Captured on camera on March 3 and 8, with the focus on heavy on- and off-road machinery, though I gladly made an exception for a little fellow with a good reputation. All pictures were taken during my usual, approx. 10 km walking trip around the neighborhood.
A 2013 DAF CF 85.410 FAX flatbed truck with an 8×2*6 drivetrain and a beefy Effer knuckle boom crane between its cab and bed.
Such trucks are true dual-purpose vehicles, as they can deliver goods and lift materials to a higher level. The guy in control -he’s literally not in the picture- is both a professional truck driver and a certified crane operator.
The same DAF, towing a GS Meppel flatbed trailer. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the DAF’s registered curb weight is 24,270 kg (53,500 lbs). (courtesy of the Van Oort hauling company)
Two grown-ups were playing in the sandbox with some full-size toys. The 2012 John Deere 6140R farm tractor, with black instead of the factory yellow wheels, is coupled to a VGM end dump trailer.
The wheeled excavator is a 2024 Liebherr A 916 Litronic. Wheeled excavators are allowed to drive on public roads, slowly -much slower than a modern farm tractor- but surely.
Belonging to the same crew, a 2006 Scania R500 V8 6×2 hooklift truck with a 28 tonnes (61,700 lbs), 2022 VTR low loader trailer. There seems to be a load of drainage hoses in the container.
Similar straight truck and full trailer combinations are widely used by earthmoving, infrastructure, and demolition companies. Their heavy-duty trucks, equipped with a dump body or roll-off system, are also perfectly capable of bringing wheeled or tracked machinery to the job site.
Another road legal off-roader, a Challenger RoGator 635B self-propelled sprayer. Since 2002, Challenger is one of the AGCO brands, originally it was created by Caterpillar in 1986.
Posing in the early March sun, a 2018 Scania 580S V8 6×2 tractor with a 2009 Vogelzang tri-axle, end dump semi-trailer. With its six axles in total, it’s a classic example of a 50 tonnes (110,000 lbs) semi.
A co-worker, this 2019 Scania 520S V8 8×2/4 truck with a cable roll-off system. Naturally, the Scania comes with a drawbar coupling for towing a full trailer. Given the number 24 on the cab roof, that must be a trailer with three axles and dual wheels all around.
All VSB big rigs are photogenic, I’ve posted several of them over the past years. Scania only, always with a V8.
The zinc union’s 2018 DAF CF 340 FA Space Cab curtainsider had just arrived at the unloading point.
The last one, a 2010 Suzuki Alto 1.0 three-cylinder. Quite the contrast I admit, but worth highlighting, because all Alto generations were true cheapskate champions, as in the car with the lowest costs per kilometer (depreciation and all that included). Most likely also per mile.
By the way, this is not the same Alto as the contemporary Japanese model. The 2008-2014 Alto generation for the European market was built in India by Maruti Suzuki and was also offered as the Nissan Pixo, albeit with a different face.
Love the small car at the end. Just wish my fellow Americans were into the gas savers. Like the fact that this site has small cars outside of the US that were don’t get.
Nowadays, the Swift is the smallest, most basic Suzuki here.
Anno 2025, the Toyota Aygo X, Kia Picanto, and Hyundai i10 -all of them with a 1.0 liter three-cylinder gasoline engine- are the only no-frills A-segment cars on our market (available as new cars, that is).
Johannes,
Since I was a young kid, I’ve been fascinated by heavy trucks and machinery. When my family and I were in Europe in 1971, we saw some of the trucks and tractors you post. Fun to see especially since we don’t get some of these in the states.
Speaking for the Netherlands, the leading truck manufacturers in the early seventies are still leading 50 years later: DAF, Volvo, Scania, MAN, and Mercedes-Benz.
Back in the early seventies, the market for heavy trucks was much more fragmented, every country/Euro-region had its own brands. Like Saviem and Berliet in France, Pegaso and Barreiros in Spain, and Steyr in Austria. Not to mention the UK with a grand collection of domestic truck makers.