Hi, thanks for watching, a full list of the videos on the channel is here: ruclips.net/user/oldclassiccarRJvideos Channel homepage: ruclips.net/channel/UCKaTg9fPUvmUQi94FcnDbrg
When I was young I would do any old driving job, and someone I hardly knew asked me to bring 'a truck' back, under tow, from Chichester to Winchester. We went off in an HA van so I didn't think it would be a big truck. When we got there it turned out to be a wartime Bedford QL Crane, so green with mould you couldn't see through the cracked windows, towed by a Thames Trader with no battery. When I climbed up into the cab I found it had no floor, so I had to put one foot on each angle iron at the edge, and heave on the steering wheel as best I could. The steering was a bit lighter because there was no engine or gearbox either, and the propshaft was thrashing around on the centre bearing. It was on a rigid bar so at least I didn't have to try braking, but of course the tow truck kept breaking down, always in awkward places, and then the two blokes would have to try to bleed and jump start the diesel engine from the HA van. What a pantomime! At least we got back before it got really dark, because there was no lighting on any of the vehicles, probably no legalities of any kind. Still, I had earned £5, what a result!
Ah, LR with the Harvey Frost brings back memories, I was 17 in 1978 and did 24hr recovery for the cops in W Yorkshire with a 1959 LWB LR with same wind up crane. I still look at the places today where I use to drag cars up from the bottom (ravine) of the Ripponden Moors near junc22 of the M62 and think "how the fk did I get a Mk1 Granada up from the bottom of there with just steel ropes and chains and "low" box"?, unreal, you would not be allowed to do it today, back then, "meh, I can get that up". Wonderful memories that I still carry today.
When I worked at Invicta Motors Canterbury Kent. We commissioned a great looking and efficient recovery unit based on a transit van. We were very proud of it.
I remember A E C Matadors were popular with Bus companies as recovery trucks and old coaches used for transporting Hot Rods it's nice to see these photos all the best Paul
My parents had a garage in central Scotland. We had a ww2 Morris Quad which was our primary breakdown from the 1950's up until 1988. I can remember going to recovery jobs as a kid. It had the oil bath air filter between the front seats, that produced an unforgettable sound. The enormous hand brake coming straight out of the floor, the massive double batteries to the right of the driver. The canvas covered body with roof hatches above the passenger. It had been used in North Africa in Ww2, to pull a 5 pounder. It was sold to a collector and replaced with a Bedford TK 1969 model.
I drove one belonging to Dunsfold L.R. back in the early seventies, as well as living in one onsite when I worked for them as a teen: cleaned a lot of parts for the venerable Brian Bashall in those days...and I am most certainly a better man for it. He told me, rightly so, that Land Rovers ran better when they were clean. I have since tested that rigorously and still find it true, no matter what machine one is operating.
I served my apprenticeship at Vauxhall dealers and they had a Bedford O model recovery truck. Just imagine having to go out on a recovery age 18 never having driven a truck before, I thought I was the mutts nuts! I went on to work as a mechanic 'on the buses'. They had, (and this is where my memory lets me down) an ex WD 6 X 6 (I think) recovery truck, but all I remember was it was either an AEC or Leyland Matador/Mandator I had to recover a Leyland Titan PD2 double decker and remember the gearing was incredibly low - about 40 mph top speed but would climb up the side of a mill :).
In the early 90's I used to drive a 75 ford Dseries (ex tractor unit) with a crane for a breakers in Sheffield as well as a 76 Dseries flatbed that was used for weighing the remains in. Both were 71/2 toners.
Very nice collection. Those vehicles mean business. Wayne Coriny (not sure of spelling) came across a BMC transporter in British Red, white and blue in one of his shows, it had quite a history, photos and so on. Back in the day the Midland Red bus company had a Land Rover as a recovery vehicle for their buses. A while ago they tried it again pulling a bus and it was still able to do it. They only did it on museum grounds but found some footage from the time of it towing a bus up a hill, they used a steel tube linkage. Thanks for sharing this collection .👍
I drove a Dodge 6 wheel tractor unit pulling a York tandem axle trailer, that was very much like VUK 43H in the early seventies, it had a Perkins V8 engine and a Fuller 6-speed gearbox complete with a High/Low ratio splitter box that operated from a switch on the gear lever in much the same way as the Eaton two speed axle. I remember that it was very nice to drive after the Leyland Comet 375 with Eaton two speed axle that it replaced. That Perkins engine could climb, I was running steel from Sheffield to Liverpool over Woodhead and it just ate those hills, but the gearbox was a pain, setting off in low 2nd, you had to go high 2nd, then low third, high third, low 4th, you get the idea, going down the box was the same, there was some type of interlock fitted which stopped you from skipping changes, you had to do the lot, it seemed as if you were forever changing gear.
