My earliest memory of riding in a heavy lorry came during a fly-fishing trip with my father during my school holidays. One of his jobs with the Rover Co of Solihull was calling on dealers to report back on product or customer problems. HQ must have wondered why dealers in mid-Wales, the Lake District, Hampshire and Scotland saw a lot of my father in the trout season! Anyway, there we were near Shap on our way to Scotland when father called in for another of his enthusiasms, a foaming pint of local ale. He overheard a conversation between a farmer and a quarry owner about their respective Land Rover and Rover challenges with a
