This is a Scammell Scarab, a little 3 wheel tractor used for moving trailers around railway goods yards mostly and for local town centre deliveries. The term 'Mechanical Horse' is generic for this kind of tractor, there was an electric one made by Jensen, the sports car people called a Jen-Tug and there were others. The Scammell had a clever hitch which allowed trailers to be picked up and set down without the driver leaving the cab. Another interesting factette about this truck is that it shares the metal pressing of the upper cab body with the Bedford O Series truck. The Scarab was being developed as the Bedford O was being phased out and Scammell bought the tooling from Bedford.
The second and larger Scammell Scarab Mechanical Horse was released in 1958 and deleted in 1961. It was a model of the same truck as the previous 10a model but is 75mm long as opposed to 56mm for the previous one and had mudguards added to the trailer.
It started life with metal wheels and ended up with plastic wheels. Early releases have maroon cabs and cream trailers, later they have red cabs with tan trailers. Later plastic wheel releases get a small premium over metal wheels.
