(^34) Summer 2019 Truck & Driver
SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT
they’re not finished yet
as he intends to add
heatshields – which
connect directly to the engine
with no silencers.
Screaming Jimmy
The two-stroke Detroit Diesel
8V92T is almost as much of an
American legend as the W900.
Also known as a ‘screaming
Jimmy’ owing to the noise it
makes, less-potent variants of
this engine were fitted in our own
Bedford TM, but it wasn’t too
successful as you really had to
rev it hard to make it work and it
could be heavy on fuel. The
engine produces 475hp;
mega-power back in 1976,
connected to a conventional
18-speed transmission just as
you’d find in a British truck.
George painted the truck
himself. He’s modest about it, but
the two-tone livery looks
fantastic. He had the truck on the
road for about a year, and during
that time continued his search for
a suitable trailer. Eventually, one
turned up in Dorset. A Crane
Fruehauf tandem, with ribbed
metal body, built some time in
the late ’70s, it was perfect. “I
had looked at a number of
trailers but either the look wasn’t
quite right or they were very
badly rusted, having been used
for storage for years.”
As soon as he saw this trailer,
he knew it was the one. Not only
was the body in good condition,
but the company that owned it
had kept it maintained, ensuring
that it remained roadworthy.
“I was amazed at the
condition it was in,” he says. “I
think it must have been written in
the stars that this truck and this
trailer should meet.”
George shotblasted the trailer
chassis and then painted it black,
adding a storage box at the front
where the fridge would be. He
employed a graffiti artist from
London to come down and spray
the mural on each side.
With truck and trailer united,
the project was now a completely
different ballgame. The truck on
its own? Well, it’s just an
American truck. Fans of the film
would recognise it. But with the
trailer, recognition became
universal. His first proper outing
was to an American car festival
and George was inundated with
cars slowing down to take video
and truck drivers beeping their
horns and waving. George has
been delighted with the reaction.
“The attention it receives is
unreal. It just shows how many
people love the film.”
With our photoshoot about to
conclude, George offers to take
us out for a run in the truck.
These classic American tractor
units are tiny up front compared
with a modern truck, but the
interior is tidy and the seats
- sourced from a classic Porsche
- are comfortable.
Coughs into life
The big Detroit coughs into life
like a 60-a-day Marlboro man
and George has to use every bit
of the road to ease out from his
yard, down a country lane and
onto a main road. A bonus is the
short wheelbase (for an
American truck) of the tractor
unit and the axle position on the
trailer, making the combination
surprisingly manoeuvrable. The
mirrors mounted at the front of
the hood are essential.
“I’ve driven some long
drawbar outfits over the years,”