SOUTH PACIFICS PART TWO
In last month’s issue of Heritage Commercials, we marked the sad passing (on Friday 10th April) of John Wynn with a snapshot look back at his 87 years of life. As we explained, John discovered he was a petrol head at a very early age and while of course he did enter into the management of the family owned Robert Wynn & Sons Ltd road haulage business, he loved any excuse to get behind the steering wheel of any size of load shifter.
Even when the restructuring of Wynns in ’82 forced John into resigning, he took his heavy haulage expertise to all parts of the globe. His HGV driving career was to only end in the early ‘90s when a major heart operation was required, however, John didn’t let that slow him down. In re-inventing himself, he was to produce three books; several DVDs and numerous magazine features on the life and times of his beloved family firm. He also established himself as an evening / afternoon speaker with his distinctive soft Welsh accent being a joy to listen to.
Obviously John had more than 120 years of Wynn’s history to reminisce over but we can imagine, that one particular vehicle regularly got talked about. Because once the Wynn family had weaved their magic on the ex-Second World War American built import M26 Pacific (that apparently no one else in the UK was really bothered about) they were to quickly lift themselves up to the heights of the heavy haulage pecking-order ladder. And this was at a time (in true David and Goliath fashion) when the nationalised force of British Road Services’ Pickford’s Division was almost given carte blanche to sweep away all and any form of competition.
