KNIGHTS OF OLD & MAN
Truck & Driver August 2019^69
says. For this reason Knights has
always had a few specific show
trucks to display on its stand,
which are then joined by those
drivers who request to enter their
allocated vehicles as well.
“We find that the guys who
like to go to these shows look
after their vehicles, so why
wouldn’t you want to show them?
We take 10 to 15, then this year
we took all three ‘Excaliburs’ as
well as the 100th MAN.”
For those who have never
noticed, all the Knights of Old
lorries have names. “They always
have had, from the very
beginning,” Scott explains, “and
they’re all Sir or Lady something.
Our owners, Paul Abbott, Ian
Beattie and Simon Nelson, have
the job of thinking them up.”Sharp Scanias
Excaliburs 1, 2 and 3 are all
Scanias, and have all been
worked by the company’s
longest-serving driver, Pete
Morrell. “They’re all V8-engined,
top-of-the-range trucks Pete’s
had through the last 17 years of
his 40-year career with us,” says
Scott. “The two older vehicles have
done over 1 million km each.”
The new truck, named ‘King
Arthur’ and boasting the 500hp
version of MAN’s D26 Euro 6
engine, has been allocated to
another long-server, Paul Bunce.
“I’ve been here 22 years,” he
tells us. “I was 17 years in the
army and when I first came out I
worked for a bit of a cowboy
outfit.” Then one day Paul got
chatting to a guy who was on for
Knights of Old and was given the
phone number. “Two weeks later
they called me up and said, ‘Can
you start Monday?” and I’ve been
here ever since!”
Paul’s previous truck,
another showpiece, wasXXL cab’s huge. Lots of storage above
screen, either side of the microwave