by Nick Drew | Thu 23 Nov 2017
Desperately seeking Hymac 1080
Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting members of the Prynn family in Cornwall as they gave me an insight into their Padstow Sea Sand business for a future article in Earthmovers Magazine, they also wanted to show me an old Hymac 580 that they own and are hoping to restore over the coming years.
Now in his 80’s Ed Prynn spent his whole life operating machines and in his day, was said to be one of the finest operators in Cornwall, a real legend in the Cornish plant operating community. Def has a special affection for the old Hymac machines in particular the rare 1080 models which he told me he had the pleasure of operating 3 examples during those days and reckoned they were one of the finest machines he ever got his hands on.
At the moment Ed is making do with this old 580 which is one of 818 that were manufactured in Rhymney by Hymac between 1963 – 1966. It will shortly be shot blasted prior to restoration work commencing.
According to the “bible” The Illustrated History of Hymac by my old friend Jeremy Rowland there were only ever 102 Hymac 1080’s ever built with production spanning from 1965 to 1969. This low number means they are becoming very few and far between. We do know that there is one still fully operational and surviving in Canada. Pictured below courtesy of Maskinisten.net is an example of the 1080 which is still surviving in Sweden.
Ed has an ambition to find a surviving 1080 one to restore to its former glory. This will be a big ask but hopefully someone reading this blog post will know of one lurking somewhere and be able to give us the nod.