Fifty Shades of Tarmac: Adventures with a Mack R600 in 1970s Europe


Book Description

It was 1972. It was summer - and the living was easy! Arthur Jackson has a good job, no ties and no responsibilities, but it is not enough - he wants adventure and he wants to see the world!Based on the author's real life experiences and illustrated with photographs from the time, Fifty Shades of Tarmac tells the fictional story of how a naive young British truck driver obtains his first job driving a Mack on the continent of Europe. His first trip with all its pitfalls and novel experiences takes him from Rotterdam to Bremerhaven via Moutiers and Salzburg and then back to Rotterdam. It is told with humour, introducing a number of colourful characters, and providing a personal and unusual insight into the life of a truck driver in the 70s at a time when Europe still had frontier posts and custom restrictions.It will be of interest to truck drivers, Mack fans and other transport enthusiasts and those who simply want to learn more about the social history of Europe in the 1970s.




Fifty Shades of Tarmac: Adventures with a Mack R600 in 1970s Europe


Book Description

It was 1972. It was summer - and the living was easy! Arthur Jackson has a good job, no ties and no responsibilities, but it is not enough - he wants adventure and he wants to see the world!Based on the author's real life experiences and illustrated with photographs from the time, Fifty Shades of Tarmac tells the fictional story of how a naive young British truck driver obtains his first job driving a Mack on the continent of Europe. His first trip with all its pitfalls and novel experiences takes him from Rotterdam to Bremerhaven via Moutiers and Salzburg and then back to Rotterdam. It is told with humour, introducing a number of colourful characters, and providing a personal and unusual insight into the life of a truck driver in the 70s at a time when Europe still had frontier posts and custom restrictions.It will be of interest to truck drivers, Mack fans and other transport enthusiasts and those who simply want to learn more about the social history of Europe in the 1970s.




The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road


Book Description

“There’s nothing semi about Finn Murphy’s trucking tales of The Long Haul.”—Sloane Crosley, Vanity Fair More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then he’s covered more than a million miles as a mover, packing, loading, hauling people’s belongings all over America. In The Long Haul, Murphy recounts with wit, candor, and charm the America he has seen change over the decades and the poignant, funny, and often haunting stories of the people he encounters on the job.




Ford Transcontinental at Work


Book Description

This is the full story of the Ford Transcontinental - affectionately known as the Transconti - a big lorry, magnificent to drive and unusual in its time for its Eaton-Fuller gear-box and a high-spec cab. The Ford Transconti nearly got it right; nearly made a profit for Ford. Never-the-less, the Transconti remains a memorable model, loved by truckers and truck enthusiasts alike. For Patrick's new book celebrating the model he has gathered over 200 photographs to show the truck in its full glory over the years and in a variety of liveries and locations. Each photograph has an extensive caption. When read together these give the complete story of the introduction, development, and decline of the model. There is extensive information on bodywork and engine specifications, the little differences that changed over time and the details which made the model so special to those who drove it. Photographs show the trucks at work abroad and there are many shots of them on the productions line. To set the Transcontinental in context, Patrick also considers the models which came before and after. Patrick's informative and friendly writing style gives the impression of sharing this story with a fellow enthusiast. The entertaining foreword is by George Bennett.




Where's Sharawrah?: A Truck Driver's Adventure Across the Arabian Desert


Book Description

Three articulated trucks load in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: two Volvo 4X2 European road artics and a Mercedes 6X6 desert artic. Their destination is Sharawrah, somewhere south of The Empty Quarter. Seven days to travel a thousand kilometers, a third of which are open desert. Seven days that will turn into seventy.... This is the true story of Gordon Pearce, an English truck driver determined to get the job done. With the help of Bedouins, he crossed three hundred kilometers of unpredictable desert in the height of the summer of 1978. Aside from the physical challenges, he also has to battle bureaucracy and begins to dread hearing the word bukkera (tomorrow). Told in an ironic modest style and illustrated with photos from that time, Where's Sharawrah? is a captivating book for vehicle enthusiasts and anyone who is passionate about truck adventures. [Subject: Memoir, Transportation]




Foden Export Vehicles


Book Description

After 1945 many countries needed new vehicles in order to replace those that had been destroyed or worn out in the war and so British factories were offered incentives to produce and export lorries. Foden were one such company to take advantage of the opportunities available and in the 1950s, had agents in almost every West European country. In the 1970s when the European market had declined, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa markets rose to prominence and from the 1980s onwards, New Zealand became the primary destination for the marque. By the time production finally ceased in 2006, they had sold vehicles all over the world. The vehicles produced for export differed greatly from the designs used in Britain. In many countries the gross weights of vehicles exceeded the British values significantly, so the majority of Foden export vehicles had much stronger chassis, gearboxes, axles, suspensions and more powerful engines than their British counterparts. Many also had tropical double roofs to keep the heat out and sleeper cabs, long before they became common in the UK.This comprehensive book detailing the lorries that Foden exported around the world, follows on from the publication of the author's first book about the Fodens produced and used within the UK (Foden Special Vehicles). It includes 364 fascinating photographs, many of which have never been previously published and will be of interest to all Foden fans and transport enthusiasts in general.




Lorries of Arabia 3: ERF NGC


Book Description

A must for all ERF fans, this is the third and final installment in The Lorries of Arabia series. While the first book paid tribute to ERF’s world-class long-haulers in the Middle East and those who drove them and the second book went on to explore the fortunes of this legendary machine, this final volume is a continued narration of an unfolding history in the 1970s and 1980s of a premium tractive unit model. With new findings, new details, new insights, and new pictures, readers of the first two books will surely enjoy the final volume of this acclaimed series. Containing a full register of all the 91 NGCs known to have ever been built, this is the enthusiast’s guide to the rugged, reliable, left-hand drive tractive unit forever associated with long-haul European and Middle Eastern routes of the 70s and 80s.




The Executive Tart and Other Myths


Book Description




Keene on Chess


Book Description

A complete step-by-step course which shows you how to play and deepen your understanding of chess.




DAF at Work


Book Description

Following the success of his previous book, "Scania at Work," Patrick Dyer takes a close look at another favourite of long haul drivers, DAF. Although now owned by the American company, PACCAR, and with links to Leyland, the roots of DAF trucks are firmly in Eindhoven, Holland. The company started truck manufacture relatively late, but in the early 1970s it took an industry lead with its flagship 2800. The 'Supercontinental' version, with its wide tilt sleeper cab with two full-size bunks and its powerful 11.6-litre DAF engine was a natural for long-haul work. The successor 3300 and 3600 models took the company into the 1980s, running alongside Scania and Volvo as a long-distance driver's favourite. The 330 hp engine suited it for the heavy-duty special transport that became a feature of the period. Patrick W Dyer, author of two books for Old Pond - "Scania at Work" and "Know Your Trucks" - works in the automotive industry and is based in Essex. His new book is rich in photographs from the 1970s and '80s.