Leyland Contractors, ours and yours: Some Qustions

Good Day All,

Well, I've been here for a couple of days and nothing terrible happened, so I've decided to start my first new topic which concerns Contractors, and I mean Leyland Contractors. In so far I know, the Contractor was badged as a Leyland in two countries only: Oz and Israel. I've no idea why they were not sold as Scammells in Oz, but in Israel it had to do with politics (Scammells were sold to Arabs, Leylands to Israelis). Another thing common to both Israel and Oz was that both countries' armies used the Contractor as their standard heavy prime mover to transport the same type of Tank. However, there were differences:

One of ours (1973 war, Sinai desert. Pic courtesy of srulik500, an Israeli trucker who keeps quite a collection of pics), Trailer is a locally made Netzer Sireni 60 tonner. Other trucks are conscripted civvy street ones.

One of yours (from [ftp] www.aulro.com/afvb/remlr-general/63891-l...nsporter-photos.html [/ftp]).

Notice spider v disc wheels, RH v LH drive, different double roof (the long cab we also had - exactly 4 units...). Fast forward 30 years to Laos:

and

These all belong to Dutch heavy transport specialists Mammoet and were still in use in 2009 (! Maybe they were not as rubbishy as people say) according to a short entry on the BigLorryBlog ([ftp] www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-bl...working-for-mam.html [/ftp]).

I reckon the Contractors working in Laos are ex IDF, not Autralian Army (my Israeli contacts know nothing about this), but would be grateful for anyone confirming this, or at least letting me know whether you ever had LHD Contractors or ones with this type spider wheels?

FYI, by law, IDF vehicles do not stay in Israel once they're pensioned of, so they usualy are sold abroad, if not wrecked (now's the chance to own one owner, 35 year old DM800s by the way). What happened to yours?

Hope no one fell asleep yet:-)

Cheers

T

Hi Tatra, here in Melbourne we have a company that still uses a Scammell Contractor for heavy haulage and the have bought it to our truck display in Nov a few years ago .
The company is Hi Haul and this truck has a auto in it . Dave

Tatra
GuddayM8

Well cum to the udder side of the world

LOL

RE: Scammel pic of the Oz Army with 3 axle float
The float twaz made by Steco n the army had a lot of them

Dedlee I didnt think twaz auto me thort it twaz a 15RR n 3 speed joey box
also they had one set up as a water cart

me thinks they bought a few from the Govt auctions in Boxes n assembld themselves 335hp Cummins rings a bell

ButEyeDoSt&2BCorrected

LOL

Cya

[ch9786]

Swishman saw one of there Scammells in action in Willie town as a puller and the others were KW 's 3pullers and one pusher. Dave

Dave, Swishy,

Thanks for your comments. The IDF Contractors were all, as far as I know, Fuller equipped (there were a few civilian Contractors fitted with Wilson epicyclic g/boxes). I also have a feeling the 335s were built in Cummins' UK factory (which might explain the bad reputation they had).

Dave, is that Contractor white and blue in colour?

Swishy, that truck you transported also had disc wheels - I get the feeling this was standard for Oz-spec Contractors. FYI, many older Contractors in Israel also ended like this (water carts).

I take it yous never heard about any Aussi army Contractors being produced with LHD (just trying to make sure - I doubt it myself - what would be the reason for this?)...

For ref another (air-conditioned (!). Pic by same source as the one I posted earlier) Contractor, again during the 1973 war, this time on the way to the Suez canal obviously. Oh, nothing as nice as a Valiant for the MP escort: Peugeot 404 utes is what they used then, 4 banger and column shift



and that's a civilian one. This time, the barge is being transported from the Med to the Red Sea port of Eilat, a joke distance to you blokes I'm sure but featuring some very nasty descents and temps as high as you get in Oz.



Anybody else has any idea on whether Aussi Contractors ended up in Laos?

Cheers,

T

Tatra yes it's the Blue and White hope dont mind me askin what do you do for crust mate. Dave

Dave,

I'm the jack of all trades, the master of none... Let me see:

First part of my life:

- ship engineer (IDF and merchant navy. Big diesels)
- car and truck tin basher (usually the older stuff). Did mechanical when necessary also...
- classic car race support
- landscape gardener
- plumber
- community worker (well, that was a pert time job replying to people with psychlogical problems. I lost the job. Apparently, I was NOT supposed to agree with those who wanted to commit suicide).
- assorted useless activities.

Second half:

- mature student
- office dweller (let's just say I've convinced someone my degree means I've got some brains - I've managed to keep that charade up so far).

Cheers

T

Here B the blu n white one
I have hot linked it of The Brucemans flikr acct
Dont tell him
cos I think I got away with it
LOL


LOL
IfAllElseFails
Clik Here
www.flickriver.com/photos/bparo2003/sets/72157603338216155/
Cya

[ch9786]

Re the scammells
A mate if mine used to drive them in the army
He recons they were NTC 335 cummins
Allison semi auto with 7 fowards and 3 reverse or similar, and they
used to melt the transmissions all the time. The army soon got sick of them. He said they had realy big hub reduction diffs and they were low geared as the trans used to melt the alloy plugs. He recons
every time that he done a long trip in one it was guaranteed to break down.......... Mark

Yep, slow moving roadblocks all right, just a pain in the butt whenever you had to get around them. The convoys always travelled at the speed that the slowest vehicle was good for, they weren't allowed to travel in reverse, but $hit, it was bloody close.

Best thing the army ever did, getting rid of them.

regards greenie [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif]