Leyland Road train T45 | British Leyland | Vintage Truck | Wheels | 1980
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- čas přidán 2. 02. 2019
- The entire report featuring 'Wheels' reporter Pam Rhodes who takes a look at the new Leyland Road train.
Praised for being ahead of its time both technically and fuel economy wise, Pam Asks Truck Magazine editor Pat Kennet - how long will this accolade last?
Filmed in 1980
If you would like to license a clip from this video please e mail:
archive@fremantle.com
Quote: VT22629 - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Nice! From those happy days when TV production companies didn't treat viewers like 5-year-olds!
Pat Kennett, truck journalism legend & Leyland engineer Sadly missed!
My Dad built and maintained these trucks in the heyday of leyland Motors/ British Leyland. He was so proud of the company and his workshop helped with the development of the racing version with a tilting cab i believe. He also built the pope mobile, proud moments, sad Maggie gave it away to DAF.
Gave it away, or rather stopped investing tax payers money? Apparently they couldn't keep going without Maggie's help.
Maggie thatcher wasn’t prepared to keep wasting taxpayers money on BL she 100% did right thing by giving it to DAF, she saved it from going under that’s a fact!!!
Believe it or not, this was one of the best products Leyland made for the time. They made some damned good workhorses.
TheSaintST1 I'm from Leyland
Dont forget the sherper and the convoy!
Absolutely!...I would have one now...
It was indeed one of the best trucks, and should be again.🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
I took my HGV1 in one
One of the real tragedies of the collapse of BL car manufacture was that it dragged down the bus and truck industry too, despite good quality products and excellent exports.
I agree, I worked for British Leyland Truck & Bus Devision later renamed Leyland Vehicles all the investment went to keep the car side going with very little left to develop new truck and bus models
@@ronmccullock1407 Longbridge always was a moneypit and that can be squarely laid a Leonard Lord's door in the 50's-60's.
In fact Leyland is still going in India where it is well regarded. Optare buses, made in Yorkshire, are owned by Leyland India.
@@stevetaylor8698 Yeah I lived in Qatar for a couple of years and they imported quite a lot of 'Ashok Leyland' buses.
But Trucks and especially Buses had their issues for Leyland, the main reason the Daimler Fleetline was adopted as the Leyland DD when BL was formed, was the poor reputation the Atlantean had earned with operators. The Trucks and Buses were to follow on with issues from the AEC V8 and Leyland monobloc engines poor reliability and performance and of course we then have the debacle that was the Leyland engine that powered more often than not, failed to power the Chieftain tank . Given these issues it is hard to see how Leyland could have taken on the continental rivals with or without a car division issues.
what a beautiful design.. still looks great. Love how the black deflector with the leyland marque tilts when you open the grill.
Great design alright- but I don’t know if she’s still look great though…oh sorry you’re talking about the truck😂
Neat truck that looked to be decently designed and assembled. Having it presented by the cute and charming Pam Rhodes was a nice bonus!
The Thames TV theme tune from my childhood. Love it!!
You'll usually hear that iconic jingle on the BBC's Radio 2 Programme every Sunday teatime on the Paul O'Grady show heralding a Lost TVTheme by request of a specific listener who has put producer Malcolm Prince to an albeit arduous task.
I always think of Rainbow coming on next when I hear that...
To us Americans that intro means two words: Benny Hill
@@richards9407 lol me too... showing our age 😂
Thanx for a great vid, I used to work on these and Bedford TK'S at Randolph Motors,Kentish town,,,,long time ago,,,,,wishing all a great Sunday,,,,
I used to drive a TK ......on private ground when I was bout 15 .........
The cab !!!!!!!!
wow! how clear is this vintage footage. I was 7 years old when this was aired. I'm 46 now lol.
Well.i was 46 when this was first shown I'm now 7.
@@areyouserious3092 born March 73. Fascinating year.
Used to love my roadtrain , we had the big cab , with the 14 litre cummins ! Great tool , had a sound of their own with the hummin cummins and the hub reduction noise , you could allways tell when one was coming past .
As a young American boy in the Pacific Northwest (Washington State), it was at this time (1980) that I was 7-8 years old, and I first began aspiring to one day be a Designer for a heavy truck manufacturer. In my case, there was a rather well-known one in my own backyard - Kenworth. As an adolescent/teenager, I collected brochures and books on trucks of both the US and those from around the world to build up my reference files, made numerous drawings, and built model kits of them. I wound up pursuing a degree in Industrial Design at University, and although I ultimately did not become a Transportation/Automotive Designer, I still have a considerable interest in trucks like this. It's interesting to note that PACCAR, parent company of Kenworth and Peterbilt (and based in my home state of Washington) later became the parent of Leyland Trucks as well. Thank you for posting this blast from the past!
