Though he is new to lorry preservation, Jamie Atkins has crammed an amazing amount into a short time. Peter Simpson tells the story.
Thirty four year old Jamie Atkins is a relatively new recruit to active lorry preservation. He has, however, amassed a huge amount of experience within a relatively short time. For example, his 1989 Scania 93M was basically rescued from scrap but returned to the road in less than two months. It’s therefore clear that what Jamie lacks in direct time-served experience, he more than makes up for in enthusiasm and a willingness/determination to get stuck in.
Beginning with buses
Jamie initially tried office work, but it was soon obvious he really wasn’t cut out for sitting behind a desk. His first job in transport was in Hull, driving buses for East Yorkshire Buses. From here, he moved to coach driving in Aberdeen (“I fancied a change and the money was better”). This lasted until 2020 when Covid caused the leisure coach industry to shut down overnight. Jamie subsequently drove prison buses for 18months before deciding to try lorry driving. His mother worked for Openfield, a “grain marketing and arable distribution co-operative” near Bressingham in Norfolk. They agreed to take Jamie as a lorry driver and put him through his LGV test, which he passed in November 2022. More recently he has moved to Maritime Transport on long-distance container work out of Felixstowe Docks. This involves sleeping in the cab Monday to Friday.
History unknown
Jamie’s Scania 93M was new in 1989 and has a nine litre straight-six engine and GS09 five over five gearbox. It was first registered in Leeds, but beyond that, and despite spending much time researching it online, he knows nothing of its early history. According to the V5c he is, however, the fourth owner. Any further information would, of course, be very welcome. He bought it back in April from Openfield where it had previously been used as a yard shunter, but by the time Jamie became aware of its existence it was considered too far gone for even this and had been parked up in a shed.
Jamie’s initial enquiry about buying the 93M was unsuccessful. “Someone in the office” had, following a bit of online research, decided that Openfield was sitting on a sought-after and valuable five-figure asset. However, a trusted dismantler in Diss provided a much more realistic offer of £5000. Jamie was told he could buy it if he matched that. So he went ahead, and arranged for the Scania to be moved to a caravan storage and horse livery facility near Alconbury where storage had been arranged. Though the 93M is Jami’s first lorry, it isn’t his first commercial vehicle project as he has previously tackled an LDV 200 pick-up.
Unsurprisingly, the Scania was in a somewhat sorry state when acquired. It was capable of movement, but because the range changer wasn’t working, only the five lowest gears were available. The cab tilt ram was “hanging off”, the rear lights hanging off, There was also, as expected, a fair amount of corrosion in the cab; specifically around the front corners and the steering column. Oh, and mice had attacked the wiring loom in several places.
Jamie however, assisted by some good friends, soon got stuck in. A good friend welded new sections into the cab as required. Jamie then prepped it before painting it using Rust-Oleum and a roller and the resulting finish looks superb. In keeping with the Scania’s age, the cab lettering is vinyls, provided by another lorry-friend named John.
Easy gearbox fix
On the mechanical side, the problem that was potentially the most serious (the gearbox) turned out to be very easily fixed. The range change wasn’t working because the electrical connection had come undone. Then the wiring plug had melted due to contact with the exhaust heat shield. With a fresh connector, all was fine. There would, of course, have been no need for the higher ratios on a tractor used only for shunting. Elsewhere, new drag links were needed along with new front tyres due to the ten-year age-limit, and Swedish Truck Parts (who Jamie recommends without hesitation; “all they need is a chassis number”) supplied a replacement cab ram. The engine and gearbox needed nothing more than a thorough service and fluid change. One new brake chamber was also needed. The driver’s seat also needed renewal. For speed and cost reasons Jamie fitted one from a VW Golf car (chosen due to not having an integral seatbelt chip mounting point). This does the job but Jamie is planning to find and fit something more appropriate.
Testing Troubles
There were, though, a couple of problems when the Scania went for MoT. The first was that because it hadn’t been tested for at least ten years, it had dropped off the VOSA system. Initially the testing station thought they would not be able to do it. Fortunately, the plate in the footwell giving details of the original weights etc., was still in place. So following a phone call to VOSA, authority to test on “contingency” data was given. It failed first time due to the new chamber having been fitted incorrectly, but with that rectified it went straight through.
Going back to Sweden
During 2024 Jamie’s 93M made event appearances including at Haddenham, Kettering and Newark. It’s also been out to several smaller local events featuring road transport of all kinds, and Jamie tends to favour these. But having said that, laster this year (2025) he plans to take it back to Sweden for a major Scania gathering. He clearly loves driving the lorry – despite driving a modern tractor unit as a job! In fact, he describes it as “beautiful” to drive, “with responsive steering and an extremely forgiving gearbox – an ideal lorry for someone who is new to driving manual lorries.” Speed-wise it’ ‘s happiest at 52-55mph. It will do more but Jamie doesn’t like to push it too much, and at this speed seems to return a far-from-awful 15mpg.
The was never any plan here to create perfection or a show-winner; rather the aim was to present it in typical ten year old condition, as it might have been seen at around the turn of the millenium being used by an owner-driver as a second or third-hand lorry. Some of us might think of that as rather recent, but it’s now a quarter-century ago. Jamie would have been nine at the time. That’s about the age at which most of us started taking an interest in lorries and the like. Jamie is also pleased that his lorry is a 93M, rather than the more plentiful and popular-in-preservation V8 models. The smaller versions tended to be the choice of large cost-conscious dedicated fleets such as supermarkets, and as such there were quite a lot of them on the roads, and it’s therefore only right that these solid working trucks are represented in preservation.
Transport photography
Finally, owning this Scania, and driving long-distance on containers for Maritime aren’t the only aspects of Jamie’s interest in lorries, as he is also an extremely accomplished, enthusiastic and prolific transport photographer. His work appears on Facebook as “Jamie’s Transport Photography” and covers cars, trains and buses as well as lorries and light commercials, and the lorry content covers everything from shows to ‘spottings’ on the A14 and a few other places. It’s also amassed more than 5000 followers so far.
All of which, just like Jamie’s Scania 93M, is pretty impressive.
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