How to drive a Gardner 180 powered Atkinson vintage lorry

[@hughking66]

Neat. I cut my teeth on an ERF with a Gardner 180 and a six speed David Brown gearbox, hauling china clay up from Cornwall, for Richards and Osborn, (R&O),of Fraddon. Later upgraded to the same but with a two speed splitter box. It seemed quite sophisticated at the time! 😎

[@peterwalker6020]

Brilliant, you'll never know how much pleasure I got from watching this, I know I wear rose tinted specs looking at these old girls, but it takes me back to happy times years ago with good mates.

[@TheChrysler56]

Great Video Richard. Eddie is a master of his old Silver Knight. Just goes to show how engine power has moved forward since the good old days when these old timers tramped the UK in the 60’s. Those hills look very deceiving but Eddie and his Atki took it all in their stride. Power to the 180 Gardner. 🚛💨

[@roblane6368]

Most drivers these days don't know what a clutch is let alone how to double declutch. Fabulous vid, brings back so many memories for me of my driving days which seems like another lifetime now.

[@NigelBarnes1970]

Great video Mr B, brings back memories. No time to fall a sleep behind the wheel!

[@MGWilliams]

Best saying I've ever heard was... Gardner's are great in boats, as there's no hills in water! Great engine's though, I love my 6LXC.

[@cedarcam]

My Uncle drove one of these for Munro of Aberdeen, Aberdeen docks to London docks was his regular run, two days to get there two to get back. Although I sat in the cab once I never got to ride with him. No idea what engine his had but this gives me an idea of what his job was like.

[@glenford3839]

Brilliant , did my apprenticeship on 180 gardner in Atkinson great memories thanks for sharing this 👍👍

[@robertsmith9810]

Having used a Gardner 180 in anger never a fan give me RR265/300 any day enjoyed the memories nice truck

[@2.fresh767]

See this beauty every day, well whenever it’s out in the yard.

[@jodavies8952]

I remember those little green stickers on windscreen for zebraflex toughened,they were just about stuck to any screen back in the day👍

[@billalbion]

Good filming, compliments to driver, not many nowadays who can double clutch cleanly.

[@andrewholloway231]

Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant.

[@chrisgassor7962]

Lovely piece of film brings back memorys of riding shotgun to my dad when i was a teenager the only thing wrong with your film ....... it's at least 4 hrs to short

[@Johnsmith-zi9pu]

He is one of a few these days that can change gears!.

[@willspeck5588]

My dads first truck was an ERF with 180 Gardner and 6 speed David brown box, 8 wheeler from R Hansons of Barnsley

[@octopus680]

Good camera angles and nice driving 🙂 Great to hear that Gardner really working too!

[@Gearoid35]

Nice one great gear changer

[@darrenfarrell-bn2cb]

Double Clutch them and they Smooth Thank you For this Great Video.

[@POOLEYTONY1]

my dad had a 68 erf 180 gardner with a 6 speed. if i remember you had to pull the passenger window down and push back up.

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

Yes they are a common thing. Much like a classic train. As an owner it is things like the windows that make it for us also for the memories. 👌

[@deanwelsh5702]

Remind me ? Three air lines. Service , emergency , and ? I remember from going with my dad in his old buffalo but can’t remember why they were 3 .

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

@@deanwelsh5702 the blue one is secondary. Some times you would have a dead man brake in the cab. It would operate that line.

[@deanwelsh5702]

@ thank mr B . I couldn’t quite remember. I have fond memories of going with my dad first in an Atkinson boarder artic when I was 4 or 5 then a leyland buffalo then an erf b series then a leyland cruiser. He didn’t do nights out and the odd time he did they got him a hire truck. That’s when I experienced a Volvo f7 a daf 2800 and a Volvo f10 very exciting for a young lad . So much so that I passed my class 1 in 2001 and have been totally falling out of love with lorry driving ever since. 🤣

[@m0ogy]

Thanks for the video Mr B 🙂

[@BenjaminKuso-op6ob]

Well driven bro

[@tikatyboo]

RSF 243F, Atky Gardener 180 plus David Brown straight 6, drove this old girl for John Morgan t/port out of Tipton, on general haulage, Good memories. Anybody remember John Morgan Transport??.

