Classic & Vintage Commercials

Classic & Vintage Commercials magazine is dedicated to heavy commercial vehicles. Focusing on the truck manufacturers from the heyday of road haulage over the past eight decades. Take a trip down memory lane with Britain’s best-selling classic road-haulage magazine. From reader’s restorations and recollections to company histories and archive images, you’ll find a welcome mix of nostalgia and news and even some classic trucks for sale.

Classic & Vintage Commercials

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BOB’S FAMOUS VOLVO • For many years, Bob Carmichael’s 1973 Volvo F88 was the oldest working lorry in Britain. Now, with Bob’s retirement, this iconic lorry has entered preservation. Its working days still haven’t quite ended though, as Peter Simpson reports…

NEWARK 2024 • There was strong support from commercial vehicle owners for the Newark Vintage Tractor and Heritage Show in early November.

SCANIA-VABIS LB76 • Pt.2: Peter Davies concludes the story of this range which despite being produced for just two years did much to establish Scania in the UK.

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Letters • YOUR VIEWS, COMMENTS AND RECOLLECTIONS…

FABULOUS FODEN • Glyn Ashley’s 1949 Foden FG5/7 is a familiar sight driving around Shrewsbury and has been in the family for many years. It is also a big hit on the rally circuit, as Bob Weir explains.

THREEPENNY BIT FRIDAYS • Four years into his restoration of this 1968 Austin FG, Andy Harris was ready to give up. But his friends in the “Threepenny Bit Friday” club weren’t going to let that happen, as Peter Simpson explains.

Carrying on

HOGGIN THE SCENE • This well-worn Dodge ‘LAD’ 300 series tipper of St Ives Sand & Gravel is seen taking on a full load of hoggin gravel at a pit in Codicote, Hertfordshire with the aid of an equally well-worn Ruston Bucyrus dragline back in 1966. Not a high-viz uniform or a hard hat to be seen! How different things were sixty odd years ago.

NEW YEAR SALE • 6 issues FOR JUST £15

TELEPHONE SAFARI • Richard Murrell’s 1976 Land-Rover Safari was new to the Post Office, and then spent a quarter century with a sheep farmer on the South Downs. Since buying it in 2017, Richard has carried out a full restoration, and the result is stunning. Mike Neale tells the story.

COMMERCIALS AT THE NEC • Commercials played an important part in this year’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, with several new restorations on display. Nick Larkin reports.

HEART OF WALES RUN • A new three-day format for 2024, as David Reed reports.

JOLLY BOYS RUN • Around and about in Derbyshire. David Reed reports.

GROCOTT HERITAGE CENTRE, WHITCHURCH • The Editor is introduced to small but perfectly-formed and totally free museum which celebrates a well-known name from the haulage industry’s recent history.

MODEL CORNER • Mike Neale begins a two-part look at Guy Lorry models

WELSH WINTER!

AUSTIN POWERS

BUILDING FOR BROADCASTERS • As Christmas is the time when most families still watch TV, it seems appropriate that this month’s delve into to Papworth Coachworks/Alan Robinson collection should look at bodies produced for television companies.

KENT AND SUSSEX TRANSPORT • Les Freathy’s fascinating photo-series from the Garden of England continues with another varied selection from times past.

Next month • COMING UP IN THE FEBRUARY 2025 ISSUE - OUT FRIDAY JANUARY 24