I know we had a similar thread going on the old forums, but I 'd like to re-do it again so any new memebers as well as previous members can put their two cents worth in.
So all you ex-pats (past and present) who have had to make a living driving trucks in the USA, which brand of truck would you prefer to drive? and why? How would you spec it in regards to engine and transmission.
Scania without a doubt … 
What kind of Scanny would you have over here Pat, a cabover/topline/T cab or the new huge cabover? (can’t remember what it’s called)
Without a shadow of a doubt if I was still mucking around on the back roads of the mid-west it would have to be in a MAN TGA XXL EXCALIPER,With the biggest “donkey” I could spec in it!!! Think I would have to take the “comfort-shift” box as the “Tipmatic” is not available in 500hp+ engines it will not take the torque forces so I was told by a rep.Would love to see the “uncle sam” boys faces 
going down the road and listening to the CB as I think the XXL cab has such road presence.Just hope the internet will work alright for getting parts!!! 
It would still have to be my Renault Magnum…Nice to be back
Stuart
Big Truck:
Without a shadow of a doubt if I was still mucking around on the back roads of the mid-west it would have to be in a MAN TGA XXL EXCALIPER,With the biggest “donkey” I could spec in it!!! Think I would have to take the “comfort-shift” box as the “Tipmatic” is not available in 500hp+ engines it will not take the torque forces so I was told by a rep.Would love to see the “uncle sam” boys faces
I totally agree with you, the best cab with as much space as you could want, looks good better then anything else. I went with my dad to bordeaux in the normal xxl and it was superb,we didn’t get in each others way and the comfortshift is a very nice idea and worked well. Its the best truck ever, although in america it would look out of place with that massive windscreen and there tiny ones still i would take it and drive it.(when im old enough though)
That MAN rep doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The MAN 530 is available with the Tipmatic transmission - drove one in Germany a few months back, very nice too.
Cliff,
you old tart! did you miss me! what a pain in the Kybur trying to get logged in.
it’s getting nippy, time to dig out the ol’ turtle doves before it gets taters out there! i’ve parked me old donald duck up for the winter and back on the spanners, not enough readies in me rocket. The trouble and strife is not to tickled to have me around the manor. Me dog and bone died on it’s (zb). not long before your off on the parrafin parrot and back home to blighty for tea and medals.
a quick poem for you to read the kids about King George or was it Queen george
georgie porgy pudding and pie
kissed the girls and made them cry
when the boys came out to play
he kissed them as well, he’s funny that way!
little jack horner sat in the corner eating red hot scallops
one fell down his trouser leg
and burnt him on the ankle…
completely missed his (zb)!
no matter what truck you drive euro or yank on these roads, it’s still like going throgh a sheep dip! theres always an (zb) in front of you!
i’m sure i could smell exhaust fumes!
luv and kisses on the bottom
jim
edited for languageif you need to put stars in or change spelling ,it means it’s not allowed, mrs mix
language edited again now i’m getting bored mrs mix
Me! miss you?, are you off yer chuffin’ trolley? But I know who does miss you…all those dodgy old Lot Lizards down at the TA! , They reckon since you parked up again, business has got so bad, half of 'em quit and went home, the other half ‘found Jesus’ and joined a convent!
Yeah I missed you , you old tart, ain’t no-one to go down the Pub with, no-one to have a laugh with at the ‘septics’ expense and no-one to talk over old times, and no-one to complain to about the cost of Marmite on the ‘blackmarket’. By the way " I got a pony that stands this high, Mush!"
Yesh, yesh, yesh Boy.
Goodbye now!
PS. My Wife thinks they finally deported you. Either that or they are trying to, and you have gone into hiding!
KINGJIM:
Cliff,it’s getting nippy,
jim
Anything below 75 farenheit down south is considered nippy, isn’t it?
Wish I could upload a photo…it would show my coach buried up past its wheels in “Lake-Effect” snow. Now, that’s what you call nippy, me “Owld-China!”
Cheers & Beers!
Jim.[/img]
Cliff Warby:
What kind of Scanny would you have over here Pat, a cabover/topline/T cab or the new huge cabover? (can’t remember what it’s called)
I would have that new big cab if I could. But would be satisfied with just a regular sleeper like I had in blighty. I don’t spend many nights in the cab in this job, I just snooze in it when i’m waiting for a reload etc.
Cliff,
you bleedin’ nutter, as of halloween i got me work authority, no questions, in and out in twenty minutes in Atlanta. Thats more than i can say for these ‘Mexipikies’ i work with, ‘I’ve got a llama that stands this high amigo!’.
I’ve been working on the spanners on these sterling dump trucks, what a piece of (zb)! 60,000 miles and they are held together with duck tape, glue and a pair of Vals on knickers! our yard is small and these (zb)things have the turning circle of a submarine. anyway, i’ve got to get back to me brand new Chevy 3500 work truck they bought me to stay, gee i’m special!!!
I had to get a break from you talking about the good ol days back home. you (zb) depressed me, i was hoping to get deported. But i don’t think theres a ‘Home fit for heroes’ back in blighty for us.
they gave me a nextel and i drove over it and blamed the Mexicans!
no (zb) they put diesel in the hydraulic oil tank, petrol in a diesel and vice versa, they realy keep me busy,
you want to see my choowawah get them armadildos mush!
luv ya
mean it,
kingjim
language edit mrs mix
OH ! Paradise ! Memories !
Today (25th of nov) I was tearing along the Mass Pike toward Boston when coming towards me I saw a mirage, a miracle. … A Scania 143.
OH Rapture.
Here Pat,
I saw a blue straight truck or what used to be called a 16 tonner Scania heading north towards Greenville Sc, it looked like the old style 143 or even the 142, I didn’t see any writing on it.
Back in 1990 i Drove a 143 for the London boys, (the 0-1ers as they were called) down to Italy, Prato as in, 'one hit Prato john!
It was my first trip with dodgy permits, dodgy fuel cards and a 800 gallon belly tank full of Beaujolay! A nice light load of about two ton of empty paint tins, unfortunately the truck got impounded at Bologne, the whole trip, (other than the scania), was a (zb) nightmare.
My ultimate shame and secret I have kept all these years ,is that I drove that truck like it was a four over four gear box, (1st, 3rd,5th and 7th being the forward gears it was only when i flew down the Alps trying to stop the truck brakes from burning up i realised that 1st and 6th were in the same place…
did that make sense? my memory is fading, all i remember was trying to down shift what i thought was one gear when actually it was two.
The engine was screaming and i thought i saw the Arch Angel Gabrielle on the side of the road waiting for me!
Happy days! it’s no wonder I wake up sreaming!
'appy turkey day one and all!
kingjim
language edit mrs mix
Oi! Jim you at home right now?, phone me you plonker!
the 143 I saw was plain white, pulling a flat bed … good old tool but not as nice as the 4 series I had before I came here.
Good bye all,
seems i’ve up set the old women on this site with me content and language. Well i know the rules and I’m tired of all the bellying aching liberals.
so long chaps see you on the highway’s
kingjim
the king is dead long live the king!
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