Don't forget DAF trucks too
as a young man in 60,s the only large truck on road in NZ was the Leyland Octopus, 8 legger, nice looking truck, rounded it had 280 hp but it would have been a great truck, Cummins powered, earlier on we had Cummins /Pacific rigs pulling triple trailers on private roads in the KAIAGAROA forests, awesome sounds as the Jakes came on, in the silent forests, they were twin stickers, spicer deep reduction diffs, we pushed em away off of the skids with a D7
In 70s I trained with Cummins here in Au, most rigs used the 855 engine right through, the engine being so relable, only just be passed by the x15
Aussies like the American trucks cos they look macho, bur Euros are more advanced, Scania vee engines doing hug mileages, better cabs, safety, noise levels,
If i were trucking probs go Scania, certainly in those countries were length matters, long bonnets look fine, try that in say Europe
Thank you for sharing. Love vintage trucking videos.
Thank you, for a longer post like this one.
Up here in Scotland the saying was go south in one , and come back by train, that’s why they called them the roadtrain , but saying that my brother brother had one and never had much trouble with it.
is a brother brother an incest thing? IF so no wonder the SNP has support!
We own a rather rusty and trusty 1987 7.5 tonne Leyland Roadrunner still going strong(ish) after 31 years!
*Nearly 7 Minutes !!!!* Thank you Thames TV for "The entire report", hopefully the start of a new trend of longer videos!
Women were cute back then. Softly spoken and very little makeup, sexy without having it all out.
They knew their place !
And I bet she's got a hairy chuff to boot.
@@monkehbitch you bet she has! We all did back then.
Lesley Judd
Lots of f'narr f'narr in this. Unbelievable!
Loved splitters...hated that handbrake...always nipped my skin.
Drove a T45 well impressed with it..
The Dungarees on the presenter and the side parting and sideburns on the guy at the start could not be more fitting to a video from 1980!
And don`t forget the Truck!
It's quite hard to change up, proceeds to carry on without changing gear revving the balls of it.
Wow - This takes me back. I learnt to drive in one of these
drove about in a leyland recovery truck for years in the 90`s and into the 2000`s was the most realible thing on the road imo.
it was the most reliable thing on the road... until it broke
A truck that you can actually 'feel' when you drive it.
Unlike the modern automated shite......
We had 2 buses at school, '79 & '82 and they never broke down until a teacher put the the fan through the radiator on the '79.
@@JonasOnAutos But easy to fix!
Trucking with Pam, what more could one want.
Replace first two letters of Trucking.
🤣😂@@jamesfrench7299
Drove them for Brs, without a DCPC,don't know how we managed in those days.
Great video i was 1 year old when this was filmed
that's one friendly looking road train
I was working for WBS Transport at the time the T45 came out. The company had one of the first ones off the line (vin number ended in 45!) Fitted with Leylands TL12 engine and 10 speed Spicer splitter gearbox. Drove well, cab noise was insulated well, and good ergonomics for the time. Brakes very good and plenty of feel. Did not like the seat base much, it seemed too long and right into the knee joint. Presenter made me smile...obviously not HGV trained, no neutral check before starting, handbrake off before selecting a gear, and no upward change with the lever, just a split, that’s TV I guess.
Couldn’t stop them ! Great on fuel but terrible brakes
TL12, a development from the AV760 steve, AEC engine.
francis diamond Yes I recall the AV760 was in the AEC Mandator and although non turbo it pulled like a train.
She never got into third gear bless her!
Remember this from the 'I like trucking' sketch on not the 9 o'clock news.
Things I remember about that sketch: a funny, catchy song, a 4 axle Leyland and Pamela Stephenson.
Oh god yea! 🤭
I like trucking and i like to truck..lol
I'm sure in that vid there's a error when the handbrake applied and the lorry is still moving
The Leyland tipper was owned by Rowan Atkinson that was his own truck he has a class 1 license
Very clear video and audio. Don't know where the mic is fixed. All the colours are natural. Nice one.! 👍
It's how it was done in those days, we expected it.
Love a ride in a nice lorry like that, and with an handsome lady driving as well. Pam looked lovely sitting in that cab I think.
It was advanced compared with the UK manufacturers such as Foden and ERF, but it was way behind what Scania and Volvo were bringing to the market at the time particularly in terms of power train and sleeper cabs. The key weakness though, was that with no continental service network, it was only suitable for use within the UK, so could never hope to achieve the sales volumes of its competitors in the wider European market.
