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That was the year...
Page 13
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CM was launched in 1905; for our centenary year we're bringing you stories from years gone by. This week we're back in 1925 and 1975.
1925
Plans were laid for the French village of Sangatte to host an internment camp to house 7,000 communist, Marxist and socialist agitators, although none tried to escape in British trucks. In motor racing, a riding mechanic was no longer compulsory instead, pits were dug opposite the grandstands.
Dual-purpose CVs
Evan Evans and Sons of Central Café, Welshpool, had a new dual-purpose Trojan which could be used as an ice cream cart in the summer, then converted to an ordinary tradesman's van for the winter. Other unlikely commercials included the new Triumph twin motorcycle combination built by Watson Cairns and Co of Leeds to recover similar machines. Of topical interest was the AEC daylight cinema truck, on tour to spread the word of the Conservative Association Central Office.
Old hands
Not too many van manufacturers at the 1925 Commercial Motor Show at Olympia still service the same market 80 years on. One such was Citroen, which launched its 11.4hp range; the 7cwt delivery van was on offer for £195. Other marques on show included Fiat, Renault and General Motors, but Ford was notable for its absence.
Centrifugal purity
The "Sterns apparatus for the purification of oil" used a centrifugal force "17,000 times the force of gravity" to get used oil clean, raising hopes of everlasting lubrication. "Only absolutely pure oil can find its way to the outlet pipe," the manufacturer boasted — but, strangely, we still have to buy new oil from time to time.
1975
The North Vietnamese took control of Saigon to end the agony of the Vietnam war, but the Lebanese civil war began. Spain's fascist dictator, Franco, died and two Portuguese colonies, Angola and Mozambique, gained their independence.Altair introduced the first personal computer. the Altair MITS 8800, and a small software company, Microsoft, was founded.
Telly ban
The Six Million Dollar Man seriously harmed the earning potential of one van driver who was caught watching a TV balanced on his passenger seat while driving. Five other offences and ten previous convictions contributed to his lifetime driving ban.
New body
A sign of things to come was a new Freight Bonallack body design fitted to a pair of Ford 12-tonners.Three demountable bodies featured a fold-down double-deck arrangement to carry horticultural machinery for an Oxfordshire manufacturer. Loading was courtesy of a Ratcliff tail-lift.
Low-rent vehicles
CM carried out a survey of rental vans and trucks up to six tonnes. Of the 14 vehicles which were rented anonymously, only one, a 300-miles-from-new Transit, would have avoided an immediate prohibition. Hopefully better prepared were a pair of Ford D-Series provided by Godfrey Davis.Their job was to transport the British Everest Expedition from London to Katmandu.