martin

its DHC 851E

it was green and white when i bought it and looked like a large wheeled marrow!, it had been used as a autograss carrier for many years before been sold though a few uncaring hands.

the previous owner to me wrecked it, it has a two speed diff and he blew it up, its a problem that ive yet to sort, but im confident of fixing it.

will try and post a photo 'as bought'

rich

here we go

looks a lot better now!

previously owned by Buzz, then??

the juries still out on that one.....


1) so called due to the mileage its covered

or

2) so called because of the time it takes..........

1968 : M630 Matra at Montlhéry with Berliet Stradair transporter, very modern truck with air suspension ... but not reliable.

Kieft 500 Mk1 with transporter :



From www.500race.org

Still trying to build up a total pictureas possible) of the Le Mans 1962 race I am still looking for hints as to how the following got their cars to the race :
Maurice Charles, P.J.Sargent,Jean Kerguen,Pierre Noblet, Fernando Tavano, Ecurie Chiltern and Aston Martin. AstonM. had in 1963 a Bedford S transporter(open) carrying 3 cars ,but in 62?( Mike Salmon took his on an open trailer behind his(?)sedan in 62 ) Any suggestions welcome!

Seeing that coach with 'The Italian Job ' on the side of it I wonder if anyone ever used one of those 4 wheel front steering coaches as a transporter ( I used to go to school in one of those in the late 60s ) ?

You mean the Plaxton Bedfords? Brabham R.O. from 65 to 70 , Tony Dean (also in the US race which he won) and Malcolm Gartlan racing I know of!

Wasn't one of Tony Dean's transporters the actual coach used in The Italian Job? Also, not all of the four front wheel steering coaches were bodied by Plaxton - the Italian Job coach for one had a Harrington body.

mine is a plaxton body (a panorama 1) which was also avalible on the 6 wheelers (VAL type) its one of the prettiest and well proportioned body styles of its time (imho!). it was used on many other coach chassis in its time. only bedford produced the longer twin steer chassis though.

the coach in the 'italian job' film was a harrington legionaire VAL 6 wheeler. only a few where made with this style and two of the six or so survivors are currently been rebuilt as italian job replicas. its not an easy task as apparently the harringtons where fully rivited together and they shook themselves to bits. they went bust in the mid 60's

the one used in the film was converted back to a coach and ended its days in scotland. all that remains of it is the rear axle, this ended up in another VAL coach. this happened in the mid 1990's - i dread to think what this vehicle would be worth to a collecter nowadays!

the VAL coachs lent themselves well to being converted to transporters as the floor was so much lower, thanks to the 16" wheels. the floor in them was about a foot lower than the one in mine, which runs the more normal 20" wheels. the main problem was that the chassis stopped just after the rear axle, so that all the body work past this point was just bolted to a frame. as the frame rusts (or excess weight i.e a car) is left in the back it starts to sag. this finished many of these coachs off. i broke a six wheeler for spares for mine that was so rotten that as we removed the glass and outer skin the rear bumper ended up touching the floor - the whole back 10 foot long section just gave up!

im not really a bus spotter, its just that finding parts for mine has been very hard and ive picked up a lot of info whilst ive had it.

would love to see any other photos of panoramas and legionaires as transporters.

happy days!

rich

Yes thats right it was the ones with the small dia wheels that were so distinctive and modern looking when it appeared in the early/mid 60s The driver seemed to sit low and had a vast sheet of low cut glass in front of him.

Actually coahes today don't look that good........ 40 years on !

Paul Smith ( BMTR ) when competing in his European F2 days in the early eighties actually had and used the bedford "chinese six "converted coach as filmed in the Italian job for his transporter and I believe is still around somewhere to this day.
Rodney Dodson.

An Ogle design, I believe.

rod, as much as i hope that the coach used in the film does still exist, all the bus spotters claim it it ended its days in a scrappers in scotland

rich

Rich,

There is every chance this is true but only to be an anorak I will try to research this.