I get the feeling Leyland Trucks were always hamstrung by BL at large, despite making more profits than the light cars division, cutting into product development for a global market.
Either that or they were simply just thinking too small.
Another point perhaps: It's a bit weird but until the last two decades, rightly or wrongly, I always had the perception that manufacturers in the UK in general between the 70's and 2000 weren't that good at identifying needs in a global market (not just the easy ones) and fulfilling it accordingly. Everything seemed to be produced for a domestic market. British Rail Engineering Limited is another company that springs to mind. Lots of products but you'd never see them elsewhere... just a thought.
@@EdgyNumber1 You actually touch on many factors.
1. Leyland was not that profitable, it was at best marginally profitable that expanded rapidly by taking other marginally profitable truck and car brands in the post war years . The was a bigger but still only marginally profitable business.
2. The Truck and Bus business was very UK and Empire centric, result of much more highly developed railway network and post war nationalisation and control of road haulage meant that UK road freight did not develop to the extent in Europe and most notably Sweden, which little railways relatively big countries to population size so had a demand for big trucks, most notably the logging industry and manufacturers that needed to export into Scandinavia and Europe to survive.
3.BMH (BMC &Jaguar) was actually much more European and Export focussed than Leyland was with only Triumph having a strong US presence, Lord Stokes (Leyland MD) ambition was always to dominate the UK market and Tony Benn desired a UK National car company and famously was hostile to the Common Market, so the creation of British Leyland was very UK focussed. No accident that the first major product was the Morris Marina, a car with a focus on the UK fleet market and little European potential. Another early product was the National Bus, a product built for the state owned National Bus Company, which in addition also bought Leyland Leopards. Another key product the Leyland (formally Damiler) Fleetline double decker was another UK product for UK local authority bus companies.
4. The Empire Markets were lost as UK influence declined and of course the US and Japanese companies moved in as post war US loans were dependent on these markets being opened up to global trade.
@@grahamariss2111 In general European state control and central planning of everything transportation has been really limiting.
Your later point often occurs upto this day. Hopefully Brexit will kick the Govs arse an force them to take exports more seriously !
A few years after this video was shot the famous IVECO Turbostar set a new standard for the whole industry. Anyway, this mid range trucks features were incorporated by continental manufacturers like IVECO/Magirus-Deutz/Fiat already years before this video was shot.
Did she ever get out of 2nd or is she still out there reving the arse out of it?
@Ron P Not crash box. It was a Spicer 10 speed constantmesh box.
She didnt want to show us her double de clutch skills even with an empty motor on level ground
Road train? I can just hear all the aussie truckers laughing in the back ground. 🤣🤣
They sold them in Australia!
What a bag of shit
Drove her in northern Ireland when she visited our regiment lovely lady then spent many years driving the road train for Tesco with the twin splitter fantastic motor don't knock em
Superb! Just a shame she didn't give us a demonstration of all 10 gears on the Spicer box.
Notice she didn't attempt proper gear changing. Probably couldn't double shuffle.
I take it that was the AEC AV760 derived Leyland TL-12 I was hearing. It sounded like it.
Very sexy watching her drive!
Great looking truck.
Yeah. Beautiful lady. Thought she looked lovely sitting in that cab. I would have loved to sit next to her in that truck.
sorry james, i posted the same before seeing your post, i worked on many of them, a beautiful engine.
@@francisdiamond7540 funny the truck cab reminds me of the Mercedes V series trucks and the 760 makes a similar note to the Mercedes V6 diesel used in the V series.
Love the Leyland...!!!😁👍
Paccar not only bought Leyland & DAF but also pur- chased Foden & made it into a custom builder. Paccar chose the DAF truck line as it was a bigger seller in Europe. The smaller DAF cab- overs are used for city delivery Kenworth & Peterbilt trucks here in the U.S.A.
Good for Pam Rhodes, she handled that rig very well 😀
Er ........ she was only going in a straight line and travelling about 30mph🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
First lorry I ever went in, still iconic now.
I remember seeing these on the road back in the day, they never rocked my world, I always preferred ERF
Or Foden, Atkinson, Guy. Might not have had all mod cons, but the Fodens with the 12 speed box and a 180 or 240 Gardner just kept going. Guy with Gardner and a DB box that might as well have been synchro' for the smooth way it changed. Watching the rain come in through the gap between the door and the cab in the Atki Borderer etc was such a joy. :-)
Old Bloke Fodens were great workhorses 👍
Timeless design cab, awesome
Love the benny hill intro music..thanks
When she said a bunk up in the back , she lost me !!
When the Thames opening jingle played, I immediately started singing “well you know my name is Simon, and the things I drawl come true...”
