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Commercial Vehicles

Hi Nick,did you work in the garage at no.2 gate Stanlow,and if so,when did you leave.I see you give your location as Torquay,it's a small world,as I lived there for a while when I was aged about 8 or 9 ....Mal.

Hello Mal

No i changed direction after leaving Kingsbury in 75 and ended up eventually at Stanlow as the Plant Manager with part of my responsibilites being the Vehicle maintenance, this was after Shell decided that the Vehicle maintenance Supervisor was no longer needed. I took early retirement in 96, two years before Shell chose to contract out their fuel distribution division.
 
Hi Nick,yes I remember you quite well,I was one of the contract drivers on the fuel distribution.I worked out of Stanlow in one form or another for about 40 years,ending up with Hoyers.We were employed by P+0 when you were there.I've now retired,this is the best job I've ever had.I don't really want to give your name out in public,as it were,but if you like,I will send it to you via instant message,.....Mal.
 
Hi Nick,yes I remember you quite well,I was one of the contract drivers on the fuel distribution.I worked out of Stanlow in one form or another for about 40 years,ending up with Hoyers.We were employed by P+0 when you were there.I've now retired,this is the best job I've ever had.I don't really want to give your name out in public,as it were,but if you like,I will send it to you via instant message,.....Mal.
Hello Mal

Yes certainly send me a IM. What happened to Martin the P&O manager, I lost touch with all that happened after 96 as we moved to Helston Cornwall in 97.
 
morris commercial were in foundry lane,if you travel from cornwall rd across rabone lane into foundry lane, as the road bends to the right the building on the left(3or4 storey old style glass windows) was morris commercial factory it streched right throught to anne rd.William morris was building cars in oxford (cowley) but when he decided to build lorries the heavy engineering skills he needed were in brum/smethwick he started there in the very early 30s till he bought the wolsley eng co(in liqudation) who made sheep sheering machinery in adderly park.
 
i worked in shell garage at kingsbury as a contractor 86ish-91ish
Was it still split Shell/BP. I used to work with Alan Chattaway when he was a lad, he used to work for Harold Aston before starting at Kingsbury. I worked there from 69 to late 75 before moving to Shell Jarrow.
 
in the garage at that time-cliff drake (motor insp)-allan chat- ken morgan jones-allan sreet-paul fenton-????in the office=andy vanderhook (terminal manager) williams?-jones?-malcolm brand-2 0thers??and a lady. Drivers-rambo-little rambo-billy can -pete jones- john cook-and many others.The bp garage was split off oneil was in chargeof that
 
in the garage at that time-cliff drake (motor insp)-allan chat- ken morgan jones-allan sreet-paul fenton-????in the office=andy vanderhook (terminal manager) williams?-jones?-malcolm brand-2 0thers??and a lady. Drivers-rambo-little rambo-billy can -pete jones- john cook-and many others.The bp garage was split off oneil was in chargeof that
Yes remember most of the garage lads also Andy Vanderhook and Malcolm Brand. Remember Andy when he moved to the Aviation side when i was at Manchester Airport.
 
Those are Birmingham-built Morrison Electricars battery electrics, the display included London Co-op milk float AAN 902, and vans AAN 935/40/43; Birmingham Co-op float FOA 713 and van FOA 708; unreadably named van EWK 715 (a Coventry mark); Birmingham Corporation Salvage Dept dustcart no 220; an unmarked smaller dustcart; Nottingham Co-op float GAU 855 and various float or van chassis.
I wonder what the special event was, and why the military presence?
 
The world was a happier place generally then. As Harold Macmillan said about that time, "You've never had it so good!"

That's Paradise Street, almost at the junction with Easy Row.
The car on the left, a Standard Flying 8 tourer, was the same as an early car of mine, bought to take apart to see how it worked, before I had a licence. GDG 426.
Interestingly the registration you show on the car, HOG 453, is fictitious - HOG was never issued, GOG ran from April 1946 and was followed by JOG in February 1949. (IOG wasn't used either as all 'I's and 'Z's were reserved for Irish registrations). The Austin lorry's reg, BAR, was issued by Hertfordshire County Council from November 1935 to January 1936, so a bit early for the post war K2!
None of this detracts from an excellent picture, often transport artists cannot get perspective or size ratios right, but yours are usually spot on. Well done again!
 
“This 1962-registered 8-ton Dodge 300 Series fitted with a Perkins 6.354 engine was operated by
W. Freeman & Sons, a Birmingham dairy. The 300 Series was available in 5, 7, 8 and 9-ton payload categories, plus 10 and 12-ton tractor models. There was also a four-wheel drive five-tonner for off-highway or military applications.“ F. Perkins Ltd

The heyday of the British lorry : historic commercial vehicles in colour by Durham, Peter (1996)

68681437-7DAC-4F39-987F-AB21FC188A36.jpeg
 
“This 1962-registered 8-ton Dodge 300 Series fitted with a Perkins 6.354 engine was operated by
W. Freeman & Sons, a Birmingham dairy. The 300 Series was available in 5, 7, 8 and 9-ton payload categories, plus 10 and 12-ton tractor models. There was also a four-wheel drive five-tonner for off-highway or military applications.“ F. Perkins Ltd

The heyday of the British lorry : historic commercial vehicles in colour by Durham, Peter (1996)

View attachment 178643
I remember while Working for Ryland Garage who were Seddon and Perkins dealers changing a head gasket on a Perkins 6.354 engine. The engine was on trial and a Perkins service engineer came down and sat in the cab watching me change it presumably checking what had caused the gasket to blow.
 
“This 1962-registered 8-ton Dodge 300 Series fitted with a Perkins 6.354 engine was operated by
W. Freeman & Sons, a Birmingham dairy. The 300 Series was available in 5, 7, 8 and 9-ton payload categories, plus 10 and 12-ton tractor models. There was also a four-wheel drive five-tonner for off-highway or military applications.“ F. Perkins Ltd

The heyday of the British lorry : historic commercial vehicles in colour by Durham, Peter (1996)

View attachment 178643
I think -Freeman's- were on the Coventry road.
 
I remember while Working for Ryland Garage who were Seddon and Perkins dealers changing a head gasket on a Perkins 6.354 engine. The engine was on trial and a Perkins service engineer came down and sat in the cab watching me change it presumably checking what had caused the gasket to blow.
A transport Co I worked at had a fleet of Leylabd Boxers fitted with the 6.354 engine, they were generally reliable and easy to work on. We also had many Leylands fitted with the Perkins V8.510 engine another reliable unit.
 
W. Freeman & Sons, 1644 Coventry Road were Haulage contractors. The site is now a Texaco filling station on the corner of Yew Tree Lane.
They possibly had a dairy contract.
Freemans certainly had a milk delivery contract in '76/77. I worked as a driver/rep for Serck Services & called in daily to see if there were any radiators that needed repairing on their trucks.
 
The design of the (Birmingham Bedfords' as they were called when Austin entered the commercial vehicle market in 1939. This is the 30cwt lorry, the design continuing after the war.

Light commercial vehicles by Stevens-Stratten, S. W. (Seymour Walter). Publication date 1991.


IMG_2699.jpeg
 
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