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Welcome to Gallery Three |
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| This wonderful preserved Leyland 900FG (nicknamed 'Big Ears') was manufactured in 1970 and was acquired by Brian Parnell in 1973 and he worked with it right up till his death in early 2007. | |
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Brian the Lion (as he was
known) was an absolute Gentlemen and this webmaster knew that if I was
organising a gathering of old recovery vehicles for the European Tow Show,
or Mayday at Brooklands, a quick request to Brian would always produce an
appearance. In the fifties Brian had worked for Dreadnought Garage in Hove and he once sent me a picture of the Austin Loadstar he had used back then. His first "Wrecker" (he preferred that word) had been a 1935 Bedford fitted with a Morrison Crane. Regrettable, I do not think a picture exists of it anywhere. Brian also owned for a number of years a very interesting Toyota Land Cruiser manufactured in 1978. It was purchased new via Switzerland by British Leyland's Land Rover Design Development Department. |
| It spent two years 'being
evaluated by the opposition', before Brian purchased it at the end of 1980
and converted it to a recovery vehicle.
The equipment he fitted, was a one and a half ton Nielson Easylift 'spectacle' frame. This was used because Brian knew of the tremendous reliability of the emergence vehicle with an identical specification, supplied by Faulk in Denmark. If you would like to know more about this remarkable man you will find a A Tribute to Brian Parnell here
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