Great pictures reminded me of when i drove a 6wheel double drive Ford d v8 540 recovery truck all over London my father had a breakers yard in north London and the Ford d ended up in Cyprus replacing it with a Volvo FL7
At 20:44 ...still have one of these...as well as an 86 and a station wagon, all series I's...a yank, bitten early. It's a terminal disease, I've always maintained.
Panes are very much in business. Upton on Severn. Worcestershire.. Their forecourt is A Utopia of recovery. Vehicles. A Superb collection of all sorts. Ward La France and many treasures.. Well worth a Visit. Nice folk own and run it...
What a fabulous selection! A couple of rare Diamond T's, even rarer Ward LaFrance's. My favourites here would be the Bedford, complete with Detroit Diesel ( sounds unbelievable ) and of course, the infamous Commer Car Transporter because it has the TS3 ( actually sounds slightly better than a Detroit ). Thanks for putting this together and showing.
Great vid OCC, big thankyou, IIRC the V8 Ford D series ( @ 9:00) were offered either with the Perkins or Cummins V8's ......... and I can't remember which, but one of them was big trouble (well to the operators I knew back then) while the other was a real flying machine. The 107'' Series 1 Landy (@ 20:43 ) is a honey, - (back in the mid 70's I had an 86'' series 1, but couldn't find the 107 I really wanted / needed.
Great selection,your best yet in my opinion.The racing car transporters are beautiful and have such unsurpassed elegance,it’s no wonder they fetch as much as they do.I’m fascinated by some of the ex-forces machinery.Many AEC Matadors were taken on by bus companies as recovery trucks.It’s very interesting to see some of the replacement bodies they used mostly in incorporating re-used bus bodies an very skilfully done and a testament to the many lost skills involved,a make do a mend mentally we seem to have lost in the modern age .I think most AEC bodies were coach built by outside contractors and mostly made of wood which obviously rotted out which explains the new bodies. I can’t imagine many being looked after very well.I think the one you weren’t sure about in the later picture might be an Atkinson Borderer.
In 1959 I started work at Daniel Doncasters Sheffield ,they had at the time a blue ambulance. I have seen it several years ago as an exhibit at a show still in its original livery. Have you seen it is it still going?
I've driven Leyland FG's, MK1 & MK2 York Transits, Leyland Terriers, Ford 'D' Series, Bedford TK's, Ford Cargo's, @22.46, i thought Panes were at Upton on Severn
Hi guys, many thanks for reviving many happy memories.In 1960s I worked 24hr breakdown and recovery for Southern counties garages at crawley,.We had 1940s Albion ex ggun carrier with 20 ton inboard winch for heavys , a austin k9 with twin crane, but my main love was 2 austin gypsys, one long wheelbase deisil and my baby short wheelbase petrol.Been naging me for years where they ended up.lwb maroon and cream, swb blue and white.any guys out there any info, love to hear from you cheers
I drove the Tyrrell transporter for the last 6 months of it's life at Tyrrell it was then sold to Marsh Plant to carry their historic Ferraris. Tyrrell then bought a new Ford transcontinental TLF100R I wonder where it is now?
Hi, thanks for watching, a full list of the videos on the channel is here:
ruclips.net/user/oldclassiccarRJvideos
Channel homepage:
ruclips.net/channel/UCKaTg9fPUvmUQi94FcnDbrg
When I was young I would do any old driving job, and someone I hardly knew asked me to bring 'a truck' back, under tow, from Chichester to Winchester. We went off in an HA van so I didn't think it would be a big truck. When we got there it turned out to be a wartime Bedford QL Crane, so green with mould you couldn't see through the cracked windows, towed by a Thames Trader with no battery. When I climbed up into the cab I found it had no floor, so I had to put one foot on each angle iron at the edge, and heave on the steering wheel as best I could. The steering was a bit lighter because there was no engine or gearbox either, and the propshaft was thrashing around on the centre bearing. It was on a rigid bar so at least I didn't have to try braking, but of course the tow truck kept breaking down, always in awkward places, and then the two blokes would have to try to bleed and jump start the diesel engine from the HA van. What a pantomime! At least we got back before it got really dark, because there was no lighting on any of the vehicles, probably no legalities of any kind. Still, I had earned £5, what a result!
Great story :-) thanks for sharing
Ah, LR with the Harvey Frost brings back memories, I was 17 in 1978 and did 24hr recovery for the cops in W Yorkshire with a 1959 LWB LR with same wind up crane.