"This beast coming up behind you" how times have changed ha.
We had a fleet of those clunkers at SW Gas. My best work days was when I got a rental Volvo or Scania.
Wow, dhe was cute! Hard to imagine she's probably well into her sixties or even seventies now..
Yeah crying shame 😭😹😹
Some ladies at that age are still sexy.
I have one across the street who makes me hot.
Having been a avid LEYLAND T45 Roadrunner user for years and still a FA45 operator these trucks looked modern at the time of introduction as did Ford cargo in 1981 but when compared to a SCANIA 2 series P or R cab they were years behind as proven when she didnt make a full shift with that Spicer box. The ride was HARD the gears HARDER to find cleanly and the back axle howled like a dog but multi fleets like the post office had hundreds. The build quality of all the range got worse when daf got their claws in the company as proven with the 620 engine so there is no wonder SCANIA are still making trucks for and around the world today!
I had forgot about the rear axle, but now you mention it I can still hear it singing and howling from 38 years ago! It’s odd but I can’t remember other Leylands I worked on at that time like Marathon, Buffalo, Lynx etc, ever making that racket.
@@stevestace3921 That axle i believe was designed by Maudslay years earlier and i can remember a south Yorkshire fleet, Barbers who pulled for Netto stores having black hi datum T45s and their trucks howled like dogs until be retrofitted with rockwells
Far better than any syncro gearbox once you learned how to use it!
@@SimonSNJ I know drivers who float fuller 14613s asleep but chisel teeth on a spicer
Still have the PR pack for this somewhere. It was in a silver plastic folder with all the brochures listing the spec inside. I wonder what they go for on ebay.
A lot of money
3:05, aerodynamics?? Look at the trailer it's pulling. Very aerodynamic 😂
One thing that Leyland was great in where their commercial vehicels.
A lot of public transport coaches and Daf trucks had a Leyland drivetrain in Europe.
Daf purched a licence to build that 6 cil. Leyland engine in the early 50's.
That straight 6 Leyland diesel engine is still used and updated in the DAF and Leyland Truck line of Paccar group.
In the Daf museum in Eindhoven you can see all the generations of that engine on display.
RHD versions are build as Leyland's and LHD as Daf's
The European Leyland and Daf models are to small for the US.
The US models are to small for Australia (Roadtrains)
So Paccar has 3 major divisions Leyland Daf for Europe, sout America and Asia
Kenworth and Peterbilt for the US
And Heavy duty Paccar for Australia.
British Leyland as a company sucked in the 70's but the name Leyland as Commercial vehicle brand deserves to live further on!
Pacer owns peterbilt and kenworth, not mack. Mack is owned by volvo
Paccar*
@@johnnywad9188 thank you for the correction!
I confused Mack with Peterbilt .
I corrected my Post.
They call themself Paccar 😉
www.paccar.com/
The engine on the T45 here is an AEC.
6:17 I'm sure she's seen a few very aggressive monsters coming up behind her in her rear view mirror!
oo er missus
Oh how times have changed
It'd be good if the complete programmes containing these reports were uploaded - they're getting huge numbers of views already but would be greatly received in their full format... - Please ThamesTV?
These trucks still looked fresh and modern in the early 90s.
They only needed to tweak certain aspects of it. In fact, they did. By the 80's Leyland were quite progressive in their thinking, asking staff to look for problems and suggest possible fixes. Customer feedback was important for them too (that didn't mean letting the customers do the testing.) The last of the true Leyland trucks were great workhorses and downright indestructible. And as you can see, service and repair could be done very quickly.
Am I right in saying Leyland were the first to come up with the flip-cab to allow fast, easy access to the powertrain? It would hardly surprise me if they did.
You're right - it was a design well ahead of its time. They were great trucks on the whole.
Brilliant trucks with top gearboxes unlike shite boxes of today
Good old 1980s did anybody notice no seatbelt
Terance, trucks didn't have seat belts until 2000, wasn't the law till then.
@@michaelbamber4887 Safety regulations 😪
@@breddary yeah, but they are handy to stop you falling off your seat in off road or just the craters that our tax pays for, I've not been on the cab floor for years!
Cool
😀
The bloke at the start doing his superhero pose!😁
He must of instantly killed a massive bulk of sales by stating it has a dodgy gear box.
The council I worked for in the 80s had 3 of them but they were 8 wheelers and badged as scammell, they were roll on roll off skip loaders fitted with rolls Royce 250 hp eagle diesels and fuller gearboxes, I liked them on the road but were a nightmare on the landfill site as the brake balance bar between the rear axles was to low and frequently got ripped off, our fodens were far better in that environment.
