Lorries 1890s To 1970s Shire Library

Author: Nick Baldwin, Softbound, 56 Pages, ISBN: 9780747807551, 1st Edition, 2010

- Shire Library Series

In 1910 it was not clear whether steam, electric or petrol commercial vehicles would replace horses; it was the tens of thousands of petrol lorries used in the FirstWorld War that tipped the balance and ensured the dominance of the latter. For the heaviest loads diesel made inroads from 1930, by which time cabs were fully enclosed, all wheels had brakes, and solid tyres were a thing of the past.

Nick Baldwin looks at these early developments and traces the lorry through to the 1970s, with the arrival of turbochargers, tilt cabs, multiple-range transmissions and driver comforts. Some of the roles of specialist vehicles — from hauling oversize loads to compacting household refuse, and from fighting fires to seeking oil and minerals off-highway — are also examined in this wide-ranging review.

Nick Baldwin is a former chairman of the National Motor Museum Advisory Council and owns several historic vehicles. He has written a number of books about tractors and commercial vehicles, and wrote Tractors and Old Delivery Vans for Shire.