Cheers,

Rodney.

rod

this is the 'timeline' of the coach used in the film:-

The full history appears to be:
Battens Coaches, N.16 (Grey-Green group) 1964
Paramount Pictures for the film
Marshall, Blackpool 1969 as a coach again
Birch, Liverpool 1971
Drummond, Harthill 1973
Meffam, Kerrymuir 1973
Cromar, Anstruther 1979 as a transporter
Earnside Riding School, Anstruther as a horse-box
unknown motorbike transporter,
Broken up by 1990.

i wonder if the BMTR guy had another one????

there is, apparently a feature on the harrington legionaires in this months bus monthly (or something!) in the interests of research i will go and buy a copy!

i love a good mystery!

rich

Some trivia here !!

They describe it as a 6 wheel Bedford Val coach

http://www.answers.com/topic/the-italian-job

Picture of the actual coach on the film set of the Italian Job ALR 453 B

http://www.bedfordgathering.com/wakefield/bedfordval.htm

Dear All

Thought you might like to know that there is still a Bedford Val race transporter in existence ! We purchased the ex Toleman transporter in the early eighties and used it for many years to transport our McLaren M6B to and from SuperSports races across Europe. She has been laid up for several years now but is still all there and running.

It was originally built (we believe) for Toleman and used to transport their two FF2000 and later two F2 cars all over the UK and Europe. It subsequently went through Mike O'Brian and later Colin Bennett's race teams before we bought it.

If anyone is on the lookout for one of these 'classic' transporters then let me know as we have since replaced it with a motorhome/trailer.

Cheers
Rick

would love to see a picture!

Welcome Gu....and we would love to see a picture of your 1071!!

there you go!

Can someone explain the how to post a photograph a bit better and with less computer talk than the help message ?

Cheers
Rick

Lets see if this works !





If it has worked successfully you should be able to see the very low floor at the back of the vehicle which made these busses ideal for being made into race transporters. That wonderful roof addition was to carry all of the Toleman F2 spare wheels and tyres !

Cheers
Rick

Very interesting , good pics , thanks Rick
Regards Bjørn Kjer

what a beast!

rick, this is what the bus guy has found out about your val

'I have checked this out & the details are as follows:
NWR 788D chassis No 6868971, body No CF 1422 a VAL 14 with Duple Midland (DN) body. (Note Duple took over the Willowbrook factory at Loughborough & then built under the Duple Midland name). Its really a badge engineered Willowbrook.
It was new to Wigmore of Dinnington in Nov 1966 & was last known with a Mr O'Brien of Horizon Racing Team, Warrington by 3/82.'

from looking on his website (http://www.bedfordgathering.com/wakefield/index.htm) there is only one other survivor with this body style (less the roof box!) - this was also new to the same owners who bought yours!


hope this helps

rich

I would also like to thank guru for btinging this up! Isnt that also the old Toleman colours ,white and pale yellow , or so ?
Regards Bjørn Kjer

Thanks Guru

That info is really interesting, I could not see the other Dinnington Val on the linked page though, where would I find it ?


Dear Bjorn

Yes the Toleman colours were a mix of Dark Blue, Pale Blue, orange and white. The toleman livery can still be clearly made out under the current yellow paint on the bus.

Cheers
Rick

rick

i dont think there is a uploaded picture of it, the owner is listed as r parrish (i think).

i think they are trying to add photos of all the survivers, though i havent sent one of my VAM in yet. There is a picture of the VAL i bought and chopped up for spares (its GBK 995E) and has a big yellow 'scrapped' marker next to it - man was it rotten!, as the low loader brought it back over the Humber bridge, the wind got under the alloy panels, a fair few of them and most of the loose stuff inside disappered into the river - its quite a drop as well! when is turned up the bodywork was held on with straps and 'emergancy' ropes - the driver of the low loader was less than impressed!!!!

heres a picture of another Bedford VAL race transporter, this one resides in Sweden, a mate of mine remembers the owner having both steering and braking issues with it when it was in use!

it needs a little attention now! :\

THANKS ....maybe you could elaborate a little more on the cars history, mods (if any) and what you have done with it ....sometime !

Not forgetting that for 1980 - when they were sponsored by BP - their colours were primarily yellow, over white & green!

