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When I missed the School bus I used to thumb and I often got a lift in Stafford’s Bull Nosed Mercedes that was hauling beet .It was way quieter than other trucks .
I do not think anyone would thumb to school nowadays . I was probably fourteen.
I regularly thumbed from Julianstown to Dublin and never got murdered .
 
Bog Man said:
When I missed the School bus I used to thumb and I often got a lift in Stafford’s Bull Nosed Mercedes that was hauling beet .It was way quieter than other trucks .
I do not think anyone would thumb to school nowadays . I was probably fourteen.
I regularly thumbed from Julianstown to Dublin and never got murdered .
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probably because they realised once you got into the car that you were a psycho and they couldn,t wait to get you out again :woot:
 
Bog Man said:
When I missed the School bus I used to thumb and I often got a lift in Stafford’s Bull Nosed Mercedes that was hauling beet .It was way quieter than other trucks .
I do not think anyone would thumb to school nowadays . I was probably fourteen.
I regularly thumbed from Julianstown to Dublin and never got murdered .
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There were some terrible noisy lorries back then. My father had a two stroke commer drawing beet and it was so noisy that when it was going up past the local national school the teachers used have to stop whatever they were doing till it passed on.
 
Mid cork said:
There were some terrible noisy lorries back then. My father had a two stroke commer drawing beet and it was so noisy that when it was going up past the local national school the teachers used have to stop whatever they were doing till it passed on.
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We could hear the Commers coming out of the town and know exactly where they were by the sound of the engine and the changing up or down of the gears . They were supercharged which means they had a mechanically driven turbocharger. There was some roar out of them . On a frosty night we could hear them till they went over Boggan Hill the far side of Ballon
 
Bog Man said:
Unless someone has a sign saying I am an axe murderer I would always give them a lift.
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Have you had occasion to come across many holding a sign stating that ?

There were some right characters years ago , when you are talking about thumbing to Dublin and school. possibly some weirdos , but you never heard of the tragedies that can happen nowadays , which are unfortunately all too commonplace now.

Mid cork said:
There were some terrible noisy lorries back then. My father had a two stroke commer drawing beet and it was so noisy that when it was going up past the local national school the teachers used have to stop whatever they were doing till it passed on.
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There was a most unusual noise from those Commer 2 strokes. No ad blue then.
 
Mid cork said:
There were some terrible noisy lorries back then. My father had a two stroke commer drawing beet and it was so noisy that when it was going up past the local national school the teachers used have to stop whatever they were doing till it passed on.
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Father in law used to have two stroke detroits on water well drill rigs he reckons ear muffs were a must have accessory no matter how big or many silencers were on them
 
Mid cork said:
There were some terrible noisy lorries back then. My father had a two stroke commer drawing beet and it was so noisy that when it was going up past the local national school the teachers used have to stop whatever they were doing till it passed on.
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Were the Commers using Detroit engines, there were a few yokes I remember with Detroit 2 stroke diesels and they were bloody noisy, one was a handyish Terex loading shovel and the other was a Fox self propelled forager.
 
jf 850 said:
Have you had occasion to come across many holding a sign stating that ?
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My father always stopped for people if there was room in the car. I once picked up a guy in Carlow and I thought it was better to drive him past my house to the Fighting Cocks as he definitely was dodgy.
There used be a line of people at Newlands Cross with signs for their ultimate destination. My brother thumbed and used a Post Bus around Scotland.
 
jf 850 said:
Have you had occasion to come across many holding a sign stating that ?

There were some right characters years ago , when you are talking about thumbing to Dublin and school. possibly some weirdos , but you never heard of the tragedies that can happen nowadays , which are unfortunately all too commonplace now.



There was a most unusual noise from those Commer 2 strokes. No ad blue then.
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The two stroke were a very unusual design as well.Six pistons opposeing each other in three horizontal cilinders ports instead of valves.By all accounts they were pretty useless to pull.
 
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marco said:
Like a boxer, flat setup?
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Not really, there were two pistons in each cilinder faceing each other meeting in the middle the position they fired at. There was a setup like a rockershaft on each side to which the conrods were connected to taking the power down to a crankshaft under the cilinders. The whole thing was ridiculous its no wonder the concept more or less died out.
 
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