- This topic has 47 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Re: And in the beginning….
I’ve just resurrected this thread after finding one of my old photos I found in the attic recently….. It shows my first ever company van when I started out in this trade way back in 1965/1966. Such HAPPY DAYS…….I had a head of hair then too…!!!
Re: And in the beginning….
You were quite handsome then!
And some people, on this site, liken you to a troll.
🙂
p.s. I don’t bat for the other side by the way!!!
Re: And in the beginning….
My first van 1981-2 in my SWEB days was a J4 with sliding doors, automatic with a top speed of about 40 flat out, bloody freezing in the winter.
Then progressed to the Sherpa, OMG what a pile of c**p, I think SWEB and all Electricity Boards had to buy BL vehicles for some reason, I think it was just before I got made redundant in 92 that i finally got a Transit !! 🙂
Re: And in the beginning….
I can’t decide if you look like Matt Damon or Gareth Bale Martin
Gareth Bale!
Come on Paul, thats a bit strong 🙂 And that from a Champions League Qualifying Super spurs fan.
Goose
Re: And in the beginning….
Gareth Bale looks more and more like a member of Gorillaz whenever he sticks out his chin and scowls. 😆
Re: And in the beginning….
Jonah wrote:My first van 1981-2 in my SWEB days was a J4 with sliding doors
In 1970 when I worked for Hotpoint (BDA Ltd) I was allocated a clapped out Transit, which after about 6 months was told to drive it to Peterborough and pick up a brand new van (woo-hooo!). It took all day to get there as the van broke down more times on the way than I can recall. Anyway by late afternoon I got there only to realise my ‘new van’ was a diesel J4. 😥
There was only one redeeming feature to the J4, and that was that you could lock the sliding doors in the open position. A great ‘air con’ feature during the hot summer months that was but you had to ensure your maps and paperwork were safely stowed away before taking off!
Oooh! Just thought of another feature it had….. in the winter when everyone was unable to navigate in the snow I could leave it in 1st gear and get out and give it a push…very handy! 😀
Re: And in the beginning….
Jonah wrote:My first van 1981-2 in my SWEB days was a J4 with sliding doors, automatic with a top speed of about 40 flat out, bloody freezing in the winter.
Then progressed to the Sherpa, OMG what a pile of c**p, I think SWEB and all Electricity Boards had to buy BL vehicles for some reason, I think it was just before I got made redundant in 92 that i finally got a Transit !! 🙂
The vans depended on what make car the Fleet purchaser fancied at the time, not a company car, but he would get a cracking discount. I won’t name him.
When I started on SWEB the Electricians vans were Ford Thames, 3 speed column change (Before the Transit) The engine was under a cover between the 2 front seats, where the apprentice was allowed to sit. No seatbelts. Sales reps had Ford prefect 100E cars, meter readers and installation inspectors etc Ford 100E or Morris Minor vans. No heater, radio, nothing to protect those in the front seats regards items thrown forward, not even a headlining in the front. The wipers worked off the inlet manifold, would hardly move when the van was pulling, and would go mad as soon as you de-accelerated.
In 1965/6 they moved over to the Bedford CA 4-speed column change, seatbelts fitted by now, nobody used them, and you could drive around with the doors slid back. Used to be able to park in the Parade Minehead with the door wide open, keys in the ignition and think nothing of it. The smaller vehicles were replaced with Vauxhall Viva derivitives. There were no appliance engineers as such, everyone had a go at fixing things.
The J4 vans, and Marinas for the appliance repairers came into effect in 1973. By then specific appliance repairers had evolved. These vans were painted Grey & Green. They were invisible if parked by the roadside, and those on street lighting or the road gangs had no visiblity clothing issued, just navy blue overalls. The humble traffic cone was unheard of.
The Sherpas in red were after my time, but I gather were luxury at the time.
Alex
Re: And in the beginning….
I had temporary use of an old, ex GEC J4 for a couple of weeks, a real pig of a van.
Like the Ford Thames 10/12 that Alex mentions it also had the engine cover between the seats. Unfortunately it didn’t have a column change. The gear lever was close to the engine box and you had to push it hard over to the left then push forward to get reverse gear. The mechanism was so badly worn on this van that it was nigh on impossible to push the lever far enough to the left. I had to switch off the engine, put the hand brake on and then crawl underneath. I then had to grab hold of the gearbox selector rod with a pair of mole grips to twist the rod far enough to allow me to push it forwards into reverse gear. Then jump back in the van, depress the clutch, start the engine and then reverse up. :rolls:
The selector rod went into a small box on top of the gearbox held on by four bolts, the threads had stripped and all four bolts kept coming loose. On one occasion going up a very steep farm track it kept jumping out of gear and as the handbrake was also pretty useless I had to jump out and throw a boulder under the wheels before once again crawling underneath to try and tighten up these four bolts.
You can imagine how chuffed I was to go down to Peterborough to collect my brand new Escort van. I was very fortunate not to be given a Marina, they were also a bit naff.
Jim.
Re: And in the beginning….
Thanks for that memory Jim 😈 The Morris Marina Van!!!!. No wonder British Leyland, went bust , I have driven some crap vans in my time , But the Morris Marina was just about the biggest pile of crap I have ever had the unfortunate experience of getting in the driving seat. I was quite young when i was issued with this pile of poo, And at that time I had owned a Mk 1 Escort an a couple of Minibins., Not the most up to date vehicles I admit but at least they had brakes that slowed you down when you pushed the middle peddle, Unlike the Marina which depending on weather conditions would try to send your head through the windscreen or send into a collision course with a : Wall, lamppost ,Pedestrian. Not one of Brums Finest.
Re: And in the beginning….
iadom wrote:Gareth Bale looks more and more like a member of Gorillaz whenever he sticks out his chin and scowls. 😆
would that be Damon Albarn, Paul simonon, Mick Jones, Gruff rhys, Yukimi Nagano… I could go on….great album though!
Re: And in the beginning….
eastlmark wrote:
would that be Damon Albarn, Paul simonon, Mick Jones, Gruff rhys, Yukimi Nagano… I could go on….great album though!I was thinking Gareth Bale looked more of one of these guys. 😉
Just loaded Plastic Beach onto my iPod, very good stuff, the video for Stylo is rather cool as well.
Jim.
Re: And in the beginning….
I had a green & grey old circa 1976 P reg Sherpa Alex before the red ones came out, the policy ay Exeter SWEB was to give the biggest pile of crap still running to the recently completed apprentices until you proved your worth, I remember a good old mate of mine who got one of the new type Sherpas in about 1990 brand new in SWEB red colours took it out to ‘test’ drive it down Haldon Hill, blew the engine after he hit 95mph, only had 150miles on the clock lol
😆Re: And in the beginning….
Yeah! Yeah!..we’re all done with the Matt Damon & Gareth Bale lookalike jokes now. :rolls:
OK, here’s another one of me you can take a pop at, any comments welcome as always. 😉
Taken in 1972 when I joined a small company based in Bourne End in Bucks………….I hated the job, the bl**dy poxy Fiat 500 van (as you can see from my expression)..stuck it out for just a few months before starting out on my own…..HAPPY DAYS!!!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.