Gas Turbine Trucks! Alan B recalls driving the gas turbine Ford and Leyland. Only the very best trucking history on Biglorryblog!
'Gas Turbine Trucks' time again on Biglorryblog and I have the 'Peter Pan' of Her Majesty's Truck Press Alan Bunting to thank for this. I had a chat with Alan yesterday about perhaps supplying Biglorryblog with some memories of his time on Commercial Vehicles the 'other' UK road transport publication which existed in the late mid-60s (and possibly even longer I must ask Alan!) alongside Motor Transport and Commercial Motor. And blow me within 24 hours he sent me this account of a test drive he did of the original Ford W series 6x4 development tractor with a 375hp gas turbine engine that was brought over to Blighty in 1969. And here is the article and it's absolutely fascinating. The 'test' was along the old M2 and I have saved the pages in Expando-Vision' so you can read them in a larger format just by clicking on them...but wait for there's more if you click through here you'll see a bigger picture of the test truck....
And I reckon this is the truck that Alan drove..the picture was sent to me a while ago by 'The Brochure King' Richard Stanier who says: "This the Ford W Series gas turbine conversion which was used in Britain (with British plates) in 1970 for operational testing, but like the other turbines it would appear to have been a dead-end." Well the date certainly chimes with the fact that Alan drive it in October/November 1969.....
Just think....if it had been a sucess Dagenham Motors would presumably have ended up selling it!
I hadn't thought about the emissions side of it that much but it seems it was a major issue even back then...Anyway just when you think it can't get any better guess what? Yes Alan also sent me a similar article on the drive he had in a Leyland Gas Turbine from the same month! Talk about spoiling you!
It's interesting to note that on both occasions neither Ford nor Leyland could arrange a test load for their gas turbine trucks....coincidence, or what? So did anyone ever roadtest/drive the Leyland Gas Turbine as a full, loaded test truck I wonder?
Alan's final parting sentence tells the full story.....
"It has yet to be shown that the turbine has any positive advantage over an equivalent power diesel engine other than its weight and ease of maintenance..." I guess 42 years later it's the same thing...or is it? And thanks Alan for such a great response to my request.