Trader to Paris (Ford Thames Trader trucks) - 1958 

As a teenager I worked for my uncle who had 6 butchers shops ,he had a Thames Trader to deliver to his shops.

My uncle here in New Zealand had one of these in the early 1960s.I remember riding in it from paraparaumu to Wellington and helping him deliver furniture when I was about 7 or 8yrs old.All I really remember is it was very noisy and bumpy.In my 20s I traveled to the UK on my big OE and stayed for eight and a half years. in 1977 I started driving for a company called Brain Haulage. The head office and workshop was in Braintree in Essex and they had a small London depot in Canning Town .I drove for them for almost 4yrs starting in a Volvo F 88 and finally a Volvo F10.Drove allover England and then was put on continental runs. The roads in this video were so empty but it was 20yrs between this video and when I was driving them.Trucking in the UK and Europe was so different then compared to today. The border crossings could be a pain but there was no trouble with refugees as in Calais today. I like watching these videos as they bring back good memories at least the one's from the mid 1970s onwards and the older ones show how far the transport industry has come and the development of trucks.

Louis and Sid were driving like nutters on some of those stretches. Wonderful film.

I used to drive Thames Traders at the start of my driving career,they were a really great British motor. Its good to see them again.

Never seen a Thames Trader driven like a rally car before!!

Lovely to see, the trader was brilliant at the time once you got the hang of climbing in and out of the cab. Thanks 👏👏👍

My Dad had 2 x 6-wheeler and 4 x 4wheeler tipper trucks in the 60's and 70's. Hardy machines.

When I was in primary school in the sixties, we had a soft spot for the old (new then) Trader. Ahh those were the Spangel-eating days!

The Thames Trader Cab does really remind me of the Mercedes Unimog, great film...

A Thames Trader was the first commercial that I ever drove, for Mother’s Pride, on an ordinary driving license, but I passed my Commercial Class 2 in a Ford D series. 😜👍🏼.....no power steering then !

traders were great with 2 speed ceaton back axle . 65 on the old a 6 ,17 yhears old and loved it great trucks

My dad was a transport contractor, and he was a Ford man through and through. he had 17 traders, both the bull nose ( like the one in this video ) and the bonneted. He also had one of the very first D series, it has a Perkins V8, with a chrome bumper. I learned to drive in a Trader.

El camión que sonríe. Irrepetible.🙂♥️

Very pleasing to view.. Had many miles of ride in old fords

I say Mr Cholmondeley-Warner, spirited driving od boy!

i used to drive a thames trader in the 1960`s it was never as clean as that one.Driving down the A1 near Doncaster I looked athe speedo and I was doing 70mph not bad no speed limitters in those days

My grandfather bought 3 Traders new in about 1960 - 2 tippers and a flatbed. One of the tippers got caught in the tide at Marazion I think but the other 2 lasted years

My first lorry was a Thames Trader............1967.

FORD TRADER at its finest i remember trying to get around in spitalfields covent garden etc with no power steering lol

Driving through those little French villages wouldn’t mind doing that

A wonderful reminder of how it was, no Sat-navs, Trackers, or even a mobile phone. How did we survive ? (very well thank you !)

Good old memories ty

London to Paris in under 24 hr - those were the days - the windscreen wipers on a Trader were quicker than the engine, old Ford Lorry driver motto “wouldn’t pull a greasy man out of bed”

It did look a bit lop sided in France. Did they set the suspension to fit the camber?

back in 1967, playing at the wheel of my next door neighbours Thames trader, c.w.s. Liverpool pretending I was a night driver as it went dark....!!!!

Used to drive one in the 1960s but did not like the gear lever where it was situated. But then that's life.

good old days

The Trader is 'insulated' (but not refrigerated?)

I love this truck 😅

History. A wonderful video shot long ago. I have the same vehicle running in Uganda. Iam going to send a fresher movie on this site

Adamın Yarısı Hep Dışarda, Hapı hiç Kapanmaz. Ama O bir klasik.

A version of this film will be made around 2045 when trade is reestablished with the continent.

Loved these fords I was a van lad 1969 railway NCL traders watson st Manchester. JohnRooney

The grille resembles the 1953 USA Ford trucks. Were these cab-over-engine trucks? The short hood (bonnet) resembles what we call in the USA a "snub-nose" in that the entire drivers cab is hinged at the front and opens by releasing a rear latch that allowed full access to the engine compartment. It was a breeze to work on those in the USA. In the USA the F-600 with an OHV V-8 was the most-popular size for medium-light heavy hauling. Was the British 6D the approximate equivalent?

When I was 9years old I would go to work with my dad and go for rides with the drivers in their Thames traders owned by f Bowles and sons sand and gravel in Cardiff I am now 68 years young

I worked on Traders as an apprentice. Not the nicest truck to service, especially trying to replace an injector pump. Bloody uncomfortable hanging in the doorway. I hope the Trader they took to Paris was a 6D otherwise they would have had sore ears by the time they got there. The 4D was only about 52hp. Little sound or heat insulation and if they were lucky; it might have had a heater too!!

