Some nice photos there BIG AW. Cant help thinking what a good motorhome that Albion would have made. Especially in the South of France with the open back, and how macho is that Foden. Imagine that thing coming at you out of the mist, you’d ■■■■ yourself.
Deviating from the thread somewhat here jamie, but since you mentioned Roger Laithwate, didn’t he live on the farm at the top of Tower Hill ?
Their depot at one time used to be in Stringfellows removals yard, down by the side of the canal in Standish lower ground, later to become Pickford’s.
I never knew Roger, but I know his son Andy. In fact I was speaking to him only the other day. He’s doing a bit for Pennington’s at the moment.
The last time I saw Johnny Peet was when I did a bit of agency work for Glass Glover out of the Asda RDC at Marus Bridge. That must be at least 20 years ago.
To quote a certain gentleman from Flintshire, ’ just a useless bit of info '.
Cheers. Eddie.
yeah eddie i know andrew well, john peet still living in upholland often see him walking his dog - he’s looking bloody old now i think he did a bit for the kirby brothers at orrell and knowing john it would be just a bit cheers jamie
Still off thread. We’re all looking a bit old these days mate. Here’s Mick Kirby on his last day driving. Taken at the old Pioneer concrete plant in Queen St. recently.
Do you remember when Johnny Peet, just to be nosey, went to the opening of a new Volvo dealership in Wigan ? Everybody got a free draw ticket on entry and the spawny git only went and won a brand new ■■■■■■■ Volvo.
Cheers. Eddie.
hi eddie yes I remember the jammy get winning the car.Jeff kirby died a few years ago Brian still driving though, still the tidiest fleet round here cheers jamie
getting back on thread when leaving school in 86 i worked for critchley in burscough and we had a 1978 v8 detroit powered bedford tm what a bag of cack wouldn’t pull and was too light being a 4 wheeler. more often than not we used the foden s80 180 gardner 12 speed foden box holmes 750 gear . When it was slack i had to grease it 83 grease ■■■■■■■ !!! 6/7 years ago I went to a place in aspull premier auto trim to get my atki seats refurbished and the old tm was sat there without the wrecking gear cheers jamie
Yeah, Brian’s the last one. All the lads have taken over now. I did have a photo of him on here but I must have deleted it. You’re right about their fleet though. They queue around the block to buy Kirby’s old motors. Best give it a rest now jamie, we’ve had a good run eh ?
Cheers. Eddie.
That would do the job for sure rob, but it’s a bit too modern for my taste. This is Garwood gear, a tad bit unusual inasmuch as the entire setup slews round. Perhaps someone has had some experience with this kit. I include a before and after photo.
Eddie.
Hi, Eddie , I Remember a few years ago going to a yard with my Dad and Bill Rac in Haydock, the chappy done H,G ,V , repairs he had big huge shed built on rail lines with old lorry wheels attatched to the shed , i asked him why he said they had to move it every so often to save him paying Rates , wonder if he is still going . Cheers Barry
Hiya Barry, the name of the lad that you’re talking about is Alan Holmes. I think his speciality was Volvos, but he would tackle anything pretty much. You’re right about the workshop mounted on railway tracks. It was on the site previously owned by Evercrete. He emigrated to New Zealand many years ago, possibly 20 or even more. Time flies doesn’t it ?
Bill Rac got ■■■■■■■ in a MAN franchise using the same site. I don’t know if you remember this episode or not. I wasn’t involved much with the Racs at that particular time, so I don’t know the details of what went wrong, but it wasn’t a resounding success by all accounts.
I haven’t been down there for a while so my information could be inaccurate, but Mannheim auctions had the place a few years ago. It’s right next to the east lancs road.
Getting back to Alan Holmes, he acquired the F88 pictured above in about 1978. He removed the Volvo unit and replaced it with a 220 ■■■■■■■ and used it as a recovery vehicle for a long time. If my information is correct, the vehicle is now the property of Warren Fayle from Appley Bridge and is still in a working condition.
Strange how everything comes back to wreckers isn’t it?
Go steady Barry.
Cheers. Eddie.
While I’m still in the mood, here’s a photo of the wagon that Warren Fayle started off with. I did a bit for him in the early days. Now this is a photo of a Bri-mech. I’m sure everybody is familiar with how they work. But the question is this, would you call this a wrecker ? I certainly wouldn’t. But it is, without doubt a recovery vehicle. It actually says so on the headboard, so there can be no arguing with that. The point I’m trying to make here is that a wrecker and a recovery vehicle aren’t necessarily one and the same thing.
Photograph taken at Heysham power station incidentally.
Argumentatively yours,
Eddie.
Oops, sorry about that. 
here’s the wagon in question.
Hi, Eddie, Ifirc ,Bill telling my Dad he was glad to get out of the MAN thing he got his fingers burnt , A lot of of the MAN ,8 wheel tippers came up our neck of the woods to a firm called Bodfari sand and gravel ,Red and white about 12 or 14 they had on some sort of lease hire they had that much trouble w iththem ,more money going out than in , Cheers Barry
The vehicle on the right in the photo is a Leyland Martian… evidently… I know… new one on me as well. It had some species of petrol engine under the bonnet. No use asking me as engines aren’t my thing particularly, I was merely called upon to pilot the things periodically.
I assume it was procured from the MOD via Roland Bradbury, but that’s just an assumption.
By all accounts, the fuel consumption was calculated in gpm, as opposed to mpg, but had it been called upon so to do, it could have probably pulled down a row of terraced houses.
Presumably it was originally designed as a tank recovery vehicle. Someone more knowledgeable than me will no doubt provide the answer. Where’s Ron Grice when you need him ?
Here’s a shot of the animal in profile.
Eddie, those Leyland Martians had a straight eight Rolls petrol engine in them. Reading Garage Company had one, the story (and I can’t vouch for its accuracy!) goes that the crew were looking for the location of a customer and asked a passer by for directions. He mentioned to them about a pool of oil under the Leyland, apparently it had chucked a con-rod through the side but the driver and passenger hadn’t noticed as it was still running fine!
Pete.
thanks for that Pete. As a mere driver, I was never particularly interested in in what engine, gearbox or diff any wagon I drove was equipped with. As long as it had at least one of each and they all functioned reasonably well, I was more than satisfied.
Have you clocked the fuel tank on this one though ? You’d need NASA’s budget to do just one recovery with that thing nowadays.
Am I right ? or am I right ?
Cheers. Eddie.
Is that a pic of the family wrecker Eddie. 
Yeah, you’ve got it mate. Isn’t she a beauty though ? A fine example of what this country produced between the wars. O.K, she may be on her second or third time round the clock, but there’s a lot of mileage left in her yet and she still goes like a train. 
.
Eddie.