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Trying the long and the short and the tall
Page 66
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Page 74
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CM's technical staff try the models in Earls Court's demonstration park and find Gardner's new 8LXB and Scania's V8 very smooth and quiet
1—by Tony Wilding
• Although the glitter of the vehicles inside Earls Court attracts the crowds, it is the demonstration park that enables one really to come to grips with some of the new models and to assess how performance is likely to measure up to promise.
The five vehicles I selected from the park ranged from the smallest to one of the biggest new vehicles introduced at Earls Court. First was the Morrison-Electricar Al battery-electric van, then two versions of the Leyland Redline Terrier, followed by the Foden 38-ton twin-steer with new Gardner 8LXB diesel and finally one of the new ERF A Series—the 36-ton two-axle tractive unit with 230 bhp Cummins diesel.
It is surprising that battery-electric vehicles have until now been restricted largely to milk delivery and similar duty. There must be considerable scope for the Morrison-Electricar A I and for light delivery work in built-up areas this 5cwt model must be a real proposition. It is remarkably manoeuvrable: I completed a turn between walls just over 30ft apart, with room to spare. The Al also has a very lively performance. After starting off with the "economy" setting (automatically engaged when speed is below about 10 mph). momentarily releasing the accelerator and pressing a button on the dash allowed maximum speed to be reached quickly; alternative motors give maximum speeds of 27, 30 and 33 mph. There was rather a lot of free travel in the accelerator pedal before drive commenced but it was possible to control the speed to fine limits and creep along at 10 mph or so if desired. A useful piece of equipment on the Al is a "mileage recorder" which shows "35" when the batteries are fully charged and reduces according to battery usage to indicate how much more work can be done before a recharge is necessary.
Next I tried the Terrier 650 and 850 trucks, loaded to their maximum weights of 6.5 and 8.5 tons respectively. They both performed very well although noise levels, especially in the 650, were rather higher than expected for goods vehicles in this class. Neither vehicle had much mileage on the clock which was probably the reason why the engines idled badly—the trucks were as standard, with the four-cylinder 70 bhp diesel in the 650 and the 92 bhp six-cylinder diesel in the 850.
Both vehicles also had rather stiff gearchanges and a point which needs attention is that the lever is set too high and the knob gets in the way of the left arm when holding the steering wheel normally. Suspension and general handling characteristics were very good in both cases except that the steering was rather heavy on low-speed manoeuvring and care had to be taken when applying the brakes to ensure smooth stops. The new Clayton Dewandre "power hydraulic" braking system is a feature of the Terrier design and it was interesting to get first-hand experience of how this worked. Retardations were excellent but the character would be improved if the brakes were less "sharp". Having the same design of cab, the general "feel" of the Terrier except in braking performance was similar to that of the Laird and Boxer produced by the same manufacturer.
One of the most striking things about the Foden twin-steer tractive unit was the absolute smoothness of the new eight-cylinder Gardner engine. Running at a gross weight of only 25 tons did not tax the 240 bhp engine in the slightest and for all the difference that the weight on the semi-trailer made it could have been an unladen artic. This vehicle also had very few miles on the clock but even so it handled well. The power-assisted steering was excellent, being light and positive, but I had a little difficulty in my heavily-trafficked short drive in getting the best out of the Foden 12-speed gearbox. But Fodens' driver showed just how easily gears could be changed.
Noise level from the Gardner was very low thanks to the improved insulation in the Foden full-width all-steel cab. The unit is quite spacious and visibility through the forward-sloping screens is good. Suspension on the twin-steer was excellent. There was only a little movement from the front end and even this was prevented from reaching the driver's seat by the suspension mounting at the rear of the cab. The interior trim changes introduced for the Foden cab bring the unit up to the highest standards now available.
Suspension on the ERF four-wheeler has been well designed. There is a soft ride, although on very bad surfaces there seems to be some front-end bounce. It must be remembered, though, that this was a prototype machine and modification of the damper setting at the front axle could well produce well nigh perfect characteristics. There was ample power from the Cummins 230 bhp diesel for the 32 tons gross weight of the demonstrator and the well-spaced ratios in the Fuller Roadranger nine-speed gearbox helped make the ERF a very easy vehicle to drive.
Once again I found the Roadranger box delightful to operate and an advantage in quickly getting used to driving a vehicle when first taking over the wheel. The revised interior trim in the ERF Cab brings this unit, too, to a high standard and the improved insulation makes noise level inside relatively low. It would be difficult to find fault with the layout of controls and switches and the steering was light even though power-assistance is not fitted. The braking characteristics proved excellent.
I sampled four vehicles in the park, three of these being fully automatic-transmission buses, the other -the recently introduced Scania 140S 6 x 4 load carrier.
The three buses were the Daimler Fleetline single-decker with the Gardner 6LX set to produce 140 bhp at 1850 rpm.
