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AGE NG BEAUTIES
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
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A few operators are still unwilling to sign finance deals for a new truck when a secondhand one will do the same job. Dave Young reports.
BEDMINSTER Bedminster Tra nsport runs a 22-year-old Leyland Roadtrain Interstater subcontracted to Pentalver Ibr hauling containers.
Driver Wayne Evans reckons the combination of a 14-litre Cummins and a Twinsplitter gearshift is "unbeatable", but then he's got a lot of previous form with old wagons.
At one time the family firm ran 10 Roadtrains but now Evans says it's "just me and my dadwith two I nterstaters. one 'resting'. plus a bus and a coach ( Lcylands, naturally).
Key to the firm's survival since 1971 is a wholly-owned two-acre yard near Bristol with a big workshop and 70ft inspection pit. "I was brought up that a truck should be able to pass an MoT everyday," says Evans."We do everything ourselves. Nobody puts a finger on anything we own.
"Ken Williams (a Cummins expert from South Wales) came over to tune the Leylands and show us what to do. In our eyes there's only one engine a Cummins." Evans is a little vague about the Roadtrain's power output (probably a good bit more than the original 320hp) and what joy there's no speed limiter. The Interstater may be on a Dplate hut TLC isn't scrimped; oil and filters are changed every month.The cab's full of mod cons air con was a recent addition and Bedminster is "very fussy" about tyres: the old girl sports new Michelin 315/80s on equally new shiny alloys all round (they also buy new skeletal trailers).
-We've always bought old kit," says Evans. "This one cost £800 back in 2000-we put the high roof on from a wreck.We've a yard full of (Leyland) spares. I get in new lorries, they're nice, wonderful; but this is pretty robust, does the same job, earns the same money, doesn't break down so much because there's less electronics and is easier and cheaper to repair.
"A new lorry wouldn't benefit us.. there's no depreciation on the Leyland."
But enthusiastic as he clearly is for these time-served wagons,Evans is very much a hardnosed operator when it comes to the downside:"Fuel? I've come up from Plymouth with a 20ft box at 37 tonnes and got between 5-6mph.About 67mpg is the best." It's plated at 40 tonnes because of the steel springs, and one reason for the firm's contraction was the difficulty in recruiting anyone to drive such old wagons."
However, for Bedminster, the Roadtrain's pros outweigh its cons, even on tramping work. "I do three to four nights out a week, no trouble.I can stand up in the cab," says Evans."I intend keeping it going indefinitely."
By the way, regular readers might recall that this isn't Evans' first appearance in these pages. In 1987, aged 16, he was the youngest person ever to gain all four CPCs he went on to pass his PSV on his 18th birthday.
REDDEN
For the Redden family, based just off the A45 near Wellingborough, the decision to operate an old wagon is based on a mixture of enthusiasm for ERFs and sound economics.
The two Edwards, father and son, run a couple of farms, a small sack and bag supply business and a scrap yard. Redden junior must number among the most knowledgeable of ERF fans; more than a dozen examples of this classic marque lurk in barns and yards on the Redden properties.
Not only is Redden encyclopaedically informed about all things ER Foden he's also skilled at keeping the wheels turning in the company's own workshop.
Currently the main Redden workhorse is aJ-plate El 2 TX 375 with a Perkins Rolls Royce Eagle engine and the legendary Eaton Twinsplit constant-mesh gearbox; dreaded by many but not Redden junior, a man in his element who effortlessly cog-swaps without recourse to the clutch. The 2€ tonne skipper, with its Telehoist body, is powerful enough to allow up changes climbing hills loaded but still returns 9mpg serving the scrap business, plus a little more on waste disposal, usually working within a 60-mile radius of home.
"He never starts off without checking the oil and water," says Redden Snr proudly. "The truck (is) always garaged; never stood out."
Young Redden maintains the ERF from a seemingly limitless supply of cannibalised spares and clearly enjoys doing so. The immaculately presented old girl's depreciation has bottomed out; in a flourishing enthusiast market the residual value is arguably rising.
This makes the Reddens' loyalty to this old truck appear all the more justified. "I've never had a new lorry," the younger Redden reveals without a trace of disappointment. As long as he remains the elderly ERF's driver things are fine; however, should Redden ever need to employ someone, few drivers these days would accept such a basic level of trim, even if the burnished blue paint job does attract admiring crowds at truck shows.
WARRENS
The Warrens of Wortham, deep in rural East Anglia, have a simple policy when it comes to vehicle acquisition: they buy ' preelectronic' Scania 2 and 3 Series units cheaply, renovate them in-house, work the wagons to death then sell them abroad or break them for parts.
The 14-litre VS is their engine of choice, not least because the truck's vintage means it can run without a speed limiter.
Geoff Warren, his wife Margaret (who handles the admin in the best tradition of family haulage firms) and their son Danny run a fourunit fleet, split into 'winter' (workaday) and 'summer' (showpiece) trucks.
"They're paid for in cash, on the road for less than £1 0,000 and can easily be detaxed and stood up. I couldn't do that if I bought new trucks; I'd have to double shift them to make it pay.Th ere's less maintenance on these old ones," says Geoff. standing outside their large, well-equipped workshop. "I don't like computers, let alone ECUs."
Aside from some flat and low-loader work the firm concentrates on exporting old Scani as and plant, often turning up at Felixstowe with a load of 4 Series on a trailer hauled by a 2 Series.A line of vehicles awaiting a permanent foreign holiday is parked on their farm. "We grow Scanias," Geoff observes dryly-."hut Scania UK are not a lot of help to me.They forget this is what they started out doing, why they are so successful now.., because back then they... looked after the driver."
In their barn lurks an LHD T cab in the throes of Warrenisation' (raising the roof and adding a tag axle). Geoff says:"The 3 Series doesn't chip well so this will be remapped to 660hp.There won't he 4 Series about at the age of these old girls.
Danny's summer truck is a blue 142 VS 420 with an Eaton Twinsplit.He's painstakingly reworked the interior with boys' toys, including a Playstation, DVD. microwave, fridge and LCD monitor, hence his nickname: Danny Warren,'king of King'.
Geofis summer residence (in fact nights out are rare) is a 480hp 2 Series, which started life as a flat-top cab costing the princely sum of £2,500 in 1999. He prefers a 2 Series, believing after the 3 Series -Scanias went downhill-.