I’ve used a few photographs from this show before, but never delved into on CC, so it is time to do that now for all the truck fans. As always there is a real variety here, and not just trucks (eg I-H Loadstar) but buses, military vehicles, tractors and some light commercials. Even a steam truck! Read on…
This very nice International AR180 was parked in the pit paddock of Sandown Racecourse that runs both car and horse racing (not on the same track!), and has a nice large paved area ideal for hosting a truck show. On the day a big storm came through that forced everyone to seek shelter until it passed, which is why there are some pretty gloomy clouds evident.
This 1955 IH AR162 was likely once upon a time a typical farm truck. It has a 240 ci Silver Diamond inline six, with a synchronised 4-speed and a 2-speed diff, and a PTO-driven hydraulic hoist giving a tipping tray.
Next is a R200 prime mover, or tractor in many other parts of the world – a term normally reserved here for the agricultural variety. The model designation without the ‘A’ prefix indicates it was a fully-imported truck.
Getting a bit newer, the AB180 is a version of the truck mentioned last time at Pakenham, with the cab shared with Dodge trucks. From 1961 the cabs were built in Adelaide by TJ Richards, one of the bigger body builders.
I don’t think International really got into the prime mover market here to the extent that Kenworth or Mack did, but here is a purpose-built Transtar as opposed to a biggest-of-the-range medium truck.
A slightly later version of the mainstream Australian International truck is the D1210, one of the smaller versions. I’m not sure what the story with the tray is, but I would be surprised if it is what the truck wore during its working life.
For a change of pace, here is a row of British Ford commercial utes and vans from the late-40s and 1950s.
One of their competitors was the Morris J van, or as the first one shows they were also sold as Austins, back when commercial vans were still finding their form. Note the sliding doors.
A more modern small commercial is this Suzuki Carry pickup. Of course these are more often seen as vans; and not very often seen in customised form like this. With the flared wheel arches and ‘big’ alloy wheels I wonder what is going on engine-wise!
One of the more remarkable machines made is the Pinzgauer. With six-wheel drive and a 2.5L diesel engine powering a fairly light-weight machine they have almost unparalleled off-road ability. The downside is that most terrain that requires that ability would be a long drive away at Pinzgauer speeds, although there are some decent hills not far from Melbourne where you could challenge it.
Back into the heavy metal, here are a pair of unusual trucks at least for Australia. Peterbilts are not very often seen here, and the Atkinson which had a fibreglass cab was equally uncommon.
A much more familiar sight is this 1966 Mack B61. What a life this trucks looks to have led! And I doubt it was in metropolitan areas – just look at those air cleaners.
Somewhere in between is this White Road Boss. This is an interesting looking truck that I think must have seen some major changes ‘post-retirement’; heavy trucks like this aren’t normally seen with a single rear axle, nor such a small tray body. Otherwise the front half of the truck is fairly typical for a long-haul rig.
This R190 tipper is remarkably similar to the R200 seen earlier with the obvious exception of the body. It has a V8 that I don’t think would be original – any ideas?
These cabover Kenworths seem to have been around forever without much discernible change – length regulations keep them popular. A couple of years ago I saw a mid-1970s version driving in Port Melbourne still working for its living. On the other hand this one is wearing a club permit plate, indicating it is no longer in regular use.
This 1987 Ford L9000 (beautifully restored) is one of the last year these trucks were produced in Plant 2 at Broadmeadows on the northern side of Melbourne; after that production was transferred to Ford’s Eagle Farm factory in Brisbane.
There were two more Atkinsons like the blue one shown earlier, which are late-1970s versions built after the 1974 takeover of the company by International, but this one is earlier (est. late 1960s) and has several artifacts from older Atkinsons such as the ‘knights of the road’ badge at top left of the radiator which itself is kind of exposed in an archaic fashion for the times. The other badge indicates it is powered by a Gardiner 180 or 6LXB 10.5 litre diesel, 180 is the horsepower output.
