Classic PMJ Adverts (Part One)

Our good German friend Dirk Bömer, who is a machinery enthusiast, operator and journalist, has very kindly shared some scans from 1980’s editions of the UK based magazine Plant Managers Journal to share with our followers.

When I was a young lad working for Wimpey Plant in Southampton in the late 1970’s and 80’s, I was often given old copies of PMJ by the Plant Manager at Department 23 Derick Smith, as he knew I was crazy about machines and as such I would read them from cover to cover.

PMJ was a trade publication and wasn’t available to purchase from shops, but was distributed to businesses who had registered to receive a copy, this was long before the “Bible” that is Earthmovers Magazine came along in 2004, bringing top class construction machinery photo journalism to the masses.

Advertising has always been an important factor for publications, and for those wanting to showcase their products to a large and focused readership, and just like Dirk, I enjoy looking back at the old adverts from those days too.

First up in this batch we have an advert from a 1988 edition featuring the famous old Hull based manufacturer Priestman, who at that time had been taken over by the Sanderson Forklift company. The advert showcases their latest Mustang 2-Series of hydraulic excavators, which consisted of three models in the 12, 15 and 18 tonne categories.

Next up this dramatic looking advert for Bobcat, who at that time were still very much American owned, with a European office in Basingstoke, Hampshire, that I remember well. The machine featured is the Bobcat 641 skid steer loader. In those days the skid steer loader was the company’s primary product, a far cry from today’s multiple machinery range that the Korean owned manufacturer offers.

In this black & white image from a 1987 edition of PMJ, we see the Komatsu Dash-3 hydraulic excavators and wheeled loaders. As the text suggests it was around this time that Komatsu had started manufacturing hydraulic excavators at its facility in Chester le Street in the North East of England which had been officially opened in that year by HRH the Prince of Wales.

Many purists state that the Dash-3 models were the finest Komatsu excavators ever built, and I have no reason to doubt that, as they were a superb machine to operate.

At the other end of the scale now with another Japanese manufacturer Chieftain whose mini excavator range were being marketed in the UK by John Blackwood Hodge & Co Ltd, who were a very famous dealership back in the day especially for heavier equipment like Terex and O&K. The machine featured in the advert was Chieftain’s smallest mini excavator the 700kg 7FX model.

Lookout for the next instalment later this week.