What....no headlight deflectors for driving in France!

Thames Trader to France??..very brave!

Oh hell Louie and Sid you got a load of swinging beef on how bout slowly on the corners

My dad had two traders from new when he was driving for Crosfields hauling animal feeds then they gave him a new D800 in 66 and then he had 3 D 1000s one in 69 one in 71 one in 72 his last new wagon was Volvo F 7 bulk tipper in 85 he died in 2001 when he was 76 .

This trucks were very popular in my country El Salvador..

I'm just surprised the ports weren't blockaded at the prospect at all that British beef entering their country. And at 4:03 it looks like he's drifting that Trader!

LOL it looks like it's almost drifting at 6:42 hahaha

I'm guessing they had to stop and retrieve the seat covers from their arse after the 4 min mark 😀

They made a good topper truck to.

got a thames trader engine 590e vacuum air throttle for sale at bolsover

Top lorry from mauritius

Damn starting to feel old

That grille was definitely FORD looking

The way that old truck was being driven no way was it hauling hanging bear or anything at that matter

I worked at a ford dealers when the new d, series took over from the trader, blimey where’s the time gone?

Amusingly edited to give prominence to the Ford vehicles leaving the ship and stop anyone getting a good look at the Morrises!

my dad had two of these when I was a kid a single wheeler and twin wheeler which he bought of of fosse joinery freeman road nth hykeham Lincoln England

It takes two to drive a 12 ton truck only in Britain

Truk yang pernah merajai jalanan Indonesia sebelum Mercy L Series Bagong dan Mitsubishi Fuso Goprak.

Couldnt happen nowadays......Europe is doing fine without us.....

I would love to drive that truck to paris.

Ah the Free Trade area of Europe!

All that faffing around at customs just to send some meat to Paris. Dead easy now due to the EU and France finally stopping their block on British beef. I think they had it easier in those days in that driving a van to Paris was considered a cutting edge idea.

No biggie. Hey, it was 1958 after all. You had to be there. The '50s were great here in the USA.

Bahas juga dong truk GORKHA TAHUN +/-- 1944-1948

Being a. X. Trucker of that time that particular wagon Thames trader was one of the worst wagons on the road, none of the drivers I knew like those wagons big clumsy things.

Home pried bakery 1970 Transport ford d series

Some of that driving looked a bit dodgy.

babamın ilk arabası damperli thames

Babamın ilk. Arabası . Fordun. Babası Thames trader yol ver birader 63 model

ok, a truck can be powerful, cheap in fuel consumption & maintenance, high payload, not a design masterpiece like a GT car, but there some difference between "adequate design" and "ugly & awkward design".

Les Halles 4:51 On n'est dites pas le s ... The S is silent. (both of them) !

Obviously not many driven one lol

You can't beat a bit of bully............here's what you could of won!

how british !

There was life before the EU 👍

MY CATS PREFER PLAIN CRISPS TO FLAVOURED ONES

Ah...so this is Brexit.

And with brexit theres all the customs and passport checks again, takes forever at Dover and Calais again.thanks brexiteers.

My uncle here in New Zealand had one of these in the early 1960s.I remember riding in it from paraparaumu to Wellington and helping him deliver furniture when I was about 7 or 8yrs old.All I really remember is it was very noisy and bumpy.In my 20s I traveled to the UK on my big OE and stayed for eight and a half years. in 1977 I started driving for a company called Brain Haulage. The head office and workshop was in Braintree in Essex and they had a small London depot in Canning Town .I drove for them for almost 4yrs starting in a Volvo F 88 and finally a Volvo F10.Drove allover England and then was put on continental runs. The roads in this video were so empty but it was 20yrs between this video and when I was driving them.Trucking in the UK and Europe was so different then compared to today. The border crossings could be a pain but there was no trouble with refugees as in Calais today. I like watching these videos as they bring back good memories at least the one's from the mid 1970s onwards and the older ones show how far the transport industry has come and the development of trucks.

My uncle here in New Zealand had one of these in the early 1960s.I remember riding in it from paraparaumu to Wellington and helping him deliver furniture when I was about 7 or 8yrs old.All I really remember is it was very noisy and bumpy.In my 20s I traveled to the UK on my big OE and stayed for eight and a half years. in 1977 I started driving for a company called Brain Haulage. The head office and workshop was in Braintree in Essex and they had a small London depot in Canning Town .I drove for them for almost 4yrs starting in a Volvo F 88 and finally a Volvo F10.Drove allover England and then was put on continental runs. The roads in this video were so empty but it was 20yrs between this video and when I was driving them.Trucking in the UK and Europe was so different then compared to today. The border crossings could be a pain but there was no trouble with refugees as in Calais today. I like watching these videos as they bring back good memories at least the one's from the mid 1970s onwards and the older ones show how far the transport industry has come and the development of trucks.