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The two Ford trucks in our picture are turbocharged 16-tonners.
Page 57
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Or, as we call them, D1614s.
Last year the British Everest Expedition took them on a journey few British trucks have ever attempted.
They drove them 14,000 miles to Katmandu and back.
They set a new record for the route. 24 days to get there,19 days to comeback. (On the outward journey, they were fully laden.) Neither truck was new at the start. One had 36,000 miles on the clock, the other 15,000.
Gruelling.
They drove continuously, round the clock. Four drivers working in stints of six hours on, six hours off.
Through Belgium, Germany, Austria,Yugoslavia, Bulgaria,Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal.
They drove over roads that make Shap Fell look like Oxford Street.
8,000 feet up in the Tahir Pass, in Turkey, they were stoned by bandits who wanted their supplies.
In India,they were fired on with a shotgun. In Nepal, the trucks crawled in first gear for seventeen hours without a break to cross the mountains.
Amazingly, average fuel consumption for the entire marathon was 9.33 mpg.
Equally surprising was the short list of repairs needed.
A fan belt had to be replaced in India. A stop and tail light in Afghanistan. A front leaf spring in Iran. An exhaust manifold on arrival in Katmandu.
No,they didn't cheat.
"Tell us," you say, "about the special modifications that helped the trucks to make it:' At the risk ofdisappointing you, there were very few.
The 6.0 litre 6-cylinder turbocharged diesel engines were entirely standard.
So, too, were the gearboxes and transmissions.
One exception was the 90 gallon fuel tanks. (Filling stations are rare along the Khyber Pass.) Another was the special sleeper cabs built over the top of the Ford custom cabs. Happily, there are few 8,000 ft passes along the Ml. And the only bandits are one-armed and they're in transport cafes.
But if you need a truck that wo baulk at hard work, the latest turbocharged Ford stands a mountain above the rest.
With a new 1 year/40,000 mil warranty behind it, that's a good deaL For full details about Ford `D' Series trucks, please post the coup()
The two trucks were supplied by the Truck Rental Fleet of Godfrey Davis and modifi as described, by Manchester Garages Ltd.
Please send me details about Ford'D'Series truck Name Company Position in Company Address Telephone No.
To: Ford Motor Company Ltd, P.O. Box 197, London SE19SX.
There ate more of /hem, because there's more to them.