Winsford Road Five

winsford

The reason that this page is headed Winsford, as that is where it all really ‘took off’ in the UK, but there were two other bases in the UK before.

The Ashford years. 1964-1967

In 1964 a concessionaire in Beaver Road, Ashford started bringing Magirus Deutz trucks to the UK.

Due to some shortcomings in their after-sales infrastructure, a few operators became unhappy.

The trucks themselves performed well but were let down by the lack of customer back up.

The KHD offices in Ulm could not allow this and supplies ended to this company in Kent.

The Middleton years. 1967-1971

Seddon were having some success in supplying their trucks to the American Market and there were demands for higher powered models.

They were operating from premises in Bentley Avenue on the Stake Hill Estate in Middleton, 5 miles North-East of Manchester centre.

Klockner Humboldt Deutz started negotiations with Seddon in 1967, with a view to supply Deutz Air-Cooled power units to satisfy the need for greater power output for the USA.

This was basically a Seddon 13/4 chassis fitted with a Deutz F6L613 Air-Cooled diesel engine developing about 120hp.

Drive was through a ZF 5 speed constant mesh gearbox connected to  Eaton 2 speed axle unit

A small number of these Seddon Deutz trucks were made, but due to various reasons this enterprise did not develop much further.

The man behind Seddon Deutz, Frank Tinsdale was asked by KHD if he would consider setting up a company to give Magirus Deutz a presence in this country, and in 1971 this resulted in the establishment of Magirus Deutz (GB) Ltd.

The company started to make in-roads into the construction and off-road market.

Soon it made sense to find new premises to allow for expansion.

Frank made the move about 45 miles to the South-West.

The Winsford years. 1972-1981

The New address for Magirus Deutz (GB) Ltd became : Road Five, Winsford Industrial Estate. The New premises were purpose-built as a complete service centre for the truck market. It had facilities for Mechanical, Electrical, Specialist Conversions, and of course all normal Routine Servicing including D.of E. inspections.

The site was a few miles the M6 motorway, and was well positioned for good access all over the UK.

Initially 209D14 and 232D16 tractor units were part-assembled here, alongside the 230D22 off-road vehicles which came in from Ulm, as complete chassis cabs.

By 1975 after nearly 200 tractor units had been made, all vehicles were then imported fully assembled. They then only required Pre-Delivery inspections before being shipped out to the growing UK network of dealers.

I would like to hear from any ex-employees or directors who may have any interesting pictures or recollections of this era.

  UK Magirus Deutz Truck Dealer list 1979

Around 1975 Frank Tinsdale was sensing the need for the Uniquely British layout of an '8 wheeler’ to compete with the established British '8 Legger' makers.

No similar layout was available from Germany, so he set about designing one. He worked closely with ‘Primrose Engineering’ and built a prototype.

The 'Tinsdale Tipper' was shown to the Germans and resulted in the 232D30FK going into production. Ulm then started to supply similar models to other countries, including Switzerland where it was used successfully as a tanker chassis.

Things were now getting very busy at Winsford.

The combination of a very enthusiastic workforce, a strong dealer network supplying top quality reliable trucks, and the backing of the Ulm factory, resulted in the increasing popularity of Magirus Deutz in the UK. New models were introduced, including the 310D19FFS with the V10 engine, to join the sleeper cab version of the now popular 232D16FFS.

In 1974 business politics started to change the face of Magirus Deutz.

Klockner Humboldt Deutz presented Magirus Deutz AG to the world, as an independent company.

Then in 1975 Magirus Deutz started to wear the IVECO badge, to signify its new association with Fiat, OM and Lancia.

Although KHD owned Magirus Deutz AG, they did not include the manufacturing facility for the Deutz engine in the Industrial Vehicle Corporation alliance , and this was to prove an important factor in the future of Magirus Deutz.

The results of the IVECO influence started to show at Winsford in the form of the New lightweight trucks which appeared here. These were the 90D5.7FL and 90D7.5 FL, which were essentially the same vehicle with two differing capacities , but sharing the same 87bhp 4 Cylinder Deutz F4L913 Air-Cooled engine .

These models were built on a lightweight OM chassis and gave a very favourable payload and performance when compared to its contemporary competitors.

There were also integral high volume van variants available.

The driveability and reliability of these models, particularly the 7.5, which could be driven by anyone over 21 with a car drivers licence, made them very popular with Self Drive companies. The face-lifted version 90M models followed.

A very rare variation on the 7.5 model was an uprated version on 20" wheels with a slightly modified cab, designed to operate at 9T gvw, and was badged as 90M9FL.

There was of course the Fiat Daily 3.5T range which was very good, but sadly it had a radiator.

A Result of Loft Clearance

The UK Sales force at the Leicester Holiday Inn where we were introduced to the Iveco Daily. At the 'M' is Helmut Randolf, and at the 'Z' is Jurgen Lange of Magirus Deutz Ulm. Who is that scruffy bloke, with the dodgy flares and all the hair on the right ? I can name some of the others. Go on be brave, if you are here, get in touch please.

The Magirus Deutz range in the UK was now offering vehicles at the capacity extremes of the commercial market , but the 16T and 24T sector was still not represented.

These weights were available elsewhere in the world with the Ulm cab, but for some unknown (to me) reason they were not made available in RHD form.

The UK market eventually received a 16T Fiat chassis cab, with a 6 cylinder Turbo Deutz engine, the 168M16FL which was made available in a 5500mm wheelbase, making it unsuitable for Tipper use.

There was still no UK 24T models available until late 1980, and when they appeared they were 3 axle versions of the D30FK and as such did not tie in visually with the 16T, as they were an all German product, the 232D26FK. It was a terrific spec for Tipper/Off Road use, but too short for long distance haulage.

Then the IVECO influence really took over, in the form of the 256M19FFS, and 320M19FFS tractive units which eventually replaced the previous German models.

The specification of these trucks made them essentially Fiats with Turbo Deutz power.

The combination of the late arrival of limited 16T, and 24T models to the UK market and the IVECO badge engineering that occurred, lead to the eventual demise of Deutz powered trucks in the UK.

The badge changes and many Motor Trade political changes over the years went :-

Deutz....Magirus…..Magirus Deutz…..Magirus Iveco…..IVECO Magirus…IVECO Ford and eventually, and currently IVECO.

Now 

IVECO are now based in Road One, very close to the Old Road Five premises, still in Winsford, and there are quite a few ‘previously Air-Cooled’ employees.

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I would like to think that one day in the future, that a Truck Manufacturer somewhere in the world will have the foresight to re-introduce the option of the Air-Cooled Deutz engine.

The engines have only got better over the years and many plant operators will testify to their incredible reliability, in the most inhospitable working environments that the world can throw at them. ......

 Not When, but Who is it going to be, that is the question ?

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Air-Cooled Rules !..... and always will !