A Call for More Hitachi!

One of our regular Digger Man Blog readers and contributors Kenneth Hatcher, recently suggested we could do with more Hitachi content here on the blog, so as a big fan myself personally, I’m more than happy to oblige!

In my earlier years as an operator living in Hampshire, before I moved to the West Country, I had spent a considerable amount of time on Hitachi excavators. Just after I left Wimpey Plant, I worked for a firm called Itchen Plant who ran a number of UH series models which had been refurbished by Beazer Plant in Bridgwater, who later became HM Plant. These machines included a UH02, UH04 and UH07. The UH07 was a tricky beast with its combination of levers and foot pedals, but I loved the little 6-tonne class UH02 machine.

Photo: An example of the UH02 from the web.

I always enjoyed my time on Hitachi machines and drove many more over the following 3 decades. In 1997 I put my money where my mouth was and bought my first Hitachi, a FH130-3, and some time later invested in a second machine, this time an import EX120-5 model, that was a brilliant machine, with all the hall marks that we associate with the brand, smoothness in operation, power and comfort in the cab, a great all-rounder.

Having sadly lost that business due to a non-paying customer I lost the machines, but once I got back on my feet and needed a mini digger to do work around the place I was living in those days, I once again turned to Hitachi, with a second hand but tidy ZX30, that too proved to be a brilliant little machine, and it was easy to see why they were so highly regarded.

I later traded that for a new ZX33U but I have to say, I didn’t go much on that one. Spells on for Hydrex both on civils works and operating Fiat Hitachi and CASE road rail machines followed as I chased the money to get back on my feet.

Probably the last Hitachi I operated on a regular basis was a ZX180LC for Worcester based Hannafin on a project in Plymouth, which once again was a fine piece of kit and a great bunch of lads to work with.

I don’t get much of a look in with Hitachi these days personally, unless I can find stories locally, but we still like to keep an eye on the great Japanese brand and I must say, the new Dash-7 machines look pretty stunning. I look forward to taking a good look around one and getting a bit of “stick time” in the future, when things become a bit more normal, whenever that will be!

In the meantime, checkout this video from Hitachi Construction, that’s doing the rounds on social media at the moment, which features the first two ZX300LC-7 models to arrive in the UK which have been purchased by DMJ Drainage.