Still Grounded
Page 62
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BRITISI-I manufacturers are allowing America and Germany to steal a march" on them in the matter of air suspension. R. A. Dyson and Co., Ltd., have applied it to semi-trailers, but there is as yet no sign of an airborne prime mover in Britain. European honours for this innovation go to Mercedes-Benz.
A coach operator who is extremely anxious. to adopt air suspension has been told by his usual vehicle supplier that there is no hope of a design being produced within 18 months. Meanwhile, tanker operators join the chorus of demand, complaining bitterly of leaks in tank bodies caused by harsh suspension when travelling empty.
If there are no vehicles with air suspension at next year's Commercial Motor Show, some of the customers will demand to know why.
Frustrated
FOR years industry and transport operators clamoured for a 30 m.p.h. speed limit for heavy goods vehicles. Then the present Minister of Transport showed his courage by granting itFour months later, the biggest individual roaeLhaulage undertaking in the country, after having made an extremely generous offer to employees, is still unable to take advantage of the law= I know the practical problems of giving everyone a fair deal are complicated, bat I wonder what foreigners think.
Maori for Grace
N4Y paragraph (April 26) on the practice of the Wincanton Transport and Engineering Co., Ltd., of naming their vehicles after nursery characters has intrigued Mr. C. W. Harper, managing director of Otago Road Services, Ltd., Dunedin, New Zealand. His buses all bear Maori names on the cant-rails and, he says, "we shall have no difficulty in finding names for new vehicles. The language of our Maori race is a vast affair and of such beauty that the storehouse of names for ships, aeroplanes, buses or anything else is inexhaustible."
The titles used 'are Koremata (a steep cliff-face), Manunui (a large bird), Huiroa (a crowd), Aotea (the name of• one of the seven canoes in the Maori migration to New Zealand in 1350), Karakia (prayer), Kaitoa (brave warrior), Titoki (New Zealand ash tree) and Kowhai (the New Zealand floral emblem). These names have charm, but they would look out of place on vehicles in Britain.
One Man's Meat
I HEAR that there is trouble between the long-distance
committee and the clearing-house members of the Road Haulage Association, Those involved are pledged to secrecy.
Disagreement has been caused by the proposals of the long-distance operators to extend interworking, which would, of course, reduce the need for clearing houses. It is complained that the long-distance hauliers have rescinded certain earlier decisions, which would, presumably, have safeguarded the interests of clearing-house members.
Not Again !
ikiFy reminder (July 26) of the danger of flying stones has Mbeen followed by a letter from a Norfolk reader whose windscreen was shattered twice in a 241-mile round trip from Swaffham to Enfield in an Austin A40 pick-up. On both occasions vision was completely obscured, but the driver was able to pull up without mishap and knock a hole in the windscreen. Apart from being a trifle unnerving, it was an expensive trip.
Business With Pleasure
mow in the United States for the Walker Cup competition, 11 Mr. Michael Bonallack, golfing exponent and member of the old-established bodybuilding company of that, name, is not wasting his time professionally. 1 understand that one of his visits will be to a manufacturer of plastics bodywork and tankers.