This 1986 Mack R600 isn’t just any old truck, for Mitch and his father Keith Kelly, it’s one that holds a great deal of sentimental value – and quite a colourful history.
Mitch Kelly is at the helm of Toowoomba based Kelly Transport, a third-generation family business started by his late grandfather John Kelly in 1974.
“I remember struggling through schooling because I didn’t want to be in a classroom, I just wanted to drive trucks,” revealed Mitch. “Everyone tried to steer me in a different direction but at the end of the day, the heart wants what the heart wants. For me, this is in the blood.”
When John took a step back from the business in the early 1990s due to his health, his eldest son Keith took over the running of the business. Sadly, John passed away in 1999 at the age of 67.
When Keith retired in 2016, Mitch took over and began reverting the fleet from white back to its original yellow livery.
As a kid, Mitch says he was at the depot every chance he had, on weekends and school holidays. He started working full time in the family business at 22 as a truck driver, working his way into driving interstate. Along with spending around 10 years on the road, he also became a qualified diesel mechanic. And despite now running the business, it’s not uncommon to find Mitch jumping in the truck from time to time, on the tools in the workshop or helping out in the wash bay. “I still get out on the road sometimes but not as much as I’d like to,” Mitch added.
The business now runs a fleet of 28 prime movers, operating predominantly as B-doubles, B-triples and road trains, carrying all manner of general freight. Along with the main depot in Toowoomba, Kelly Transport operates a second facility in Adelaide. The Brisbane to Adelaide leg is its busiest route, with two to three road trains heading there each day. In addition to that, Kelly Transport also runs services to Cairns, Townsville, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Back in the early days, the fleet was largely Macks. John’s affinity for the Mack brand stemmed from his 28 years of working at Western Transport, which had close to 100 trucks in the fleet from the bulldog brand.
Keith, 68, first joined the family business in the 1980s as a truck driver – and the first new truck he ever bought was his Mack R600 in 1986.
“We were a Mack family at that stage and had a number of Macks in the fleet,” said Keith. “The R600 was my first brand new one. I had a lot of trucks after that, but nothing was as good as that R model Mack. And she was a quick little truck too, she’d get along pretty well!”
Reflecting on his many years spent on the road, Keith added, “I always loved driving trucks. You make a lot of friends out there. It’s like your own little family on the road. People would pull up if you were broken down and see if you needed a hand. It was very different to how it is today.
“I used to run to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and into North Queensland. The only place I didn’t go was Darwin. I once spent three days broken down on the Nullarbor. There were no tow trucks in the area and the part I needed had to be sent out on a bus!”
Keith purchased his R-model Mack about six months before Mitch was born.
Mitch, now 39, added, “The R600 was Dad’s first new truck and he named it Cristy K after my mum. It was white with blue stripes.
“He drove it for nearly 18 months solid, without any time off. I’m his eldest child and he was in Adelaide when I was born – in the truck.
“By the time I was 12 months old, he’d spent so much time on the road because he was so focussed on paying off his truck. My pop told him that he needed to take a break, so after some arguing between them, he obliged.”
As Keith recalled, “My father was into me about having a bit of a break with my wife. I was only away for two days and the driver rolled it. Coming out of Sydney, he hit black ice and levelled the whole cab with the bonnet. Thankfully he got out of it alright – he was very lucky.”
The truck was sent to Brisbane, where it was rebuilt. That’s when it was first painted in the fleet’s yellow and white colours. “Because it had a 350, 4-valve motor, it only ever had the one air cleaner, so Dad got an extra air cleaner added on and had wings put on the bunk, which were quite rare back then,” added Mitch.
“My earliest memories involving trucks are being around this R-model. It’s the truck I grew up with. I remember it as a yellow truck and then a maroon truck.”
When the time came for Keith to upgrade his beloved R600, it was purchased by one of the company’s drivers. “Unfortunately he ended up rolling it, so it got rebuilt and he had it painted maroon,” added Mitch. “After that it was purchased by a guy from Goondiwindi, then someone from Walloon bought it, who used to take his guitar on the road and stop at pubs to sing. He had the words ‘Dieseline Dreams’ written on the bug deflector, it’s a Slim Dusty song.”
When Mitch set about trying to track the old R600 down, the last he’d heard, it was somewhere in the Ipswich town of Walloon. “Then I bumped into someone at an event in Gatton and they said they knew where the truck was. He didn’t want to tell me where though because he wanted to buy it,” revealed Mitch, and so the search continued.
