No.17 - AUTUMN 2002 THE MAGAZINE OF Hon. President To be appointed. Hon. Vice President Gordon Baron, 44 Rhoslan Park 76 Conwy Road, Colwyn Bay, LL29 7HR Hon. Committee Members: Chairman Neil D. Steele, 18 Kingfisher Cresent Cheadle, Stoke on Trent, Staffs, ST10 1RZ. Secretary & Mike A. Sutcliffe, “Valley Forge”, Leyland Torque Editor 213 Castle Hill Road Totternhoe, Dunstable, Beds. LU6 2DA Membership Secretary David J. Moores, 10 Lady Gate, Diseworth, Derby, DE74 2QF Treasurer Keith Watson, Leyland, 10 Jeffery Close, Rugeley Staffs. WS15 2NQ Vehicle Registrar David E. Berry, 5 Spring Hill Close, Westlea Swindon, Wilts. SN5 7BG. BCVM Archive Ron Phillips, 16 Victoria Avenue, Grappenhall, Liaison Warrington, Cheshire WA4 2PD Committee Member John D. Bishop, 10 Betley Hall Gardens, Betley, Nr. Crewe, Cheshire, CW3 9BB. Committee Member Anthony L. Pyatt, 15 Conway Grove, Cheadle Stoke on Trent, Staffs. ST10 1QG. (When writing, please send a SAE if you require a reply) Issue No.17 Autumn 2002 Published four times per year by the Leyland Society Editor: Mike A. Sutcliffe Valley Forge, 213 Castle Hill Road, Totternhoe, Dunstable, Beds LU6 2DA Compiling Editor: Ron Phillips Email: [email protected] EDITORIAL Recent months have been very busy for both Ron Phillips and myself, with Ron working on two additional booklets on transport centenaries in Chester and Warrington, and myself writing my book on my own restorations and the early history of Leyland Motors - more about this at a later date. This and the inclusion of colour in Journal No.4 delayed its production, so, although we normally publish Journal in July, this year’s was delayed until September. I hope you feel it was worth waiting for ! Pat and I were very sorry to miss the Wroughton event this year, due to me having a violent allergic reaction to some routine medical treatment - it ruined our weekend and meant that we could not bring the White Rose Leyland SG7 - still, it will be at Leyland next year on 13th July. Please make a note in your diary for the 5th Leyland Society Annual Gathering. Don’t forget that, if you have not yet renewed your subscription which was due by the beginning of August, this will be the last issue of Leyland Torque that you will receive. Please therefore do not hesitate to renew if you have not already done so. I hope you enjoy this issue; there have been a few fairly long articles which have been split into parts and come to an end with this issue. We have several other items in stock but are always looking for new topics and new photographs - particularly on lorries, so please do keep writing in, especially with queries, any oddities or other snippets of information. Lastly, it would be nice to see as many members as possible at our AGM at the Coventry Museum of Transport on Sunday 27th October (12.30pm for 1.00pm start). We will have a speaker as in previous years, and it is usually a very interesting day out. Please do come, and I look forward to seeing you there! Mike Sutcliffe, Editor COVER PICTURES Two pictures from the sixties. On the front, a well kept van dating from the early fi fties at a fairground in the West Country. On the rear, the experimental Atlantean used for transmission and front suspension experiments, seen at Leyland. (BCVMA) CONTENTS 2 Society items 18 Book Reviews 26 Odd bodies 4 Torque converters 20 FFT - Extra - 30 Bison TG!,TSG1 8 Leopard PLSC2 Unladen Weights 36 Letters 12 Food for Thought 21 Leylands in Glasgow -2 44 Tailpiece 2 LEYLAND TORQUE No. 17 Autumn 2002 FROM THE CHAIRMAN I must begin by advising you that an error crept in to the Annual General Meeting announcement in Torque 16, the time should read 12.30pm for a 1.00pm start. Will all members please take note of this amendment. It has been our practice for the last three AGM’s to have a speaker. I am pleased to announce that the speaker following this year’s AGM will be Graham Tomlinson of Transport Products who was the designer of the Leyland (National)“Rail-Bus”, this will be the topic for his address. I hope that as many members as possible will be able to attend this year. The Society Gathering at Wroughton was a great success thanks to David Berry and our sponsor County Insurance Services who provided the hospitality unit. It was disappointing that the number of entries was down on “2000”, especially as this event is organised to enable Society members from the south to show off their vehicles. Despite the low numbers quality rose above quantity ! The committee would like me to convey their thanks to those people who bought along their vehicles or turned up to help on the day. I am pleased to announce that Leyland Trucks have once again given us their permission to use the employees’ car