[@paullloyd6821]

Nice video, I enjoyed watching it. In those days you had to actually drive the lorry, you always had to be thinking all the time. Am I in the right gear to go up this hill, am I in the right gear to go down this hill? I suppose it's the same today with the modern trucks, but maybe not to the same extent perhaps. I don't know but with modern trucks being either semi or fully automatic these days, a lot of the skill and art of driving trucks these days has been taken away. I've nothing against modern trucks, nothing at all, you've still gotta have your wits about you to drive them properly. But I think there was a skill and an art to driving the older trucks that maybe today doesn't exist anymore. Great video though and thanks for posting it. Keep on trucking 👍

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

Very true in every way. The only thing I would add is that if they were still like it today they would have to drive it. For me modern vehicles are soulless and no challenge and for me that would be too tiresome.

[@paullloyd6821]

@@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer Hello Mr B, thanks for your reply. I also think that roping and sheeting is another dying art these days when it comes to modern trucks. There's something about seeing a nicely roped and sheeted flatbed artic or rigid that looks neat and tidy. It shows the driver has taken the time and effort to do it properly. I've got nothing against containerization or curtainsiders etc nothing at all. But it seems roping and sheeting is becoming less and less common now these days. Never mind, that's progress I suppose. Take care and keep on trucking 👍

[@SimonPerry-cz4ke]

Rowing it along on the gear lever.

[@chrisg6086]

Not nearly as much as you would with a 220 Cummins and 10-speed Fuller

[@brianogrady7900]

Great vid men were men driving the trucks😢

[@jimspeed1388]

Do trailers get historic benefits of test exemption if there over 40 years old and not used for commercial use?

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

It’s a very grey area in my view so it’s must easier to test them

[@donaldhill2775]

Immaculate and a credit to you well done 👍 Can’t imagine why anyone favoured the poxy Gardener over the Cummins 🤔

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

The two side to the coin are that we did get home. Slower yes but we did and we hardly used any fuel. Plus you never have enough gears. But weight for weight the Cummins had the upper hand.

[@donaldhill2775]

@@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer Back in the day we’d buy anything cheap usually kipping across the seats as long as it had a Cummins in it, parts were cheap too, no Foden’s though, ugly buggers, Roller was a powerful engine but we steered clear of those as well… everything ran better on farm diesel ⛽️ 👍

[@peterwalker6020]

Cummings were a bit quicker, but remember that the gardner was made in England and kept British lads in a job, back then you didn't have any say what was under the bonnet, you had what the boss gave you.. I think the 180 was the last great Gardner engine, the 240 8lxb never really did it, but I think it was under hawker sydley control by then.

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

@@peterwalker6020 the Cummins was also make in the U.K. as well. Mine is a Scottish built one.

[@donaldhill2775]

@@peterwalker6020 I know a man who tried to tempt his drivers out of their old Scania’s into a brand new ERF Olympic… he couldn’t 😀 but I would say that if you bought a brand new Gardener powered lorry back then and cared for it you could probably drive yourself to the crematorium in it 👍

[@bobcrawford2105]

Thank you for showing this video. Needs skill to drive and change gears on those old girls

[@D7nielle]

Nice

[@alex5073]

Love it 🥰

[@alanoliver535]

Is yours a continental unit?

[@michaelmcgrath-r1m]

who needs two hands on the wheel ? Should not be driving such a beautiful truck or anything else for that matter

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

It is kind of. It is an Australian cabbbed Atkinson.

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

@@michaelmcgrath-r1m you must have very strong hands. Have you ever drove a vehicle without power assisted steering?