I’ve been heading to Lancefield, Victoria, for the annual American Truck Historical Society (ATHS) gathering since 2010 and it has always been a well-attended show with a major drawcard being a heap of space and many mature spreading oaks and other trees under which to park on a hot February weekend.
But I’ve never seen it like this. By midday on the Saturday the place was positively overflowing – with a day and a half still to run. Those oaks were taken by 10am and trucks were being directed to park in places never before used.
Of course, this resulted in a great array of trucking machinery and a spectacle for the attending public.
It didn’t worry the owners of said trucks either, as they simply joined a mate or three in the shade, pulled out a drink and with it, shared (some) tall and (mostly) true tales.
Waste biz funds dream
Bernard Stanfield runs a business down Geelong way called Combined Waste Services and arrived at Lancefield with an Isuzu bearing that name. Next to it was a mint Ford Louisville LTL 9000 with ‘Combined Racing’ on the door. Hmm? Is the waste biz paying for the racing?
“Of course it is, it funds my dream,” said Bernard. “We’re environmental specialists and run a fleet of tankers and 26 trucks.
“We do environmental consulting, waste management, drain cleaning and related business, both in Geelong and through satellite depots throughout Victoria.
“I used to do interstate when I was younger and wanted to spend more time at home so I got a job in the waste industry. This was some 34 years ago and here we are today. I’ve had Combined Waste for 20 years now.
“But to answer your question, I’ve had the Louisville for some 15 years. It had a ground up rebuild. With a couple of mechanics at work we did everything ourselves predominantly. All except the engine which was rebuilt by Andy Walker at Riverina Diesels.
“It is an ‘89 model with an 18 double over. It’s been opened up to around 535 hp at the moment, so it goes all right. When I started off, we had a sprint car for about nine years. Now we’ve just got a drag car, a WH Caprice – 454, it’s blown and it’s about 1200 hp at the wheels. I’ve got a 45-foot van transporter for it. It has a workshop, plus a lounge, kitchen and sleeping. I drove an LTL for Puckapunyal Transport in the ‘80s and fell in love with it. I looked for one with a CAT in it for years until this eventually turned up.”
That the Louisville’s are popular was brought home on a recent trip to Adelaide.
“I spent half the time on the UHF with people commenting on it. There was a reason Ford didn’t sell the Louisville name, I reckon.”
One of a kind
Reece Lynch drives a special truck – in fact a one of a kind. Reece drives for Brad Gourley of Gourley Enterprises at Pakenham and Brad owns the T600 Kenworth – the Expo truck.
For those few not in the know, this is the Expo that occurred in 1994 when Kenworth released each model and painted them in specific colours reflecting the Australian flag. There was a C501, a T900 the T600 and others. Each model was painted in the same paint scheme and travelled around Australia.
There was only one of each model that was released off the factory line. Brad’s numberplate reflects the trucks heritage: EXPO-94.
Reece drives the truck every day hauling pre-cast concrete panels for factories and industrial areas. “Every now and then I do a bit of steel as well. It’s just single trailer work, mainly in the south-eastern suburbs which suits me as I don’t have to fight the city traffic and lack of space there.”
At 24 Reece has been with the business since he got his licence at 22 and is grateful that Brad gave him a leg-in, although he did have a slight advantage in that he got a great reference from dad, Chris who was working there at the time.
That said Reece is a third-generation truck driver and had a fair bit of practice ‘paddock bashing’ in trucks, as he referred to it.
Don’t tell the Mrs
Matt Lambert arrived in his ex-Roadmaster 1995 K-100E Kenworth, which has a real gangster look about it with its low roofline and deep visor.
“There were only 25 of these built and they all had Spicer’s and 12.7 Detroit’s, with 4.11 diffs, which is a good combination. This has had an 18 speed Road Ranger put in it at some stage which does 1450rpm at 100 km/h. I would love to have the limiter off it but it can’t be done – well it can be, but at a cost. I’ll probably move this on because I have an Atkinson and my wife reckons one or the other has to go, sadly.”
Matt started driving at Vaughan Transport where his dad worked, in a Scania 111 single drive. “I had a ball back when the laws weren’t as strict as they are today. That truck went really well. Everyone thought they were slow but mine used to do 130 km/h. I bagged up a few blokes I can tell you.
“I did interstate Brisbane-Sydney-Adelaide then I worked for McColl’s for seven years. These days my wife and I have a gardening business so the truck is just to go to shows, chat and remember – once I’ve stowed away the fuel money. Don’t tell the Mrs!”
Long resto pays off
Gerard Hicks’ journey has been in transport since the early 70s and he came to Lancefield with two trucks he owned – then sold – then bought back.
One is a 1979 Mercedes-Benz 1418, the other, a classic W Model KW – which anyone visiting the MOVE Museum in Shepparton would likely have seen.
“The 1418 paved the way to buy the W model. They were a good money-maker. I sold it to a farmer in Shepparton in 1983 and he had it for over 20 years. When the time was right, he sold it back to me.
“I think because it was my first truck that if I was going to get one back and do it up, this was what I wanted. It means a little bit more to you. It was probably a three- or four-year restoration job. The prime mover was finished in 2015 and we took it to Alice Springs which was its first outing.
“Similar story with the W model which I bought from Graham Thompson Motors in 1986 and worked until 1992.
“I sold it to a Kyabram business and it eventually ended up in Perth for 20 years, until I bought it back in 2014. It was a complete rebuild but I had to source the sleeper – the original had gone missing in Perth and I wanted the high-rise aerodyne box which I picked up from a guy in Brisbane.
“It’s 99 per cent the way it was when I bought it and that was the whole idea.”
The truck is finished in a stunning reddish/orange which Gerard first saw on a Nissan and had Thompson’s paint, with striping by Cundari Bros. at Shep, followed by a trip to Sydney to add a Keith bull bar.
The ‘W’ has recently been with Arron Vanderschoot for a tidy up, before Gerard takes it on Haulin’ the Hume, thereafter it will again spend some time at MOVE. Wherever you looked at Lancefield there was old and older – most of them in newer than new condition. It would be a crying shame if bringing a trailer next time was limited because, along with having their own stories, a truck isn’t really complete with one. We’re sure Robbie Green and co will sort it out.