later MertruxIIRC Coalite Group were the parent of Scotts of Nottingham and Scotts also opened the Atky dealership in Penrith in 1971 and IIRC The Falkland Island Trading co. belonged to the same group and they were involved in sheep farming on the Falklands prior to the war with the Argies,not just sure what happened to Coalite Group,I think they fizzled out or were taken over perhaps.I’m not too sure but I think there was some tie up with Blackwood Hodge and Coalite as well and IIRC a bloke called Stuart Eden-Smith was “Boss Man” at Scotts of Nottingham .Cheers Bewick.PS I got our first P cab Scania 82 via Morville Trucks,which I believe became part of Keltruck eventually.
Hiya Dennis my elder brother was garage foreman at Morvilles in the 80s and early 90s before he emigrated to Oz
Hiya Gaz,this is a 1982 shot of the first P cab we put into service and it came from Morville via a dealer pal of mine.Cheers Dennis.
Hiya Dennis sorry for the late reply that’s a great photo (in my own opinion the 3 series was the best Scania I think other manufacturers had caught up if not and some had even overtook Scania by time the 4 series came out )
I’ve been laying in a darkened room as I’ve just wasted the past 5 Saturday’s doing my DCPC as my job finishes in the near future and I’m contemplating in returning to road transport after a 12 year absence of yard shunting
Do I still call myself a lorry driver or a road warrior or even a steering wheel attendant !!!
Kind regards
Gary
Hiya Gary, your a brave man you really are mate ! Surely there’s something else you could turn your hand to thus avoiding all the hassle and grief that appears to go with the driving job to-day, and you’ll probably be just as well paid for working less hours. Now then a suitable title for a driver to-day, well my old pal Malc Woodhouse Snr. used to always refer to drivers as “Jockeys” and this was 25/30 years ago !! Best of luck in your change of career all the same. Cheers Dennis.
rastone:
gazsa401:
There was also George Neviiles from Mansfield
Bedford agents who also built tipper bodies they went on to become Neville Charold body buildersHere’s a Neville body.There was a lady who advised and quoted.
By the way in view of the conversations on another subject this had a ■■■■■■■ in it.Did two trips a day to somewhere in Lancashire.Steve will know as I’ve forgotten, but Maurice Burford (?) drove it.I think this was the first motor in Derbyshire to run on Super Singles. J.H.Allen from Hilton Derbys’ always tried something a bit different.I’ve got another pic of it but I’m trying to clean it up as it’s quite bad
Tony
we had them in buxton but with leyland badger units , with the 600 leyland in them . they went very well , but the back end had a habit of trying to overtake in the wet . i dread to think of them on super singles . there was a d1000 with the v8 ■■■■■■■ used to come up from leek for stone for hughes concrete , that had twins on the back as well . dave
In 1969 there was a tipper firm in Carnforth, G.E. Moore, got about half a dozen new Mastiffs with these Neville dump trailers, not sure how the trailers did but the Mastiffs blew up all over the place, often on the M6 between Garstang and Carnforth.Cheers Bewick.
In the North East I think most have been mentioned. except Foden had their own premises in Darlington.As said Adams & Gibbon were everywhere, except Darlington it was Sherwoods. Ford had Youngs at Chester Le Steet and Sunderland who also had a bodybuilding shop. Elliotts Motors (previously Motor Supplies) were Ford in Bishop Auckland and with BMC it seemed every Morris or Austin car dealers had a go depending on badge. Notably Turveys at Sunderland Buists at Darlington & of course near the coast road Newcastle. Motor delivery at Darlington (Now Sainsbury) & Ford in Darlington was Neashams and of course Minories were Commer both Darlington & near Buists in Newcastle, But for parts apart from Bedford (A & G & Sherwoods were both good) it was to Newcastle Buists BMC and Minories Commer and with both of these it took hours to get served. In fact if you wanted a BMC part & a Commer part you needed a night out, only in both cases to be told when you eventually got served you needed to order VOR.
Carl Williams:
In the North East I think most have been mentioned. except Foden had their own premises in Darlington.As said Adams & Gibbon were everywhere, except Darlington it was Sherwoods. Ford had Youngs at Chester Le Steet and Sunderland who also had a bodybuilding shop. Elliotts Motors (previously Motor Supplies) were Ford in Bishop Auckland and with BMC it seemed every Morris or Austin car dealers had a go depending on badge. Notably Turveys at Sunderland Buists at Darlington & of course near the coast road Newcastle. Motor delivery at Darlington (Now Sainsbury) & Ford in Darlington was Neashams and of course Minories were Commer both Darlington & near Buists in Newcastle, But for parts apart from Bedford (A & G & Sherwoods were both good) it was to Newcastle Buists BMC and Minories Commer and with both of these it took hours to get served. In fact if you wanted a BMC part & a Commer part you needed a night out, only in both cases to be told when you eventually got served you needed to order VOR.
Oh I forgot to mention best place for Ford spares were Strakers Newcastle.
