wrightbus in ballymena have already done a mock up that has been shown to the press.
glenman:
wrightbus in ballymena have already done a mock up that has been shown to the press.
So are they going to make em then,i would have thought DAF would have been interested
google might be more helpful ramone,i just remember a wee bit on the news about it. was a modern looking routemaster style with the open back and it had some link with the olympics i think.
Bewick:
ramone:
I`ve just been reading some posts on here and keep reading how good the foreign vehicles were that killed the British Lorry manufacteuring industry.Was it that they were so good or could it have been that ours were so bad.The offerings from here were pretty poor driver comfort wise so it probably only took a well insulated (noise,) and warm cab ,that was put together fairly well to compete.Which British lorry builder would have dared to put a radio into 1 of there vehicles as standard in the 60s ,it would have been a waste of time due to the interior engine noise .Also a synchro box ,not to everyones taste but standard on the Swedes made them more attractive to drive.The Swedes had bigger engine power outputs at the top end of their ranges but dont forget they ran at much higher weights at home with much colder conditions.Could it be that the UK market was a piece of cake for them as they were already producing vehicles designed for much harsher weather conditions operating at high gross weightsNow Ramone I can tell you that there was one British manufacturer in the late 50s that put a Radio,Cig lighter and IIRC a shaver point in their cabs!!!This was the new Guy cab that was launched in '59.You probably couldn’t hear the radio when moving,I’ll agree,but the thought was there!!! Cheers Dennis.
Thats interesting Dennis,but my point is ,because options were available at a price hauliers wouldn`t pay.Should power steering have been an option or standard?,a heater ,when were they introduced?
And it wasnt just manufacturers. Any one eslse remember Commercial Motor Mag running a campaign to ban the fitting of radios, as they were just a distraction drivers could do without. I believe an owner had started it after writing about one of his drivers having an accident when his portable radio bounced off the dash. I still remember my first drive in a F86. At first my night shift driver and me refused to change from our 150 Guy BJ and they had to ambush him at home to do the change. By the second trip of having a heater that worked,doors that to shut you had to open the window first, because the door seals were so tight. Seats, comfotable and with better adjustment, the joy of power steering and being able to push the pedals down without having your legs shaking with the strain. Mind my first F86 didnt come fitted with a radio, I fitted a car radio in a module I made and fitted it above the screen But it did come with an aerial point on the roof.
The Leyland LAD cabs,particularly the Octopus,Beaver and Badger had Power steering,Radios and IIRC the Octopus I was on even had a button and dial which told you if the engine oil needed topping up,didn’t work,and you wouldn’t have trusted it anyway!!! My mate Eric the driver did used to say to me regularly “are you a mate or an ■■■■■■ radio operator” but at the age I was then—and radio Caroline and Luxembourg----!!! I did have to listen to IIRC Sing Something Simple on a Sunday afternoon on our way into South Wales!!! Ah well time to get my head down on the bonnet,wake me up at Llansamlet Erccy!!! Cheers Dennis.
My dad had a LAD cabbed Albion,i remember it was dreadful he got a mandator after that then a F86 which had a radio ,power steering and a heater that actually worked and yeah had to open the window to shut the door and the easy start wire under the n/s wheelarch
I recall my dad drove an old A type bedford for a ductworks firm and he made a little tray from some scrap and fixed it in the middle of the dash this would have been around 1959/60 he had bought a small transistor radio which fitted in the tray I think he got it on HP from stones the elecrical shop I am sure it was 5 bob a week , I just recall he fiddled with the tuner most of the time it would have been medium wave then trying to get reception, a bit off this thread sorry for that I started driving lorries in about 74 so never drove really old stuff and always drove lorries with power steering however in my teens and school years I worked for a relation he had a breakers yard so I did drive some old stuff in the yard and I have nothing but admiration for all you older guys driving some rough old motors and if you were overweight with no power steering you must have arms like popeye , my dad drove those sort of lorries and never got home till very late or not at all god bless him, I think the foriegn makes just showed the way to go and although tight bosses resisted they must have realised they could earn more with a modern motor leyland must have had some terrible management not to see the writing on the wall the same as the british motor bike industry I suppose. thank god the foreign motors did come here for the drivers sake it must have been great when you got an upgrade to a volvo or scanny, I know modern