park at Croston Road, Leyland for our Fifth Society Gathering scheduled for Sunday 13th July 2003 (third at Leyland). The committee now needs a positive response from members who are prepared to assist with this event, the sooner we know what level of help we can expect the quicker we can get things moving. If you feel you can help please drop a line to the Hon. Chairman stating in what capacity you are willing to participate - we will be needing helpers before and during the event and, of course, marshals. It has also been decided to have a Leyland Society Gathering at Donnington, on Saturday 22nd May 2003: further details will be announced in Torque 18, due out in December. Neil Steele, Hon Chairman MEMBERSHIP RATES Subscription levels are £20 per annum (family £23), £24 for EEC members, £28 (in Sterling) for membership outside the EEC. Anyone joining after 1st April and before 31st July will have their membership carried over to the next 31st July, i.e. up to 16 months. This is good value for money and new members are welcomed. Application forms are available from the Membership Secretary - see address inside front cover. Autumn 2002 LEYLAND TORQUE No. 17 3 General items can be ordered from our Treasurer, Keith Watson (address on front page): orders for clothing to our Chairman, Neil Steele (address on front page). Please make cheques payable to “The Leyland Society”. Leyland Society Lapel Badges (for members only) Oval (38mm long) in silver and blue enamel £ 4.00 each First Rally Memento – Lapel badge Oval Leyland Radiator badge (1907-13) Not many left! £ 5.50 each Second Rally Memento - “Employees” Lapel Badge Red, circular £ 4.50 each Black, circular £ 5.00 each Third Rally Memento - Leyland Shield Silver and blue £5.00 each Windscreen Stickers – with Society logo Large, 5ins. long £ 3.50 each Medium, 2.5 ins. long £ 2.50 each Small, 1.5 ins. long £ 1.50 each Bone China Mugs, with Society and Leyland logos £ 5.00 each £19.00 for four Leyland Society Clock – approx. 7ins. x 9 ins. Allow 14 days delivery £22.50 each CLOTHING The Society can currently offer the following clothing bearing the “Leyland Motors Ltd.” logo in Silver. Please Note when ordering clothing allow up to six weeks for delivery as these items are all produced to individual orders. Polo shirts (short sleeved), in Burgundy, Royal Blue, Bottle Green, Navy Blue, Red & Black. Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, XL & XXL. Price £15.99 All plus £1.50 per item P & P. Sweatshirts (in three styles) in Burgundy, Bottle Green, Navy Blue & Black. Raglan Sleeve: £18.99 Open Hem: £18.99 Placket (with collar) £21.99 Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, XL & XXL. All plus £1.50 per item P & P. Body Warmer/Gilet (fully lined medium weight) Available in Navy or Green. Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, XL & XXL. £24.99 Plus £1.50 per item P & P. Baseball Caps. (Navy Only) £9.99 Plus £1.50 per item P & P. BACK NUMBERS Back Numbers of Leyland Torque and the Society Journal, together with Bind- ers for Torque - these are all available from Mike Sutcliffe. Details are on page 43. 4 Some further thoughts from Alan Townsin The production history of Leyland torque converters in Torque No.16, evidently from surviving Leyland records, is a praiseworthy effort, marking a further advance in our knowledge. Who should we thank and might we know the sources a bit more precisely? (Ron Phillips - Ed.) This time the emphasis is on problems, though internal reports will inevitably record such things and indeed some were to be expected - after all, Leyland was pioneering a form of transmission no-one had offered before, the nearest to a fully automatic system yet achieved. Leaks were also apt to be a problem on fl uid fl ywheels of AEC and Daimler buses until the Llewellyn gland was developed post-war. The various tales of woe with the pair of clutches come as rather a surprise since this seemed nearer to familiar technology than the converter itself, although perhaps the toggle lever mechanism might have needed precise setting. In many journeys as a passenger in Gearless Leylands of various fl eets and numerous spells observing such buses at work, I have no recollection of any trouble of this kind, and indeed, as I mentioned in my article in Journal No.3, there were quite a number of municipalities which relied almost exclusively on fl eets of such buses for periods of several years even though others clearly were unhappy with them. The Cotal gearbox, using magnetic clutches in conjunction with an epicyclic gear mechanism, was used on various high-class French cars of that period; Guy got as far as offering such a unit on its Arab bus in 1935 but nothing seemed to come of it.