The final one in my trio of SuperKings Scammell Crusaders, the K33 Cargo Hauler was introduced a few years later than the K17 and K23, in 1978 to be precise. There seems to be 3 main variations, a predominately yellow one with 'MW' tarpaulins, a predominately blue one for United States Steel and a later 'alloy wheeled' blue and orange version for 'Gauntlett (or Gauntlet - I can't remember) International. All 3 seem to be quite common on ebay in the UK, although the USS version seems to attract the highest bids. I only have 2, a boxed 'MW', and a beater MW which I may do something 'Blue Circle Cement' with - most of the Scammells I remember in active service were Blue Circle powder tankers. The beater, incidentally, could have made it into the 'Jiffy Bag Hall of Shame' had it even come in a jiffy bag - check the detached trailer legs
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Now I have heard that ignorance is bliss, and this can sometimes be true, if only because ignorance sometimes means you get a nice surprise! As mentioned before, my brother had a K33 and it was a yellow 'MW' rig with a black grille. All the 'MW's I had seen head on had black grilles. The beater 'MW' I bought had a black grille. Only when I opened the box did I find my better 'MW' had come with a silver grille and silver headlights too! Was this designed by the same nostalgic employee who did the orange K23 I wonder? It also looks to be a lighter shade of yellow to me.
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Round the back, it will come as no surprise to find both tractors have the ramp under the trailer clip. The black grilled model shows traces of having had the exhaust stacks blackened like the orange K23, but the silver grilled version has them pure 'plastic chromed'
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Moving underneath, it seems there was still no right or wrong way to fit the axle clips
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The load on these Cargo Haulers consists of 4 crates sitting on pallets. They are covered by flexible grained plastic tarpaulins which are very easy to stretch and rip, particularly around the holes.
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The observant amongst you will have noticed that I only have 3 pallets. Now this did make me wonder if the whole lot had been opened and if in fact the silver headlight trim was an 'owner modification' but something else makes me query Lesney's quality control of the time. When viewing the model prior to bidding I had noticed that one of the tarps wasn't sitting correctly. I can remember that they were a pain to put on the trailer when I was a kid so I just assumed it had come loose in the box. Wrong...... The pip on the trailer which holds the tarp down had been broken off, and as the stub has been painted over I assume this happened during assembly. Now I'm of the opinion it could well have left the factory with a pallet missing.
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Finally the box artwork. Sadly this model would have been introduced too late for a speedy action drawing, but at least it's not a photo! It also leaves me wondering if there are any 'MW' tarps out there with yellow lettering
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