mushspeed Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 The West Midlands trucking show went ahead last weekend amid fears of a 2nd nationwide lockdown With several local areas and cities already imposing severe restrictions.....the truck entries were a quarter of what they usually are The public attendance was also severely reduced ....but the visitors that did turn up were treated to a very high standard of vehicles on display and beautiful autumn sunshine Enjoy the pictures A 5 axle Volvo Rotator supplied and built for N.S. Clarke Transport and Recovery by Boniface Engineering / Miller industries The business end 3 on the right all Boniface Recoverer equipment Maxireach underlifts .....note the reflectivity on the rearward facing panels A 4 axle 520 hp Scania Rotator fitted with NRC equipment installed by the Roger Dyson group Egertons Recovery .....is one of UK's oldest established company and one of the largest operators in the country ... A new 3 axle DAF fitted with Boniface Recoverer equipment from the Egertons Recovery fleet A Mercedes 3 axle heavy duty truck by A J Autos of Bristol they brought 5 vehicles to the show ...all different sizes very well presented Aimee Jones and baby son Oliver daughter and grandson of industry legend and dear friend Roy Jones RIP Partner and son to Chris Phelps owner of Lanes Recovery of Wales ....future 3 rd generation ? A very well presented F 450 fitted with Miller Equipment from ASK Recovery South Wales A rollback transporter from Towrite Recovery of Bristol carrying a very heavy load ...good job DOT did not spot that lol ... Note the rearward facing reflectivity covering almost the whole of the cab A very good attempt to minimise the risk of being hit whilst working at the roadside ...the company is a dedicated supporter of the UK " Slow Down Move Over " campaign ... A pair of very light duty transporters from A J Autos .... they have a payload of about 1 ton and can be driven without a cdl licence .. Two Roll backs from A J Autos .... I caught a shot of my dear friend, colleague and industry legend Nick Ovenden .... Not a tow truck but a very interesting multi purpose vehicle ideal for all sorts of different applications A side view gives a better idea of the uses it can be put to ...the centre mounted crane suitable for machinery removals, recovery lifting , building materials ...etc The platform payload of 20 tons the trailer payload of 15 tons ...nice unit. A immaculately restored historic ERF rigid lorry from the same company Another immaculately restored Commer rigid truck ....interestingly it is fitted with a very rare horizontally opposed flat 6 cylinder 2 stroke diesel engine manufactured by Rootes In the late 60s they were very high revving and noisy and were not very reliable ...production ceased within 2 years in preference for more conventional engines A couple more historic vehicles immaculately restored by original operators RT Keedwell left ...Volvo F 88 right Volvo F 86 Another immaculately restored and still operational Volvo F 10 I had to add this one ...a fabulous paint job on this very latest 750 hp Volvo A Scania T Cab 460 hp the 3rd axle tags if not in use or lightly loaded Note the back ground view of a lot of the pictures ....the show ground was only 25 % occupied and very few spectators Difficult times ... we will not be attending any more events until the virus is brought under control Meanwhile stay safe and well 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian991219 Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 Beautiful trucks, thank you for sharing. Glad to see the event went off and everyone was keeping a respectable distance. The Ford F-450 looks to be left hand drive. I imagine it can be confusing with a mix of left and right hand drive vehicles. I have only drive a few right hand drive units in my life and only for short distances or just to load onto a transporter. Couldn't imagine swapping between both types on a regular basis let alone swapping the side of the road because you crossed a boundary line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubborn66 Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 great looking trucks, especially the old ones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushspeed Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 Brian... Thanks for your comments...despite the distinct lack of entries and spectators...the whole event was very enjoyable... and to top it off ... I won the class for best American Showtruck... with our Peterbilt 379.... well pleased !! As regards the left and right hand drive vehicles ....because Mainland Europe is all drive on the right and the UK is drive on the left ...we do come across LHD vehicles quite often... so like anything.. we adapt quite quickly... We do find however, that visitors to the UK from Europe do regularly have a lapse of concentration and they forget what side of the road and many accidents do occur...especially near coastal ferry ports and International air ports We had depot adjacent to the cross channel RO.. RO ferry terminal in Poole and we were towing stuff in daily ... in fact.... there are a couple of very high profile international cases going on right now... As a Recovery operator, we ran several heavy duty Tow Trucks that were LHD ....and from a safety point of view it was excellent .... When you were working on a very busy highway the driver was getting in and out of the cab on the Kerb side .... thus removing the risk of getting hit by passing traffic as they opened the door ... like everything... it has its downside .....passengers were subject to the risk of being hit when getting in and out ...and from a driving point of view...you always have be aware of the potential blind spots.... There are many arguments for and against...but I guess its all down to personal preference... meanwhile....stay safe and keep well... John. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rreschran Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Thanks John ... you put alot of time into sharing your visual presentation. I remember when Jim Blakely from Allied Garden's towing built the first Eka wrecker here in southern California. It now sits rotting away in a tow company's mothball fleet. Hope you and Aieleen are in good health as well as the rest of your family. Best Regards. R. 1 Quote Randall C. Resch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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