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All Ready for Brussels

13th January 1956
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Page 73, 13th January 1956 — All Ready for Brussels
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TDMORROW is the opening day of the 39th Brussels Salon, which continues until January 26, and there will again be a large selection of British commercial vehicles, some in chassis form and some with Belgian bodies, This is one of the most important events of the year in Europe, so it is a pity a few of the British manufacturers are missing, though fortunately most of them are well represented.

A surprise this year. is the appearance of Albion and Scammell exhibits, both of which have been absent for the past two years or more, Both these manufacturers have recently come under Leyland control. , Other concerns whose products will be on show are A.E.C., Austin, Bedford, Commer, Daimler, Guy, Karrier, Leyland, Morris, Morris-Commercial, Rover, Seddon, and Standard, giving a total of 15 makes.

There will be eight vehicles—five passenger and three goods—on the stand of the A.E.C. Belgian agent, G. Spitals, 165-167 Rue Tweemont, Antwerp. These comprise a lightweight Reliance in chassis form, a Reliance with a Ionckheere coach body, a Regal Mark IV.S chassis and two examples of the Regal Mark IV with the new Mono-control semi-automatic . trans

mission. Of Mark IV models, one is a plain chassis and the other has a bus body by Van Hool.

The three A.E.C. lorries will be a Mandator chassis, a Mammoth Major chassis with cab, and a Monarch with a tipping body. Another A.E.C. vehicle—a bus—will appear on the Ionckheere stand, this being also a Regal Mark IV with Mono-control.

Albion will be showing two goods and one passenger chassis, There will be a Claymore goods model and a Nimbus bus, both of which are of lightweight construction and have a horizontal oil engine mounted amidships. The Claymore carries 3-4 tons, and has a low unobstructed floor in the driver's cab. The Nimbus, which made its first appearance at the Scottish Show last November, is a medium-sized bus to carry up to 31 seated passengers. The third Albion exhibit is a mediumcapacity Chieftain goods model, with

an Albion 75 b.h.p. vertical oil engine.

On the Austin stand there will he two examples of the dual-purpose Countryman, which can carry either goods or passengers by a simple conversion: one of these will be the A30 5-cwt. type and the other the A40 10-cwt. type. The A40 will be shown as well in the form of an ordinary van.

Austin will also be displaying two heavier chassis, both with forwardcontrol cab, the new 5-litre B.M.C. oil engine and front shock absorbers. One of these is the 3-tonner, which was missing from last year's Salon, and the other is the recently introduced 7-tonncr

Brilliant Bedfords On the General Motors stand there will be eight Bedford chassis all painted in I3ombay ivory and ocean green. -These will include a 10-12-cwt. van, a 3-ton long-wheelbase chassis, and two examples of the 5-ton long-wheelbase model—one with petrol engine and heavy-duty wheels and tyres, and one with oil engine and standard wheels.

Other Bedfords will include a 7-tonner with short wheelbase and petrol engine, a 7-tonner with longwheelbase and oil engine, an oilengined 10-ton tractor unit and a 41-seat passenger chassis.

There will be nine Commers and two Karriers on the Rootes stand, as well as a working exhibit of a sectioned Commer four-cylindered o.h.v. engine, which has a maximum b.h.p. of 56 at 3.400 r.p.m. Rootes will also be showing a new gearbox and overdrive unit, which is now available in all Commer t)28 six-cylinder models from 2 to 10 tons and in the Avenger and Karrier Gamecock.

Among the nine Commcr vehicles are an Express light delivery van, a 11-ton forward-control van, and four examples of the Superpoise chassis with cab, these being in 11-ton, 3-4-ton, 5-ton short-wheelbase and 5-ton longwheelbase forms. Both the 5-tonncrs have the Perkins P6 oil engine. The 3-4-tonner has the Commer 91 b.h.p. petrol engine and the 11-ton model the 56 h.h.p. unit.

There will be three underfloorengined 7-tonners with cabs, two having short wheelbases and one a long

wheelbase. One of these has the Commer 111 b.h.p. petrol engine and the other two have the new Rootes TS3 two-stroke oil engine.

Both the Karriers on the Rootes stand will he 2-tonners in chassis-andcab form with petrol engines, one with short wheelbase and the other with long w'neelbase The Daimler distributors in Belgium, Automobiles Miessc S.A., are hoping to show a Daimler Freeline passenger chassis of 17-ft. 6-in, wheelbase and 8-ft. width. This will have the Daimler 10.6-litre horizontal oil engine and a semi-automatic gearbox.

Nine into Three

Nine Guy vehicles will be exhibited, but on three different stands. Six of them will be on the stand of Park Garage, Ltd., of Antwerp, the Guy distributor for Belgium. The most interesting of the six will be the prototype of the latest addition to the Guy range. This is the new .Warrior 8-ton chassis, which will be shown with a Meadows 5.3-litre engine and left-hand drive. The Meadows 10.35-litre vertical engine will be shown separately.

