Interational Motor Trucks (1 results)
More imagesThrough Central Africa and across the Sahara Desert on an "International" Standard Four-Wheeled Lorry (Reprinted from The Commercial Motor, June 12th, 19th and 26th, 1928, Issues)
The Commercial Motor; Interational Motor Trucks; (G.N. King; Charles Markham; Baron Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke)
Language: English
Published by International Harvester Company of Great Britain, Ltd, London, 1928
- Softcover
Seller: Dendera, London, United KingdomDendera
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Good
£ 175.00
£ 43.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketSoft cover. Condition: Good. Original A4 staple-bound printed orange wraps. 12pp with closely typed text in 3 columns, several b/w photos, and route map, reprinting 3 consecutive articles from "The Commercial Motor". Good with tear along the spine fold and horizontal crease. Extremely rare, not recorded on Worldcat or Library Hu…b. The Commercial Motor was founded as the first journal dedicated to freight and passenger vehicles. International Harvester was a major US farm equipment, car and lorry manufacturer, formed from a merger of other firms in 1902, and this celebratory work was issued by them in this format. Dating to the pioneering age of rugged far flung motor travel, this expedition was ostensibly organised through its British subsidiary to test and promote its Standard Four-Wheeled Lorry by sending it on a gruelling near 7000 mile journey from Nairobi across the Sahara to Algiers. The author is unnamed, but it draws on the accounts of the drivers. These included C.N. King from International Harvester's General Office who drove the first leg from Nairobi to Kano, and British explorer and soldier Sir Charles Markham and Baron Blixen, who together completed the journey from there to Algiers. King set out from Nairobi on 17 December 1927, travelling via Kenya, Uganda, and the Belgian Congo, aiming to reach Nigeria ahead of the rainy season, and arrived in Kano on 25 January 1928. Markham and Blixen set out from Kano on 27 March, arriving in Algiers on 11 April, with Markham buying the lorry en route. The text places the venture in context of other expeditions describing what makes it different. It discusses and illustrates preparations, the route covered, people encountered, and challenges faced and overcome, one of the most perilous of which was a lack of water. The more treacherous Sahara leg consumed 156 gallons of petrol and the tyres fared well. Photos show various terrains encountered, repairs en route, tribal peoples, hunting scenes, Trans-Saharan Company "garage" at Raggan, the military outpost at Adrah where they experienced problems refuelling, with the lorry featuring prominently in several. At the end of the journey International Harvester bought the lorry back from Markham and transported it back to London via Marseilles and Paris. The final page "At the end of the journey" has a photo of the cleaned up vehicle clad with spare tyres along its sides and adorned with celebratory signage in International Harvester's London showroom. It was subsequently sent on a tour of the US.
