Record attendances at truck shows seem to be the norm so far this year and Clunes in Victoria was no exception, the grounds chock-a-block with a massive variety of brands on show.
Clunes Historic Truck Show for vehicles 25 years or older on March 9 offered no awards, but similarly to Lancefield, was an opportunity to just park up and chat to other truck owners and interested members of the public.
There’s an old Mack Elite amongst the throng with Avoca Transport painted on the doors, along with the name Steve Gleisner.
Steve’s father bought Avoca Transport in 1948 as an already established business. The Elite is now owned by Steve’s son, Fred, who also turned up with his 1966 B61.
On the Elite, Fred said: “Dad passed away two years ago from cancer, and I wanted to keep his name on it as a tribute. At the time I had a Western Star, which was a pretty good truck, but running two was not an option so I moved the Star on and this is my daily drive now.
“The shed on the Western Star was a bit bigger, but I’ve still got 50” in this which gives me a lot more space than the Euros – important because I travel everywhere. It’s also a bit lighter and better on fuel.
The truck is a 1998 model, which was around the time Mack went from Renault to Volvo ownership.
“The Elite name means it is all Mack running gear – engine, gearbox and diffs. The old man bought it when it was about three years old and put 2.8 million km on it without a spanner touching it. It was a Wednesday truck for sure.
“When I decided to use it as my daily it was getting long in the tooth, so we did a rebuild, which turned out to be a Friday job, unfortunately. It was back to the drawing board and now she’s pretty reliable again.
“I go everywhere in this truck. It’s been to every corner of Australia since I’ve had it over the last three years. Darwin, Townsville, Perth and not just once either. I told you I do a bit of everything.”
As well as the Elite, there’s that 1966 B61 with a 25C motor, quad box, Mack tandem drive and camelback rear end.
“I’ve had it about 18 years, and it’s been a toy; I’ve never worked it. The previous owner used it as a farm truck out of Beaufort. It’s been a good toy and has kick-started a lot of conversations.”
Fred drove the old B61 the 100 or so kilometres to Clunes which is a feat in itself, given he was just a week out of hospital, where he’d spent three weeks.
“That gave the guts a bit of a workout but we made it here. I’d had few stomach pains going on; actually, I was in the truck when I pulled up at Cooper Street BP and called an ambulance.
“I ended up in hospital and got diagnosed with stage IV cancer. I’ve just had a big section of my bowel removed two weeks ago and I’m looking at probably starting chemotherapy in four weeks. I have it in my liver as well so hopefully the chemo will take care of that.
“It’s a bit of a shock to the system to find out that what you think is a belly ache is so much more.
“I’m 36 this year and it wasn’t quite the news I expected to hear. But anyway, I’m staying positive. I have five kids – I made the most of being at home when I wasn’t in the truck.”
That Fred can have a laugh given what he’s been through shows his positive attitude towards his treatment and the future.
We at Big Rigs and we’re sure all our readers wish you the best of luck, Fred.
Welcome change of pace
Clunes was a welcome change for the Cornwill brothers who are known throughout Victoria and beyond for their award winning T908, ‘Paradise’ and more recently their Legend #59 SAR, ‘Dynamite’.
This time however, those trucks stayed at home, with Wayne Cornwill opting to bring an ‘old banger’ to the show.
“She’s just an old 1978 Kenworth K123 Slimline with a 400 Cummins and 15 overdrive,” said Wayne.
“We actually bought it some 10 years ago for the motor which we were going to transplant into another truck. But there was too much history in it so we put it on club plates and bring her out on the odd occasion. She’s here obviously, and we’ve taken her along to Castlemaine and Koroit as well.”
Wayne was the solo occupant of the truck on the drive up from Geelong.
“They were all scared to get in it because of how rough she is bobtail. Our mate, Fingers reckoned he wasn’t going anywhere in something that wasn’t air-conditioned. One hundred k’s per hour and wind the windows down and you get a bit of air in the cabin!”
Wayne commented that Clunes was probably one of the best truck shows he’d attended: “I’ve been able to spend the day chatting with folk instead of washing and polishing.”
Sons’ touching tribute to Dad
Bill Fitzpatrick was a legend down Charlton way and sadly passed away last year.
His last drive, a 2000 Kenworth cabover, showed up at Clunes, courtesy of his sons, Billy Jnr and Paul, along with grandson, Murphy.
“This was the last truck that the old man drove, and we thought we’d bring it to Clunes so people can remember him.
“Ten years ago, we’d sent him to an auction to buy a stock crate and a T650 Kenworth, and he came home with this truck for himself.
“He didn’t worry about us. We asked about the one we’d sent him to buy and he replied that it wasn’t any good. Yeah, right!
“He worked it right until the week before he passed away. He was getting pretty old and doddery but at 91 he was still working. Mum tried to get him out of the truck on more than one occasion but he wouldn’t listen to her.
“He didn’t listen to us either. He did what he wanted to do; he had learned to never listen to his kids.”
Will the truck stay in the family? “We reckon Murphy’s got his eye on it, so yes, it probably will.”
Always finding something new
I walked past Bert Fagan’s truck and he asked me if I knew what it was. I said Dodge and he said no. I said an International and again he said no. Which goes to show how much (or otherwise) I know about trucks.
“It was built by Bill Norling of W&H Norling Engineering back in 1977 for Pakenham Blue Metal as an agitator.
“Bill’s son, Craig Norling told us that his dad only built six of them and this is number one out of the six.
“It has a different chassis to an International although it’s made up of Inter stuff. It used to have a Dodge bonnet and it did have a D line grill but I changed that because I don’t like ‘em. It has power steering, and a 653 GM. It’s an Alison automatic with a three speed Joey box and bogey on Hendrickson at the back.”
Bert has owned the rare beast for seven or eight years.
“If International got an order from the truck and they couldn’t handle, it they would handball it on to Bill Norling to do the job.
“Originally it had a Norling badge on it but I never got it. A friend of mine has one for me which will be really cool. It is similar to a Chevrolet badge.”
This is a little part of history that few people in the industry or out of it would know about.
And that’s the great thing about truck shows such as Clunes. You’ll always find out something new.
- For more pics from the show, make sure you pick up your free copy of the March 28 issue of Big Rigs from the usual outlet.