motors are a lot easier to drive but hey the job is hard enough so good luck to those who drive motors with BHP to spare not screaming its head off. regarding Boris the buffoon what does he know from s–t I worked for london transport for a few years in the 80s it got me over that recession and maybe the RM was a great bus in its day but most I drove had problems with power steering and gears which slipped when we got new modern buses how much nicer were they to work in, the routemaster as I recall was only withdrawn because of EEC safety rules regarding the open platform at the back I had someone fall off once and it was not a nice sight grazed to buggery, people would walk of slow moving buses without looking sometimes into the path of bikes or motorbikes I think Boris is just a chameleon trying to be nice to everyone how much money I wonder will it cost to replace the bendy buses they must have cost a pretty penny sorry to go on but its crap on the box happy new year fred
ubym344:
I recall my dad drove an old A type bedford for a ductworks firm and he made a little tray from some scrap and fixed it in the middle of the dash this would have been around 1959/60 he had bought a small transistor radio which fitted in the tray I think he got it on HP from stones the elecrical shop I am sure it was 5 bob a week , I just recall he fiddled with the tuner most of the time it would have been medium wave then trying to get reception, a bit off this thread sorry for that I started driving lorries in about 74 so never drove really old stuff and always drove lorries with power steering however in my teens and school years I worked for a relation he had a breakers yard so I did drive some old stuff in the yard and I have nothing but admiration for all you older guys driving some rough old motors and if you were overweight with no power steering you must have arms like popeye , my dad drove those sort of lorries and never got home till very late or not at all god bless him, I think the foriegn makes just showed the way to go and although tight bosses resisted they must have realised they could earn more with a modern motor leyland must have had some terrible management not to see the writing on the wall the same as the british motor bike industry I suppose. thank god the foreign motors did come here for the drivers sake it must have been great when you got an upgrade to a volvo or scanny, I know modern motors are a lot easier to drive but hey the job is hard enough so good luck to those who drive motors with BHP to spare not screaming its head off. regarding Boris the buffoon what does he know from s–t I worked for london transport for a few years in the 80s it got me over that recession and maybe the RM was a great bus in its day but most I drove had problems with power steering and gears which slipped when we got new modern buses how much nicer were they to work in, the routemaster as I recall was only withdrawn because of EEC safety rules regarding the open platform at the back I had someone fall off once and it was not a nice sight grazed to buggery, people would walk of slow moving buses without looking sometimes into the path of bikes or motorbikes I think Boris is just a chameleon trying to be nice to everyone how much money I wonder will it cost to replace the bendy buses they must have cost a pretty penny sorry to go on but its crap on the box happy new year fred
I think Boris is quite funny in his own way compared to red Ken who should have been shot at birth
Regarding fitted radios the Albion Reiver I drove in 1967 had a fitted radio, though probably not factory fitted, and the boss told me that if I didn’t buy the license (A radio license cost £1) he would remove it as he wasn’t going to pay any fine if I got stopped. I think that was about the last year that you had to have a radio license for a vehicle, unless anyone knows different?
MrJake:
Regarding fitted radios the Albion Reiver I drove in 1967 had a fitted radio, though probably not factory fitted, and the boss told me that if I didn’t buy the license (A radio license cost £1) he would remove it as he wasn’t going to pay any fine if I got stopped. I think that was about the last year that you had to have a radio license for a vehicle, unless anyone knows different?
A minor detail!!! but I remember that you did have to have licence for a car radio if you weren’t a householder who would have already got a TVradio licence which covered your car as well.How many lads in their teens with a car had a licence? I didn’t! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
MrJake:
Regarding fitted radios the Albion Reiver I drove in 1967 had a fitted radio, though probably not factory fitted, and the boss told me that if I didn’t buy the license (A radio license cost £1) he would remove it as he wasn’t going to pay any fine if I got stopped. I think that was about the last year that you had to have a radio license for a vehicle, unless anyone knows different?A minor detail!!! but I remember that you did have to have licence for a car radio if you weren’t a householder who would have already got a TVradio licence which covered your car as well.How many lads in their teens with a car had a licence? I didn’t! Cheers Bewick.
