OK so lets include commercial and public use here. Lets have a few categories as well.
How old is the oldest vehicle you can remember recently spotting in commercial or public use?
Categories include -
Standard transport (ie cars etc).
Converted vehicles - such as scene of crime vehicles (luton van with lab inside?)
Specialist vehicles, such as the 1976 P reg baggage handling truck I saw at Gatwick on Sunday.
One man bands - Vans and other vehicles used for self employment.
Taxis
Buses (specially created because we all know that London Transport still have a few old dogs about)
Suggest the like farm vehicles and horseboxes are excluded, as these tend not to follow any pattern and are often re registered.
My starter:
Standard car - Probably (seen again at Gatwick) a J reg airside Ford Sierra. This was parked on the tarmac next to the plane we were stuck in for an hour waiting for the right size steps to unload us.
Converted Vehicle - Seen a few years ago, a police incident 7.5 tonne - on an N Suffix - makes it 1974 I guess.
Specialist vehicle - As above, a small electric locomotive for pulling luggage trolleys around Gatwick airport. 1975 P reg.
One man bands - the oldest I have seen for a while is that 1981 (x) reg pickup truck the local garage use.
Taxi - I currently see some Mondeos currently at Prefix N reg, so I guess whoever's driving them changes them every 10 years or so.
Buses - London Transport must hold the title here. A few of their fleet must be around 40 years old.
H
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I saw a HB viva, circa 1864 that's its owners only car and regular transport
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I read often, only post occasionally
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I saw a HB viva, circa 1864
I bet nobody can beat that!
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L\'escargot.
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Not current, but early 90's i was working for a contractor in Bath, and one of the competition were working across the road. Their truck was an immaculate Karrier truck, pre Suffix, therefore pre 1963. The story was that one of the previous generations of owners had bought a bulk lot, and used them up one by one.
As for cabs, i'm sure that i've recently seen J/K reg Carinas and Primeras in use in Bristol.
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One of the most impressive small operator old bus fleets still in everyday use in that owned by Emblings Coaches, who run 16 Bristol VR's dating from 1975 to 1981.
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Mike Farrow
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Taxi - D reg Volvo 740 (so 1986/7) spotted in Newport, Gwent this year. Also took a ride the same evening in an E plate E300D. www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=32285
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Anyone know if those fine old pre-war buses are still running in the Isle of Wight? They certainly were about 8 years ago, with their DL + 4 figure registration numbers.
I think IoW railways also uses retired London Underground trains, also dating from the 1930s.
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There is a black cab on a 85/86 C reg still working in London, i often see it on westminster bridge when i am coming back from St Thomas'
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North Wales Police had an "E" prefix Land Rover LWB, in the Barmouth area, until a couple of years ago rumour has it that it was "drownded" (to quote the Goons) a couple of years ago by an Officer who overestimated its wading ability. Perhaps a local poster can confirm.
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In South Italy recently I saw the Police driving Fiat Pandas. That's old shape fiat Pandas, when did they go out of production? 1989?
When I used to live in South Cheshire, the local school buses were C and D registration, i.e. C and D Suffix. So mid sixties (this was 1999).
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Our everyday second car is a 1964 Triumph 2000. It's cheap to run and very reliable.
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There's a florist in S Oxfordshire using an immaculate Morris Minor van - so that's got to be pre 1967.
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Private cars: Quite a few Morris Minors and VW Beetles still in use round here.
Also a 1920's Austin 7 and another Austin 7 van are seen regularly. Series 1 Land Rovers (1948-1958) are still seen in daily use too.
Until recently a local contractor was using a 1964 (B-suffix) Bedford TK tipper.
Cheers, SS
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(Cheating) There are several pre-war canal narrow boats that are still used for delivering coal - door to door to people living by canals. Admittedly the chaps who do this are self employed and not quite of the real world...
www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/depot.html
London Transport has a huge depot at Acton with the buses they cannot display in the museum at Covent Garden. I haven't been yet...
As well as their Routemasters (Ken has virtually got rid of all of them now, as they're not disabled-person friendly), they also run some properly vintage buses - RTs on a route or two in London where some of the younger Acton depot buses are allowed out on day release. Those RTs were first on the road just at the start of the second world war, and were withdrawn in 1979.
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"I haven't been yet..."
Open Weekend - this weekend.
For a ride on an old bus, checkout the Cobham Bus museum.
www.kevinmcgowan.org/
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What about the drays used by a London brewery to deliver beer to pubs and horse droppings to anyone en route?
How old are they?
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The dray or the horse(s)? Some of the beer is none too fresh either.
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Wadworths have fleet of 2 and 4 horse drays delivering beer around the Devises immediate area. Always v.smart & tidy , both horses and vehicles. They often appear at agricultural shows in the summer season. All goes against the advertising budget no doubt.
Aah 6X a delightful brew.
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In the early 90's I drove a 1948 Leyland double decker on service. Similarly I drove a 1952 Bedford petrol engined bus at the same time scale
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Now I think about it, when I used to commute on Network South Central, I'm sure the slam door coaches had a BC date.
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Now I think about it, when I used to commute on Network South Central, I'm sure the slam door coaches had a BC date.
And, owing to the lack of any superfluous complex systems were among the most reliable vehicles on the entire network!
Are the slam door trains still running, or have they all been withdrawn now? The last time I was at Eastleigh depot* was about three years ago - slam door rolling stock was very much in evidence then!
Number_Cruncher
* working! I'm not a train spotter - honest!!
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"Reliable" is a word to use with care when discussing Network South Central, NC!
It seemed in common usage by their management but not by their customers!
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I take your point!
One of the hassles of having automated doors is that, for obvious safety reasons, you end up with a large number of interlocks along a train, all of which must be working correctly before the train will set-off.
Whereas before, with slam door stock, once the train was whistled or signalled off the platform that was that.
I suppose that, over the years, the public demonstrated that they couldn't be trusted with a concept as simple as doors!
Number_Cruncher
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One man bands: A Mk1 Transit Pick-up. Virtually extinct these days.
Taxi: There are a few old Ford Sierras still being used in my town
Buses: Arriva Northumbria have quite a few golden oldies in their fleet. There are a handful of early 1980s Leyland Olympians being pushed into service every day, as well as some MCW 'metrobuses'. A few of these are cast offs from the London area. In light of some of the other comments about buses, it makes these seem cutting edge!
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Your OLymians are mere youths! In Liverpool they still used Atlanteans until fairly recently, though the bancruptcy of MTL sorted that out.
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J reg Sierra isn,t particualarly old,I drive a G reg.I am surprised by the old taxis,here,in Leeds, they are not allowed to use cars over 8 years old.
Saw an immaculate Bedford lorry in Bradford last year,circa mid sixties.
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In Bath one of the taxis - complete with Hackney Carriage licence plate, is an open horse-drawn carriage.
We had a holiday on the Isle of Man this summer and travelled on the electric tramway whose tramcars are between 100 and 110 years old!
Cheers, SS
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Frome Market Yard car park this morning - all letters are suffixes
Van den Plas Morris 1300 on E - concours condition
Nissan Figaro on P
Triumph Vitesse on C
Daimler 2.1/2L on C
Rover P6 on F
Marcos kit car on G
Jensen Interceptor on L
First four are local motors - not seen last 3 previously.
Happy Motoring whatever the letter Phil I
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