Rooting Around at Ritchie Bros

Its always a pleasure to visit the Ritchie Bros auction facility in Maltby, I could spend literally hours walking around looking at the latest items that are constantly arriving ahead of the next auction. Last week I was fortunate enough to be up that way again, so I couldn’t resist popping in to checkout the stock ahead of the next auction on 15th-16th July.

As more of an enthusiast these days, than a buyer, I’m always on the lookout for interesting items, especially classic historical machines, readers may recall at the last event I stumbled up a Priestman derived RB VC20 long reach excavator. Apparently, that machine was purchased to become part of a private collection which I was delighted to hear about.

During this visit I spotted a 1980’s model Case-Poclain 61 CK. These machines were originally introduced by French manufacturer Poclain back in 1985, as the replacement for the 60 B-CK models that were first introduced in 1980.

Back in those days the machines sported the more familiar red and grey Poclain livery and were built at the famous Crépy-en-Valois factory in Northern France. Here’s an example I came across some years ago in the original plumage.

The Case-Poclain name and yellow and tan colour scheme was added to these machines around 1986, and continued in the branding until 1999 when the Poclain name was eventually dropped, signalling a sad end to the French manufacturer as the business was effectively then fully in the hands of Case.

These machines were loved by many and vilified by others for their tendency to leak badly due to the high-pressure hydraulic systems that they featured. Under the Case banner these machines evolved to become the 88-series.

Another machine that caught my eye was this 2008 model Doosan DX140W “Rubber Duck” which was very tidy for its age. This instantly made me think about a guy who had been posting on our Digger Man Blog Facebook page asking if anyone had any Daewoo/Doosan ducks for sale, so if he's still looking, fill ya boots with this one! 

This example was showing 7,709 hours on the meter and had a 2.5 metre dipper arm. You don’t tend to see many of these around, not quite sure why that is.

Check out this video which features a few more of my discoveries on the day.

You can register to bid online for machines by clicking on this Ritchie Bros UK link.