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Digging deep into construction machinery news

Tue 03 Feb 2015

How old is this Smalley?

This old Smalley 360 used to belong to Ed’s father-in-law, who sadly died last year, according to Ed’s wife she recalls it was purchased second hand in 1978. It’s fair to say that the ravages of time has taken its toll on what was one of the first true British mini excavators, which went on to inspire the likes of Joseph Kaiser in conjunction with Ernst Menzi to invent the Spyder style climbing excavators in the early 1960’s. Ed has asked us to try and discover its actual age and to advice how best he can sell the machine. From what I have been able to find out the Smalley 360 was first conceived in 1961 and was designed for grave digging. I believe this model ran until the mid to late 1970’s and was eventually replaced in the range by the 1.84 tonne Smalley 5. If anyone knows anymore we would love to hear from you so we can pass on any additional information to Ed. This would make a great restoration project for somebody with the time and resources, lets hope a keen enthusiast saves it from the gas axe!  

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