Leader Challenger

Couple of shots of the RM Autos Leader When my brother drove it.



LN700

I have been reading the Leader book mentioned earlier

And the orange truck on the previous page with the different door handles I believe is the first one of the Challengers made I feel it is so after reading the book and the truck or one with same paint job and door handles is named in the book as the first one made
Anyway as I read further into the book there is mention of a Leader UD special made up of left over parts and used at Lakeland Downs, a UD cab and fiber glass bonnet

And it has the same mirror and door handles

This got me wondering if the first Challenger had maybe steel UD doors

When the Mack fiber glass cabs were been made the mirror bracket was stayed down onto the door to stop them cracking

So thinking that these all came out of the same factory I feel it would be safe to assume the Leader cabs were made using the same ideas

I also read that during the oil shortage in the 70's some of the F model Macks made with fiberglass cabs had steel doors fitted because fiber glass got so expensive or perhaps hard to get ( cant remember now it was a few days ago)

That got me to thinking that maybe some of the Leaders with the Mack style handles are in fact Mack doors and that would explain the different handles
Just thinking thats all


Paul

Paul, I remember talking to a truck dealer in Cairns around 10 years ago.
He sold out to Westco, and during the conversation he was telling about when he worked for another dealer there and went to appraise a "Leader" from Lakeland.
It was maybe the one you mention from the book, and must have been made up with all the left over bits from the factory.
Other funny thing was, though it was registered, it didn't have a compliance plate.