Bird's Eye View
Page 62
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IN last week's report on the growth of the U.K. economy I to 1966, the National Economic Development Council quoted as one of its " guinea-pigs " the motor manufacturing industry. Because at the time the report was being prepared everyone was assuming British entry into the Common Market, many of the tables in the Council's report reflect (in this post-Brussels era) what might have been.
It was estimated, for instance, that commercial vehicle production—at present at a lower level than two years ago —would. rise by 12 per cent to 510,000 in 1966 (compared with 1961) with exports amounting to 210,000 annually. Home sales were expected to increase by 27 per cent to 310,000. of which 'only 10,000 would be imported. In other words, British Jnanufacturers weren't worried about the Germans, French and .Italians making a big -dent in the home market and expected booming home demand for lorries as will as fat export orders.
As it iS, 1962 production dropped to 425,000 (compared with 460,000 in 1961) and exports sagged to. 148,000 from the 1961 record of 167,000. What, I wonder, will 1963 bring?
Milky Way
SRIFTING loads are a problem facing drivers in all conditions and in many countries. One such happening has recently been reported from Illinois. A milk lorry driver stopped suddenly and found two big tanks sliding forward into the cab of the vehicle. The tanks burst and washed the driver off his seat and out of the door on a cream topped crest of hundreds of gallons of milk. One case of not crying over spilt milk?
A Record for Thefts?
AT the T.R.T.A.'s Birmingham area A.G.M. last week, sat next to Mr. S. A. Wood, transport manager of McKechnie Bros., Ltd., of Aldridge, Staffs, who runs a fleet of 27 vehicles for the delivery of valuable loads of non-ferrous metals and he told me that over a comparatively short period, six of his vehicles had been stolen in the London area. In one case the driver had disconnected the battery and the fuel pipe line, and in another the thieves had broken open two gates to get at the vehicle. A third lorry had been fitted with an alarm system that set off a loud buzzer when the ignition was switched on, but the vehicle " went " just the same. The lorry was parked near the driver's home, and when the driver and his
1136 wife heard the noise they wondered what it could be without coming to the right conclusion.
Detailed plans for the quick transfer of the load to another vehicle, or to premises, must have been made by the thieves in every instance, as the empty lorry was invariably found abandoned within a few miles of the parking point. One lorry had been stolen twice and one wonders if it was the same thief. If this is a record I hope that no one will improve Upon it
Why. So Long?
ISHOULD imagine that designers of rigid eight-wheelers must have been .doing some head-scratching, not to mention muttering under their .breath, since the Ministry of Transport's proposal to allow such vehicles a gross weight of 28 tons only if the distance between foremost and rearmost axles -is 26 ft. or more.
Why this dimension was made so long is hard to understand. Accepting the idea of avoiding heavy stress concentration on road surface .or bridges, at any rate for the purposes of argument, one Might have expected ,a length in the ratio of 28 : 24, (i.e., proportional to the gross weight) of that of existing eight-wheelers. This would have produced a figure of about 22 ft. 9 in., or a minimum wheelbase of say 20 ft. 6 in. Turning-circle problems would still undoubtedly arise, but modern easy-access cabs could then be employed.
Most manufacturers' current . eight-wheelers were designed for uprating to 28 tons gross with little or no modification. I find it hard to imagine that they 'will find it economic to build the very different animal now proposed (which will require a completely non-standard layout) at a sufficiently attractive price.