Ultimate Customised Ger-MAN!

Posted on April 11, 2013 by admin

Ages ago I found a photo of this little MAN and I just had to find out more. Its taken 2-3 years of searching without much luck, except repeatedly finding the same photo! Then on March 29th came a message on the TB Facebook page, from none other than Florian Zeltwanger…….yes the driver of said Custom MAN TGL LX of course.

Considering its 6.5 years old and has over 650,000km on the clock it is still in great shape. After a few messages this is what Herr Zeltwanger had to say about the MAN in his life:

“Beuchtung Lichtleisten und Innenausbau hab ich alles Selber gemacht. Der Rammbügel ist noch vom Vorgängerauto ein Atego und der Dachbügel von Jumbo-Fischer. Das Steinschlagschtzgitter hab ich selber gebaut. Im Innenraum ist alles selber Lackiert und bezogen, nur die Sitzbezüge und das Lenkrad hat ein bekannter von mir mit Leder bezogen. Das Airbrush machte ein Lackierer aus unserer nachbarschaft. gruß”

And if your like me and your English is still far better than your German then this is the straight up translation:

“I did everything myself Beuchtung Strip lights and interior design. The front bar is an Atego and the roof Temple of Jumbo-Fischer from the previous car. I myself built the Steinschlagschtzgitter (Stone guard?). Inside, everything is itself painted and covered, only a well known by me with leather has taken the seat covers and the steering wheel. A student from our neighborhood made the Airbrush.”

Like it or loath it, you have to agree the customisation is pretty awesome. The interior is great, all colour coded, although the green paintwork isn’t my colour but still the whole job is einfach toll! Is there another TGL like it any where else?? I did see an all red inside and out TGL LX tilt which I think was from Czech Republic. If you have seen it or you’ve seen Herr Zeltwangers wunderbare Deutsche deichsel any where then please email me photos, i’d love to see them. Vielen Dank to Florian and I hope you will show me more photos of your little truck. All photos are HERE.

Email me: ben@truckblog.co.uk

New MAN in The Blogs Life

Posted on July 18, 2012 by admin

I received a nice surprise on the Blog Facebook Page last week. James Kinnard posted a couple of photos of his MAN TGL flatbed that he pilots for JJ Transport from ooop Manchester way. It looks like this little MAN is another busy TGL. Buzzing here there and every where, including regular trips across the water to France and Ireland. The bonus of the flatbed is the possibility of oversize loads, i’ve seen a few pics of a cabin or 2. Hopefully the load James has on in these pics is one load of a few as it’s a propeller. Looks like 1 blade to me, so i guess it needs at least 2 others to help it propell what ever its propelling. Hopefully James will send a few more pics of his travels and I have sent him a sticker so that should appear on the truck & blog soon enough. I think we need some DAF LF and Mercedes Atego representation on the blog!! Can you help??

Quick Pick of Channel Spotting

Posted on July 9, 2012 by admin

Although I run this little website for like minded truck types, I honesty still feel self concious (if that’s the right wording) about taking photos of trucks…yes really. I’m not like the Neil Jarrolds or Ferdy De Martins of the world, who happily take photos willy and indeed nilly. For what ever reason i’m still not a confident wagon snapper. Anyway I thought it’d be a let down to my loyal readers if I didn’t take a few photos while sitting in Calais waiting for my boat. The dock wasn’t busy and I was only snapping out the truck window through a handy sized gap in the car transorter next to me, so the photos are not that great, they are a bit dark. The wagon above arrived in Calais, followed closely by a slightly smaller version. Both Scanias are Austrian registered and are used on the F1 Grand Prix circuit. They are used to build the hospitality units that we all see on the TV. I did have a tip off they are just for the Red Bull team, but i’m not sure how true it is, as it seems a little odd for a racing team based in Milton Keynes, UK to exclusively use a truck mounted crane company from Austria. Leave your comments please.

Speaking of F1, parked next to me was the above Mercedes Benz Actros car transporter (you can just the KFL logo behind). This one was parked behind two others and there was also one at the front of my lane. As you can see they are all loaded up with the F1 support vehicles. Each silver Mercedes Benz car or Vito was marked up with its purpose, such as; Media, Medical, Race Support (the 6.3 litre AMG estate!), Extraction (??) etc etc. Very smart.

