Commercials

Mike Humble has a close encounter with a Leyland Octopus – and its charismatic owner – and finds himself transported back to the golden era of trucking… […]

Our man Stuart Collins has been busy scanning the pictures he’s taken over the years while working at Longbridge. These photographs of Rover’s Company Protection Services (CPS) vehicles are absolutely […]

Britain’s last commercially-operated fleet of Leyland Constructor tippers have been officially retired from front line duty at Tilbury ‘B’ Power Station in Essex. But wait, do we hear a curtain call of […]

In 1964 a Turkish truck-building company (BMC Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.) was set up at Izmir (the birthplace of Alec Issigonis, incidentally) in partnership with BMC to build Austin and […]

The Sherpa/LDV 200/400/Pilot/Convoy was a perfect example of British industry make-do-and-mend. In an ideal world, the boxy JU/J4-based van would have been replaced sometime in the early 1980s, but it […]

We all know and love it from the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, but Leyland’s Sherpa had a vitally important role in life – to beat Ford’s […]

Here we have another one of those nostalgic look backs on celluloid. This time, Mike Humble salutes some stunt driving and a cracking light commercial that soon became known as the toughest […]

Craig Cheetham   It may not be a name steeped in glamour, but as one of the stalwarts of the former BMC/BL empire, LDV was one of the hardiest survivors. Now […]

Despite all the historical trauma of Leyland, our sole remaining builder of trucks is in American ownership but still producing plenty of vehicles for the home market and for export at […]

To mark the 30th birthday of the Montego, Russ Swift kindly offered to help cut the cake at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show. Mike Humble spoke to the man […]

Continuing the birthday celebrations for our beloved vehicles like the Rover 200 and Montego that both have milestone anniversaries, Mike Humble raises a glass for one of Leyland Trucks success […]

Leyland Trucks has produced the 125,000th DAF LF at its state-of-the-art factory in Leyland, Lancashire. The vehicle was officially handed over by Ron Augustyn, Managing Director of Leyland Trucks and Ray […]

Vauxhall has debuted the new British-built Vivaro van at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham. The new Vivaro continues the excellent record being built-up by the UK’s most productive van plant, where nearly […]

Mike Humble As you know, here at AROnline we are not adverse to scooping the odd story here and there. Readers will be aware that I am currently mid way […]

Dan Powell The British-built Ford Transit is the UK’s most reliable van, according to a survey of the 50 largest contract hire and leasing companies. The FN50 reliability survey, by […]

Mike Humble A good mate and contact from a Thameside based DAF dealer who is up to speed with my book project called me out of the blue recently. Bradley […]

Mike Humble Leyland trucks had seen some revolutionary changes in the ’80s with the initial T45 Roadtrain launched in 1980. By 1986 the whole range comprised of the Roadrunner Freighter, […]

Mike Humble In my last update, I mentioned how my T45 book was now confirmed and in the pipeline – things have certainly moved on considerably since then. After putting […]

Mike Humble While ploughing through my extensive archive of all things bus and coach just now, I was staggered to notice that, 20 years ago this month, in July 1993 […]

Mike Humble They say that jealousy is never the best policy for politics, a point proven when a well known former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer was quoted as saying ‘we will tax the rich until […]

Mike Humble From personal experience, there is no customer more difficult to trade with or educate for that matter than a Bus or Coach operator. Your average road haulier for […]