Owned by a 99-year-old farming business, now entering its fifth generation, this 1987 Ford LTL 9000 still looks as good as the day it first hit the road – or possibly even better.
First owned by Comet Container Transport, it was originally done up in the fleet’s signature blue and white.
Comet was later taken over by TNT Equipment.
Keith McKinlay at Bisitecniks Certification Ballarat purchased the truck from TNT in 1997 and owned the truck up until last year, when it was purchased by the Black family in Corowa.
As Anthony Black told Big Rigs, the impressive condition of the truck is testament to how well Keith looked after it.
Since their parents Russell and Janet Black retired around 20 years ago, Anthony and Grant have operated R W Black and Sons/Corowa Seeds, together with their wives Michelle and Rowena, and their children Josh and Rielly.
The family business revolves predominantly around grain, small seed production and sheep farming.
For many years, the Ford brand has been a mainstay in the company’s daily farming operations. This affinity with Ford started with their father Russell Black.
“We’re a family of farmers and have been at our current site in the Riverina for 100 years next year,” said Anthony. “In the trucking sense, we’ve always had Fords. One of Dad’s first trucks was a 1972 Ford D-Series cabover – and we still have that truck in our collection.
“From there, Dad bought a single axle Ford Louisville LN-7000 in 1981, and we’ve still got that one too. In 2002, we decided we needed a bigger truck so found a Ford LNT 9000, which we had on the farm for 22 years. But we sold the LNT last year after purchasing the LTL.”
With the truck producing division of Ford being sold to Freightliner in 1997, when it came time to purchase a newer truck, the Black family decided to stay loyal – purchasing its first Freightliner in 2011.
Currently the family’s fleet consists of three working trucks: a 2006 Freightliner Columbia used to pull its A-double tipper set for grain deliveries, and to pick up gypsum from Balranald, about four hours away; a Ford LN-7000 that’s now unregistered and used purely as a farm truck on the property; and the most recent addition – the 1987 Ford LTL 9000.
Along with these working trucks, there are a number of old Fords kept in the family’s collection: a 1939 Ford “barrel nose” truck, the 1972 Ford D-Series and a 1915 Ford Model T.
“The Model T is all restored and is sign-written as a tribute to the Riverina Harvester Company that used to operate in Corowa. They used to make harvesters,” Anthony said.
“Our Ford collection is an appreciation of the different trucks we’ve used through our time. They’ve all been important to different times of growth in our business.
“Our LNT was getting a bit long in the tooth in terms of its age. That’s when we came across the LTL through a friend – it was by complete fluke.”
Car lovers, Anthony, Grant and the truck’s previous owner Keith belonged to the same car club.
“One day, Grant got talking about our love of Ford trucks and Keith mentioned that he had an LTL he wanted to sell one day.
“We wanted to stick with that old school look instead of opting for a new truck.”
And with that being the case, Anthony and Grant purchased the truck and brought it home in May 2024. Along with keeping the truck in tip-top shape, Keith kept the build sheet, all of the books relating to the truck’s service and sale history, and was even able to secure ‘LTL’ registration plates – although as they’re Victorian plates, they’ve been replaced with regular NSW plates for now.
Keith used the truck for many years to complete his certification work. His business name Bisitecniks still features on the truck’s doors.
“We’ve kept that there as a tribute to Keith,” Anthony said.
Asked about the history of the LTL, Anthony explained, “Comet came to Keith not long after the LTL was purchased and asked him to do some brake testing for the truck, which the company kept for several years.”
He said Keith had wanted to buy a truck like that one to do his certification work and kept in touch with the mechanic at TNT. When the came time for TNT to sell the LTL, the mechanic told Keith this was the one to buy.
“He had it painted a while ago and kept it very close to what the Comet blue would have been,” Anthony said.
“Keith was still using the LTL right up until we bought it. When we went to look at it, it still had all his equipment in it.
“It has a really simple day cab look without a sleeper.
“That makes it different to a lot of other ones that have been blinged up because most of them are sleeper cabs.
“Wherever we take it, we have people stopping and taking photos of it. Then when we open the door and show them the inside, they can’t believe it’s all original.”
The truck still has its original engine, original 9-speed Roadranger gearbox and much of the original running gear – despite clocking up well over 1 million kilometres over its lifetime. Although Anthony explained that they did have to make some changes to the truck.
“We took the approach, as you would in any farming or trucking business, that we needed the truck to be as practical as possible. That’s why we took out the spring suspension and put airbag suspension in, so we could load properly on the farm.
“We installed an air conditioner and also added a new front axle so we could add bigger brakes up front and add alloy wheels.
“When we did the suspension changeover, the chassis rails were repainted too.”
Inside, all the trims are original. And though it was purchased with the original spring seat in it, the brothers chose to replace it.
“We’ve still held onto the seat though,” Anthony said, adding that he was gobsmacked by the amount of attention the truck received when he shared some pics of it on Facebook.
He said Grant was instrumental in getting the build to where it is today.
“Once we finished putting all these bits of shiny stuff on it, I posted some pics online – and it went off. We were pretty amazed by it. What really struck me is how well known the truck is,” said Anthony.
Though the truck wasn’t ready until fairly late into the 2024 harvest season, Anthony says it will be hard at work for the upcoming season.
“At the moment, the LTL is being used for general duties on the farm, helping to cart bulk product around our property, delivering hay to a local dairy farm and taking our canola to be sold.
“We only got it going very late in the harvest last year.
“It just wasn’t finished on time. It will be working during planting this season, bringing fertiliser and seed to the seeder.”
Anthony revealed that the truck was recently taken to its first show – the Rutherglen Rumble, held in Victoria’s High Country on April 26 (see page 115). The event raises money for mental health services in the region.
Anthony is also hoping to take the LTL to Crawlin the Hume in 2026.