Being in Calais you’d expect to see a Norbert, but these days you don’t see French registered ones. Just like everyone else ND now uses Eastern European registered trucks. Plenty of other Eastern Europeans about including this odd liveried Bulgarian Scania. Apparently it is supporting the Aston Villa captain who has Cancer or Leukaemia, but is a Bulgarian national hero (I don’t know much about soccer anymore), but Mr Lloydswell Dodsworth filled me in.

Much to my delight there were also a host of little Tonka trucks of all nationalities coming and going. First a very old and over worked Red Atego. I think the number plate looked Hungarian, but what ever it was, it did look like it should be on it’s last return journey to its home land.

This little MAN drawbar was obviously not sure which boat, lane or line he was supposed to be shipping to the UK on as he was already in a lane when I arrived, but over the next 45 minutes, manged to change lines and line a further 3 times. I wonder if he ever got to the UK, or even if he wanted to get to the UK in the first place?! Remember 4 axles, means a GVW of 26,000 kg, according to my some what sketchy, previous research!

An English truck, heading off into France on a Friday morning. It would have to be some thing special and it was. A 7.5 ton Iveco Eurocargo Pigeon Carrier! The truck was a 54 plate and had a sleeper pod on the roof, so it must go a fair distance. Although it would be quite cosy with the 2 drivers in the cab.

Driving on the boat, there were a few more Angleterre trucks heading home. Armoric Freight Volvo and another big cabbed Mercedes Atego, that I want to say was Dods & Brown, but i’m sure that’s wrong. Please correct me.

I saved the best til last. This could be my current perfect truck, apart from, as another well know MAN TGL driver agreed with me, they should have put those fake side panels either side of the fridge unit!

If I was offered this truck with Euro work or a big artic with Euro work, I would honestly choose this. An MAN TGL LX, 12.250 with a Lamberet fridge body. Spare wheel, long range tanks and still with tyre shine on, this must be its maiden voyage to the UK and hopefully not its last. I think it needs a sun visor though. If I was Neil Jarrold, I would have walked off to find it and take some more pics and I wish I had. I think it was parked behind the Armoric Freight Volvo, unfortunately not on my boat. For any one rich out there who wants an investment, buy me one of these in blue and I will make your money back two fold!

There it goes…..Proof I was taking my pics through the body of that F1 transporter above. I do wish I had the time to spend a Friday or Monday sitting in Calais proper spotting……One day.

Truckfest Peterborough – 2012

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

Where to start?? Well it started as a shambles really. I, in my wisdom decided to go round Peterborough so I could enter from the North side, as I have spent the last 15 years arriving from the South. My advice? stick to what you know. The main car park fields were waterlogged so we were all being stuffed into every available gap. Then we were all directed to the gate directly across the swamp like car park. Having waded across with a number families and countless others loosing wellies and shoes to the mud, we got within 100 yards of the gate only to be told we had to walk back round to the other gate passed where we had just come from. Approx 100 others did this exercise round to Gate 5 but then no one else joined the queue….I think we were had. We then queued on the main road into the Showground for 40 minutes then we were finally allowed to enter. Of course for this privilege of no one knowing what was going on I was charged £17 entry, what do you get for your £17 entry? a free cuppa? a free programme?? A voucher for a burger??? Nothing. I think it’s high time that Live Promotions re thought their pricing. £17 is more expensive than my local world class Zoo!

Enough moaning, its the same every year. Next up and one of my main targets was the New Mercedes Actros. I was not alone, by 0915hrs all doors on the available Mercs were open and rapidly filling with people and potential buyers, young and old! I lined up and got myself in the Gigaspace. Gorgeous. For those of you who are sceptical of the new Big German having seen it in the press then let me assure you that in the flesh you’ll be impressed. Now that Mercedes are trying to use more car components in the trucks, the interior is looking very plush and is very similar to the car range. I learnt this thanks to the very helpful Nigel in the cab; The Bigspace cab is the same space as the current Megaspace but the Gigaspace is bigger still than both the Current Mega and the new Big. Crikey i’m all spaced out!! On the outside the big grill is very imposing but very smart. I really look forward to seeing the smarter fleets getting these trucks in their liveries. Firms like Pulleyn, Stobart (we’ve seen these already) and the likes of the Formula 1 Teams I think these smart Mercs will excel in promoting the image of who ever they are pulling for.

