FODENt OLDEST EIGHT-WHEELER?
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• I thought you may be interested to hear about our Foden eight-wheeler, manufactured in 1965 and now into its 21st year of service. The lorry started life as a flatbed vehicle on March 2, 1966 and was used intensively to carry coils of steel from the ex-British Steel Corporation Port Talbot Works to the industrial West Midlands.
Then a 26-ton-gross vehicle, it managed just over 17 tons payload. After several years' faithful service we had the vehicle uprated and also converted into a tipper, now capable of 18 tonnes-plus carrying capacity.
To date, it has employed nine different drivers and is still going strong in regular daily service from a local quarry. It hauls stone and tarmac mainly to different parts of Worcestershire. The vehicle is featured in the book, Trucks In Britain, Volume One, by Colin Wright. I wondered, could it possibly be the oldest eight-wheeler in daily service? We are very pleased to say it is a Great British vehicle. How many foreign vehicles will still he running 20 years from now? Perhaps the message shoulc be, For Staying Power, Be,5. Buy British!
Jean Sharpies Eardisley, Hereford