The UK's second lockdown looms ...the West Midlands trucking show goes ahead ...just !!

[mushspeed]

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 

[brian991219]

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.

[Stubborn66]

great looking trucks, especially the old ones

[mushspeed]

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.       

[rreschran]

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.