As for the rest of the trucks on show it was very difficult to decide what was best. As well as a few new trucks and some old favourites, some of the best trucks on show were the increasing numbers of retro trucks. I know we now have Retro Truck Shows, but the quality of these old girls is pretty amazing and nice to see. A number of F12 and F16 Volvo’s, some glorious Scania’s, 142′s, 143′s and of course a couple of 141′s. As well as a very British and very very tidy Seddon Atkinson that was getting lots of attention. Well done who ever owns it.

The usual displays occupied the arena. Arrivals of soap stars, motorbike displays and of course the ever impressive monster trucks. Good fun although no roll overs this year (a little disappointed!).

Along with all the big boys, there were also a handful of my favourites, some little Tonka Toys. I found Lewis Blakeys stunning DAF LF from Frank Hudsons fleet. Also I came across 2 other Hatcher cabbed DAF LF’s. One from H. Askeys fleet from Sheffield and one from AAA Couriers of Bradford. This driver was looking forward to a trip to the Champions league final in his smart little DAF.

There were obvioulsy many others around the Showground. A few more stunning big Scania’s, including the James Bond 007 themed R730 that belongs to scrap metal firm J Davidson. Loving the bullet holes and surely the best number plate at the show! Davidson’s R730 traing vehicle was also very clean and attracted plenty of photographers!!

Possibly the smartest tanker you’ll ever see. The driver must have forearms like Popeye, with all the polishing they must have done to get a ladder to look that shiny!! A real credit to the driver and the company and all on an 08 plate.

Other than that it was an ok show. I did miss the lovely Lisa Kelly from Ice Road Truckers. The weather stayed nice on Sunday which made a change. The only thing missing or so I though was the customised fleet of Coles & Sons of Banbury. Unusual not to have any trucks at the show. Well I was wrong. The one truck I missed was this stunning new addition to the Coles fleet. Matching the coolness of the figure painted on the side, Marlon Brando, this Scania oozed class. I’ve long been a fan of painting trucks and parts rather than shiny shiny. So it was a pleasure not to see a piece of stainless steel in sight. I absolutely love it. Coles Custom is as cool as it gets in my book and I was told it’s not even a V8! Brilliant, well done Coles I hoped you got your reward.

This photo belongs to the worlds photo library of trucks that you’ll find on www.euro-wheels.com , the one and only Neil Jarrold doesn’t miss a thing so I have to thank him very much for letting me use his photo of the Super Swede from Oxfordshire. There will be more of my finds at Truckfest on the blog in the near future. For now if you want to see a few more of my photos then click HERE.

Mystery MAN……

Posted on April 18, 2012 by admin

Truckblog’s good friend and contributor, Neil Jarrold from www.euro-wheels.com spotted this gorgeous little MAN TGL in Dover few weeks back. I’d love to know who’s it is as it looks like a high spec little tonka toy. I have a sneaky feeling that it’s a firm from London, but I hope you lot can tell me for sure who’s the owner. Top spec including; slam locks on the cab doors, fridge / chiller body, full height tail lift (perfectly smooth for a truckblog sticker!), fire extinguishers, side door in the body, sleeper cab, vehicle reg on the roof, air kit, looks like it has been well thought out and I dare say a regular visitor to the continent. One blogger says he saw a bigger MAN in the same colours, but I still can’t remember the name of the firm!!

If you can give me any info on this Mystery MAN, then please leave a comment or email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk and hopefully we’ll work out who’s it is. Have you seen a regular under 12 ton truck in and out of Dover or to and from the continent then please tell me about those too. Thanks again to Neil Jarrold for providing more blog content, don’t forget to visit his website www.euro-wheels.com you’ll be there for hours!

The Making of an Airbrushed Atego

Posted on April 11, 2012 by admin

Have you ever wondered about having a bit of a customised truck? Something with a bit more than just a coat of white paint? Yea I did too once, but I wouldn’t do it again. Really I wouldn’t. I was doing well with my company and I doubled the fleet size to 2 trucks! I wanted to have the shiny wheeled slightly customised truck so it would stand out from the crowd. It started with the plain white Mercedes Atego that you see above. I spotted it on the A12 on my way back to Braintree one day. It was on it’s way from the dock to the bodybuilders, Colliers Truck Builders of Maldon (Essex) on the back of a Brit European truck. As it goes I went back and found the truck parked up for the night near Maldon, the driver let me even climb up and sit in it!

