Ugly brutes and much loved old lorries
Page 28
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Preceptor in nostalgic mood
LET'S REMEMBER the pleasant times of days gone by. Why not?
Imagine a small West Country town in the Twenties and early Thirties. The main haulier there operated a small fleet of "Liberty" lorries, ugly brutes of American origin on solid tyres and with left-hand steering; they were left over from the First World War. • Their accelerator pedals were operated by pushing them sideways instead of the more usual downwards movement, No selfstarters were fitted and on cold mornings starting was a problem.
Most vans and lorries were either "Chevs" (later Bedfords), Morris Commercials or Fords, although the local brewery ran a Guy, a vehicle with very narrow section solid tyres and a most unusual valve arrangement. Although the engine was fitted with side valves, a rocker arm was fitted between the camshaft and the valve stem and this made tappet adjustment very easy as the adjusting screws were very accessible.
Grocers, bakers, butchers and the ironmonger all had vans from which they plied their wares. The butcher had a chopping block and a pair of scales in the back of his van and would cut whatever joint a housewife required.
Oil lamps were the only means of illumination in many farms and villages and the ironmonger dispensed paraffin from a large tank carried on his van.
I was apprenticed to a garage and our workshop was fairly well equipped. A single-cylinder stationary engine, direct coupled to a dynamo, charged the batteries for a 11 0-volt lighting system. We also charged accumulators for the locals' wireless sets. The same engine drove, by means of belts and line shafting, a large and small lathe. While these were not in constant use, they were handy for skimming brake drums and making the odd bush.
Much more fitting was done then. Big-end bearings were hand scrapped and I have spent many hours in the pit fitting up big-ends to the journals of a crankshaft while my mate scrapped the bearings at the bench. The journals of the crankshaft were smeared with engineer's blue so that the high spots showed up on the bearing after they had been turned on the journal.
Replacement brake shoes were not available and in some cases even ready moulded brake linings were not supplied. If this was so the lingings were cut slightly oversize from a large sheet of asbestos-type material. The rivet holes were drilled and countersunk in the linings which were then riveted to the shoes and the surplus material filed off.
I saw few diesel engined vehicles until after the Second World War. The first lorry to be fitted with a diesel engine in this country was a MercedesBenz in January 1929. The first passenger carrying vehicle was a Karrier 36-seater belonging to
the Sheffield Corporation and fitted with a Mercedes-Benz engine, which was put into service on March 9, 1930. This vehicle was described in Commercial Motor on February 25, 1930. T. H. Barton of Barton Bros, Beeston, Nottingham, equipped one of the buses in his extensive fleet with a fourcylinder Gardner engine at about the same time.
I purchased, in about 1935 or 1936, a book, Compression Ignition Engines for Road Vehicles, written by the then editor of Commercial Motor and published by Temple Press for half a crown (121/2p). Among the makes discussed in this book are AEC; Armstrong Saurer; Aster; Aveling and Porter; Barton; Beardmore; Berliet; Blackstone; Crossley; Cummins; Delahaye; Dennis; Deatz; Fowler; Gardner; Junkers; Leyland; McLaren; Mercedes; Petters; Renault; RN; Tange; and Thornycroft engines.
This book sets out the basic principles of the diesel engine in as clearly as any modern book. Note the price in my picture of an advertisement for Commercial Motor taken from the book; it is 3d — not quite 2p.
Visits to veteran and vintage commercial vehicle rallies bring back memories of the days I have been considering. The pictures at the top of the page shows an early Foden diesel tanker; and the photo at the bottom a 1930 AEC Matador