Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

A really big little Foden

So far I have spoken about Barry and Colin’s American Marmon truck and the ERF ECT which was the last ERF ever to roll off the assembly line. Now I would like to tell you about something a little older in the Dancer family line-up.

It comes in the form of a beautifully restored 1967 Foden S21 Chinese 6 tractor unit. Although this little gem didn’t quite start out as you see it today, it did in fact used to be a very different load-lugger.

When it was first purchased back in 1967, it was bought by a company called Flowers Transport; its main depot was based in York. When I dug a little deeper, my research brought up that Flowers also owned a warehouse in Byker, Newcastle, as well as owning Ridings Transport, Newark Haulage, John Harling Transport, E Wheelrights Haulage, Brogden Brothers Haulage, Cliff Lowes Transport and Stainland Storage, all of which appear to have been Yorkshire based. 

At this very early time in its life the Foden had an 8x4 wheel configuration coupled with a Gardener 150hp engine and Foden 12-speed gearbox. The body was supplied in the form of a tipping bulker.

Here it worked day after day without ever really having so much as a hiccough, proving that Foden lorries were tough workhorses with excellent build quality and stamina. 

Around 11 or 12 years later, and with a fair few miles on the clock, the lorry was sold on to a showman down in Watford who wanted to use it for fairground work. To do this he had to have the rear body removed and then replaced with a framework style set-up so that it could carry a bumper-car amusement stand from town to town.

For some reason, and I was unable to find out why, this was only to be for a few short years as the lorry was parked up and more or less left abandoned sometime around 1979/80. Here it was to remain sat outside in all weathers without even so much as a cover – that was until Barry took possession of it in 1992.

Unfortunately he had nowhere to put it so he asked a friend if it would be OK to park it up at his farm until he could find somewhere more permanent to keep it.

Barry’s friend was more than happy to help out and after a couple of years the lorry was moved once more but this time down to where Barry now has his own yard, which meant work was finally able to get started on renovating the S21 back to its former glory.

However, when Barry got down to business it soon became apparent that as the lorry had been through quite a hard life and then been standing for such a long period of time that this was not going to be a straightforward task. On removing the cab he found that all the wooden framework holding it together was totally rotten and was going to have to be carefully removed to prevent too much damage to the glass fibre panel work that makes up the cab on a Foden.

Framework

Over a period of time though new timbers were shaped and put together to form a new framework. The cab was then reformed and rebonded to fit and any remedial panel work was then taken care of such as any cracks or collision damage etc. The mechanical side of the Foden was next to go under the microscope and first in line was the chassis. The rails were in quite a good condition and just needed the usual shotblasting; however most of the cross members were not so good and so each one in turn had to be replaced with new metal.

At the same time the rear axles were checked over and it was found that one of them was worn out and totally beyond repair. Unsure which direction to take at this point Barry made the decision to convert the lorry by cutting down the chassis and thus the length by some 14 feet with the idea of changing the Foden into a twin-steer tractor unit. After much measuring, cutting, measuring again and lots of welding and more measuring, the transformation was complete and started to look really good.

The engine was stripped down and found to be in remarkably good fettle. The only bits really needing any attention were the rings and big ends. Apart from that not much else needed to be done.

The only other cause for concern was the fuel pump which was soon taken care of by Fred, a close family friend, who completely stripped and reconditioned the ageing unit. When it came to the gearbox, again it wasn’t in bad nick and all it really needed was to be drained, given a good flushing out, a couple of seals replacing and then refilling with new fluid. After painting, the engine and all the running gear were fitted back into place and the now complete rolling chassis given a test drive around the yard to check for any potential problems.

Once everything checked out okay it was time to have the wheels shotblasted, repainted and then treated to a nice new set of tyres and then duly bolted back onto their axles.

By now the cab was ready to be refitted onto the lorry and after a little cussing and persuasion it settled neatly into position.

Glass

As luck would have it none of the glass needed to be replaced as it had all remained intact when the cab was stripped down. It did however need new screen seals and weather strips for the doors. All of the electrics needed to be replaced along with the usual bits and bobs required when all the coloured spaghetti gets this age. The cab was then sprayed in the Dancer Haulage company green with black chassis. The now ‘little’ Foden was once again taken out for a spin and shake down just to check for any squeaks and rattles.

Barry, while out on his travels, had managed to find a suitable fifth wheel for the Foden which was neatly bolted into place making the little lorry look as if it had always been a tractor unit straight out of the factory.

By now seven years had passed since the lorry had been purchased and in early 1999 Barry took the Foden to the local testing centre where of course it passed the MoT without issue.

In 2007 a chap called Rob Andrews who was an old colleague of Barry’s sadly passed away. He had worked for many years as a fitter for A Saunders of Harpenden and had started his career at a time when steam powered vehicles were still the norm. As a personal tribute from Barry he offered to use the Foden as the main funeral vehicle carrying Rob to his final resting place. He also had the Foden signwritten with Rob’s former employer’s name A Saunders & Son Harpenden. For the next couple of years the little lorry was driven around and put on display at various shows around the country and gained a lot of attention and respect from onlookers but Barry was a little concerned with the handling and the very hard and bouncy ride delivered by the short wheelbase six-wheel set-up.

To sort this out he decided that the way to take care of this irritating problem would be to increase the weight on the rear of the lorry. This was done by fixing a circa 1951 Mk1 Foden 150bhp two-stroke engine complete with 105kva generator onto the rear. This was bought from a chap in Lincolnshire who had been using it for welding, and he was selling it as he had been told by the local authorities that it was too noisy to use in the built-up area where he had his workshop.This really worked a treat and now things are just how Barry intended them to be. When I asked him if he intended to renovate any more lorries he just smiled at me and said “watch this space Mucker and see what happens.”

So look out for this trio of haulage history metal around the shows this year as Barry and Colin will be more than happy to tell you all about their three little gems.