Trucking Magazine – August 2019

http://www.truckingmag.co.uk August 2019 TRUCKING 79

Then, to universal surprise and delight,

it arrived on a low-loader on the Sunday

morning, the event’s second day.

The undisputed world heavylift

champ when it was built in 1930, the

Hundred Tonner is the only restored

survivor of the two Scammell designed

from scratch – and constructed compete

with a matched trailer – in the space of

only eight months.

Scammell Hundred Tonner

registration KD 9168 had been on long-

BEHIND
THE SCENES
The success of events like
Kelsall benefit from volunteer-
run Bedford, ERF, Foden,
Seddon Atkinson, Scammell
and other groups. They
deserve special credit for
their work behind
the scenes.

term loan to the British Commercial

Vehicle Museum in Leyland. Its recent

refurb necessitated Maurice Hudson to

remove it for safekeeping, and he has

reluctantly decided to part with it. But

if you don’t have a spare £1 million-

plus, it’s probably not worth pursuing.

Make no mistake. As a national

treasure, the Hundred Tonner is up

there with the most vaunted supercar

or racer. The James Bond Aston Martin

is a fi lm prop – the guns don’t fi re.

For sheer ‘been there, done that’ hard

grind, the Hundred Tonner is a genuine,

authentic all-time great. Pulling power?

The 165-ton gross train weight of its

record move was achieved in 1935,

courtesy the 102 bhp Gardner 6LW

diesel and a Scammell four-speed

The Hundred Tonner’s single back axle, with evenly

spaced wheels, each with its own drive chain. The

chassis is 0.37-inch thick steel plate

The Leyland Marathon did not enjoy a great

reputation, but was good to see a survivor of a

British attempt to challenge the Continentals