No fear when these guys show up in your rear-view mirror, it’s just that family names ending on -ing or -ink are commonplace in the eastern regions of the Netherlands, where they speak Dutch Low Saxon. So far for some geography trivia, it’s about time to focus.
Oh look, what a coincidence!
Hoitink’s 2016 Scania R580 V8 4×2.
2023 Volvo VT-5 4×2, a conversion of a factory FH cabover into a conventional, done by the Vlastuin company (also known for their Scania conversions).
2022 MAN TGX 18.430 4×2.
2017 Scania R450 6×2/4.
2017 DAF XF 440 FAS 6×2 low-bed truck. And you must also have spotted the old soldier on the right.
A 1943 GMC CCKW-353 6×6 military truck.
It’s resting between the DAF truck and a 2017 Scania R450 4×2 tractor.
2016 Volvo FH 6×2/4, powered by 500 horses. Just a wild guess.
2016 Scania R450 6×2/4. Bright colors, everything painted, no shiny bits ‘n pieces. That’s how we like them.
This AWD rally truck is based on a 1996 DAF 75 CF.
Another happy and speedy off-road camper, this one started its working career as a 1993 Scania P113 tractor.
2015 Scania R580 V8 6×2 truck with a temperature controlled body.
2019 Volvo FH 8×2 dump/flatbed truck with a Hiab knuckle boom crane behind the cab. Heavy-Duty and Super-Versatile. And you can see why dropsides are called dropsides. If needed, they can also be removed easily.
2013 Scania R500 V8 6×2.
2016 MAN TGX 18.440 4×2.
The Pedersen family from Denmark brought their Volvo FH 6×2 tractor to the show.
2018 DAF XF 480 FT 4×2.
2021 Scania S520 V8 6×2/4. Stunning color scheme!
Kees in ‘t Veen (Case innut Vain) showed his superbly 2022 Volvo FH 4×2.
2017 Scania R450 6×2/4.
2015 Volvo FH 6×2/4.
2022 DAF XG 480 FT 4×2.
2020 Volvo FM 4×2 box truck, owned by a laundry business.
2022 Scania R530 V8 4×2.
2019 Scania S520 V8 6×2/4. Owner Van Lith hails from Rather Old Zealand (the small town, not the province).
2017 DAF XF 530 FTG 6×2/4.
DAF’s current, absolute top model in the form of a 2022 XG+ 530 FTS 6×2 tractor. In Europe, the XG+ has the biggest factory tilt cab on the market. You can walk around in the cab straight up, even if you’re 6’11” tall. Which means a short bishop can keep his mitre/miter on. ‘But I digress’, to quote aussie-justy.
Inside the former military hangar once more, here’s a 2023 Renault T-High 4×2, driven by Volvo hardware.
2022 DAF XD 450 FT 4×2 demo tractor. The XD ‘mid-sizer’ superseded DAF’s CF-series.
2023 Mercedes-Benz Actros L 2153 4×2.
The last of the show’s 2023 edition photo collection, a new Mercedes-Benz Actros L 2863 6×2 chassis-cab.
I’ve often wondered if European semi-tractors are regularly driven late at night on otherwise empty roads or if the massive quantities of forward lighting is more for show.
Especially popular among owner operators, I’m not really a fan of all those aftermarket lamps either. But as they say, to each their own.
That being said, collecting fresh milk, for example, is a 24/7 job. Not with the same driver behind the wheel, mind you. Driving in pitch dark rural areas on narrow roads, so I can imagine that a bit of extra lighting is welcome.
The lights on the cabine are very useful in snowing conditions, the normal lower mounted lights are getting dirty and covered by snow, specially in Scandinavian winters. But on most of these trucks in the pictures, 100% show.
Quite, all those lamps and front racks (which I also don’t like) are clearly inspired by the Scandinavian big -and ultra heavy- rigs.
Personally, I prefer as ‘clean’ as possible, something like Verbruggen’s DAF or the Volvo from Denmark.
Our highways are unlit two lane blacktop winding through the scenery, Ive driven a lot of trucks at night and a lot of them European you dont need the extra lights except if you are logging and are crawling on muddy tracks at stupid am to get loaded, If you meet somebody you must go to low beam anyway, and from high beam, roof spotlights on in a Scania to low beam lights is like a curtain being pulled across in front of you,
most night drivers dont use high beam very much at all here, daytime drivers driving at night use every light they can mount.
I’m curious, Bryce, why isn’t high beam used much?
Mommy! I don’t want to go home now. There are more trucks on the other side of the show area. Thanks, Johannes.
Great selection! I’d really love to be able to go to one of these European truck shows.
I couldn’t help but noticing that the Van Zeist truck is in very similar colors to those used by the US company Werner Enterprises (below).
Also, can you help me out with the colored license plates on the laundry truck and the Scania beneath it (and some others here)? Is it now possible for companies to get license plates in custom colors for their rigs? There’s a few US states where that’s possible (Indiana is one example), and it’s usually limited to very large fleets. But I’m surprised to see something similar in Europe.
Similar shades of blue, indeed. Nice catch!
About those plates: non-reflecting ‘show plates’, ideal when taking pictures (especially when dark)! And they blend in better with the vehicle’s color(s).
Here’s the same laundry Volvo with the one and only, legally required plate:
Thanks – I hadn’t thought of them being show plates.
The corporate plates I was referring to are much more subtle. Below is an example, where a company’s logo and corporate colors are embedded into the legal license plate.
Modern trucks seem to have lost their way a little bit, style-wise. Why do they all have the Stepladder grille? Surely it’s easier to get in through the door than (presumably) the sunroof?
I do rather like those off-road jobs, somewhat irrationally (irrationally because I generally deplore the gigantism affecting all classes of cars, and those things could represent the logical end-point of oversized 4wd’s).
Low Saxon! Who knew? I probably should have, because I’ve seen a few oddly Anglo-sounding Dutch names over the years here.
Another thing I’ve learned is that truck specs are sometime surely adapted into square-dance moves, such as “dump/flatbed truck with a Hiab knuckle boom crane behind”, but I digress.
Low Saxon, as in the German Low Saxon version (‘Niedersächsisch’), not Anglo-Saxon.
On a more or less grille related note, see latest Actros L below.
I agree on the styling of some more recent trucks, i’m wondering if crash regs, and increased engine temps for euro 6 are partly at play or if it’s just the ostentatious grill disease that’s plagued carmakers in last 10 or so years rubbing off a bit
*Hopefully this comment goes in the correct place, replies seem to be broken for me
Edit: no it did not go in the correct place
Euro 6 diesel engines require a large cooling capacity for sure, but Volvo, MAN and certainly Mercedes-Benz (see picture above) prove that the wide and tall ‘stepladder’ grilles -as per justy baum- aren’t necessary for that.
The new Benz Actros cab was introduced on the full electric version, but the recently unveiled new turbodiesels get the exact same ‘enclosed’ cab.
What concerns Scania, the “stepladder” design is a styling element since decades. Here a Scania 110 from the Late 60’s (image from the www):
Yes, the 1969 0-series. In that picture you can see how wide the grille opening really is, thanks to the color scheme. Often, there was black paint between the ‘steps’ (suitable for small children only), which looks much better IMO.
I continue to be amazed at the large number of cabover style trucks there – those are virtually extinct in the US. Very nice collection!