Downtime in Amsterdam: CM party enjoys Show trip
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THE AMSTERDAM Motor Show held at the RAI exhibition centre attracts visitors and exhibitors from all over Europe and some countries behind the Iron Curtain.
CM, in association with DAF Trucks (GB) Ltd, booked a passage from London, via Harwich and the Hook of Holland, to Amsterdam with accommodation at a top-flight hotel for a party of 50 people keen to see for themselves what a Continental show has to offer.
Some of the vehicles on show have names little heard of in Britain, such as Ginaf, which specialises in two, three and four-axle all-wheel-drive vehicles; Hino, now established in Ireland, is also imported into the Netherlands, while Skoda better known for its cars, exhibits a turbocharged six-cylinder, 12-litre, tractive unit.
Our party, writes BILL BROCK, represented a crosssection of the industry including trailer manufacturers, bodybuilders, recovery men, engineers, equipment suppliers and operators of a wide variety of makes, types and sizes of vehicles.
Some came hoping to do business; others just to look.
After a full day at the show, I sought their impressions.
Mr Owen, director of Mobilecraft (Trailers and Marine) Ltd of Chichester, expressed an interest in demount bodywork, but had to be satisfied by exhibits from Fruehauf and Renova. Nevertheless, he found the Show informative and well arranged.
Intending to buy, Mr Law, of Law and Smith (Coachwork) Ltd of Tillingham, came to look at equipment in general and tipping gear in particular. Naturally he would have wished to see a larger selection but, he told me, he was eventually able to do a deal and took advantage of the rest of the Show to keep up to date with changes in the industry.
Bodybuilder J. S. Fraser (Oxford) Ltd went to look at European techniques of construction and for new types of extrusions and fittings. He only saw one paint company exhibit, and considered that many of the body exhibits were of a high standard but could be matched, if not bettered, by many British products.
Mr Ridgway of P. S. Ridgway of Dundee, chairman of the Scottish FTA, went to look at vehicles and was surprised not to see more British ones.
Bedford, Dodge and Ford had good-sized stands, but Leyland, showing a dated Marathon 2, in a peculiar choice of colour scheme, might have done better to join ERF, Seddon Atkinson and Foden, manufacturers who did not put in an appearance at all.
The Show was well attended by Continental and Eastern Block manufacturers while the halls were well arranged for visitors to see everything and meet representatives.
Mr Ridgway favours the foreign shows because of their general level of comfort. Mr Price of T. Price and Son, of Hay on Wye, operating livestock and tipper vehicles, gave a similar opinion, but was glad of the opportunity to look at vehicles not normally available in the UK. He made the point that without representation at this type of show the British manufacturers could not expect to sell in Europe.
Mr Pearce, also from Wales, who operates vehicles in connection with his wholesale meat and slaughterhouse business, drew my attention to the new Hubbard 620 nosemount refrigeration unit which does away with penetration into the load area allowing full use of the internal capacity. A compressor and two fans are powered by a three-phase alternator driven from the vehicle engine for road use, but single-phase and three-phase standby operation is also available.
Mr Chapple, a consultant for BP Trading Ltd, was interested in a polyester tanker frc Didak of Belgium fitted w discharge equipment whi also shows possibilities further weight saving.
From Gloucestershire, Read, a transport contract thought the Volvo F12 Glol trotter was the best prepai vehicle in the Show and fou the Kienzle tachograph d computer analysis most inf mative, but was disappoini not to see more equipm( stands.
A visit to the DAF factor3 Eindhoven on the follow: day provided a chance for to see, at first hand, how cc mercial vehicles are made.
Most members of the pa agreed that they had deri) benefits from an interchai of ideas with one another were looking forward to a next trip — to the Paris Sh in October.