Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Classic Truck - October 2011

This Leyland vehicle had been penned by Ogle Design, one of Britain’s most innovative design firms which had also come up with the Reliant Scimitar GTE sports touring car, Bond Bug three-wheeler, Raleigh Chopper push bike and even Luke Skywalker’s ‘Landspeeder’ from the Star Wars film. With such a list of unconventional designs under the company’s belt it was hardly surprising therefore that the Roadtrain would also be ‘different’.

It had a very futuristic design for the period and I remember the mountains of praise being heaped on it from the transport press for its economy etc. One thing I also recall being said was that it was the first heavy lorry that didn’t look aggressive. I suppose if you look at its competitors such as the Volvo F10 and even its predecessor, the Leyland Marathon, you can see where they were coming from.

As well as being a mould breaking design it also had another claim to fame, if I remember correctly, as it was the first heavy goods vehicle ever to be advertised on British television. Leyland had really high hopes for this lorry and this can be confirmed by looking at the first brochure it released which was more like the sort of thing you’d look at when buying a new Jaguar.

On the whole the T45 range did fairly well but, like so many other British vehicles of the period, it could have done far better with more investment and development time.

By the way, Ogle still exists to this day, designing all manner of items for companies all over the world – proving yet again that although we seem to be able to come up with superb new ideas and designs here in Britain, we usually just can’t seem to translate them into good products.

I’ll end now with a magazine announcement. Due to a bit of a rethink, including the ever increasing cost of newsprint etc, this will be the last Classic Truck for a while as it is now going quarterly.

This means that the next one will be within the January issue of HC – which due to the unique way the magazine trade numbers its issues will be on the shelves in December.

We hope this is just a temporary change... but at least you’ll get an extra bit to read over Christmas!
 

Contents

Calendar Girl

When William Armstrong won a competition to have one of his company vehicles featured in a Rose of Colchester calendar, he had no problem in deciding which one to choose. Bob Tuck travels to the Armstrong HQ at Longtown to discover the story of HHH 413V – the Old One Eleven – the classic which is also known as ‘William’s Wagon.’

Magnum Force

Despite its striking design, the Renault Magnum is quite a rare vehicle in the classic commercial world. However, Roger Hamlin managed to track one down and paid the owner a visit.

Centrespread

This month we feature Billy Bowie’s Leyland Marathon skip wagon courtesy of ace photographer Gyles Carpenter.

Cherry picked ERFs

Showman Colin Barnes has long used classic commercials in his business. Alan Barnes paid him a visit to see his latest.

Recollections of Stonefield’s 4x4

Following on from his Volvo C202 feature in the July 2011 issue, Norman Chapman talks about another highly respected but ill-fated cross country vehicle with a Volvo connection.