Here she is nearly finished, as you can see its all plain factory colours, so next it’s off to the paint shop. I had always wanted the truck to be metallic blue, but I still had no real idea of what artwork i’d have painted on. I found an airbrush artist in Colchester called Simon. Simon had painted artwork on a few trucks, some of you may remember a fleet of blue DAF’s that used to do container work I think, that had airbrushing on. I had a few meetings with Simon about what we could do. I had already wanted a few ladies painted on the truck – Why? Coz I was a young man! So I had to painstakingly find a few pictures of some attractive women, god that was a difficult job!! that was one side sorted. For the other side Simon had suggested some sort of sea/sky theme due to the blue. I had also wanted to only use white paint for the artwork as I’m not a fan of a million colours on a truck, although some trucks still look amazing (Coles & Sons that is!). Simon showed me some metallic fish artwork that I actually liked the look of. They were robot like fish that were originally done in silvers as they were supposed to be made of metal. The artist’s name was Soroyama.

Next it just left the 2 front corner panels of the truck which Simon suggested could again be anything, I only came up with a CD cover I had, the other side was left to Simon. All in all it took 2 weeks to complete the whole painting exercise. As you can see Simon worked round the whole cab of the Atego panel by panel. I stood and watched for a while and I was just totally transfixed, watching stroke by stroke as the artwork appeared before my eyes!

The front panel with the big shark bursting through was obviously going to get plenty of chips, even with 3 coats of lacquer. To get over this for shows and what ever else, I had a second front panel made up and painted and I still have it now. The only bugger is, it’s bubble wrapped in the top of the garage! But at least I still have part of the truck. So how did it all turn out?…….

It’s quite a job to get the whole thing sorted. Finding a paintshop willing to spray the truck, and keep it in a dust free workshop while the artwork is applied, then add a few coats of laquer. Lucky for me Simon used his contacts and this was sorted. Trying to think up pictures for each panel was a total headache, but in the end the only bit I wasn’t that happy with was the front corner panel with the starfish. The rest was as I hoped for, including the planets and stars on the driver side. I loved it.

More importantly was it worth it? It’s a cost that is a gamble, will you ever earn back what it cost to have your truck painted? I think it cost me around £2,000 for the artwork including the laquer. Lucky for me at the time I could afford it, but I was even luckier to get some work that paid more than double what it cost me to have done. I was at a regular customer of mine and they had a visitor who loved the little airbrushed Atego and I ended up doing a lot of work over the next few weeks that easliy covered the cost of the artwork and I wouldn’t have got the job if it wasn’t for the artwork. Other than that having such a truck means lots and lots of people taking photo’s but better than that at some regular delivery points it meant the unloaders wanted to chat and talk to you about the truck. In turn this lead to being able to jump a certain amount of unloading queue’s, a direct result of having the artwork done. All in all I would reccomend doing it once, but after that? I don’t think so. Great truck though, it did earn it’s keep and more all due to it’s artwork.

If you’ve seen this truck recently or you have a photo of it any where i’d love to see it, so please email me a copy; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Mercedes Benz Atego For Sale

Posted on January 14, 2012 by admin

I’m not wanting to turn my blog into a 2nd hand truck market, we have Commercial Motor magazine for that. This little truck currently belongs to an old friend of mine. The old Atego has had a good Innings with Nigel Moss Transport of Retford, Notts. But now Nigel has joined the MAN TGL club, with a real belter (a future blog). In the mean time he need’s to part company with the Atego. The truck is an 05 reg, 900,000 km, MOT’d til May this year, 1 owner from new and I think it may have a tow hitch of some kind too. If you are seriously interested email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk and i’ll put you in touch, no bloomin’ annoying time wasting tyre kickers please! Thanks to Andy Blagg for the pics.

Polish Mini MAN

Posted on September 15, 2011 by admin

I followed this little MAN home the other evening. Heading for Harwich he was. It caught my eye, as most little MAN trucks do (Had you noticed??). It was vey very tidy for its age and when I first came up behind it, I thought it was Italian. It had that Italian look, the body work and back end just looked a bit that way inclined. It only had 9 stud wheels, so it was either a 12 or 15 tonner. I also think it could have been and Owner driver such was the tidyness for a Polish truck. Considering it had a full Roadhaus cab as well it kinda adds up to some thing a little bit more special than the ordinary. I liked it 10 out 10.

Scotts-MAN

Posted on September 9, 2011 by admin

Its been a while since my friend and yours, Steve Marsh appeared on the blog. Like the rest of us, Marshy too has been a little quiet. Only doing quite alot of what he classes as locals, France, Benelux and Germany. Apparantly these destinations dont make the best photographs! Any way some where else Marshy doesn’t get to too often is the Tartan Territory. Since I’ve know Steve, I think I only rmember him going to Scotland once before. Unfortunately Steve picked that week where Scotland suffered a lot of flooding, back in August. Oh well you can’t have every thing!! Any way Steve has a lovely little 12 ton MAN, so a little wet weather even’s the Karma a bit!