As luck would have it, earlier this year, Mitch got talking to someone and was able to put the pieces together to locate the truck. “In passing, he said, ‘I know one of your grandfather’s trucks is sitting in a front yard somewhere rotting away’. When he said it was maroon, I knew it was Dad’s truck. So we did a bit of digging on social media, and that night a friend of mine sent me a street address,” Mitch explained.
“We looked that address up on Google Maps and sure enough, you could see the truck sitting in the front yard. The next morning I drove there with my wife and one of my daughters. I saw the man who owned it. He was a lovely bloke and we had a bit of a yarn. He had bought it with the hope of restoring it but didn’t have the time, so I bought it off him in February this year and spent the next nine months restoring it.”
Mitch and the Kelly Transport team did as much of the restoration work as they could themselves, including all of the engine work, while also relying on regular contractors to help out with things like painting and rewiring the truck. “We did most of the work ourselves and sourced everything we could locally in Toowoomba,” said Mitch.
“When the truck was first rebuilt and painted yellow, my mum’s name was spelt with a ‘K’ instead of a ‘C’ – Dad must’ve only ever told them over the phone, without spelling it out. So we’ve done the sign writing exactly as it was – only this time it says: ‘Kristy K II’,” added Mitch.
“We’ve made the truck look like it did in the 1980s but we’ve utilised modern technology, so we went with 2-pac paint and instead of new fuel tanks, we had them stainless wrapped. Mechanically, everything has been redone – the radiator, engine, diff, steering pump, the whole lot. I could put it to work if I wanted to.”
While all the work was being carried out, it remained a very well-kept secret. “Dad knew nothing about it, we kept it completely under wraps,” said Mitch.
Although there was one occasion where it could very well have come out of the bag. “I went down to the yard one day to get some oil,” Keith said, “and they got wind of it and sent the mechanic over to me with the oil instead. I thought, well you’ve saved me a trip to the shed!” he laughed.
When the day came for the big reveal, Mitch told his father that he had something to show him out in the shed. “As soon as he saw the truck, he knew straight away. He said, ‘That’s my Mack’ and jumped in and took it for a lap. He was extremely happy,” revealed Mitch.
Keith said the registration plates were an immediate indication that the truck was the real deal. “I had a bit of a tear in my eye. I was amazed actually. It was a beautiful little truck, the best I’ve ever owned. And I’m glad Mitch rebuilt this one,” he said.
“There were a whole heap of people around for the reveal. One of the blokes there, Con Theodosis, used to drive it too when I wasn’t in it – and he was also in awe.
“When Mitch first found it, the truck was a mess, so he stripped it right back. That particular truck has a double chassis rail. He even split the chassis rail and got all the rust out from in between. It’s like a brand new truck, you wouldn’t know the difference. And now Mitch is as keen with it as what I was.”
When Mitch spoke to Big Rigs, he had just taken the R600 out on a trip to Brisbane the previous day. “I do like to take it out when I get the chance,” he said. “You have to be a truckie to know how to drive it. It’s much harder to change gears than in an Eaton Roadranger. It’s loud, it’s cool and it’s fun. You get a lot of looks and thumbs up, it’s like going back in time. The only difference is now I drive it and Dad is in the passenger seat. He’ll come out with me on a trip soon.”
Since being completed, the restored R600 also made a very special appearance at the Lights on the Hill weekend last month. On Saturday October 4, it took part in the convoy, driven by Mitch – carrying a banner with a beautiful tribute to his grandfather John Kelly. Above his photo, it read: “You drove the distance, we carry the legacy.” A second banner for John was also added to one of the company’s Kenworth T610s.
While Mitch has been to Lights on the Hill numerous times, this year was extra special, as John’s name was added to the Lights on the Hill Memorial Wall. “We had 13 of our trucks in the convoy. It’s the first time we’ve brought along such a big part of our fleet,” said Mitch. “For the memorial service, it is quite overwhelming when they do the airhorns and everything, they do a great job of it.”
The R600 also gained plenty of attention across the Lights on the Hill weekend, taking out the truck show award for Best Vintage Truck.
Looking back on what his grandfather started more than 50 years ago, Mitch concluded, “I’m proud of what we’ve built and that we’ve been able to carry on Pop’s legacy.”