Chas:
I remember my favourite from the bike days, a hairy arsed biker type is popping his head above the clouds in Heaven & see’s that God actually rides a Vespa !
Found it.
Like I said, you either ‘get’ Shobba or you don’t.
Phil Llewellyn (RIP)… how could I have forgotten him in my previous post? What a writer - LDD definitely my joint fave bit in Truck, alongside Test Match. It was always a bonus to see one of his articles in CAR magazine whilst sat in the Barbers Shop.
His book ‘Road to Muckle Flugga’ is well worth looking up.
Chas:
truckman20:
the only item i looked forward to was shobba,absolutely brilliant,i took out a subscription on truck and driver,now shobba has gone i wont be renewing and will only buy it if it looks interestingI dearly wish to meet the man, the legend that is Shobba.
As a young pup, I used to love his cartoons in the motorcycle mags.
You either ‘get’ Shobba or you don’t.
I think we both became disillusioned & disappeared from the bike mag scene at roughly the same time, I nearly ■■■’d in my pants when I found him again 15yrs later, purely by chance, in a truck mag while waiting in a workshop.
I remember my favourite from the bike days, a hairy arsed biker type is popping his head above the clouds in Heaven & see’s that God actually rides a Vespa !
My favourite from the truck mags is the knuckledragger who uses Diesel as a perfume/aftershave, & due to the exhorbitant price of Diesel, finds himself dripping with attractive wimmin.
Who is Shobba?
Surely this is not some kind of ‘Banksy’ exercise in creating a fake anonymous mystique !
I want a Shobba original, I want it for me, to put on my wall. Not so that I can sell it in the future as part of a retirement fund.
i reckon the man shobba should do a book,that would be worth buying
Chas:
Chas:
I remember my favourite from the bike days, a hairy arsed biker type is popping his head above the clouds in Heaven & see’s that God actually rides a Vespa !Found it.
Like I said, you either ‘get’ Shobba or you don’t.
wheres gods parker jacket though
I know of lad who have sunk thousands into a truck that they drive, I mean thousands not a few hundred !!
Chas:
I dearly wish to meet the man, the legend that is Shobba.Who is Shobba?
Surely this is not some kind of ‘Banksy’ exercise in creating a fake anonymous mystique !
I want a Shobba original, I want it for me, to put on my wall. Not so that I can sell it in the future as part of a retirement fund.
One of the lads I work with knows him but won’t tell us his name or anything about him except he lives in somewhere near Shipley/keighley/bingley. He is a biker and that’s how my friend knows him.
jimmi:
Chas:
I dearly wish to meet the man, the legend that is Shobba.Who is Shobba?
Surely this is not some kind of ‘Banksy’ exercise in creating a fake anonymous mystique !
I want a Shobba original, I want it for me, to put on my wall. Not so that I can sell it in the future as part of a retirement fund.
One of the lads I work with knows him but won’t tell us his name or anything about him except he lives in somewhere near Shipley/keighley/bingley. He is a biker and that’s how my friend knows him.
I know deep down in my heart that he’s a 1% biker, he’s too like me not to be. I also know deep down that he drives a truck, he wouldn’t be cartooning trucks if he wasn’t.
I know him, yet I don’t know him. One day we’ll bump into each other, & I will know almost instantly that it’s him.
Just read the “Truck and Driver” ad/sticky by Rikki. I see T and D still like the “look at this OTT Scania” format. 
And when trucks are pitted against each other, why are the reviews/testers verdicts so wishy washy “don’t say MANs auto 'boxes are crap…” type affairs?
Oh and when drivers give their views, they sound too technical. I’ve never met a driver who when asked about his motor, extolls the virtue of its’ torque range.
I stopped buying both last year,got tired of articles on vans,stories about driving in different countries,too many adverts,shobba gone,and as the OP stated too many blinged up vehicles,lets face it lorries are just work vehicles,no need for all the sxxt
truckman20:
Chas:
truckman20:
the only item i looked forward to was shobba,absolutely brilliant,i took out a subscription on truck and driver,now shobba has gone i wont be renewing and will only buy it if it looks interestingI dearly wish to meet the man, the legend that is Shobba.
As a young pup, I used to love his cartoons in the motorcycle mags.
You either ‘get’ Shobba or you don’t.
I think we both became disillusioned & disappeared from the bike mag scene at roughly the same time, I nearly ■■■’d in my pants when I found him again 15yrs later, purely by chance, in a truck mag while waiting in a workshop.
I remember my favourite from the bike days, a hairy arsed biker type is popping his head above the clouds in Heaven & see’s that God actually rides a Vespa !
avourite from the truck mags is the knuckledragger who uses Diesel as a perfume/aftershave, & due to the exhorbitant price of Diesel, finds himself dripping with attractive wimmin.Who is Shobba?
Surely this is not some kind of ‘Banksy’ exercise in creating a fake anonymous mystique !
