Scammell Offroad Truck

Scammell Pioneer 6x6 Explorer FV-11301 6x6 1950 equipped with driven Front axle Constructor FV-12105 6x6 1962 Contractor The last new version of the Contractor was built in large quantities, including a 6x6 for heavy recovery in the Middle East
Scammell Lorries Limited manufactured trucks, particularly specialist and military off-highway vehicles, from 1921 to 1988. Two developments by the parent company, Leyland Motors, at the end of the 1970s benefited Scammell. Leyland wished to develop two new heavy vehicle ranges, the overseas bonneted Landtrain and the UK forward control Roadtrain which would feature the new C40 tilt cab. In view of Scammell’s expertise the firm was tasked with development of the Landtrain and was able to use the same cab and bonnet for the replacement for the Contractor. This range, the S24, was available in 6x4 and 6x6 formats, with manual, automatic or torque converter/manual transmissions and a newly-developed transfer gearbox for 6x6 versions. The full weight range from 40 tonnes GVW to more than 200 tonnes GTW was covered, with the Cummins NT 350 or 400 engine, but the difficulty of providing a replacement for the Contractor’s coachbuilt cab was dealt with by specifying an American-type crew ‘pod’ behind the cab. To replace the Super Constructor oilfield flatbed vehicle a long-wheelbase S24 6x6 with the Constructor winch and body was produced.
Knowing Scammell’s pre-eminence in the field, Leyland entrusted the eight-wheeler version of the Roadtrain – called the ‘Constructor 8’ - to Scammell. This would at last give Scammell access to a modern tilt cab. To supplement the lower-powered Leyland Roadtrains, Scammell developed the S26 range using the same cab and eventually, as the 1980s progressed, a range of premium 4x2, 6x2 and 6x4 tractors with a full range of engine and transmission options was developed to replace the Crusader and ‘A’ range, with as much similarity with the S24 running gear as possible.
A military 6x6 version with Rolls-Royce 350 engine, ZF automatic gearbox and Kirkstall axles followed, and this was offered, in 8x6 form, to the British Army in 1986 for the hooklift-equipped DROPS vehicle requirement.
...from the September 1991 edition of TRUCK and a story by Malcom Bates on the very last 'new' Scammell' built in the UK on its way to a new life in Malaya with Balfour Beatty working on a major joint construction project run by Cementation. I wonder if that 'project' was the dam that caused all that fuss and bother later on? Anyroadup, it's interesting to note that, according to MB, Scammell shut three years earlier and they'd obviously had a job finding a suitable buyer for this 6x6 Explorer! For the record it had a 335 14-litre Cummins NTC335, 10-speed Fuller box, Kirkstall driven front axle and Scammell back bogie. .... In 1988 the Scammell company went bankrupt, and the rights to the Commander were bought by Unipower Ltd, who opened a new plant in West Watford.
Âíåäîðîæíûå òðàíñïîðòíûå ñðåäñòâà (Land Locomotion – Mechanical Vehicle Mobility LL-MVM) Home