CB1000FP1 .I too worked for a council that had Scammel Hook Lifts and as you say they weren't good off road, they were replaced with Fodens which run rings round the Leylands especially the Octypus with that crazy fixed head engine that blew up for fun for no reason, this is what killed Leyland because the warranty claims were horrendous on that engine. Some of the Fodens had the Rolls Royce Eagle engine which was quite good once they got it sorted out.
@@davidellis279 our council standardized on eagle engines fuller boxes and I think rockwell axles on all our 8 wheelers apart from two of the fodens which had Allison 5 speed autos which could also be a bit of a pain on landfills
It was so good DAF bought the company and trucks are still made in Leyland where they always were.
Best day ever was getting a Volvo after one of these was like climbing into a Rolls Royce.
It would have been a later model though.
The Volvo F10/12 was the best.The Leyland was no match at all.
You Pommies don't know what a road train is.
Greetings from Australia.
You Aussies don't know what a clean Criminal record is Neither
Greetings from Blighty ;)
Nor do you Aussie's know how to play cricket without cheating.
Paul Williams 😆😆😆
Roadtrains are a wicked sight........and real trucking, one trailer....(pfffft)
@@fasthracing yeah but were good at it mate!
My Papa worked for Leyland DAF in Bathgate, Scotland.
Love this film. I drove many examples of the T45 and I liked the design, was a nice truck to drive but the cab build quality wasn't the best.
Strange, we don't see them now, and didn't see them much in the 90s
Pam looking delightful
Good old motors them had one on the council a dust cart E reg used to work on a round then Romford market it was over 20 years old when retired still going
Passed my class 1 in this very model 😂 bit different to S730 I drive today
They was ok but you needed a saddle strap cause they used to bounce all the time?to make the ride comfortable it had extra springs on the cab ?but it was a upgrade say from a jt guy ?
Roomy cab? LOL! That's more of a day cab than anything. I drove a White/GMC flattop single bunk cabover in 1992 that had more room.
One of the best trucks in the world.🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
We really need to bring British Leyland Motors back to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲
Summon them back from the past and continue building from where they left off.🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲
You could not see me driving any other kind of truck.🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲
Leyland Roadtrain: Hip hip hurrah!🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
The world's best truck.🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲🇭🇲🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇬🇧
You'll have to talk to PACCAR (which owns its intellectual rights) about that...
Running successfully India
@@neo3823 These trucks can still be found in India? Please confirm🇬🇧🇬🇧🇭🇲
Very good presenter I reckon. 👍
...into the turn of the century. If only Leyland were still going.
aww they gave it a friendly face lol , yea just what your 80s rough tough trucker wanted .
RIP Pat Kennett.
Great bloke. Used to love reading all his articles in the old truck mags years ago!
Pat was a legend
Calling it a road train is a bit of a stretch
Never seen these road trains running in Australia. Mack was the most popular in the late '70's early '80's. As a road train I would have thought they would have shown it towing at least 3 trailers.
Road train is the model of leyland, not an actual roadtrain you'd see in aus
@@lawd2t12belfast So why include the word train if it isn't? With the shortage of drivers, it looks as if Britain should at least permit B doubles.
Used to drive one!go by road.come back on the train😂😂😂😂
Doesn't look aggressive, sounds like a devil in pain when you don't change up.
The Roadtrain came too late to save BL, the cabs rusted and only one engine at first
Pam Rhodes, songs of praise
....and in 1987 Leyland is bought by DAF trucks, which in 1998 is acquired by Paccar
she went on from doing this 2 songs of praise what a differance
Did she ever get out of 2nd gear??
Hard to believe that serviceability was once a selling point.
Hello my TÜRKEY love Leyland..
Damn... I thought she was gonna start grabbing gears haha
I used to drive one for boddingtons.
I learnt to drive hgv in an aec constructor
She's adorable!
Surely back then, in 1980
$64,000 question on a 30,00 pound truck! (sorry don't have pound key)
"Aerodynamics" LOL WUT??? What Aero??? Its a FLAT BOX
Yeah, it's called brick style aerodynamics doncha know.
It's not a featureless box. There are all kinds of ways drag can be reduced on the surface.
Look at the Marathon, T45 was aérodynamique
3 steps to heaven lol
I LIKE TRUCKING
I LIKE TRUCKING
I LIKE TRUCKING
........and I like to truck (a ride for a RIDE)
Not The Nine o'clock News
tim priddy - And if you don’t like trucking tough luck!
Passed my hgv1 test on a roadtrain
New clutch brake needed after she stomped the pedal to the floor.