Page 2. Shelvoke & Drewry Enthusiasts' Club Newsletter - Spring 2022.
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MY NAME IS “MIKE” – MIKE MULLARKEY CODE:- 007
A Newsletter Exclusive.
It
can now be revealed that Shelvoke & Drewry employed secret agents
to ensure that they were constantly aware of developments at their
commercial rivals.
For many years the refuse collection vehicle market was dominated by
two names :- Shelvoke & Drewry of Letchworth and Dennis Bros. of
Guilford. Other refuse vehicle manufacturers were regarded as second
division as they mounted their bodies on commercial chassis. Glover,
Webb & Liversidge favoured Karrier chassis whilst Eagle of Warwick
often used Bedford chassis. So far as SD went the argument was that for
refuse collection you needed a specialised chassis. The primary
requirements were for a vehicle capable of constant stop/start
conditions, a chassis rugged enough to travel on unmade roads to the
tip (nowadays called landfill), and a cab large enough to carry a crew
of five plus the driver. The large crew was necessary as customarily
the operatives carried the bins from back gardens and returned them
empty.
When Agent 007, otherwise known as Mike Mullarkey SD’s Exeter Service
Depot Manager heard that Dennis were demonstrating a new vehicle not
far away from him in Exeter, the challenge to spy on the demo was
irresistible.
With
a quick:- “See you later lads” it was off in the car to see what was
going on. Armed with his trusty camera Mike took the shot shown above.
Clearly keen not to be spotted “007” kept his distance. And what a
sight it was! An articulated Dennis! The tractor unit carried the
familiar Ogle designed Dennis cab which had caused such consternation
at SD Headquarters in 1978 when it emerged that SD’s revolutionary ‘P’
series cab wasn’t as exclusive as they had believed. The tractor unit
was coupled to a Dennis Phoenix 18 body.
“Ideal for Devon & Cornwall roads” thought Mike – “It wasn’t!” “Who
would ever want a vehicle this size?” he pondered. But this was clearly
something he had to report back to Letchworth HQ.
Emboldened by not being hustled away by Dennis heavies Mike selected
the best secluded spot to carry on snapping away. And eventually he was
close enough to get this shot of the coupling mechanism:-
Stewart
Graham, a former Dennis demo driver told us:- “They were built for Hong
Kong with Phoenix 18 bodies. Prior to delivery the customer wanted a
demo, the problem was it could not reverse up some of the steep hills
as it lost traction on the drive axle, they were a nightmare to reverse
at the best of times due to single axle and very short wheel base.
They were not really designed for door to door street collecting, in HK
they would drop the trailer under High rise flats and connect to mains
to power the hydraulics and manually load as people bring to compactor.
That said, as a tractor unit only, with Perkins twin turbo V8, they
went like hell off the mark. I even beat a XR3 up to 40mph lol”
Well done 007!