Classic British Excavator Spotted in the Wild

Last week while wandering down to the venue for the CASE Roadshow, my attention was drawn to the very distinctive shape of a Priestman Mustang 120 parked up like a giant garden ornament.

I have long had a fascination with the old machines from my youth, especially hydraulic excavators that have spent time on as a boy and later during my working career as an operator. Hymac were always so dominate back in the day, but I always felt that the excavators produced by Priestman were a lot more refined but all too often overlooked in favour of the Welsh built green models.

So, whenever I spot an old Priestman I cannot help myself and have to go and take a look around it. I think the last time we featured a Mustang 120 Mk III here on the blog was back in May 2021, when member Pete Smith had come across a really nice example, still in good shape, which you can read about here.

Photo: Historical Priestman Mustang brochure scan.

Talking to the owner at the Wild Park venue in Derbyshire, he said he’s always had an interest in diggers and bought this machine many years ago with a view to restoring it to its former glory, but unfortunately its slewing and tracking motors are not working, so it’s just been left on the grass opposite the house ever since, which is a real shame.

Apparently other family members would prefer to see the old girl scrapped, but I tried to encourage him not to do that as these classic machines were part of our construction machinery heritage and in my opinion should be saved for future generations to see, they might look positively Jurassic today by modern standards, but in there day they were cutting edge machinery.

Anyway, I couldn’t resist taking a walk-around video of her which you can view below.