Other more familiar Guy exhibits on the Park Garage stand will be an Otter truck chassis and cab with Perkins P6 oil engine, and an Otter passenger chassis—also with P6 engine—on which a 30-seat coach body by Van Hool has been mounted for use by Mr. Van der Graezen, of Leuven.

The Arab Mark IV chassis will be shown in conventional form with a Gardner 6LW engine, and in underfloor-engined form with a Gardner 6HLW engine. There will also be a 6LW vertical-engined Arab chassis with a Van Hool 50-seat body for Mr. Poe!mans, of Vorselaar.

On their own stand Van Hool, the bodybuilders, are displaying two com plete Guy passenger vehicles. These are an Otter 27-scat coach with Perkins P6 engine, in the livery of Mr. Van der Graezen, and an underfioor-engined heavy-duty Arab bus to carry 80 passengers, for Mr. Alpaerts, of Lierre.

There will also be a lightweight underfloor-engined Guy Arab on the stand of the Union of Belgian Body Builders, with a 42-seat de luxe body by Remi Desot.

A 90-seat Single-decker

The Leyland exhibit will comprise three buses and two lorries. Two of the buses are Royal Tiger Worldmastersan LERT 1/1 model with 18-ft. wheelbase and a 42-seat body with space for 40 standing passengers, and an LERT 21 model with 20-ft. wheelbase and a 90-seat workers' bus body.

There will also be an ECO2,4L Comet with a specially long wheelbase of 17 ft.

6 in. and a 46-seat coach body. All three of these passenger bodies were built by Van Hool.

The two Leyland goods models are a Comet 7-ton tipper with equipment by Adriaenssens, of Antwerp, and an EB.9131 Super Beaver tractor which, when coupled to a semi-trailer, is suit

able for a gross train weight up to 40 tons.

The Nuffield Organization will be showing a formidable array of 14 vehicles, comprising five by Morris and nine by Morris-Commercial. There will be a f-ton van and a I-ton van, and three examples of the Traveller utility van based on the Minor, Oxford and Isis private cars respectively.

The Lnoi oil-engined 1-ton van will be on show, together with two 3-ton chassis with cabs. One of the 3-tanners will have a petrol engine and normal control, and the other an oil engine and forward control.

Five types of Morris-Commercial 5-tonner will be exhibited, showing a few of the many combinations avail

able. Four will have normal control and one forward control, four will have long wheelbases and one a short wheelbase, four will have the B.M.C. oil engine and one a petrol engine, three will have the Eaton two-speed rear axle and two a spiral bevel, and four will have only a cab, whilst one will have a complete body. Finally, the new B.M.C. forward-control 7-tonner will also be on the Nuffield stand, complete with a body.

On the Rover stand visitors will see the new long-wheelbase Land-Rover station wagon, which, by simply folding and repositioning the seats and squabs, can be used for three purposes—to carry 10 passengers seated, to carry half a ton of freight, or as a safari vehicle with sleeping accommodation for two. Its four-wheel drive makes it ideal for traversing " no-road " country.

Scammell will appear with a Scarab 6-ton mechanical horse with 18-ft.-long platform semi-trailer, which can turn in less than its own length. Although it is 20 years since the mechanical horse was introduced, it has kept pace with the times, and the model now on show has a streamlined cab and the latest 45 b.h.p. four-cylindered petrol engine. This vehicle is fitted with breakaway braking 'to suit the Continental regulations. When the trailer is disconnected from the tractor the brakes are applied automatically.

A 25-cwt. Oiler

Nine vehicles are being exhibited by Seddon, all with-left-hand drive. These • include a 25-cwt. chassis with cab, a

• Mark 5t long-wheelbase model with cab and platform body, a Mark 7L as a. chassis only, and a Mark 12TP tipper. There will also be a Mark 12 long-wheelbase chassis with cab and body, a Mark 14 long-wheelbase chassis by. itself; and a Mark 14TR tractor

• chassis. Two passenger chassis, complete with body, will be included in the display, one being the Mark 7P type and the other the Mark 6R.

• All these' Seddon chassis have oil engines, those in the Mark 14 and • 14TR being of Gardner 5LW type. The 25-cwt. van has a Perkins P3 engine, the Mark 7L and 7P have Perkins P4, and the remaining four have Perkins Pb. These last four have five-speed constant-mesh gearboxes, whilst the five others have only four speeds. All models have hydraulic two-leading-shoe brakes.

As well as the five private cars to be shown on the stand of Imperia S.A. Nessonvaux Les Leige, who are the Standard distributors in Belgium, there will be two Standard 10 h.p. estate cars, one upholstered in red Vynide and one in blue Vynide. A Standard 6-cwt, delivery van will also be on show, powered by a 10-h.p. four-cylindered overhead-valve engine.

Although any potential buyer visiting the Brussels Salon will have a great variety of British bus and lorry chassis to examine, which should amply meet his requirements, he would do well to appreciate that the full selection available for export is even wider.


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