Leyland Beaver TSC9

This was one of the entrants in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally in Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1998.

It's a 1934 Leyland Beaver TSC9 and was entered in the run by C.J. (Chris) Gardner of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, but there's no other information about it in the programme of the event. The website of The Leyland Society says this about the vehicle though:

'1934 Beaver TSC9 Reg. ABP 481 Chassis No. 5244 Engine: Leyland 5.7 Ltr 4 cyl Diesel Gearbox: Leyland 4 speed manual 
An example of an early Leyland Beaver, this vehicle has been restored to represent the large number of Leylands operated by the famous haulage company W. H. Bowker Ltd. When the Bowker vehicles were nationalised by the Road Haulage Executive in 1949, the company fleet was 85 strong, the majority of them being Leylands. ABP 481 was acquired by W. H. Bowker Ltd in 1998 and has been the subject of an extensive restoration to return it to the livery used by the Company in the period immediately before the company was nationalised.'

On 16 February 2017 I showed a photograph of this and another W,H.Bowker vehicle (the Atkinson Silver Knight behind the Leyland here)  at this 1998 Rally.

W H Bowker Ltd

When I went to the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rallies at Heaton Park, Manchester in the 1980s & 90s there were usually one or two lorries present bearing the name 'W H Bowker Ltd'. 1998 was no exception and here's a photograph I took at the rally in September of that year.

There's little information in the programme of the event about these lorries, other than that they were both entered in the rally by C J Gardner of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs. The one on the left is a 1967 Atkinson Silver Knight with a Gardner 6LXB diesel engine of 10½ litres producing 180hp. The lorry on the right is a 1934 Leyland Beaver TSC9.