Having delivered a local to Dunkerque, a reload was needed. It turned out the reload involved meeting a Spanish 18 tonner in Calais and transhipping the cargo. Mr Marsh has apologised for not getting a photo! Having loaded it was straight up from Calais to Invergordon in Scotland, to make the delivery. The above pictures were taken on the banks of the Cromaty Firth, just south of Invergordon. For those of you who dont know that part of the world, most times you can see the coast you tend to see some sort of oil related marine vessels. As in this photo you can see Marshy artistically placed the oil rig in the background. Very artistic Steven, great wheel trims by the way!!

There is more to come from Marshy, including a fleet photograph in Lodz, Poland (not so local).

Mini Artics

Posted on July 28, 2011 by admin

Dear Readers,

So far the info regarding mini artics has been a little sketchy to say the least. I have been trying to find out, what the weight combinations on these vehicles are. I NEED YOUR HELP!?
So far, i think it is fare to say that you can obviously have a minimum gross weight of 7.5 or 12 tons depending on what you require. This mini MAN artic is based on having a Gross Vehicle Weight of 12 tons, actually MAN’s are usually plated at 11,990kg. This particular one come’s from a German body builder and mini artic manufacturer called Pagenkopf. They claim that there trailer with an MAN TGL sleeper cab can still achieve a 5.500kg payload, which obviously means that the truck is designed to run at 11,990kg. This is also given away by the fact they call it “Maut-killer”, all vehicles under 12,000kg GVW dont have to pay the German Maut charges. The other thing I found yesterday on a quote for a 12 tonner from MAN was, they state the maximum Train Weight of a 12 tonner to be 24,000kg.

You may be wondering why i dont just ask MAN or Mercedes what the weight set up is. Well I have. MAN haven’t got back to me and Mercedes Benz UK have said they are on the case, so hopefully I will here some thing back, from one or both.

Activ Cars run these Mercedes Atego’s as you will be bored of reading by now. But they badge on the door say’s this is an “823″ meaning 8 tons, 230 bhp. So how do they get away with pulling 11 and 13 metre long trailers behind. They can’t be using the GVW of 8 tons, so they must be going on the Train weight……………………..oh no i’ve gone boss eyed!!

For a minute there I almost sounded like a right anorak! Can you shed any light on the mini artic debate?? If so email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave your USEFULL comments below.

Activ Cars Spezialtransporte, Achim, Bremen

Posted on July 25, 2011 by admin

Right here we go again. Those who know me will know that i am not one to give up on some thing I want. Now for a good while I have been trying to get more photo’s and info about this lot as they don’t have a website. I did email them once and i did get a good reply with a couple of yard photo’s, but as you have guessed I want to get more of both! Activ Cars operate out of Achim, Bremen, Germany. They have a good looking fleet of Mercedes, mainly Atego’s. Perhaps my new friends at Mercedes Benz UK can even get in on the detective trail, surely there are some German colleagues you can contact?? Activ travel all over the continent and even regularly come to the UK. The main stay of there work seems to be for Airbus, delivering parts to manufacturing plants, such as Frankfurt, Toulouse and Broughton near Chester.

Now, I have done an appeal before for your spots as you go about your daily drives, and we did get a couple of spots, one at Killingholme Dock and another up the M6, possibly heading for Broughton. I am going to try my luck by emailing the email address I have and hope the staff at Activ Cars don’t ignore my email. Now this is where you lot come in, while i’ll do the emailing, I need you lot to keep your eyes peeled and send me any photos you manage to get of Activ Cars mini artics on the road. Ideally one of you will find an Activ truck parked up and you can ask the driver to email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk or via the Truckblog Facebook Page. In fact who ever send’s in the best NEW photo of one of these trucks, will win a www.truckblog.co.uk sticker. In my previous searches I even put a thread on trucknetuk.com and did get some response, but i have renewed this Mini German Artic thread in the hope it too might get some new feedback.