To go further back in English trucks, there was a 1948 era Bedford OL plus two other K/M/O’s (I’m not 100% clear on the differences) in a line. The dropside tray bodies on two were built by GM-H.
Here is a restored example.
For another change of pace, this unrestored 1965 Ford XP model Falcon ute which is fairly remarkable.
Next is a late-70’s F100 (1976?) with the sort of setup that is fairly often seen on these, a 1956 Mainline ute, an early 50’s Pontiac and a 1925 Chevrolet pickup with a timber cabin.
The Mainline ute is interesting, the registration number indicates it may have been restored and re-registered in the 1980s, and the widened wheels and LPG conversion are consistent with this.
Here is a 1925 Chevrolet that most likely started out as a tourer before being cut down into a buckboard utility – not that there is much bodywork left! I can’t remember noting what the engine in the back was, but apparently something interesting. The 8×4 Leader truck behind is an interesting piece, as is the early Kenworth too (not the new truck!).
To finish this post, we have a Leyland Marathon 2 truck (with Caterpillar D4D bulldozer for decoration) and another Bedford O-series truck.
One bonus of truck shows compared to car shows is that owners often adorn their trucks with interesting cargo, and there will be a few more cases to come.
Fun stuff. Atkinson is a new one on me. I was a little surprised, as strong as Studebaker was in Australia that there were none of the trucks there. At least I assume that they would have offered trucks down under.
Your mystery late 70s Ford pickup is a 76 or 77 from the grille. And those later model Aussie Internationals are mind-blowing – I have never seen those until right here very recently.
I’m not sure about Studebaker trucks JP, I have seen a handful only and mostly Champ pickups.
So fare there have only been ‘conventional’ Aussie Internationals, in both senses of the term. More to come!
Can you imagine the scale of work needed to achieve the concours condition of these big buggers? Tiring even to contemplate.
I love the row of Popular, etc, utes, and can’t help but wonder if you pushed hard on the side of the first one, would they all topple sideways domino-style as reputation would have it?
The Morrie J-vans were probably a wee bit slothful to drive, but they have a real pull, and I’m pretty sure pricetags to match now. There’s something very dinky-toy trainset wantable about them.
The truck of the day is that ’66 Mack. Even in period or thereabouts, they never looked as world-weary as this. Those polished gems about it would be regarding it with respectful awe, I reckon.
As ever, thanks John.
I am guessing the Mack is a work in progress. There will be farm trucks used for harvest each year that might get toward this look, but I’d guess a repair would get a top coat of paint and not be left in primer. This one might be working towards a complete repaint?
Yes a lot of work in restoration…
Some real gems here. Love those alternate-universe Internationals with the new front ends.
If you had taken a better shot of the that V8 engine in the red International, I’d be able to tell you if it was original or not. From that distance it’s impossible.
I see now that International had a big-truck V8 from 1955, so perhaps it was that was it. I was only thinking of the later, smaller V8 (345/392) that is a lot more common. On historic plates the truck won’t be in regular use now, but if it was within the past 20 years there is every chance it was re-powered with a diesel.
On the day I only had a limited time at the show even without the storm, so no doubt I missed out on seeing fine details on a lot of the trucks. The show will be on again this November at Yarra Glen about an hour out of Melbourne so if there is any interest we could have a CC meetup there.
Talking of alternate universe, the split screen on the Bedfords seems to be completely different on the Australian models, more a single opening with two panes in than the ‘normal’ two separate screens. Is the cab actually a different size (or even Chevrolet)?
That’s a Holden-built cab, and yes it does look totally different to English cabs. I’ve seen a similar cab on some ’46-ish Chev trucks, but never thought to check if it was totally the same.
I expect Holden would have used as many common panels as they could between these Bedfords and the Maple Leaf Chevys that ran after the war – one of those coming later.
