The Autotanker: BP's Lost Tanker Of Tomorrow! 

Sounds like a Minor incident.

Xd if that door would fail during a crash and fly true the cabine... or if the door fails to seal its a massive air hole into the cabine that is gone cause drag on the tanker car so gone be less fuel effective. and theres probaly more to mention on this idea. How ever i do like how its styled its different. But yeah it doesnt look to be some kind of tank hatch or vault door in the front of serten complexity or strenght... (i do wonder how this tanker would have done in a crash test).

It's a 50ies prototype. Modern trucks have modern electronics like ABS and ESP - but mechanically, they aren't much better. Even today, they are still a chassis-on-frame construction. Hitting a small car - they would impact mostly at the bumper connected to the frame. The neat thing about this is it's all just one piece. Therefore, it can't jackknife on slippery roads. Which is a lot more likely than having something wedged in the door. But even if - a Morris wouldn't do much to a full-sized truck - and the windows were probably the sliding type. So getting out in a pinch wouldn't be much of a problem. And it's still a prototype - a proof of concept. A different way to enter wouldn't be much of a change to the overall design.

@@JackStackhouse could be a Major

You know why EVERY Isetta has a sunroof? Exactly because of that, so that you have an escape path if the famous front door gets jammed in an accident. AFAIK also most buses for cities but also overland and coaches have at least one sunroof and that's not so much because of lighting or ventilation but also because it's an emergency exit when the bus flips onto the side - the doors might be on the bottom side, you can't really climb upwards (and can't break the windows because the splinters would rain onto you), so that sunroof not on the side is the only escape.

Gerry did actually use the toys of the tanker as props in Thunderbirds. They appear in the episode’ Trapped in the Sky’ in the airport scenes when Fireflash is being prepared for takeoff.

Gerry adams would of loved them too

Literally my first thought from the thumbnail!

Yes, " Fireflash " episode and many others followed..

​@@speedbirdconcordeBOAB Gerry Anderson used many Matchbox toys in Thunderbirds. Some were hardly disguised and easily identified by us kids who had them in our collections.

I also had a Matchbox one of these, but could not understand why I never saw a real one.

I wish I still had mine.

I had one too. I thought it was something off Thunderbirds.

Still got mine somewhere

I came here to say the same my Dad had one that I then stole from him xD

well, forward looking isnt very helpful when you are looking into the wrong direction all the time ... hence the autotanker being unsuccessful back then, and the UK failing now as you looked for tiny markets at the other end of the world instead of the big one right next to you ... brexit just being another lesson of "forward looking" being useless if its the wrong direction you turned to.

The phrase "Technological dead-end" exists for a reason. Seaplane airliners are a technological dead-end after enjoying a heyday in the 1930's because more runways were built. Same with the steam car: with ICE's becoming cheaper and more reliable, there is no point in making steam cars...

@@diedampfbrasse98 You're using a phone or laptop made "at the other end of the world" 🙂

@@garethrandall6589 true, and those who look left and right on top of looking forward still get those phones without raising trade barriers for the essential and perishable goods. So lets not cry after the "forward looking" people of medieval wonderland, they clearly had and still have some serious issues with direction no matter how far ahead they had their eyes.

Now China controls the UK and the rest of the world.

I still have my matchbox one

Thank you. Correct written. Youth mystery solved i still have that tanker as matchbox of course.

Leyland commercial vehicels were often very good. Leyland as the conglomerate it became in the 1970's is the infamous one because its a benchmark about total corporate and political failure . Back to the good part of Leyland ,DAF in the Netherlands did build under Leyland license Leyland lorry engines/drivetrains for their lorries from their beginning. Even today in the smallest lorry models they use a modern evolved version of that original Leyland 6 cillinder diesel engine. The now world famous Dutch LVB 668 public transport bus (Leyland-Verheul Bus, 6mtr wheelbase, O680 Leyland engine) was the start of a huge class of public transport busses who achieved reliable working lives of 40 years + in the Netherlands The mayority of them were exported to Cuba, Africa and Asia. There are models who are reaching 70 years+ of active service now.

Because people don't know what "infamous" means.

@@beeble2003 you have hit the nail on the head sir!!

​@@geoffbuck6890even the BBCs standards have dropped to a point where their presenters don't know what it means.

@@beeble2003 My understanding of the word 'Infamy' came from Carry on Cleo 😆

Did you have TeleWest cable? When living in Southampton we had their services and it included one channel in French and another in German. Used to watch The Sweeney and Star Trek TNG in German. Though can't remember what "Get your trousers on, your nicked" is in German😅

@@glen1555 no I was in Kent, they couldn't get channel 5 because the frequency was being used in France. It was one of the Terrestrial channels probably itv or 4.

Any relation to the bus from the Italian Job? Because that's where my mind went immediately on seeing this video.

@@jinbee2627 The bus used to transport the three Mini Coopers was a Bedford VAL with Harrington Legionnaire bodywork, registration ALR 453B, new in April 1964 and specially converted for the film, so unfortunately no relation, but most 60s buses and trucks were very similar, a bit like today's coaches and generic artics.

And me

You jerk! lol, made me think you had a real one for a second…

I don't think I've seen a matchbox model. It looks like something out of thunderbirds

Probably underpowered with just a Bus Engine for 24 ton Gross. Also, the cooling arrangements didn’t look ideal.

Axle load, max allowed total weight/lenght and safety is a concern for tanker vehicels in general. Hauling (hazardous) fluids is a completly different sport of transport. The railroads used at first tankercars were the axles/bogies were bolted directly to the tank without using a seperate chassis. Modern tanker road vehicles use a sort of minimalsitic backbone instead of chassis to get stiffness in the combination. And to be fair modern airport refueling tanker lorries look verry simulair to the autotanker. (6 wheeled lorry or 8 wheeled articulated lorry) But these don't use a classic chassis and need to be as low as possible so they can drive below the wings of an aircraft.

The question is "why?" What does this design have that the current models of trucks have not?

Bit of a guess but if you had a crash then the access door to the cab would almost certainly be damaged and impossible to open, trapping the driver in a vehicle full of flammable liquids. Not sure if safety considerations would have been as much of a consideration back then as they are now but might have been a contributing factor.

On the safey considerations.... were there any really? If you were a driver back then there would be plenty lorries with wood framed cabs still in active service. Surely if anything untoward happens and you run into anything stout, or the load comes lose, your getting crushed. Not too.different from today, theres only so much you can do to protect the cab when 10 tons plus is on the move.

The 1973-1978 GMC motorhomes had a somewhat similar look to them. They are pretty fun vehicles.

I was thinking the same thing! Should there be a front end accident, the driver has no way out!

I think I read there was an escape hatch built into the roof, if my memory serves me correctly!

Would be draughty AF, too.

I was thinking the same.

I believe there was also a roof hatch.

yes a roof hatch that was also for access to the tanks for fuel delivery and refilling

It’s not one, but would make a great one.

Yeah, and all the bugs come in 🙂

I had one of those.

It was a Matchbox "Major Pack Series" model

This still looks futuristic now!

Yes.

Spectrum is green.

@@duncancurtis5108 those windows scream the transports from captain scarlet

The advantage is that a semi-trailer has a higher gross weight and if the tractor unit is off the road then the tanker can still be used or the unit can pull another tank.

It's an Atlantean engine cover with the same engine and gearbox as the Atlantean bus (600 or 680): 680 engine in this case, I think.

sounds like a french design!