Leyland Hippo

The new 6 wheeled 12 ton capacity goods carrier truck was first demonstrated at the Commercial Motor Transport Exhibition held at Olympia Exhibition Centre in 1929. Introduced as a rigid chassis 6x4 truck, the hippo had the largest engine by Leyland at the time, which was an in line six engines with power output of 72bhp clocking 30mph top speed supported by a four speed gearbox.

As a cab over engine the total length of the unit was 27.3 ft with the wheelbase of 17ft available in tipper and platform model with 19ft loading and 22ft loading space respectively. Having a dry weight of 5 tons.[2] In the 1931 facelift, the total length of the vehicles was changed to 30ft in total with total capacity of 19 tons.[3] In 1934 a new 8 wheeled vehicles was developed on the platform of the hippo called Octopus with same engine but had higher load capacity of 22 tons.[4]

In 1945 Leyland developed Mark II Hippo from military programe these units weighed 19tons powered by an in line six engine with power output of 100bhp supported by a five speed gearbox. Civilian versions of the vehicles were to be built with same specifications but with higher load carrying capacity.[5]

At the beginning of World War II the British Armed Forces took delivery of 330 militarized Leyland Hippos with open military cabs and bodies, known in service as the Hippo Mk I or the WSW17. In 1943, as a result of D-Day preparations, Leyland commenced designing an updated version, the Hippo Mk II. Production commenced in 1944 and roughly 1,000 were in service by VE Day. They remained in British service into the 1970s.[6][7]

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  Preserved Shell Australia Leyland Hippo fuel tanker
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  Militarised Leyland Hippo Mk I with open cab, 1939
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  Preserved 1952 Leyland Hippo logging truck
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  Preserved Leyland Hippo flatbed

Media related to Leyland Hippo at Wikimedia Commons