When searching for trucks to feature in these pages, all manner of routes and co-incidences can apply, turning up interesting vehicles along the way. If we set out to find one particular make and model, then the difficulties arise. The late 1970s were the pinnacle of the component truck, many established makes had been swallowed-up by BL and only their (now tarnished) badges could separate them, since beneath it was all Leyland '680' and Albion axles, no matter what it said on the radiator.
Elsewhere ERF and Seddon-Atkinson ran parallel courses with their C-Series and 400/401 takes on the eight wheeler and distribution tractor market. Foden was one of the last to succumb, but from a peak of building its own chassis, engines and drive train it finally went the component truck route, the clearest indicator of which was the Fleetmaster. To find a good Fleetmaster today is not easy — the ravages of corrosion to chassis and cabs see to that — to find a sympathetically-restored example is even harder and one with a complete documented history something of a holy grail search. To attempt finding Foden's original launch truck — the actual vehicle that the press photographed at its unveiling and then drove for their first road tests, restored to the condition when it first saw light, would, of course, be utterly ridiculous. So here itYNO 957S was the registration given to the first Foden Fleetmaster to see the light of day. Unveiled to the press and invited guests at the Europa Hotel in central London, on 3rd November 1977, it was first shown to the public at the Scottish Commercial Vehicle Show at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow later that month and launched as Fodens's 1978 model. It was displayed resplendent in Foden's factory white and brown livery, alongside the S83-cabbed derivative with large diameter single headlamps, the Fleetmster's twin units instantly making it look more modern, while the cabs told their own story. The Motor Panels of Coventry pressed steel tilting cabs were essentially the same shell but offered as the S90 Haulmaster and the S95 Fleetmaster and Motor Panels own brochure showed the interchangeability between day cab and sleeper variants, either of which could be specified with single or two-piece windscreens, depending upon market versions, but at launch Foden announced the Fleetmaster as a day-cab only, with a sleeper option of the steel cab from 1978 and the GRP S10 becoming standard on tractor units. Some hard-bitten fleet operators even insisted on the two-piece windscreen — cab type irrelevant — and Foden even produced its own new S10, GRP composite cab with a split screen also. However, that was all in the future, making this original launch truck even more of a rarity, even among Fleetmasters. As if that were not enough to single it out, it was later the recipient of a Jennings Coachwork of Crewe, sleeper cab conversion, the main extension section of which is itself GRP and forms the replacement roof, giving a total of 15 inches greater cab depth. It was first delivered as a day-cab with one-piece screen to Greenwoods, the UK-wide distribution operator (part of Amey Roadstone) and was the second Fleetmaster — after its starring role in the truck press — to be delivered to the company's Hoddesdon base, making it the 100th Foden to pass through the haulier's hands in 40 years. It would later pass into the hands of F&SJ Curry — now with its Jennings sleeper conversion — on general haulage work, in their blue and white colours before being bought by Steve Mayle Commercials of Mansfield in 1988. A change of colour to red and grey saw the Fleetmaster on general haulage and tipper duties, before its last colour change in service gave it a green and red livery under the Mayle Trailer Rentals banner. Giving up fulltime driving Steve Mayle then carved out a reputation as one of the UK's pre-eminent classic truck restorers, finally turning his attentions to his own Fleetmaster, initiating a six-year rebuild.
