Atkinson 1971 Silver Knight lorry. mp4

This is a 1971 Atkinson 'Silver Knight' timber crane. It spent most of it's working life as a tractor unit pulling trailers loaded with bricks and pre cast concrete buildings for it's original owner based at Aylesbury Buckinghamshire U.K. It has covered a considerable mileage with no reported breakdowns.The design dates back to the 1930's with a cab frame constructed of angled steel and timber. Early cabs were faced with 'tin' sheet but this was changed in the 1960's to the new fangled fibreglass. No air sprung seat in this cab and a young lorry driver of today may complain of the lack of power steering and pain in his left leg due to the lack of an air assisted clutch. No sleeper cab either for our pampered driver. His 'bed' consisted of a home constructed board placed on the central engine cover and supported by the seats. Oh and did I tell you that a cab heater was an optional extra in 1970..? Saying this the Atkinson was considered to be the 'SCANIA' of it's day with it's wrap round windscreen and relative comfort compared very favourably with vehicles from the previous decade. It is surprisingly a pleasure to drive and the old vinyl seat is very comfortable. The engine has a powerful roar that was music to the ears of a 'traditional' lorry driver of it's day. The gearbox is a David Brown six speed constant mesh i.e. no synchromesh, requiring the driver to match road speed to engine /gearbox speed to enable smooth changes. This driving procedure is known as double declutching and would open a whole new world to our young driver.Get it wrong and you crunch the gears horribly [Ha Ha!] or come to a complete stop before you could once again engage first gear and start all over again! The engine is a road modifed Gardner 180 bhp which was widely used in marine applications, very reliable and economical. It's original design dates back to the 30's and were produced in four, five and six cylinder versions. The engine design slowly evolved with improvements made where a definite modification would improve efficiency and build quality. This ensured reliability which is probably the most important factor in the haulage business. The cost of diesel fuel back then was not the problem as it is today.180 BHP sounds very small compared with the 400bhp engines found in modern lorries but it easily pulled a 40 ft trailer and formed the backbone of the heavy haulage fleets of it's day. ERF and Foden were also noted users of the Gardner engine particularly with their tanker and tipper bodied vehicles They are not a fast engine but pack terrific torque relying on the skill of the driver and his use of the gearbox to keep things moving. The exhaust tends to smoke a bit when first started but this soon clears when under power and the engine warms. I say warms because the Gardner is a very cool running engine.
With the arrival of the motorway network in the 1960's more speed was demanded by the hauliers and Gardner introduced the incredible straight eight 240 BHP engine for use in maximum weight vehicles and Atkinson began to offer the Cummins and Rolls Royce diesels as alternatives. Gardner engines were well loved by haulage companies and workshop mechanics but the days of the night trunk drivers slogging up the A1 were beginning to be a thing of the past. The white hot period of Gardner engined heavy haulage fleets was nearing it's end.
After retirement by it's original owner the vehicle was converted to a timber tractor and was used for this purpose for a number of years. It is fitted with a heavy Garwood winch driven by a 1955 six cylinder BMC diesel engine via its original gearbox. It is now in preservation and attends vintage vehicle and steam shows during the summer. Viewing the clip since upload I feel the driving bit is far too long so if you get bored, just fast forward through it! I hope you find at least parts of this video clip interesting. J.

[@paulwilson3083]

People who started thier driving careers on these types of lorry are the best and most skilled lorry driver's you will ever find, ok Volvo and Scania might have added a bit more comfort but they certainly dragged down the driving standards of lorry driver's and it certainly shows on our roads today.

[@davidellis279]

The Gardner 180 was probably the best naturally aspirated Diesel engine ever built, they were the most reliable piece of engineering of the day, no other engine could match their reliability but Gardner couldn't produce enough of them and vehicle builders looked elsewhere for engines and that's when Rolls Royce and Cummins saw their opportunity and went for it with more powerful engines. This was the beginning of the end for Gardner and then Scania and Volvo finished the job off with their great engines and build quality which finished the British truck building industry off as well, sad days but that's progress.

[@firglenchainsaws]

Fantastic video. Good to see and hear a classic wagon being given a good run! The driver can handle the 'box well. I remember plenty of these on the roads up to the mid 1980s,then they suddenly disappeared...sad. The Gardner and AEC engines had a really distinctive sound that you just don't hear on the roads anymore.

