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Speaking volumes
Page 9
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Were it not for our eagle-eyed chief sub-editor we probably wouldn't have noticed that this is the 5,000th edition of Commercial Motor. On 16 March 1905 "The Commercial Motor" was launched as "The Authority on The Van, The Lorry, The Wagon, The Tractor, The Agricultural Motor, The Omnibus, The Public Service Vehicle, etc". OK we don't write about tractors and agricultural motors any more— unless of course they're used by farmers on unlicensed hire or reward work. Nor do we write about omnibuses.
But a CM reader of 1905 probably wouldn't have any trouble recognising today's CM. It's still an authority, still the industry "bible". And still the sum of its readers. Anniversaries are all well and good but our job is to look to the future, whether it's the latest predictions on congestion, new trucks like Mercedes' latest Actros or smart card tachographs.
Perhaps one day we'll even see the kind of weight-efficient combination run by many operators down-under (including the one we profile on page 44 of this issue). Sounds fantastic? Not that long ago people dismissed the possibility of 44-tonne operation as pie in the sky. The same people laughed at the prospect of 400hp+ engines in fleet artics. And look what happened.
Two things we can say with confidence about the future: one, it WILL be different and two, Commercial Motor will remain the authority on