1975 Atkinson restoration

prodrive wrote: Geez Sarge,
You've just brought back a whole lotta memories there- although mine was a MK1, which looks slightly different to the one you posted?
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Sarge's photo is of a Preston Cab. I think the MK1 used the same steering wheel though.

hmm- I remember the steering wheel very well... The alloy would make your hands go black.. In winter, the truck was so cold you'd have to wrap up in a doona or sleeping bag so you could keep driving. And you'd need to simply hang on to one spot on the icy cold bloody steering wheel, in the hope that it would eventually get sorta warmer in that one spot. But it never seemed to. And a pair of socks jammed in the vents up on the roof to try to keep the wind down in some way shape or form! God it was cold
I used to wonder how they could build something so bad... And yet so hot in summer, just to make you work even harder!

True ,but the ally rims and steel spokes never cracked with plastic shrinkage ....I got one somewhere that had the four wire spokes and ally rim,made to last.....The Oz Atkinsons had ZF power steering ,dont think the poms ever fitted power steer on anything cheaper than a Rolls Royce car

Oilman Prod rive, quite right, mk one. Hot, cold, oily, noisy, Armstrong steering with 1/4 turn free play. Wee bit slower than a flash 1418 Benz, except on a good day when maybe even passed one. And would I do another melbourne brisbane in one..... yep. From this far away it would be a great idea.

Oilman, I dispair, your work is excellent, I am jealous of your skill and perseverance. I will go back to my dung heap and try a little harder.

I'm with you Sarge.. And yep John, the wheel never cracked, it certainly wouldn't have cracked from excess speeding anyhow. Mine was a MK1, 1970, ex Nestles Dennington. But I reckon my 180 Gardner must have been about worn out, I never passed any 1418's, they used to pass me, took em a while, but they did. Bastards!
Used to back off going over the top of Cunninghams's gap, and roll down all the way in second gear, it would just not quite nearly hold it back, so giving her an occaisonal dab on the brakes all the way down, at about walking pace.. (and usually had a few brave guys swishing past on their jakes at about fifty times faster than me- two Roadways / Taranto's blokes screamed past one day, I heard one say to the other on the CB "I'm just about outa brakes", the other replied "Well get off the bloody brakes and start driving the bloody thing like you should" ... )
And by the time I got to the bottom of the Gap, the temp guage would be absolutely stone cold, and I 'd give her the full throttle just to see the massive amount of white/ blue smoke come boring out the side..
I'll go with you for another Melb- Bris trip Sarge, but I reckon I'd be over it by about Wallan!

Let us know when the big Melbourne Brisbane crawl is on. Dee and I will set up a table on the side of the road near home and watch you drive by.

If you're so keen to have another run you could also swing past Crystal Brook so I could give you a wave too. What's a minor detour through South Australia matter when you're having fun? :lol:

Good one, PDU,
I'll drink to that.
I always say, when you get to the Princes highway, it doesn't matter whether you turn left or right, you will eventually get there.

A noteworthy Roman citizen said, "All roads lead to Rome"

The heater core was corroded out and I was able to identify that they were still made in the UK, so thanks to a forum member residing there I ordered 3 new cores to be made and they just arrived. Fitted up and installed tonight. For once an easy job that was actually easy. The heater tap was also stuffed and from photos it appeared to be identical to an XY falcon so I bought one on Ebay which wasn't cheap. When I went to fit it, it was identical to look at but it worked the opposite way ie needed to open when the cable was pulled, but it opened when it was pushed. I pulled it apart and was able to modify so it now works as intended.