Ford D Series

I’m having a Ford frenzy
What years was the D Series offered?
As a kid, I don’t recall any as prime movers, only flat tops.
Did they have an inclined engine?
Or was it a standard up & down job, just flopped over?
Hooray

You could get all sizes from D200 up to the D1000 with a V8 Perkins or a V8 Cummins .........the smaller D400 s with a 6 cyl petrol 240 or 300 ... the 8 tonner D 750 or D800 wit either slant 360 or a 354 Perkins  and then the numbering changed to D1212 ,D1414 ...D0914 etc.  with the slant 360 ,365T and 380 Ford diesel  .......immensly popular truck ,must have sold  millions of them .....possibly the first budget priced truck with a tilt cab ..............and there were prime movers ,TNT had hundreds of D1000s with V8 perkins

Here is a quick one

 

Reading the plentiful information on Ford D trucks in UK. Seems they were pretty popular giving the Bedfords and Commers a run for their money in the working class section of the market. They often mention the 
quality" section of Foden/AEC/ERF just why those brands deserved this classification escapes me. I suppose in a country that limited trucks to 30mph from 1935 then from the 60's to 40mph on motorways before finally going to 50mph in 2015 the underpowered "quality" snails won out with longevity. It did not matter much because when the Volvo F86 arrived followed by Scania a bit later it almost single-handedly put the British truck industry to the sword.

 


 

PMG / Australia Post had D series pantechs with a lazy axle ,so near 18 ton gross ,with the 240 petrol motor and the 8 speed ''suitcase box'' .........seriously underpowered ,but they had lots of them............the suitcase box was an interesting idea ,Id say thhey were probabbly made in Germany by Eaton ......anyhoo,in the same casing was either a 6 speed  normal synchro ,or an eight speed range change .........possibly   the  weirdest thing was that the layshaft gears wernt keyed  ,but shrunk onto the shaft ......so you couldnt replace just one gear .

speed limit in UK for trucks on motorways which were being developed in late 60's and early 70's was 60mph at which stage the Gardners were found to be breathless. Overtaking was a game as they weren't allowed to use outside lane.

The Ford D series had the 'elephant ears' mirrors on a frame that was easy to retract for tight situations. So called because of large size and grey colour. Probably not seen in Aust because of archaic design rules (off side was convex).