[@allthegearnoidea6752]

Great video. I learned to drive in one of these my dad had one I think it was the same model with the Gardener 180. I remember the pedal with the Atkinson emblem. From what I remember it was very easy to drive nice steering and good brakes. Much easier and faster than the Diamond Ts. I remember many long recovery trips sleeping on the engine cover I must have been 8 or 9.

[@69Phuket]

These beasts were lined up outside my school @73 (a new housing estate) You could tell they'd come a long way and were exhaling oil.....Beautiful smell from them. Never forget it! I missed out on steam..But not by much!

[@scopex2749]

I'm so old I remmeber thhese driving past my school everyday for years hauling artics and rigid 8's Chinese 6's etc! SUPERB but cant beat the sound of the 2 stroke Mickey Mouse Foden!

[@Bevoin1970]

What a gorgeous looking old girl, she looks stunning. I wanted to know what all the switches and dials were for, and I was hoping to actually see and hear her start up from cold. Lovely looking, and sounding engine though. Thanks for the ride, I really enjoyed that. :)

[@timothygreen4997]

When I first started driving goods vehicles crash boxes were common and remember driving Albion and guy vehicles fitted with them also sleeping across engine cowling on nights out had to fit your feet between steering wheel and gearstick,now they moan if night heater isn’t working . With power steering ,auto boxes and all the other equipment fitted nowadays it’s a lot easier life .I wonder how may would take up driving if they had the vehicles we had.

[@davidellis279]

Somebody mentioned the gearbox shift pattern,it was that way because it was an overdrive gearbox which were a bit of a rarity in those days as most had 5speed direct drive,this is the 6speed overdrive which gave it a better top speed of about 52mph depending on what size tyres were being used,they did this because the Gardner 180 was a low revving engine but utterly reliable and would do 1,000,000 miles without running out of breath now problem.

[@HummingLoud]

Looks in good condition. Enjoyed the video..

[@davidfrobel7582]

nice vidio,,i remember thouse in the UK when i was a kid,,now driving in the USA,,,ha ha,,gardener still making engins,,i loved them.

[@helioshaul3924]

Nice Truck Great Engine. THANKS.

[@MrSpinteractive]

that is one sweet ride! thanks for posting.

[@jamesiec61]

Nice video, great truck and very informative. Thanks.

[@countytruckservices2675]

Great Video.

[@secretspyfrog]

Mmmmm Yes Please!!!

[@billalbion]

The 6LXB engine developed 180BHP at 1850RPM the 8LXB made240 at 1850RPM both with 4.75inch bore / 6inch stroke same as 6LX at 150BHP at 1700RPM. Gardner had a heavier slower engine range for marine use, the L3 had 5.5 bore by 7.25 stroke from 900 to 1150RPM in 4 to 8 cylinders. Gardner developed new turbo engines to late and got left behind like many other British manufactures.

[@heavydiesel]

Thats made my day! I love it!

[@fj9fl61]

@vinylseat thank you for that.but i presume ,with decent traction,she would pull more?

[@trevski19]

Superb.

[@fj9fl61]

@nrs91 thanks.

[@trevortaylor2778]

Gardiner diesel power to weight ratio. Shocking.

[@bradfordlad9999]

ye i know its a 8 pot but as the motor only got a 6 speed gearbox

[@dieselbeema4255]

It has a Gardner 180 - grille badging and look at the shots of the injector pump and block - 2 banks of 3

[@robertjones-eb4xo]

Thank goodness Volvos and Dafs came along 70s !

[@fj9fl61]

what weight would she pull?

[@clivegreen7799]

joanne61 n

[@davidstopforth9960]

32 ton gross was what my dad said...

[@bradfordlad9999]

is that a 240 with a just a 6 speed box

[@dieselbeema4255]

It has a Gardner 180 - grille badging and look at the shots of the injector pump and block - 2 banks of 3 .

[@MrHarleyoldfart]

No it's a 180 with a six speed.

[@colinetheridge9345]

What a lot of noise and vibration, surely very tiring for the driver.

[@MrHarleyoldfart]

I think most of the noise wes from the camera.

[@seamusburke9101]

@@MrHarleyoldfart you must be joking, you'd be crippled and deaf from driving them bastard things. Oh and poisoned from the fumes

[@MrHarleyoldfart]

@@seamusburke9101 I'm neither crippled nor deaf, truckers were a different breed in the old days, Atki's were good trucks.