Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Classic Truck: Sweet Sixteen

It immediately knocked our senses into overdrive because F16 HGV sounded fantastic; it felt superb to drive; it smelt almost like a new truck and – hooked up to Geoff Newsome’s tri-axle Magyar tanker – it looked absolutely stunning in the Cheshire sunshine. So no wonder we couldn’t disagree with Gary Harvey’s thoughts on its impending status: “I know a lot of people rave about the Volvo F88 as being the best when classic trucks are being discussed,” he said. “But I reckon the F16 is about to grab that mantle for itself. You just watch the classic scene and see how things develop. I reckon it will soon be the must-have motor.”

You’d probably expect 46-year-old Gary to say something like that because in May ’10 he finally put his F16 back onto the road after he – and Steve Passoni – had completed what turned out to be a meticulous painstaking restoration. At first glance, you might think it’s got a fair bit of bling on it, but Gary assures us that everything on his truck could have been fitted on the Volvo production line. “We have chromed – or had bright polished – certain parts, but I haven’t added things like light bars,” he says. “All the extras fitted could have been requested when the truck was built new at the Volvo factory in Gothenburg.”

Gary’s air-suspended 4x2 unit dates from 1990 although the F16 was first launched in 1987 as Volvo’s premier flagship when at the time, it was one of the most powerful trucks on the market. Back then, Gary was still learning his truck-driving craft and little did he imagine that 23 years later, he’d take the preservation scene by storm with the unveiling of his own mighty classic Swede.

Nantwich born & bred

Even at an early age, Gary recalls he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. His parents – Ron and June – had a fleet of three tippers and also ran a taxi business in their home town of Nantwich. Gary has strong memories of the small TK Bedford and Thames Trader four-wheelers which carried things like rock salt and waste: “I always used to tell my dad that I wanted my own lorry as soon as I was old enough. And although I went to a bakery when I left school, I was only killing time until the day I reached 21 and I could drive an HGV.”

1 May 1985 saw Gary take his test in an Atkinson Borderer and the next few years saw him building up experience with the two different local concerns of JRY Transport and Combined Road Services. Within five years, Gary took the step into owner driving and 20 years later he’s still on his own – but still with just one truck: “I’ve seen the pitfalls of other people expanding so thought it better just to stay with the one.”

Gary’s first motor was a ‘C’ Series ERF L10-290: “It cost me £3100 to tax it for its first 12 months,” he says, “which was actually more than I paid for the truck.”

Gary’s a great believer in watching his business’ operational costs and although his heart always longed for the day when he’d buy a Volvo F16, his head always told him it would be crazy to buy such a tractor unit. “I knew that when compared to say an F10, the 16 was always a bit too heavy with unladen weight and also heavy on fuel consumption. And I was always worried that if it ever broke down, it might be expensive to repair.”

Five years back, Gary did buy himself a new FH Volvo on an 05 plate – as a working truck – but his hankering after restoring a classic motor took him to the Bromsgrove yard of Waldrons Transport: “I heard they were selling off an old F12 but when we went into their yard, there was an F16 in the corner which caught my eye.” Accompanying Gary on this visit was his younger brother Stephen, who ran a 7.5-tonner on light haulage and also operated a clearing house. “Once I’d seen the F16, I wasn’t interested at all in the F12,” recalls Gary, “but I was told that someone had left a deposit on it – so it wasn’t for sale to anyone else.”

However, it was a chance phone call back to Waldrons about 12 months later in 2007 that prompted far better news: “They told me that the guy hadn’t come back for the 16 so if I still wanted it, then I could have it for the agreed price – so of course, I was down there like a flash.”

Steve – Can you help

Gary’s Volvo started life with Peter Roffe of Leighton Buzzard and was apparently operated on continental work pulling a fridge trailer. About 1993, it was sold on to Waldrons of Bromsgrove who used it on their specialist forklift transport fleet when it was registered G777 UBW.

Brian Waldron has fond memories of the three Volvo F16s they ran: “They were superb – the last of the decent Volvos,” he says. “They were all good workhorses and ideal for our type of low-loader work.” Brian says he drove 777 for a time, although Eddie Smith was its regular driver: “He loved it. The truck went all over and I’m sure it went across the water to France and Germany. Volvo uprated them to 500bhp so they were right on top of the job and I’m sure we didn’t touch that engine in all the time we had it. We did have to uprate the rear suspension tie bars to combat their power.”

For about 12 months prior to Gary buying it, the unit had only been used as the yard shunter. At first glance it didn’t seem in too bad a condition: “It was driveable,” said Gary, “but once I got it back and had a good look at it, I realised it was going to require a lot of work, as tin worm had badly affected parts of the cab.”