So would this be a time when you didnt need and hgv licence to drive the waggon but would need a licence to listen to the radio in it? 
yes you had to have a radio licence but you were covered I think with your TV licence if you had one a telly that is ,but dont forget there was only BBC radio then we had the light programme the home service cant recall the others no commercial stations the music on BBc then was your old mans music all we had in the early 60s when I was a teenager was radio luxembourg in the evening and with the old medium wave you would be fiddling with dial all night, the pirates like radio caroline and radio london were in the mid to late 60s I would listen to radio london in bed on my little ■■■■■■ till 3 am till it closed for the night and my mum could never work out why I could not get up for school in the morning maybe thats why I left when I was 14 and did`nt do any exams but for pirate radio I could have been a brain surgeon 
the BBC eventually gave in and radio 1 was born in 68 or 69 not sure of the year and all the DJs were ex pirate DJs playing the popular music of the day, sorry for the history lesson I am sitting here bored. fred m
ubym344:
yes you had to have a radio licence but you were covered I think with your TV licence if you had one a telly that is ,but dont forget there was only BBC radio then we had the light programme the home service cant recall the others no commercial stations the music on BBc then was your old mans music all we had in the early 60s when I was a teenager was radio luxembourg in the evening and with the old medium wave you would be fiddling with dial all night, the pirates like radio caroline and radio london were in the mid to late 60s I would listen to radio london in bed on my little ■■■■■■ till 3 am till it closed for the night and my mum could never work out why I could not get up for school in the morning maybe thats why I left when I was 14 and did`nt do any exams but for pirate radio I could have been a brain surgeon
we`re still paying that bloody licence fee to the BBC
ubym344:
yes you had to have a radio licence but you were covered I think with your TV licence if you had one a telly that is ,but dont forget there was only BBC radio then we had the light programme the home service cant recall the others no commercial stations the music on BBc then was your old mans music all we had in the early 60s when I was a teenager was radio luxembourg in the evening and with the old medium wave you would be fiddling with dial all night, the pirates like radio caroline and radio london were in the mid to late 60s I would listen to radio london in bed on my little ■■■■■■ till 3 am till it closed for the night and my mum could never work out why I could not get up for school in the morning maybe thats why I left when I was 14 and did`nt do any exams but for pirate radio I could have been a brain surgeon
Nowt wrong with history Fred! Radio 1 first broadcast in September '67,first record “Flowers in the rain” by The Move,IIRC.I listened to it riding shot gun in the Octopus on the M1.Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
ubym344:
yes you had to have a radio licence but you were covered I think with your TV licence if you had one a telly that is ,but dont forget there was only BBC radio then we had the light programme the home service cant recall the others no commercial stations the music on BBc then was your old mans music all we had in the early 60s when I was a teenager was radio luxembourg in the evening and with the old medium wave you would be fiddling with dial all night, the pirates like radio caroline and radio london were in the mid to late 60s I would listen to radio london in bed on my little ■■■■■■ till 3 am till it closed for the night and my mum could never work out why I could not get up for school in the morning maybe thats why I left when I was 14 and did`nt do any exams but for pirate radio I could have been a brain surgeonNowt wrong with history Fred! Radio 1 first broadcast in September '67,first record “Flowers in the rain” by The Move,IIRC.I listened to it riding shot gun in the Octopus on the M1.Cheers Dennis.
Wasn’t it Tony Blackburn then as well Dennis?. I listened to it as I was getting ready for school and we all talked about it when I got there, it was the best thing that had happened to the radio. Trouble was getting a signal on MW though 247 I think. I used to listen to Luxembourg (208) in bed and that used to drift terribly.
thanks for that dennis I recall the move I think roy wood was in that group and karl douglas was lead singer and his wife was “miss diane” in crossroads how sad am I cheers fred m
Was driving to Leicester on the saturday that radio 1 was first broadcast. Carl Wayne was the lead singer of the move,he did marry Susan Hanson who played Benny’s mate Miss Diane.
Cheers Dave.
jeese we`re talking Crossroads on a transport forum lol…i do like emmerdale though since they replaced sheep n cows with cleavage
ramone:
jeese we`re talking Crossroads on a transport forum lol…i do like emmerdale though since they replaced sheep n cows with cleavage
Did they replace them though, or just used cows with cleavage?
And a spurious link back to transport will give us Kim Tate, and Mr Wilks owned a wool firm in Bratford 