Page 1. SD Enthusiasts' Club Magazine - Summer 2010.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The familiar SD 'P' series cab bears the name "Marshall SPV." The year is 1991 and Shelvokes is no more. Marshalls of Cambridge has a number of SD vehicles to refurbish and the one pictured was one of eight bound for the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.
Marshalls had recruited ten former production workers from SD at Letchworth to work on these vehicles, but they were unfamiliar with working on parts that had rusted or seized up on usage. So Keith Jackson, who was in charge of the project, sent for Les Spencer, who was the Manager and Peter Whyatt, the chargehand fitter/welder from SD's Manchester Depot to provide the necessary dismantling skills.
"We were in Cambridge for three months up to December 1991," Les Spencer recalls, "and we could work as many hours as were willing to put in."
The Revopaks were stripped right down, the chassis were sand blasted and re-sprayed, new road springs were fitted etc., so that on completion the vehicles were "as good as new."
In this photo Peter Whyatt is on the left with Les Spencer on the right with two ex-Letchworth workers in the centre.
"Three months work was very welcome," Les told me, "after 23 years at the Manchester Depot. redundancy came as a nasty shock."
Now bearing the Marshalls name the smartly turned out vehicles are ready for shipment overseas.
My thanks to Les Spencer for sharing his memories and for the loan of these photographs.