And that was the colours in my mind!

The book 1 1/2 litre GP Racing 61-65 by Mark Whitelock says that Andre Pilettes Scirocco in 1964 where managed by Tim Parnell leaving me to presume it was transported by his team also., at least for the 2 GPs where it was entered.
Regards Bjørn

I have the original 1969/70 MARCH f1/2 car race car transporter that was built in England on a British Ford 56 Passenger bus chassis, left hand drive. I am trying to document it's history. It was built for the March Engineering Formula 2 Racing Team by Reall Coachbuilders (1967) Ltd.

This is all of the information that I have on this vehicle. I would like to know who owned it after March, who brought it to the United States and when, and who owned it in the US.

I sure hope someone remembers this vehicle.

Thanks...Bill Allen, upfrontcoolers@dslextreme.com

Chassis: Ford
Serial Number: BC04JB46822
Model: R266
Axels: 2
BHP: 150
RPM: 2400
WB: (wheel base) 266”
Booster: B
Trans: M
Axel: B B D
Gross Vehicle Weight: 26,100 lbs
Front: 10,300 lbs
Rear: 15,800 lbs

Chassis supplied by:

Victory Motor Co.
Cheltenham, England
Ford Main dealer

Coachwork:

Builder: Reall Coachbuilders (1967) Ltd.
Windsor, England
Body: 6531
DRG No: R.D.L 4094/68
Key No: WO 48
SX 60

Engine:

Ford: Dorset D Turbodiesel
Ltr: 6.0
C.I.D.: 363
BHP: 150
R.P.M.: 2400
Code: W
Engine Number: TI 683E 6015BA

Fuel Injection:

Pump: Simms
Model: F4897
Filter Housing” FH61

BMC Works Bus for sale in the USA





Click on the link below to see the advert....

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classi....php?carno=9227

The H&L Motors/Ecurie Galloise/Jack Lewis racecar transporter was an Austin with 3 litre engine.

Two from Oulton Park 1976

LEC and Richard Oaten Team encampment

Team P R Reilly

I worked for PR Reilly at this time , the racing involvement was something we in Dublin knew very little about .

Will someone please explain post 4 to me . When I look it says Holger is busted! When I print it I get his pictures! If that "bust" is true , and this is keeping scans back from this thread I would like if you just could tell where to find pics of transporters(from books etc.) As to the desteny of Holger I will await some comments here!
Regards Bjørn
And all the support for Holger (but how?)

Bjørn
I assume you mean post 3. by Holger Merten?
I can see the two images OK, and also the web link at the end of the post works OK.. so what is 'bust'?
Image 1
Image 2
Rob

Interesting to see the Auto Union t/porter again, is this an original or a re-creation??

thanks, Rick.

Hi, I picked up this very interesting thread recently and would like to know if anyone has information or pics about this early 60's Lotus racing transporter. From the car on picture 2, it should be 1960 or 1961. Picture 1 (a Turner painting), it shows it has been used up until the Lotus 25 years. Is this a Bedford or a Bristol transporter ?

When Gerry Kinnane bought the Lotus 62 package he got the transporter , he swopped the cars back and it went back to gb as well , it was featured on the cover of The Meccano Magazine in the sixties , I have a copy somewhere .

IIRC the AUTO UNION transporter is based on an old fire engine of the period .

Hi Jean Pierre:
I found this photo in the Nostalgia Forum
I think is a Bedford.....

I do not know what is going on! Three times in the last 4 or 5 days its happened . Last time this morning at 10 oclock . I went to the start of this tread , because as onre or two of you might know , I like transporters(ha-ha). At post 4 which IS or was Holger Merten 4 pics of MB blue flunder : The screen was red , saying : Busted and prosecuted! go to Classics.com for more.
I did ,couldnt find anything went back , and there was the 4 pics of the MB again. After your post Rob , I have tried 3 times without getting that red screen! But try to look post 4 is missing! and if you think I am nuts then compare the text between the Auto Union and the next posts , and you will give me right!

Forgot to say I tried to copy the Red screen this morning , but out came post 4 Holger Mertens 4 MB pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!