Just look at the backdoors, they have a lovely gap at the bottom for a nice new Navy Blue truckblog sticker! The detective work starts now, so best bi-nock-u-lars on and get detecting my loyal spotters. Hopefully now we have a load of new European friends reading the blog we may be able to spread the hunt further and wider than before and we may even get some results. Just imagine if an employee of Activ Cars got to hear about the search, they might email me direct!! Remember my email address is ben@truckblog.co.uk

Steve Marsh Express Meets BJS International

Posted on May 31, 2011 by admin

Whilst looking about on my Flickr page i started thinking how me and Marshy were both owner’s of Hatcher cabbed MAN’s. Back in the day i had a 7.5 tonner but Marshy’s was a 12 tonner, naturally he was one step ahead. My truck definitely lived up to my expectations and was doing the mileage of any big truck if not more day after day up and down the motorway, Glasgow 3 times a week from my base in Braintree, Carmarthen daily for a week, exactly 4 1/2 hours each way every day, i loved it! Marshy was undoubtedly doing similar mileage but the majority of his was continental with a bit of UK, where i was vice versa. I never quite worked out why i didn’t do more continental?? i think it was probably that i was just so busy doing my thing i never got round to getting more into it. I used to see V99 STE around quite a lot, i often used to wave in the hope he’d wave back, but with out any luck, i think Marshy was just too busy doing his thing while i was doing mine. I think there is a big “what if” here some where. What if we had been going the same way and had had time to stop for a cuppa………….

I often wonder what would have happened if i had got more into continental express type work. There was clearly a market for it a few years back and Steve Marsh is testament to the fact there is still a market for it now. With the office job i do now for HC Wilson, each week we have a couple of job offers that would suit some thing like a 12 ton rigid, more often than not if we can’t cover it some how i end up offering it to Steve. I do wonder if I’ll ever go back to it, running a little rigid, i think the answer is one day yes it would be nice, or perhaps we should get one at Wilson’s!?

I have no idea why they are my favourite type of truck, after all a simple person would call a 7.5 tonner a van!………… that’s a totally different blog all together! I guess at the end of the day there will always be a market for these cracking little rigids with in haulage, but how many there is the unanswered question. Like all area’s of our industry the numbers have declined and only the fittest survive. These day’s with all the driving license issue’s and pallet networks offering such silly cheap rates it makes Steve Marsh Expresses daily life all the more difficult. I think what a lot of companies/customers miss is the personal touch, the knowledge that Steve loads and Steve will deliver. The load isn’t going to get transshipped 5 times and put on a number of different vehicles before being delivered. Is it that customers have realised that their goods are more important than always getting the cheapest rates? Hopefully there will always be a need for a little rigid otherwise in the years to come I’m not going to be able to buy my son one! (if he wants one of course!). Any way enough of this inane banter. Keep the little trucks rolling that’s what i say, everyone loves a Tonka toy!! So until the BJS empire is rebuilt, best you keep calling Marshy.

Pulleyn Atego Fleet

Posted on May 13, 2011 by admin

Now if there is one fleet i would love to have some input on and from is Pulleyn Transport from Reading, especially the few Mercedes Benz Atego fridges they run on Pharmaceuticals. I think they currently run 4 x 04 reg Atego’s and 2 x 06 reg 1022 Atego’s. They are all kept busy on pharmaceutical work across the UK & Europe. Now with a history of little lorries, and one particular Atego in my portfolio i do rather like the top of the range tonka toys. I don’t see many Pulleyn trucks on my daily commute from Colchester to Stowmarket along the A12 and A14, so when i saw one up a head i thought i better try and get a photo. I can see space on that there tail lift for a truckblog sticker!

As you can see the trucks are well equipped and well turned out. The trucks themselves are fitted with 2 fridge motors, one for main use and one as a backup in case the main one breaks down, to avoid any damage or knock on affects to their usually highly valuable cargo’s. This particular truck was heading for Stenaline at Harwich for the night boat to Holland. Also more interestingly this truck was double manned. As you might get the impression i really want to know more about what the truck was doing. I followed said truck along the A14 and onto the A12, then as i said the truck beared left and down the A120 towards Harwich and i carried on home (although i was very tempted to follow it all the way to Harwich!). I did get ahead of it at one point and grabbed a front view but only just, i’m sorry bit it’s not a good pic.

Now this is where my intrepid readers come in. I really want to get through to a driver of one of these trucks as i want them to contribute to the blog now and again. I know they do high profile work, but even so I’m sure sending me pics of an Atego around Europe isn’t going to cause to many problems (although me taking pics seems too!). If you know a driver at Pulleyn can you please pass on my request and suggest to the Atego drivers that fame and fortune, well fame awaits them if they want to contribute to what your reading. Email me or get them to email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk. I think i will try emailing Pulleyn direct and see if i get any response. In the mean time if you have anymore info also feel free to email me, pictures and info please…….

