Scammell Scarab - The Mechanical Horse - Scammell Lorries Ltd - 1957

A great factory promotional film from Scammell Lorries Ltd. This 1957 production introduces the Scarab to the commercial haulage world. Its name is made up from Scammell and the horse, Arab. The film includes the workings and design of Scammell's unique coupling gear as well as marketing the advantages of a small tractor unit with multiple trailers verses the old fashioned horse and cart.
Milk floats, street sweepers, refuse trailers and beer delivery configurations feature in this delightful old film.

[@everestyeti]

When I 1st started life as lorry driver a very long time ago, the company I worked for had a couple of these left being used as shunting lorries in a yard. They were converted to a hydraulic 5th wheel that could be raised and lowered in the cab. They were really good in the dry, but when things got icy or snowy they were a nightmare, you had to really slow down.

[@willhovell9019]

A great precursor of containers . I vaguely remember the Scammel Scarab operating in the old Covent Garden wholesale Fruit and Veg Market

[@paulnolan1352]

A clever idea that coupler. I bet it was a sod when it got a bit of wear in it.

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

BRILLIANT DESIGN SOMEONE SHOULD MAKE A E.V VERSION!!!??

[@MD-tv5fp]

On a day when nations are debating how to save the planet from the abuse we have handed out to it, I hear the narrator of this video casually mention how we were systematically dumping waste into rivers and seas.

[@lorrydriverdotcom]

Yeah I audibly gasped at that bit!