I still look at the places today where I use to drag cars up from the bottom (ravine) of the Ripponden Moors near junc22 of the M62 and think "how the fk did I get a Mk1 Granada up from the bottom of there with just steel ropes and chains and "low" box"?, unreal, you would not be allowed to do it today, back then, "meh, I can get that up".
Wonderful memories that I still carry today.
Respect to you sir.
When I worked at Invicta Motors Canterbury Kent. We commissioned a great looking and efficient recovery unit based on a transit van.
We were very proud of it.
Great video, thanks. I have an AEC Matador, with Harvey Frost 6 ton cane. 33000 miles from new. I'm the second owner.
Sounds great, thanks for watching
I remember A E C Matadors were popular with Bus companies as recovery trucks and old coaches used for transporting Hot Rods it's nice to see these photos all the best Paul
My parents had a garage in central Scotland. We had a ww2 Morris Quad which was our primary breakdown from the 1950's up until 1988.
I can remember going to recovery jobs as a kid.
It had the oil bath air filter between the front seats, that produced an unforgettable sound.
The enormous hand brake coming straight out of the floor, the massive double batteries to the right of the driver.
The canvas covered body with roof hatches above the passenger.
It had been used in North Africa in Ww2, to pull a 5 pounder.
It was sold to a collector and replaced with a Bedford TK 1969 model.
I drove one belonging to Dunsfold L.R. back in the early seventies, as well as living in one onsite when I worked for them as a teen: cleaned a lot of parts for the venerable Brian Bashall in those days...and I am most certainly a better man for it. He told me, rightly so, that Land Rovers ran better when they were clean. I have since tested that rigorously and still find it true, no matter what machine one is operating.
I served my apprenticeship at Vauxhall dealers and they had a Bedford O model recovery truck. Just imagine having to go out on a recovery age 18 never having driven a truck before, I thought I was the mutts nuts! I went on to work as a mechanic 'on the buses'. They had, (and this is where my memory lets me down) an ex WD 6 X 6 (I think) recovery truck, but all I remember was it was either an AEC or Leyland Matador/Mandator I had to recover a Leyland Titan PD2 double decker and remember the gearing was incredibly low - about 40 mph top speed but would climb up the side of a mill :).
Be worth breaking down to get rescued by some of those beauties !
In the early 90's I used to drive a 75 ford Dseries (ex tractor unit) with a crane for a breakers in Sheffield as well as a 76 Dseries flatbed that was used for weighing the remains in.
Both were 71/2 toners.
Very nice collection. Those vehicles mean business. Wayne Coriny (not sure of spelling) came across a BMC transporter in British Red, white and blue in one of his shows, it had quite a history, photos and so on. Back in the day the Midland Red bus company had a Land Rover as a recovery vehicle for their buses. A while ago they tried it again pulling a bus and it was still able to do it. They only did it on museum grounds but found some footage from the time of it towing a bus up a hill, they used a steel tube linkage. Thanks for sharing this collection .👍
I drove a Dodge 6 wheel tractor unit pulling a York tandem axle trailer, that was very much like VUK 43H in the early seventies, it had a Perkins V8 engine and a Fuller 6-speed gearbox complete with a High/Low ratio splitter box that operated from a switch on the gear lever in much the same way as the Eaton two speed axle.
I remember that it was very nice to drive after the Leyland Comet 375 with Eaton two speed axle that it replaced. That Perkins engine could climb, I was running steel from Sheffield to Liverpool over Woodhead and it just ate those hills, but the gearbox was a pain, setting off in low 2nd, you had to go high 2nd, then low third, high third, low 4th, you get the idea, going down the box was the same, there was some type of interlock fitted which stopped you from skipping changes, you had to do the lot, it seemed as if you were forever changing gear.
Great pictures reminded me of when i drove a 6wheel double drive Ford d
v8 540 recovery truck all over London my father had a breakers yard in north London and the Ford d ended up in Cyprus replacing it with a Volvo FL7
At 20:44 ...still have one of these...as well as an 86 and a station wagon, all series I's...a yank, bitten early. It's a terminal disease, I've always maintained.
Panes are very much in business. Upton on Severn. Worcestershire.. Their forecourt is A Utopia of recovery. Vehicles. A Superb collection of all sorts. Ward La France and many treasures.. Well worth a Visit. Nice folk own and run it...
I drove so many of these old dogs its no wonder I'm nearly deaf!
Thanks so much for putting those old lorry on I love them so much my dad used to drive some of them happy days are here again.