Who’s Truck Is This???

Posted on May 6, 2011 by admin

Right readers i need your help as i cant read the web address on the side of this truck. The excellent roving reporter sent me this photo. Taken on the A46 near Bath this afternoon, obviously he wasn’t driving when he took it!! Amazingly he managed to take the pic with a gap in the oncoming traffic and got a totally clear picture. The little MAN looks fairly new, its in good condition, clean and has the new grill. Can you work out the web address? do you recognise the logo?? Do you drive this truck??? If you know anything, please please email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk . I want to find out who owns and runs said truck…. with your help of course.

Railway MAN

Posted on May 4, 2011 by admin

A few weeks back Steve Marsh Express was called upon to transport some train parts from Leeds to South West Wroclaw, Poland. A nice little trip of of 1,016 miles before delivering to a back end train depot in old industailised Polska. Now if there is one man who could teach you a thing or 3 about taking a picture in a good location it’s our man Marshy. Can my Photographer type friends please leave you feed back for Mr Marsh to encourage him to make more pictures!! I don’t know why but trucks and industrial building / venues do seem to compliment each other. Look at these pictures and see for youself……….

After arriving at the listed delivery point to the North East of Wroclaw at Olesnica, Mr Marsh and the little MAN were told to re-direct to unload at this old, still used, railway yard. At some point i think Marshy must have wondered if this place was one of those old places in films you see the bad guys hiding in. Queue tense music and dim lights to create an earrye atmosphere. Perhaps the 1750 kgs of train motors were just a cover for some thing much more sinister! (sorry getting carried away with the movie location thing!).

Look a strange object in the bottom picture it must be a movie set………. oh no its Marshy’s finger! After seeing the Marsh at the weekend he did say that he did quite like some of these Polish pics. I think one of the best is this one inside the shed.

I said to Steve that i liked the way he had put the truck to the back of photo and got the trains in the foreground, quite a bit of Photographic talent in that pic, although Marshy’s reply was that he hadn’t meant to do it as he had tried to get the truck in the centre of the photo and missed!! Typical.

After uloading it was time to head West out of Poland all the way back to Aachen, Germany to reload for the UK. Taking in the gorgeous roadside views of lovely Poland on the way!! Just wanted to include the pic, no idea what i’m talking about now!! (Note to Admin: Put

Big Truck Little Truck

Posted on April 20, 2011 by admin

How did those stickers get there?! Sorry it’s another TGL post i know!

If this is your first time reading the blog you will not know that i seem to favour an MAN TGL. No real idea why other than i ran my own 7.5 tonners for 8 years. I have often wondered about the mini artics you see foreigners running about with, such as Activ Cars from Germany. This company run mini Mercedes Atego artics on Airbus parts work all over Europe.

Now i haven’t been able to find out much about them in various Internet searches, so i gave up looking. At the weekend i did another search for the first time since last year, when i went to the Hanover IAA Show. This time with a tiny bit of success. The main part being it seems the mini MAN tractor unit is called an MAN TGL BLS, BLS being the key words (Big Lorry Secret? Bloomin Little Sod?? Bens Lorry Soon???). The one thing i am keen to find out is how much you can carry with one of those and what the Gross Vehicle Weight is likely to be. Both the Mercedes Atego version and the MAN version are badged as normal 7.5 or 12 tonners. But i’m sure the gross weight must be more other wise it makes it a little pointless and will leave a tiny payload. Any input on this would be much appreciated, any MAN/Mercedes employee’s reading?? email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk

On a Dutch website called bedrijfsauto.com , it says that a 12 ton MAN TGL 12.250 BLS can have a gross vehicle weight of 32,000 kg. This equates to a max towing capacity for the tractor of 20,000 kg (i.e. Trailer + Load). On another MAN dealership website, there is an MAN TGL 8.250, This states the truck “has a GCW of 18,750 kg.”

This says to me, the tractor unit can pull a trailer up to 20 Tons. This makes more sense and must relate to the train weight of the unit, not the 7.5 or 12 ton specified in the model name. Come on more help/info please……

Mallorcan Marsh

Posted on April 16, 2011 by admin

He is a boy i tell you, living the life of Riley as my Gran would probably say! Gadding about Europe like an international Playboy. A trip a few weeks back landed him on the road to Mallorca, terrible! The call came in for a load of gym equipment to go to a English owned residence some where near Palma, so Mr Marsh packed his favourite speedo’s, bucket and spade and headed off for Barcelona and a ferry to Mallorca.