2—by Ron Cater
the Leyland Atlantean double-decker with the Leyland 0.680 derated to produce 153 bhp at 1750 rpm and the newly introduced Metro-Scania single-deck city bus, powered by the Scania D11 II litre diesel producing 190 bhp at 2200 rpm. The Daimler was fitted with the Daimatic electro-pneumatic automatic gearbox, the Leyland with the Leyland SCG electro pneumatic box and the Metro-Scania with the Scania two-stage torque converter. All three were in city-bus trim and on the three vehicles the bodywork was rattle-free despite each one having seen service with bus companies up and down the country. The Daimler had in fact almost 50,000 miles on its clock and still ran as sweetly as new. Its progress was unobtrusively fast and belied the feeling given the driver of its being a little sluggish. Gear changing on this vehicle can be either fully automatic or the driver can hold the box in any chosen ratio. Because of the very heavy traffic conditions around the Earls Court area I was happy to let the vehicle do the work, and the Daimatic performed very well.
1 found, however, that one needed a bit of practice before it was possible to drive the machine really smoothly. Despite having steering devoid of power-assistance the vehicle was extremely light to pull around the congested London streets. It was handy in close quarters and nicely fitted out, with very good quality mirrors. Only the layout of the lighting switches, the lack of a useful sun visor and the ridiculous placing of the offside screen-wiper controls (which one has to stand up at the wheel to reach) spoiled this very workmanlike vehicle. Despite the mileage the seats were still unsquashed and comfortable.
When I changed to the Atlantean I found this to be the actual vehicle I had tested two years ago, now with some 23,000 miles on the clock (which was perhaps not the original). This vehicle still ran as sweetly as I remembered it and was extremely nippy in and out of the traffic. The SGC gearbox was very good but I had no difficulty whatever in telling exactly where the changes occurred. Like the Fleetline, the steering on this vehicle was beyond reproach and despite its being hydraulically assisted it was accurate and not the slightest bit tender.
Visibility on the Atlantean is excellent and the mirrors fitted were again first class and well positioned. Only the siting of the entrance door control pedal spoiled the driver comfort, this unit being exactly in the same position as when I last drove it—and still in the way. Whereas the Daimler was fitted with an air-assisted handbrake, the lever for which I found clumsy and rather too much of a handful, the Atlantean featured spring brakes—an option on the Fleetline—which were much more pleasant to use.
On both these vehicles there was a degree of creep which needed a slight application of brake to correct. This is of course quite an asset when moving off on a gradient and can easily be controlled once the driver is used to it.
The third bus was new to me. and prior to taking it on the short run around Hammersmith I had only seen it on the stand inside the show. The Metro-Scania is produced by Metro Cammell Weymann and uses Scania running units. Its 190 bhp is passed through a two-stage torqueconvertor which in its hydraulic stage multiplies the engine torque by 4.7 and in its mechanical stage has a ratio of 1.046 to 1, a slight overdrive.
Being a convertor there is no actual changing of ratios in the transmission and therefore the progress of the vehicle is utterly smooth. It rather gives the impression that one gets when driving an electric vehicle. Acceleration is constant, while the engine speed changes little in the early stages; it is only after reaching 18 to 20 mph that the engine speed rises above its full, torque speed of 1200 rpm, when its output is 571 lb ft.
The suspension on this vehicle, which is of frameless integral design, is full air. The axles are located by three torque rods and one panhard rod on each axle. The ride can only be appreciated by sampling it and, when I drove it, the suspension ironed out the western end of Lillie Road, Hammersmith, to such an extent that others in the bus would not believe just how rough that section is. So far as handling goes I found the Metro-Scania almost perfect. The ZF power steering is feather light and dead accurate but tends to lose its castor returning action when full lock is put on, an action I took when re-entering Earls Court after my run, and which gave me just one anxious moment.
I found the layout of the Scania controls extremely simple; there is only a switch for the transmission, with forward, neutral and reverse positions. All the driver has to do is to select which way he wants to go, close the doors—a relay in their mechanism automatically selects neutral when they are open—press down the throttle and off he goes. Nothing could be simpler or smoother. The rattle-free tautness of the body was spoiled by the echelon-type doors which I thought extremely rough and unnecessarily rapid in operation, while I thought the mirrors fitted were poor.
The Scania 140S was not coupled to its drawbar trailer and was unladen; nevertheless the four or five miles which I drove it pointed very clearly to the exciting experience I shall have when completing a full Commercial Motor road test and operational trial on the outfit.
This 350 bhp V8-engined vehicle must be one of the most powerful general haulage vehicles ever introduced to the UK, and is certainly the highest powered vehicle I have handled in my 20-odd years behind the wheel. Apart from the obvious difficulty of driving a strange left-hand-drive vehicle in London, the Scania gave me no problems. Its performance unladen is quite startling—it seems to take off from a standstill like the proverbial scalded cat, but always with the dignified quietness that we have learned to expect from the marque. Once in top gear its empty performance resembles that of a good class car and one has no need whatever to change gear even if the speed is allowed to fall to single figures. The comfort for the driver is all that could be expected—but he must not look down when climbing into the cab if he is scared of heights! On the demo vehicle there were some maladjustments on the gear selection mechanism which caused a little difficulty in engaging 3rd and 4th gears, and I'm hoping that this will be rectified before we set off on the operational trial.