Vintage Roadscene Archive is a series of one-off publications taking a comprehensive look at key aspects of road transport history from lorry manufacturers, operators and industries. These publications are featured in a largely pictorial presentation, using the resources of well-known photographic archives, backed up by the memories of enthusiasts and industry professionals who were there at the time. Vintage Roadscene Archive provides an unrivalled wealth of information and period pictures go to make up an ongoing series which will build into a library of interest to all transport enthusiasts. With each issue you can be assured of interesting and informative reading, enhanced with top-quality pictures of various aspects in road haulage.
SHELVOKE & WHO?… • As Malcolm Bates relates in the following pages, the story of Shelvoke and Drewry is a fascinating one, even though it has a tragic ending. It’s a story that should, for him, be as easy to tell as falling off log. After all, for many years, he really was there. But, as he explains, the task was far more difficult than expected. How much of a personal slant should he spoon-in to describe some of the more ‘colourful’ events – and, more to the point, the disasters? Should he name names? List the failed projects as well as the successes? And what about the, what shall we say, ‘frosty’ relationship between ‘sales’ and the all-powerful drawing office? Are you sitting comfortably? This could be a bumpy ride…
‘PURPOSE BUILT’ FOR SPECIALIST APPLICATIONS • It’s not very often that a new company, starting from scratch with a single product, finds a successful niche in the market. Even less likely that such a company then grows into a brand with a Global reach. Especially when that single product was an unconventional, quirky little truck with small road wheels and no steering wheel. But as Malcolm Bates relates, thanks to the genius of it’s designer James Drewry, that product - the ‘Freighter’ – was the foundation on which the success of Shelvoke & Drewry was built.
THE ELUSIVE ‘E-TYPE’
THE END
“OI MISTER, WHERE’S YER STEERING WHEEL?” SD - THE TILLER YEARS • With no steering wheel and simple two-pedal control, the little SD Freighter was like no other commercial vehicle chassis available. As it didn’t feature a radiator on the front ‘apron’ panel, many thought it was battery electric-powered, but the reality was even more intriguing. The Freighter – or ‘Tiller’ as it was known - was powered by a transversly-mounted side-valve petrol engine, coupled to a semi-automatic epicyclic three speed gearbox, driving the rear wheels. With small diameter road wheels (solids to start with) and no bonnet to look over, driver vision and ease of entry was perfect for stop-start work. Malcolm Bates, himself the owner of a 1922 Freighter tells us more…
“DING DING, HOLD VERY TIGHT PLEASE!” FREIGHTERS ON THE FRONT. • Ask anyone even remotely interested in road transport history to list the number of books published on the products of Shelvoke & Drewry and the conversation will be a short one. “Wasn’t there a book with the red cover by Nick Baldwin and Bill Negus?” After that? A long silence. But it wasn’t by any means the first enthusiast publication to cover the products of this Letchworth-based manufacturer. The prize for that has surely to go to David Kaye for his August 1963 book, ‘Freighters on the Front’. Here, Malcolm Bates gives us a taste of what David had to say…
“PUT THAT LIGHT OUT!” - SD GOES TO WAR • As recent research by Brian Carpenter of the SD Enthusiast’s Club has confirmed, Harry Shelvoke liked to be thought of as an ardent Patriot. He had served in the Boer War and, as an astute salesman, made sure that local Councils were made aware that SD employed a large number of former servicemen in the works and, in keeping with the class structure of the day, a number of former Officers...