Stonefield Vehicles of Cumnock

When Stonefield first started investigating the design of on/off-highway vehicles back in 1974, they unearthed some very interesting facts. One of these was little short of startling: most ladder-type frames used in existing on/off highway vehicles had serious structural deficiencies and relied on the strength of body panels to compensate for its basic weakness.
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In Stonefield's view, a radical problem of this nature demanded a radical solution - a solution that only a completely new design approach could provide. Now, the result is here. A new breed of vehicle, designed specifically to meet the demands of modern on/off highway travel at that time (1974). 

The aim was to produce a 4x4 vehicle with load capacities in the 1.5 to 3 ton range, with the military very much in Stonefield's mind. 
Demand for this vehicle was so high, that in 1977 Stonefield set up a production line in the vacant Scottish Aviation factory at Caponacre, Cumnock,. This was to be a revolutionary £1 million specialist truck-building operation, which by 1980 would be providing some 400 jobs. The factory was officially launched on Thursday, February 17th 1977. 

Sadly in October 20th 1983, the local newspaper the "Cumnock Chronicle" headlines read "IS THIS THE END OF THE ROAD". All production moved to Rochester later that year, but you can still see Cumnock-built Stonefield Trucks on our roads today. 

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Vibration Test
This photograph looks blurry as a result of the 'shake' test that the Stonefield vehicles undertook
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Stonefield Truck during factory testing
This shows one of the Stonefield trucks during tests in the factory at Cumnock.
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