(^54) July 2019 Truck & Driver
SCANIA V8 CALENDAR TRUCKS
T
he year 1965: it may
have been when the
Beatles topped the
charts with I Feel Fine,
but 200 miles north of
Merseyside in Burdiehouse, on
the southern fringe of Edinburgh,
a gentleman by the name of
John Burns was feeling a touch
of trepidation. For in October
1965, John decided to take the
plunge and start up in business
as a one-truck haulier.
At the time, John’s son, David
W Burns, whose name the
company bears today, was
working as a fitter for Pentland
Garages, a major automotive
dealership and transport group
based in nearby Straiton.
A year or so later, David
encountered a new truck in the
Pentland paintshop. “Whose is
that?” he enquired of his boss.
“It’s yours – you’re going to start
working with your father,” came
the reply. “Getaway,” said David,
“my dad couldn’t afford that.” “I
know,” said the boss. “But it’s
yours all the same, and you’re
going to start paying for it when
you’re earning!”
Davids galore
Recounting this exceptional tale
to us is David Stewart, the
son-in-law of David W Burns and
today one of three directors of
this now well-established family
firm – the other two directors
being David W, who at 73 is still
active in the business, driving
every day, and his wife Margaret.
David Stewart’s wife Sandra is
company secretary, with nephew
David Reid completing the
company’s line-up of relatives.
“It wouldn’t happen today,
would it?” says David Stewart.
“But it’s true. John was being
helped by Pentland to grow his
business. And it certainly started
something, for here we are 53
years later with a fleet of 10
trucks – that’s the largest we’ve
ever been, and not bad since we
focus on serving a select band of
customers, including some
blue-chip names, rather than
chasing any business at any cost.
“It was David Reid who took
the picture of our New Generation
Scania V8 and sent it to Truck &
Driver,” he says. “We thought it
looked nice, and hoped T&D
might run a picture of it.
“But when we got the call to
say we were one of the 12
selected for the Scania V8
celebration calendar, we were
surprised, to say the least.
“And when they said they
would like to send up a
photographer (no less than
Scania’s top snapper Bryan
Winstanley, who shot the entire
calendar), I said you are aware
it’s a workhorse and not a show
truck, aren’t you?”
That may well be the case, but
looking at the July image in the
T&D calendar (see also pages
52-53) you’d never know it. For
the truck, pictured standing proud
and gleaming among one of the
many sets of windfarms now
springing up all over the UK, looks
a million dollars, and then some.
Cracked the code
With their sleek lines and
wide-radius corner curves,
designing a livery for a modern-
day truck can be challenging to
say the least. But by adding bold,
plunging white stripes to the sides
of the blue-base cab, Burns has
cracked the code for sure.
Additional detailing includes
“Getaway,” said
David, “my dad
couldn’t afford that.”
“I know,” said the
boss. “But it’s yours
all the same, and
you’re going to start
paying for it when
you’re earning!”
Most work is local, but Highline cab provides plenty of living space
nandana
(Nandana)
#1