If you had a 3070 International, or a 1418 ‘Benz you were going really well, you made money, reflected Kim Woods at the recent Crawlin’ the Hume convoy from Melbourne to Albury.
“That was the norm back in the day,” said Kim, recalling an era when these trucks were at the top of the shopping list for many transport operators.
With the passage of time, fortunately some of these trucks have managed to avoid being sent to the wreckers, and live on today to still turn a wheel, usually at a more relaxed pace.
In Kim’s case, his overhauled 1978 International ACCO 3070/A was making its first journey post-restoration as part of the Crawlin’ the Hume earlier this year.
Hailing from Brisbane, Kim had made his way south to Victoria to take part in the event with four trucks, with the striking paint scheme in particular on the ACCO drawing a number of admirers at the Winton lunch-stop.
Having purchased the ACCO two years ago, the relatively good condition of the truck allowed for a fairly straightforward restoration.
“I purchased it off a farmer in Kingaroy, sight unseen. He promised me it had no rust in it – it had been shedded, so we got it home and he was true his word, there was no rust in it, it was a good as gold.
“He had owned it for about 20 years, and it was set up with hydraulics for a farm tipper.”
The restoration process, which was overseen by Geoff McGregor, took about 12 months and saw a new clutch fitted along with the guards getting some attention along with the interior being re-trimmed.
The chassis was sandblasted before the cab was painted in its blue and silver hues. Given the age of the truck, finding new ‘old’ parts was somewhat of an issue.
“The biggest problem we have is International don’t have a lot of parts for these anymore so it’s a matter of sourcing them,” Kim explained.
“The dash is not quite finished as we can’t get the correct switches and so forth – that’s been the biggest hassle we have had, we only finished it last Wednesday, so we were frantically getting it ready to get down here.
Under the cab, the running gear is standard late-1970s hardware, with a Cummins V903 married up to a 9-speed gearbox and ‘38’ diffs.
“Without the turbo, it puts out 290 horsepower which back in the day would have been pretty standard. It came out with wedge brakes, but the previous owner converted it to full S-Cam brakes, which has made a better truck out of it,” he said.
The inspiration for the colour-scheme on the ACCO came from a former operator in NSW.
“I originally came from Harden, and there was a guy at Young called Merv McGlynn who owned trucks and they were his colours.
“I always reckoned it was a beautiful colour scheme and I reckoned if I did up an ACCO I would do it in the same colours. It’s actually called ‘Voodoo Blue’ which was a VZ Holden Commodore colour, and pretty similar to McGlynn’s trucks.”
Back home in Queensland, Kim runs Bondwoods Transport where Kenworth is the preferred choice, with a restored W-Model and SAR also making the journey south for the convoy.
Also flying the IH flag along with the ACCO was a 1967 GM 6/53-powered Loadstar which had also been given a new lease on life, and the truck Kim drove up the Hume as part of the convoy.
“I don’t mind them (Internationals), we have about 40-odd Kenworths, but I just go back a long way with Internationals – I was only a young kid when the old bloke I used to knock about within his yard bought a Loadstar brand new, and I always thought I would have one.
“We picked it up in Toowoomba with a blown motor and it sat behind the shed for about 10 years until we had a crack at it about two years ago, then we had a mad brainwave to get an ACCO and do another one.”
Having arrived in Melbourne and spent the Friday prior to the convoy cleaning and polishing their trucks the fickle Victorian weather may have taken the shine off on the run up to Albury, but that did not deter Kim and his team.
“This is our first Crawlin the Hume, we are very impressed with the event and have really enjoyed it. We will do Haulin’ the Hume next year and take the same crew with us.”
At the Bondwoods Hillcrest depot there is a dedicated bay in the shed for all the ‘toys’, with work about to commence on the next project, a ‘Seattle’ Kenworth.
“I also have a passion for the old ‘coffin cab’ Atkinsons – I have been looking for one of them to restore for years but they are a bit hard to find. But also said I would never do another one, so we shall see,” he concluded with a smile.