I want a Shobba original, I want it for me, to put on my wall. Not so that I can sell it in the future as part of a retirement fund.
i reckon the man shobba should do a book,that would be worth buying
I agree 100%,bugged me when shobba retired,absolutely hilarious stories about different subjects,i reckon a book would be a bestseller among drivers
The classic mags are just as poor at times. Bloody “readers memories” just like reading someones’ diary from 40 years ago. Rose tinted insomnia cure.
The classifieds are quite amusing though. "Ford Cargo, E reg (1987) flatbed, horsebox body removed (because it rotted away). No mot, spares or repair (new cab needed). Genuine reason for sale. £400. ONO. No timewasters.
I bought the October issue of T and D yesterday, mainly for the Smiths Bletchington feature “Life After Foden.” Never really mentioned anything about “life after Foden” strangely considering they’ve just axed all but three Fodens (amongst the last built on 56 plates). All the “modern” pics are four years old (they were taken as part of a MAN publicity thing), virtually all photos featuring staff were, are, or became managers/foremen.
The interview with the long serving driver is so blatantly edited it’s hilarious; I’ve known the driver for nearly 20 years and he’d never speak like the interview suggests (cracking old school driver, Ol’ Phil is though).
The “long standing joke” about Shipton chimney being used as a navigation aid to getting their drivers home"…WTF? I did 13 years there and this “long standing joke” was never mentioned. Even my old chap (did 36 years there) never heard that “joke.”
Smiths drivers didn’t even even know the firm was being featured until I read about it in last months issue, and mentioned it on the cb.
I reckon the article writer was after some free shingle for his drive.
Bassman:
Hi,I’m wondering if I’m going to open a can of worms here,but we’ll see.
I have for the past few years bought various trucking magazines,this week I went to buy the latest copy of Trucking and Truck &Driver.
However ,looking at them in the newsagents I decided that I just didnt want any more pics of airbrushed ,painted to the heavens ,dripping with chrome and polished alloy Scania’s and DAF’s and Mercs.
These paint jobs must cost thousands, wouldn’t it be better to pay the driver another pound an hour and for somebody to have some practical benefit from the money.
I know there are some drivers who would rather have bling than money in the paypacket but at the end of the day ,what do we go to work for?
Am I on my own with these thoughts?Cheers Bassman
I think everything has been said about the mentality of these guys who spend thousands on raising the profile of their co motor, thus making their respective bosses laugh at them all the way on their journey to their Maldives holiday with the money they has saved.
If the firm do pay for it, bring it on for me, but were an either/or type choice, given to anybody with any sense it would be extra income all the way.
As for the mags, I never bothered with ‘Trucking’ but I must have every copy somewhere, from no.1 of ‘Truck and Driver’ from the 80s, up to about 4 or 5 yrs ago when I got bored with it for the reasons you mention.
I’ve no interest in looking at trucks lit up like Blackpool with murals of new movies, and especially some of the monuments to bad taste, but many do and I accept that, just not for me anymore.
I also remember Headlight which to T&D was like comparing The Times with The Sunday Sport as was.
A mag somewhere between would be ok, or even if T&D toned down the flash motors a bit and went back somewhere near it’s original format, and yeh, especially ‘Shobba’s trucking types’
I don’t believe those “my mistake” type features either…
kr79:
I was an avid reader back when there was things like long distance diary
I used to love LDD when I was starting out, would buy the mag just for that and was absolutely determined to have the same adventures myself, sadly we Brits do virtually no long haul Euro work nowadays, I don’t find anything of interest in truck mags now.
Fear…I think trade magazines have a format which covers costs and that is good enough for them and I think the advertising in Commercial Motor is
the icing on the cake as far as profit is concerned so these mags live in fear of upsetting their paymasters,the big manufacturers, it has always
been thus.Notice Gas gas has been on here, now he used to have a bit of spirit can’t say I see him in the pages much these days,thought you were dead Gas Gas.
Armagedon:
Fear…I think trade magazines have a format which covers costs and that is good enough for them and I think the advertising in Commercial Motor is
the icing on the cake as far as profit is concerned so these mags live in fear of upsetting their paymasters,the big manufacturers, it has always
been thus.Notice Gas gas has been on here, now he used to have a bit of spirit can’t say I see him in the pages much these days,thought you were dead Gas Gas.
Commercial Motor will soon reach the point where it is just a collection of truck adverts and no editorial, quite sad to watch a magazine dying on its arse.
del trotter:
Commercial Motor will soon reach the point where it is just a collection of truck adverts and no editorial, quite sad to watch a magazine dying on its arse.
This. I don’t get why people buy a magazine with two or three features and a load of adverts, unless they’re after another truck. I found some old copies of Truck (inc Truck and Driver) from the early to mid '90s and there was a lot more content in those.
I spoke to the driver who gave the Smiths interview this morning. He said he’s going to find it “interesting” what he’s quoted in the mag to what he actually said in the interview, once he’s read it.
Muckaway:
I reckon the article writer was after some free shingle for his drive.
I had some free shingle from them off the back of the lip of the rear door from one of their wagons, on the A40 a few years back.
Git.