On arrival he had been told to head for a parking area where he would be met and taken to the house. While waiting at the parking area what should turn up? yep another MAN 12 tonner, this time a German one.

After being collected and taken to the new house it was then time to unload and as it was the weekend Steve decided to help unload and hang around to help as the boat back to Barcelona wasn’t until Monday, so what else are you supposed to do on a mediterranean island for the weekend??! What a place for the weekend…..

After a weekend of cycling around Palma and being taken out for dinner by the customer steve decided enough was enough and couldn’t wait to get back to Warrington! This one taken back at Palma waiting for the ferry. I do wonder why i had to give up driving some time’s, my desk just doesn’t get around as much!!

More Marsh to come, a trip to a dodgy Polish train yard is in the pipeline.

European Transport Services – Dagenham-ish??

Posted on March 11, 2011 by admin

Right more of your expert knowledge required please dear readers. This little MAN was part of a small fleet based some where near Dagenham i think. They did a lot of clothing work and some of you have already told me they used to go to Romania quite regularly and also subbed for Prima. I am after more info and of course more pictures. I remember them also being in one of the truck magazines back in the 90′s, has anyone got a copy or can anyone tell me which month it was published in so i can get a back copy. I seem to remember it being a husband and wife team that ended up in Switzerland i think. This picture was provided by the transport photo library that is www.euro-wheels.com, thanks to Neil Jarrold. If you have any photo’s of ETS trucks email me at ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave a comment below. Come on you know more than i do……

New Year SnowMAN

Posted on March 8, 2011 by admin

As promised at the beginning of the year, here are a few pictures of Steve Marsh’s New Years trip to Sweden. While i was enjoying a few drinks in Port Solent gazing out across the marina and looking out to sea, Mr Marsh and the little MAN were busy crossing the high sea’s from Kiel, Germany to Gothenburg, Sweden. It might all be party poppers and champagne to some of us dull old office boys but for Marshy the work never stops, i forget how hard you have to work to keep the wheels rolling but as an Owner Driver work is work and best to make hay while the sun shines and all that. Any way it’s not a bad old life when your in Malta the week before Christmas and then in snowy Sweden for New Year. As you can see there is a fair temperature change from the week before to week after. Plenty of snow and ice in Gothenburg, although the Swedish port seems capable of coping with the snow they get, you can guarantee if that was a UK port it’d be shut with all that snow!!

After New Years Eve my sunrise on New Years day was not like this, in fact i don’t remember seeing sunrise on New Years Day! Although that ice might have cooled my head off a touch.

The little MAN easily made it through the snowy realms of Sweden up to Vasteras, where Marshy had to sit it out til Monday before he could tip. This left plenty of time for snow man building and picture taking, doesn’t she look great?? I think this one qualifies for the Steve Marsh Express Christmas card this year, it’d certainly make a better card than some of the one’s i sampled here on the blog.

As i write this Steve Marsh is on his way back from Malorca, so hopefully some more great pics to come, as long as he makes it passed those French pancake sellers!

The Latest in Italian Truck Fashion

Posted on February 6, 2011 by admin

Our good friend the Roving Reporter has been hard at it again, sitting in the sun with a Peroni, truck spotting in the truck heaven that is Fontana Liri. Where?? i hear you cry, Fontana Liri, its a small village between Rome and Napoli. Fontana Liri is the birth place of Mrs Roving Reporter, hence the reason for sitting at a cafe with a beer.
Whilst sitting enjoying the Italian home brew, this amazing piece of Italian fashion appeared across the square, delivering groceries.

With all the flair of your typical Italian this little tilt has all the Italian style you could need. The rear doors with all the stickers and warnings of its transcontinental big brother.

Stainless steel tool box, water tank and tap and also a pair of straight through side pipes, which actually sounded surprisingly good!

Horse power stickers, air horns and an uprated front axle for all those stacked up veggies!

Stainless steel grill and enough guff on the dash to get a GV9!

Even after all that it is still a cracker! Only in Italy would so much love care and attention be lavished on an Iveco!

Truck Blog UK

email: ben@truckblog.co.uk

Category Archives: Tonka Toys