Thanks, agreed these old lorries are great aren't they
Morris Minor Centre in Sydney years ago had a working Minor ute complete wih crane etc as a recovery vehicle !
What a fabulous selection! A couple of rare Diamond T's, even rarer Ward LaFrance's. My favourites here would be the Bedford, complete with Detroit Diesel ( sounds unbelievable ) and of course, the infamous Commer Car Transporter because it has the TS3 ( actually sounds slightly better than a Detroit ). Thanks for putting this together and showing.
Badgerline buses had a Detroit powered Bedford TM recovery unit, back in the 80s/90s, sounded superb, sadly I don't think it has survived.
Some of those racing car transporters would make a good base for a motorhome.
Mmmmm prefer seeing them with a car in the back!!! but I know what you mean
I used to drive a Leyland Mammoth Major 14 ton dead weight, Bedford J 6 and a Dodge D 300 v8 in Port Shepstone South Africa
Interesting video, RJ. My favorite is the oily-rag Foden Diesel. It looks fantastic.
Great vid OCC, big thankyou, IIRC the V8 Ford D series ( @ 9:00) were offered either with the Perkins or Cummins V8's ......... and I can't remember which, but one of them was big trouble (well to the operators I knew back then) while the other was a real flying machine. The 107'' Series 1 Landy (@ 20:43 ) is a honey, - (back in the mid 70's I had an 86'' series 1, but couldn't find the 107 I really wanted / needed.
👍👍👍 Excellent collection. My favourite has to be the beefy looking V8 powered D series....
Great selection,your best yet in my opinion.The racing car transporters are beautiful and have such unsurpassed elegance,it’s no wonder they fetch as much as they do.I’m fascinated by some of the ex-forces machinery.Many AEC Matadors were taken on by bus companies as recovery trucks.It’s very interesting to see some of the replacement bodies they used mostly in incorporating re-used bus bodies an very skilfully done and a testament to the many lost skills involved,a make do a mend mentally we seem to have lost in the modern age .I think most AEC bodies were coach built by outside contractors and mostly made of wood which obviously rotted out which explains the new bodies. I can’t imagine many being looked after very well.I think the one you weren’t sure about in the later picture might be an Atkinson Borderer.
Glad you liked it, the older recovery trucks in particular have real character
In 1959 I started work at Daniel Doncasters Sheffield ,they had at the time a blue ambulance. I have seen it several years ago as an exhibit at a show still in its original livery. Have you seen it is it still going?
Haven,t finished the vid yet but i love the 'style'of that first truck.(greasy)lol.
Tanks and thumbs up.
Great collection of photos.
I've driven Leyland FG's, MK1 & MK2 York Transits, Leyland Terriers, Ford 'D' Series, Bedford TK's, Ford Cargo's, @22.46, i thought Panes were at Upton on Severn
A Morris Minor restoration firm in Australia made a Minor tow truck from a pickup which they used to tow and rescue Minors.
Hi guys, many thanks for reviving many happy memories.In 1960s I worked 24hr breakdown and recovery for Southern counties garages at crawley,.We had 1940s Albion ex ggun carrier with 20 ton inboard winch for heavys , a austin k9 with twin crane, but my main love was 2 austin gypsys, one long wheelbase deisil and my baby short wheelbase petrol.Been naging me for years where they ended up.lwb maroon and cream, swb blue and white.any guys out there any info, love to hear from you cheers
Interesting stuff, thanks for watching!
The bedford TK was a 330 6 cyl with a 4 speed box
Favourites: #3 2:40 Fiat Bertoletti Transporter, #2 5:29 Ecuri Ecosse Commer, both pipped by #1 19:28 Volvo N86. En mycket fin lastbil! 😁
My next door neighbour is a descendant of the Foden garage in Little Budworth the first lorry in the video
I drove the Tyrrell transporter for the last 6 months of it's life at Tyrrell it was then sold to Marsh Plant to carry their historic Ferraris. Tyrrell then bought a new Ford transcontinental TLF100R I wonder where it is now?
Hi Ian that's really interesting, love these old haulers
wow wow wow
Great channel liked and subscribed 👍
Many thanks!
Dodge Recovery Restored by an old acquittance Dennis Royle now in his ninety first year.
I went to go and look at it during its restoration as the owner lived not too far away from where I lived at the time. A wonderful old lorry.
Team Tyrrell is now Mercedes, how times have changed.
Only downside of this video is the music on repeat.
at 8:50 is a LAND ROVER camo wrecker, it is NOT a "101" this is a Series IIB 110"
Ok thanks