The third truck in the row of Bedfords and shows separate screens as Bernard is talking about. I don’t know if this would have been an earlier version from Holden or an imported cab. In any case I don’t think it is a 1934 as per the sign on the front.
Sweet variety! From small to big, from tractor units (“prime movers”) to trucks, it’s all there.
My favorite of the show is the International Transtar COE. Not too many modern-era big US trucks around here, most of them are Kenworth and Peterbilt conventionals, used as show- or hobbytrucks. But some of them have to work for a living…
Source and more pictures: https://bigtruck.nl/nieuws/item/de-peterbilt-van-anema-2
Would I be considered an artless Philistine if I said that the IHC Loadstar was ugly?
Yes…!
There is a bit of a bulldog, teeth baring look to it with the way the radiator grill extends to the sides, like the panelwork can’t cover it fully/normally. IMO there are probably some uglier trucks to come – ones that have never bothered any stylist/designer!
You could not possibly have picked a better first photo for this post! That—that right there—that’s a truck. That’s what a truck looks like.
For a little while now, I’ve kicked around the idea of hunting down a short-wheelbase, single rear axle Chevy C60 or GMC Brigadier as a fun restomod project with either a wicked Duramax or an old-school Detroit.
You would have to get the right vehicle as a starting point or it would have the potential to swallow bulk dollars! Over here you would have to have a truck licence to drive it too. I’ve had the same thought about my grandfather’s old truck that I think I would be able to track down, but it’s just not practical for me.
You mean a Class B license? Do the rules change if you specify that it’s for personal use and not for business?
Personal vs business doesn’t matter here, the system goes by weight, axles and trailers – light, medium and heavy rigid (can tow a drawbar trailer), heavy combination (semi trailer), multi combination (multiple trailers. On a car license you are restricted to 4500kg GVM, so trucks rated (or sometimes de-rated) to that amount are popular.
We are allowed up to 6,000kg on a car licence for personal use but if you get any payment for such a vehicle a heavy licence is required, I ve got a class five which covers up to two trailers the maximum here, three simply cant negotiate many of our roads while remaining in their lane, Some very cool trucks there the K and O series Bedfords differ from our local UK CKD trucks though they’d be mechanically the same.
Bryce I’ve been struggling to find info on GM trucks – were there any other than Bedfords in the 50’s-70’s over here? Eg any Chevy pickups prior to 1975? I’m not sure if it is just that I can’t find any info on them, but I can’t remember seeing any either.
A great assortment of trucks, both familiar and not.
The license plate on the 1925 Chevy jumped out at me. That is a 1976 plate from the state of Michigan. The colorful design was created for the US Bicentennial that year and they were used through 1978. That sort of number-letter combo would be a plate for a light truck, so that is appropriate.
Thanks for that detail Dan. My grandfather had a “Victoria 150 Years” plate for the state of Victoria on either his tractor or truck, from 1985, just general issue not the limited run special edition.
There are Federal-Interstate plates for long-haul trucks over here, otherwise trucks just have standard registration numbers with the exception of special seasonal registration plates for primary producers.
Yes, that 1976-base Michigan plate was the most eye-catching of the various Bicentennial designs that appeared that year. I wonder if it’s a key to the history of that old Chevrolet truck.
Fascinating to see what the haulers of yore looked like down under. Some of those IHC models have that parallel universe feeling to them compared to what we had here–love the canted headlamp pods on that AB180. And the lead Loadstar, so familiar in the US as a straight truck or a bus, seems odd as a class 8 with dual rear axles and a fifth wheel hitch
Cheers Chris. I’m sure there were plenty of headaches created for US truck engineers who were used to seeing a certain truck doing a certain job over there, working much harder for its keep over here! Plus plenty of local combinations of chassis/cab/engine/driveline too.
Those Anglia utes are cute and practical. As always, US Ford missed the chance to bring in a useful car from its OWN foreign branches. Had to wait until VW and Datsun grabbed the market. Then it was worth imitating.