BLACK GOLD
The subject of my look at oilfield exploration last time was Scammell and now we come to Thornycroft which followed a remarkably similar trajectory. It was quick to design colonial off-road six-wheelers in the 1920s and by the early 1930s was building heavy-duty models for the likes of Shell-Mex that would be used in Sarawak. In fact, soon after WW1, Thornycroft’s Basingstoke factory had hosted experiments with wartime German 4x4 gun tractor components. It made a couple of dozen Hathis in 1922/4 with 11.2 litre 90bhp six-cylinder motors more commonly used in Thornycroft’s Marine division at Southampton. One Hathi, at any rate, had 6x6 but it seems that it and the 4x4s were destined for military rather than oilfield use.
The first of the light 6x4s with military pattern trunnion mounted tandems were typically 1.5 to 2.5 tonners. More useful to oil companies was the 50/60Bhp XB 3 to 5 tonner of 1928 that was a direct competitor to Scammell’s new six-wheeler. By 1930 the XB was a full five tonner with the same four-cylinder petrol engine,
