Diesel Death Truck
Ihave a new workshop toy in the shape of a late 1970s Autotruck, a three-wheeled machine built for many years by RA Lister & Co of Dursley (better known for its stationary engines). They were mainly used for transporting parts and machinery around factories and were once very popular. Fork-lift trucks killed them off: why load a big casting onto a truck to move it across the site when you can just pick it up with a fork-lift and drop it exactly where it is needed? Most Autotrucks were either exported or scrapped for their air-cooled Lister diesel engines: survivors are rare.
My Autotruck turned up locally on Facebook Marketplace. I had been looking for an old dumper truck to restore: crank-start diesels have long fascinated me and I thought a dumper truck with a towing pole attached would be useful for moving dead vehicles around the yard. Then I spotted the Autotruck for sale, in a rather sorry state. It had originally belonged to British Rail and had ended up being used to cart horse muck at a large stables which had not done the drop-side rear body much good. Eventually it stopped working and was left outside to rot.
Having got it back to the workshop I set about seeing if I could make it move under its own power. The engine started easily after Dave the landlord had turned up a new wooden roller for the starting handle and I had repaired the broken ratchet using a spring salvaged from a Defender clutch cylinder. A new throttle cable came from the parts store (90/110 2.5 petrol) along with a return spring (Series clutch pedal). The seized gearchange freed up with plenty of oil, and I was lucky enough to find a lining kit for the clutch. In no time at all I had the little beast chugging up and down the yard in a cloud of smoke, with the distinctive sharp bark of the unsilenced Lister diesel echoing off the buildings. It is without doubt the most dangerous vehicle I have ever driven: the engine is mounted high up above the single front wheel which makes it feel unstable, and the narrow track rear axle has solid rubber tyres and no suspension at all. It is all very amusing.
Although very different in concept to the old Land Rovers we know and love, it does share some characteristics. It is massively over-engineered with about twice as many fasteners as it really needs. Access for maintenance was clearly a priority, and everything on it is designed to be dismantled and repaired if it breaks. It even has grease nipples on the control cables. I think one of the attractions of the older Land Rovers is that they can be kept going almost indefinitely using simple, readily available parts and basic tools. This is in sharp contrast to modern cars which rely on non-repairable electronic modules and complicated bits of moulded plastic.
The Autotruck has solved one problem I had in my crowded workshop, which was what to do with the engines and gearboxes awaiting overhaul. I just dump them on the back of the truck (which has a remarkable three-ton load capacity), and when I need a bit more space I just crank the thing into life and drive it out of the workshop. I visited a garage a few days ago which keeps an old Mot-failed van for exactly the same purpose: I think my solution is rather more fun.
When time allows I will fabricate a new rear body to replace the rotten one, and then hopefully use my Discovery to trailer the Autotruck to a couple of vintage machinery shows where it will make a change from the usual rows of old tractors. Ideally it should have an appropriate load for shows: I am now back on Facebook Marketplace looking for a Lister or Petter-powered arc welder of appropriate vintage. Madness, I know.