Those involved in restorations will know that you soon decide what sort of job you are going to do on a vehicle. Gary was to decide that the F16 merited the best attention possible; and while he had already done a fair bit to it, he decided to ask Steve Passoni if he could tackle the exacting repairs to the Volvo’s roof.

Based on the Woodford Park Industrial Estate at Winsford, Steve is also an owner-driver. But the recession hitting the tipper world meant his regular job was put on hold, so he had the time available to work on the F16’s cab roof. “I suppose the roof repairs took us three months,” says Steve. “I built some scaffolding up – so that it was safe to work on – but I recall that on one seam alone, there were 180 spot welds to do.”

Steve wasn’t working full time on the restoration as he still had the occasional tipper work, plus days when he’d be driving for other people. But one major bonus to the restoration was how most of the parts were still available through the Volvo main dealer network. “We must mention the team of guys who work at the Hartshorne dealership in Stoke-on-Trent,” says Steve, “as nothing seemed too much trouble for them.”

It helped Steve’s cause that he could refer to a Volvo parts manual when he was after certain bits and Hartshorne were first able to come up with the relevant steel panels for the Globetrotter roof: “I’m sure we got some of the last ones which existed,” says Gary.

Once Steve had made such a good job of the roof, Gary asked him if he could continue working on the F16’s restoration. And with the recession still hitting his own tipper work, it was easy for Steve to decide to see the project through.

Behind the wheel

Gary plans to restore a suitable semi-trailer for his F16 but he was to take the finished tractor unit to the Gaydon Classic Truck Show in mid June, just driving solo. However, when ‘Classic Truck’ came to call, Gary was able to borrow the use of a superb tri-axle tanker from Geoff Newsome of Nantwich. However, before we asked to see this pair together, we took the time to wallow in the sight of the finished F16.

Rob Stevenson of Stoke-on-Trent did the signwriting while Steve Passoni did the paintwork of Mid Brunswick Green and Post Office Red. Steve is one very versatile guy because his attention to detail is simply the best – even down to getting the correct shade of colour to repaint the 16.12-litre engine.

At first, we couldn’t understand why there was a small drawbar pin on the rear crossmember of the Volvo, but Steve pointed out the displayed Volvo part number to show it was a standard fit. And Gary confirmed seeing this type of pin fitted on some F12s in the past – if there was a need to haul something through a drawbar.

The finishing touch is, of course, the personalised registration number of F16 HGV. Gary has his wife-to-be Andrea to thank for spotting this on the internet: “The DVLA had just released some ‘F’ registrations and Andrea saw this one. I think we were very lucky to get it before anyone else.”

We were keen to get behind the Volvo’s steering wheel; but this is a vehicle to be savoured and enjoyed, so first, a walk-round inspection. With the original fuel tank being bashed beyond repair, we loved how the new 640-litre tank had been given a mirror-finish polish at Oldham – nice one.

We also couldn’t help but notice the reference (on the back of the cab) to Gary’s brother Stephen. Sadly Stephen died prematurely in 2008 after battling skin cancer; but Gary feels strongly that ‘Our Kid’ – as he was called – would be well chuffed at the finished condition of the Volvo.

Of course Stephen Harvey would have approved of converting the Eminox exhaust system to a twin stack set-up and once fired into life, the sound of the 16-litre Volvo engine just sends goose bumps down your spine – awesome.

The Volvo spec sheets might tell you that the F16 is basically no different from a similar period F10 or F12 (apart from the badges and a chrome strip around the grille). But that doesn’t mean it feels the same; because once you sit in the driver’s seat of an F16, you know you are at the wheel of one very special machine.

With our test drive being done in solo fashion, we had to be careful with the power. Put the throttle down too hard and the acceleration effect is immediate. This power-plus effect was the reason why Volvo built the truck in the first place, although of course it was built to operate up to 52 tonnes gross when in Sweden.

But again, driving the F16 is an experience to savour and there’s no hurry to do anything, as the more time you spend with that engine running, the more time you can listen to the musical sound of the Eminox stacks concerto.

So does the F16 replace the F88 as the top Volvo Classic? Obviously the two trucks are from different eras; but to someone like Gary, who identifies with Super Trucks of the 90s, then it’s a given – the F16 is an obvious winner.

We aren’t too sure, however, so I think we had better go out for another test drive. What are the chances of a ride to Rome, Paris or Barcelona with a fridge van in tow, we ask Gary? You don’t think we can make our mind up just driving round the block at Winsford, as this is too serious a question to consider. “It’s funny you should ask that,” says Gary. “I’ve just had a mate on the phone suggesting I should bring the F16 onto the Continent with a fridge van and work over there. I might just do that.”