Back in 1948, my Grandfather Samuel John Henderson paid the princely sum of £242 for a 1942 Austin K2 lorry, registered LZ 1082. He was the proud owner of this lorry right up until his death in 1980 at the age of 89, when it was passed on to my father, Samuel George Henderson. The first photo below was taken in the early 1970s showing 'Sam' as he was known, at the wheel with 'SJH' on the door. He was a fruit and veg merchant in Portadown, NI, and used the lorry all over the province and into the South of Ireland in those pre-motorway days, and my father recalls hot summer Saturdays as a teenager spent in the cab travelling right down into County Fermanagh to deliver apples or collect eggs, restricted by the poor roads and the top speed of 40mph! The truck was Sam's pride and joy, and as he advanced in years it was used less and less, rust started to take hold around the edges, but even at the age of 88 he was driving it every week into town.
After he passed on in 1980, the lorry was left to my father as the eldest son, and he kept it in dry storage on the family farm, with a view to having it professionally restored by a local bodyman. However, in those pre-computer days, it was easy to apply for a duplicate logbook, which another family member did, and without my father's knowledge sold the lorry on for a few hundred pounds. Understandably my father was greatly upset by this turn of events, and spoke little of the lorry to me as I was growing up. I knew of the above photo, but had no idea what had transpired. That was in 1982.
Fast forward 32 years to 2014, and going through some documentation I came across old insurance papers and the old buff logbook, which started me wondering what ever happened to the truck in that photo...? So back in March I sent the photo to Classics and Commercials with a little background and my contact details. Several months passed with nothing, and finally a gent called to say he knew of the truck, and the first name of the present owner... it exists! Long searches and detective work eventually discovered contact details for the owner, a meeting was arranged, and one Sunday last December my Dad was taken out for 'a Sunday drive'...
And for the first time in 32 years, laid eyes on his Father's restored lorry, which he assumed was lost forever. My Mother assures me there were tears in the car... I've never seen my Dad cry before. A very emotional day for everyone.
Sitting on holiday last week in Turkey with the latest Classic & Vintage Commercials magazine, read through the whole thing and idly leafing through the classifieds... 'Oh look, an Austin K2 for sale. A burgundy one, that looks just like my Grandfath... hang on!' Stuff the mobile roaming charges, had to make a call there and then. Turns out the chap had lost our contact details, and had advertised it in the hope of me spotting it. So that's settled then - it's coming back to the family!
I've been trawling through the requirements for me to drive my soon to be collected lorry, and it's slightly confusing. The vehicle is running and used regularly by the present owner, and kept in good order but it's not MoT'd. Does it fall under the pre-1960 exemption? I have a feeling it is, but want to be sure. My real area of concern is the driving license required. As I passed my test after 1997, I did not automatically receive C1 as standard, and would need to sit an additional test to gain this. As I interpret the rules, I can drive the lorry with a B license, but some sources say the bed must be unladen, whilst others say goods may be carried, but only for private purposes. Can anyone help me out here? I really don't want to fall foul of the law... Finally, the present owner has not applied to register the vehicle as historic. Therefore, I'll need to tax it as I would a normal car?