For Moody Transport and Logistics Chairman, Alan Moody, business has always been a family affair, but now he has achieved a lifelong ambition and restored a little bit of the family history for all to see.
Alan Moody’s father David set up the business in 1947, and one of the family’s treasured photographs shows Alan as a boy of 8, with his father, and in the background, is a I950 Bedford Lorry.
Alan who is now in his seventies, has handed day to day control to his daughter Caroline Moody, who is Managing Director of the Cramlington-based business. His son Richard and son-in-law Gavin are also Directors of the business, and Alan continues to oversee the Moody’s as Chairman.
One of his lifelong ambitions was to find and restore a vehicle like the one in the picture, the original vehicle had sadly been disposed of years ago, but he vividly remembers standing with his father when the photograph was taken.
“My father used to fill the lorry with sea coal and unload it by hand,” he said, “we used to deliver it to AEI cables in Birtley.”
His search began for the 1950 Bedford vehicle and then a friend, who was also a collector, tipped him off that a small museum in Exeter was selling an identical vehicle to the one in the picture. Alan travelled down to Exeter and bought the 1950’s Bedford lorry which looked in reasonable condition, but in order to be roadworthy, needed extensive restoration.
As the company have workshops for their own fleet Heathline Commercials, Alan had the expertise on hand under the expert eye of Gavin his son in Law who manages Heathline, to strip down and restore the vehicle to its former glory.
“One of the hardest things to do was source the identical blue paint for the bodywork which I vividly remember and we managed to do this – next, I needed an old-fashioned sign writer to faithfully reproduce the Moody’s signage in the same style as the logo in the photograph which I did” he said, “I am so pleased with the result.”
The next hurdle was the DVLA to source a log book so the vehicle could be taken on the roads – this provided another challenge as the DVLA couldn’t find a log book for the registration number on the engine, as in the days it was produced they used paper records and these had been misplaced. However, against all the odds, the problem was solved and the vehicle is now fully roadworthy
“It has been a labour of love,” said David “I think my father would have been proud of me and everyone in the business is delighted with the result.”
Today, Moody Logistics and Storage has a 20-strong fleet of vehicles and employ 30 people. The company is celebrating its 70th Anniversary and turns over in excess of £3 million as one of the UK’s leading overnight multi drop operators, with trucks ranging from 3.5T to 44T.
For more information on Moody’s Transport and Logistics visit their website at http://www.moodyhaulage.co.uk/or call 01670 710060.