Classic and Vintage Commercial Show at British Motor Museum Gaydon

The joy of classic car motoring is in driving, owning, maintaining and restoring a car that brings back great memories from your earlier years.

But what if your mum or dad was a truck driver? That heroic ‘knight of the road’ that would daily take 24 tons of sugar from the refinery in East London to the docks for export.

What a fantastic feeling to be a kid in the passenger seat watching in awe, as your dad manhandles the huge steering wheel (no power assistance) and deftly changed through 6 or 7 gears from the 18-speed gearbox, just to get the truck moving, with the awesome power of the Cummins engine, or Gardener 180 6LXB diesel, under the large floor-hinged, organ-stop accelerator pedal.

The next day at school you probably told your friends that you got up to 70mph when the reality was…. “a lot less”, but it didn’t matter.

The place to relive that joy was the Classic and Vintage Commercial show at Gaydon recently.

It seemed like the whole of the history of road haulage was there covering everything from the humble Thames “Anglia” van and everyday Bedford’s through to the ERF and Foden heavyweights.

Who could not be impressed by the fondly named “Mickey Mouse” Foden, (look at one and you will understand!), used in large numbers by fleets such as Hoveringham and Tate & Lyle.

The Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti famed for penning designs for Ferrari, Maserati, BMW and others designed a futuristic GRP cab for Scammell which was known as the ‘Trunker’ or the ‘Routeman’, according to spec, they benefitted from a GRP cab-reducing weight, thus increasing payload.

If this has whetted your appetite for a Commercial vehicle restoration, check if it will fit your garage and what your license lets you drive, as that may decide if you buy a Morris 1000 van or a Foden, or even a bus.