A SALVAGE LORRY with NEW FEATURES
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A T the works of the Highbury IA. Corner Motor Co., Ltd., in North London, a breakdown lorry has just hen completed which has as its basis the Ford 1929 30-cwt. commercial ciuissis. The appliance is of special interest to garage proprietors by reason of the means employed for housing the towing ambulance (when it is not in use) and for attaching it to the lorry when it is being used for the conveyance of a disabled vehicle. An ordinary platform body hating drop sides has been mounted on the chassis, and one of the side members is so arranged that when held in the lionzontal position it may be used as a bench ; a detachable vice can be fitted to it. On the platform of the lorry a Harvey Frost salvage crane is accommodated, and, instead of the crane being bolted down to the flooring in the usual way, it has been fixed to a pair of longitudinal steel runners so that it •
may be removed entirely, without undue delay, when it is required to use the lorry for the carrying of goods.
The most interesting feature about this breakdown equipment, however, is the construction of a special sub-frame at the rear, beneath the platform flooring, for the purpose of housing the towing ambulance, so that it shall be quite out of the way when not in use. The sub-frame is built of two steel girder members and it is slung from the main-frame members of the chassis. The wheels of the. ambulance rest in it, the drawbar extending forward and
resting on a frame cross-member. When the ambulance is being used for supporting a damaged motorcar or van, the drawbar is attached to a fitment on the sub-frame, instead of to the back of the chassis or the body flooring, which is the usual procedure. By this means a drawbar attachment only 15 ins, from the ground is obtained.
So that the sub-frame may be sufficiently strong to withstand the tension of haulage, two, sloping girder sidemembers are carried forward from the bottom of the sub-frame and bolted to the main chassis-members.
A spot-light which facilitates breakdown work at night is mounted on a eross-member of the salvage crane, and a complement of tools, including the vice, is housed in two neat side lockers mounted beneath the platform. The lorry platform is, therefore, partikularly free from encumbrances.