W J GEORGE

G'Day banga

Like ronhorse and myflint69 I subbied for Georges , from about late '79 till they shut the gates, in I think , about '85.

myflint certainly has it together remembering the fleet units at that time (I've knocked out too many brain cells over the years I guess ) Only addition I could include was the 88 Volvo ,driven by the yards chief larrikin. It was quite a colourful bunch of blokes to work with

I have a few stories I could impart... but not on a public forum, and in self defence as I was a bit of a larrikin too.

I remember old Bill as one of natures Gentlemen , was'nt unusual to see him at lunch in the staff lunchroom with a cuppa reading his paper and eating home made sangers

Legend has it that the only time he ever exploded was during an inspection of the newish 3070s. He was prideful of the presentation of the jiggers , and upon opening the passenger door of one was deluged in empty coke cans, cigarette packages and assorted rubbish , followed by an overturned Gladstone bag full of dirty socks and sweaty undies.

The story went that old Bill was almost constained but turning reddish in the face. In a rumbling voice he asked "whos F*!^#% truck is this"? S##t stirring mechanic answered " Its yours Bill " They reckon most of Regents Park heard the rest of the old blokes vent. even frightened a few stragglers back from the Sefton pub they say

I pulled one of the tris around for a few weeks with "Let George do it" (he does it to everyone) added in texta . Not my doings , but , was spotted by one of the outriders and ordered back to the yard for a paint touchup . (I was held in suspicion however )

Cheers

g'day Spiffy and welcome to the forum .. we need a lot more larrikins like y'self to help get to the bottom of some of these great old operations....cheers mate

Spiffy I'd forgotten about the 88 Volvo driven by the "Lemon", i can picture him now with his coffee cup the size of a quart pot! Yes, a heap of good blokes drove for Georges, hard to remember the names now,( a few years have passed) guys like Warren Glacken ( Bundy ), Hubcaps, Phil Manning, Jim McPherson, an old guy from Coolac that drove the bonneted Transtar 8V71T, Arthur Hudson, Pricey, and many more who's names escape me.

Before Regents Park, Billy George was in Wetherill st Lidcombe next door to Jones Bros.This was in the late 1950-1960 period.At the time he ran a fleet of mainly GM powered 190 inters that always looked good.I worked for Jonesy at the time & did look over the fence occasionally. Bloody hell i feel old.

Hi thanks for the stories and feedback its great I new one driver billy mcniff he was with them for years I hope someone has pic they sound like they had some nice trucks

well 17000 0d reads now spiffy can i start ta sell em now over !!!!

The old bloke from Coolac that drove for George's was a man called Jimmy Driscol, a true interstater if there was one.

A mate of mine from Goulburn drove for W.J and I often heard stories about the old fella and he always said he was gentleman .

My first memories of George's trucks was in 61-62,when I was in the Navy.I used to hitch hike form Sydney to Melbourne regularly and often used to be picked up by one of their trucks. The most often rides were in a Leyland Beaver,with a bogie trailer. I believe their Melbourne depot then was at Tottenham, and the Sydney one was at Lidcombe at the time.

Found some old pics....