In the late fifties Foden, a well established and respected lorry manufacturer, realised that they had to offer new improved models if they were to maintain their independence in the face of takeovers and absorption by the larger manufacturers.

Traditionally Foden cabs had been of composite build, a timber frame clad with aluminium panels but now Foden decided to move into the use of fibreglass for its new cab design.

First unveiled in 1958 the S21 cab with its elaborate curves was quickly dubbed the “Sputnik” by the trade press but lorry drivers almost always referred to them as Mickey Mouse and many S21s survived by virtue of being corrosion-free.

Like many a haulier Moreton C. Cullimore started out with a Model T Ford in the Stroud area of the Cotswolds in the 1930s but here, in the 1960s, one of his sizable fleet of Foden tippers threads its careful way though a Glouchester village while in the background a Midland Red single decker approaches its bus stop.