Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Classic Truck: From shunter to showpiece

Over the years Scania has become known as one of the leading companies in the commercial vehicle manufacturing industry, celebrating the building of its millionth vehicle in 2000. Today its modular product system allows every vehicle to be tailored to each individual customer’s requirements.

Program Scania was introduced by the company during 1980-81 and featured trucks in the 16-36 tonne gross weight range. The company’s modular product system involved the use of a limited number of main components such as engines, gearboxes, propeller shafts, final gears, axles and cabs. This system of building trucks offered customers an almost unlimited number of variants to meet their individual requirements while keeping down the cost of both product development and production. For the company, it was also a more cost effective way of managing parts.

Development and refinement continued on the modular method of building trucks and in 1988 Scania introduced its 3-Series range, which received the acclaimed ‘Truck of the Year’ award in 1989.

Not for sale

A fine example of Scania’s modular truck range is the 1989 R113M 320 which has been owned by Cyril McGuinness, haulage Contractor of Rush, Co Dublin for five years.

Although born into an agricultural family and having studied horticulture in Holland, Cyril says that he soon became disillusioned with farming and decided to follow a career in the road transport industry. In 1990, after two years of driving for another operator, he decided to buy his own truck, a 12-year-old Volvo F12.

Cyril says he has always had a tendency to rescue things to keep them going for a few more years and hearing of the Scania R113M, thought that this would be the perfect vehicle to add to his fleet.

Cyril explained: “The tractor unit had been stored locally in a shed for six years but when I approached the owner he said he would not sell it. I was told that it ‘couldn’t be bought’. Then a little later I learned that a friend of mine had purchased the truck thinking that it was a 143 powered by a big V8 engine.

“Once he found out that the power came from a vertical six-cylinder diesel unit he wasn’t so keen and asked me if I was still interested in it. Of course, I jumped at the chance.”

A little investigation work revealed that the tractor unit had been assembled on November 15, 1988 for delivery to the end user in the United Kingdom on February 10, 1989. The UK history is confirmed by the DVLA plate fixed to the side of the chassis. There is also an additional window behind the door glass on the passenger side which Cyril believes was part of the specification for the UK market, with tractor units destined for Ireland being fitted with a steel panel similar to that behind the driver’s door glass.

It is not known when the tractor was brought to the Republic of Ireland, but it had spent a number of years being used as a shunter to move refrigerated trailers containing fruit and vegetables around the premises of Dublin Meath Growers, Co Dublin before being sold on again.

“Fortunately the tractor unit was in quite good condition,” said Cyril, “although a small amount of damage had been sustained to the nearside front panel and door. Originally one 400 litre fuel tank was fitted on the right-hand side of the tractor unit but to improve the range I could travel I decided see if a second tank could be fitted.”

The original tank was removed and refitted on to the left-hand side of the chassis, where it just filled the gap behind the battery box and then the search was on for a 600 litre tank to complement this smaller tank. Cyril said he had investigated the possibility buying a new tank but found the cost was far too high. Fortunately he was able to locate a 600 litre tank similar to that used on the 4-Series vehicles.

“The tank I purchased was made of aluminium, although I believe the original tanks for the 4-Series would have been made from steel. Once it was painted up though it was very difficult to tell that it was actually aluminium.”

A full restoration of the Scania has been carried out to the highest standard, with great emphasis being placed on originality; fortunately any replacement parts required were readily available.

The colour of the paintwork also reflects the classic era of the 1980s. “I had seen this colour on an MAN F200 Roadhaus cab back around 1988 in Germany when I was just a driver, and decided if I ever had my own trucks that would be my colour scheme. When you see the paint on a sunny day it just dances, the shade is called ‘rot gold’, he explained. The truck was painted by Brendan Terney of Emyvale, Co Monaghan.

No-frills model

Having been familiar with driving the Scania R113 for a living, Cyril describes it as a ‘bread and butter truck’ with no frills. He says: “It did exactly what it said on the tin and was one of the most reliable vehicles on the road at the time. As far as I can remember, the only problems that did occur were with ball joints, gear linkages and the spring for the throttle linkage.

“The interior trim and seats of my unit are plastic but vehicles with a higher specification were upholstered in cloth and became known as the gaffer’s motor for obvious reasons. The 3-Series was introduced in January 1988 and was replaced by the 4-Series in October 1995, during its seven year production run this proved to be an extremely reliable range of vehicles, giving good service to both drivers and operators. Some of the later Scania models were changed to an eight-speed gearbox, which made them a little ‘gappy’ for the drivers, so the 10-speed transmission remained more popular.”

Cyril went on to say: “It would still be feasible to run my Scania today and make a good living with it. It is simple, there is very little of the modern computer technology found on today’s trucks. However, it has been restored to a very high level and I want to retain that quality. It would be so sad to use it and let it get shabby again.”

A restoration project looming in the wings at the moment is a 1992 Scania 320 with a low cab and Cyril says once it is completed this will complement his 1988 model perfectly.

With thanks to Scania UK for assistance with specifications etc.

Words: Gina Harvey  Photography: Peter D Simpson