T
Tractormike
New member
This is my first post to this forum, so please indulge me.
I arrived at this forum after a journey that has taken about 4 months! It started when I was offered a Bristol Europa Overloader as a renovation project. It has been ‘resting’ for the past 20 years or more and I have no doubts as to the scale of the challenge. Although I have always had an interest in such behemoths, I am a complete beginner. With a knowledge base that was zero or less, I have secured the occasional support of an experienced agricultural engineer who agreed to be my mentor – or possibly tor-mentor…..
I then started my investigations. My initial concerns covered the physical transportation (dead weight – and I mean dead), availability of manuals/spares and awareness of others who had followed a similar path with whom I could share experiences and ideas (not only what to do, but also what NOT to do). Some of these items are show-stoppers, so I had to be sure before I committed to the purchase.
Google was some help, but Bristol tractors ceased production about 50 years ago, so there was limited information. I did manage to locate both an Operators Guide (which had the weights) and a parts manual that covered the Europa (and others based on the same basic platform). I also acquired a copy of a 2013 magazine “Classic Plant and Machinery”, which contained an article by two people who had just completed the renovation of a Bristol Europa.
When it came to contacts, I found two sources. The first was a forum just for the Bristol 10, run by Jeff Steed. He pointed me to another register for owners of all other Bristol tractors (no website) but when I eventually made contact, I found that the co-ordinator had sadly passed away as a result of COVID, and that the register had lapsed.
The second was a forum “British Construction Equipment” (BCE). This had several helpful threads but in order to view them fully, I had to register. Any attempt to register was met with the message that registration had been disabled by the administrator.
Further Googling led to a long shot – the Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery. This allowed me to register, and I posted a ‘can anybody help me?’ message relating the above events. It is not a very active forum, and it was some time before I had any responses. One of them indicated that the BCE Forum was essential dormant and that some of the more active members had migrated to here.
Now I get to the substance of my post here.
I would very much like to make contact with any of those who contributed to the 2011 ‘Bristol’ thread on the BCE forum who are active on this forum. The BCE forum names were:-
d4c24a, ianoz, Mintsauce, fowler man, Hi drive, old operator, woodfud and bulldozerD11.
Any advice, warnings and suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks for reading so far.
TractorMike
I arrived at this forum after a journey that has taken about 4 months! It started when I was offered a Bristol Europa Overloader as a renovation project. It has been ‘resting’ for the past 20 years or more and I have no doubts as to the scale of the challenge. Although I have always had an interest in such behemoths, I am a complete beginner. With a knowledge base that was zero or less, I have secured the occasional support of an experienced agricultural engineer who agreed to be my mentor – or possibly tor-mentor…..
I then started my investigations. My initial concerns covered the physical transportation (dead weight – and I mean dead), availability of manuals/spares and awareness of others who had followed a similar path with whom I could share experiences and ideas (not only what to do, but also what NOT to do). Some of these items are show-stoppers, so I had to be sure before I committed to the purchase.
Google was some help, but Bristol tractors ceased production about 50 years ago, so there was limited information. I did manage to locate both an Operators Guide (which had the weights) and a parts manual that covered the Europa (and others based on the same basic platform). I also acquired a copy of a 2013 magazine “Classic Plant and Machinery”, which contained an article by two people who had just completed the renovation of a Bristol Europa.
When it came to contacts, I found two sources. The first was a forum just for the Bristol 10, run by Jeff Steed. He pointed me to another register for owners of all other Bristol tractors (no website) but when I eventually made contact, I found that the co-ordinator had sadly passed away as a result of COVID, and that the register had lapsed.
The second was a forum “British Construction Equipment” (BCE). This had several helpful threads but in order to view them fully, I had to register. Any attempt to register was met with the message that registration had been disabled by the administrator.
Further Googling led to a long shot – the Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery. This allowed me to register, and I posted a ‘can anybody help me?’ message relating the above events. It is not a very active forum, and it was some time before I had any responses. One of them indicated that the BCE Forum was essential dormant and that some of the more active members had migrated to here.
Now I get to the substance of my post here.
I would very much like to make contact with any of those who contributed to the 2011 ‘Bristol’ thread on the BCE forum who are active on this forum. The BCE forum names were:-
d4c24a, ianoz, Mintsauce, fowler man, Hi drive, old operator, woodfud and bulldozerD11.
Any advice, warnings and suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks for reading so far.
TractorMike
