Then And Now

March 30, 2007

I did a night trunk for a driving agency last night and found myself in a spanking new MAN truck, this got me thinking about one of the first artics I ever drove a couple of *cough* years ago and how they compare with today’s beasts, the answer is….They don’t

The first picture is of an AEC Mandator. Although an older model at the time it was still a viable work horse although now it would be more of a nag ;)

It had no power steering, no air assisted clutch, no real sound insulation, a straight six speed gearbox that changed like a stick in a bucket and an engine with less than 200 hp that was expected to pull 32 tons, great on the flat but having the hill climbing abilities of an asthmatic snail.

The only comparison to the MAN though is that they both used round wheels :yes:

This little beastie has a 12 litre engine banging out 440 hp to pull 40 tonnes of gross weight up hill and down dale like they were the same thing, power assisted everything, climate control, fully automatic 12 speed gearbox and a really snazzy cup holder :P :lol:

This picture of the controls shows that brute force and ignorance driving is where it belongs….…in the past!

The buttons on the left of the steering wheel are for the radio and information readout, the ones on the right are for cruise control. Behind the steering wheel on the left is the normal wiper/indicator stalk and on the right is the stalk that lets you change up and down manually (push forward, change down-pull back change up), this has like a horn push button in the end that controls the exhaust brake.

Gears are selected by what I can only describe as an oven switch located to the left of the seat, turn anticlockwise for “D” drive and clockwise for reverse high and low.

One more thing, the heated suspension seat has three adjustable air bags, one for the lower back, one for the middle and the other to grip your sides…Mmmm, nice :D