Re S- 900 KW s/n 76639

....binder .. firstly i was seven years old

...now the first Ansett S models weren't released to the second hand market until the middle of 1968....just ask Swishy....they had three of 'em !!!!

...Jimbo .. that book number makes sense as they were configured completely differently to the Cameron/Blomfield S models,and the other Ansett rigs....they were converted to bogie drive later on at KW Bell St...

....if one had a different specification to the other...it would've been issued with a different book number....sorry but that's just how it went.....and Lenny Pascall who ran the workshop for McMullens will tell you they were all 8V71.....i can't be any more emphatic than that!!!

PS .. i guess we are assuming that McMullen's only ran the four Ansett S models....could they have operated another one (6V71) earlier??....(keep ya shirt on binder ol' mate)

my shirt is in the same place it was in 66 mate !!!!

You kids going to play together

Sorry Kirky, didn,t include you in the vague catergory,just referring that a lot of the guys that had anything to do with these old trucks are getting on & more worried about there health than how many rivets were in them.Ill still lean toward the guys that were there, than the johny come laters.

...i'm having a pretty good head scratch, as there never was a great lot of 6V71 bogies...
....Cameron's repaired smash went to Roger Manson 1968...
....Blomfield's were kept till around 1968...Billy Fitzpatrick, Roger Manson 2nd owners
....Swishy's was purchased new...
....Len Robertson's 6x4went through to Ron Zlatic...
....Cameron's others including the two 6x2's went through to Linfox....
....Martins Overland 6x2 went through to Brown and Mitchell...

...there may be one ring in....with the TNT Refrigerated (Peter Chase) 6x4 S model eventually going through to Ernie Walhert (subbying to Mayne Nickless) for tanker work....THIS has the potential to be the McMullans banger in around 1966!!

I didnt expect as much interest on this topic,so here goes.First let me say i am no expert on the early kw.There are a heap of blokes around that know a hell of a lot more than me. I was to start with Oneils assembling Peterbuilts in Regent st sydney, but it would have taken me half a day to get there so that was knocked on the head. I started at Camerons in the late 1960s (give or take).Harry Tillinghurst was depot manager at the time. He had a driver keeping the seat warm in his 90 until he was sure about the depot job.Blomfields also used the depot as well as a few others.(It was next to frigmobile in Bachelle Ave).All major work was carried out on the fleet in Vic.So i used to do only what was required at the time. I didnt stay there all that long because having a lot of spare time on my hands literally drove me up the wall so i moved on .Good idea?-Ill never know.The workshop manual was given to me while i was there so i have had it for maybe 44 years.Yes the preliminary work sheets show model nos & specs. This really was an order sheet, the s/nos came later on the chassis build sheet (which i do not have for what ever reason.) The s/n 76639 is clearly shown on the preliminary work sheets.Now to the workshop manual. Front cover says MAINTENANCE MANUAL. No mention of said book no or whatever. First page shows the KW emblem, Kenworth Seattle etc etc.Right of page is the index to sections. Centre of page says Maintenance Manual compiled especially for CHASSIS 76639, ModeL S - 925.Not hand written, not typed but printed the same as the rest of the manual. Sorry for the essay but there you have it, you now know as much as i do. Is there two trucks with the same ch nos. One would say impossible. Is the info on my manual & build sheets wrong? You tell me. What would be good , would be to see the original build sheets of the Ansett truck & compare them.It would be good to sort this out.I really dont think the outcome would be earth shattering probably just a small clerical error some where......Billy

well im no rivet counter but I am one of those old b@stards that was around back then and I would like to think my memory is pretty good!!! if the truck in question ended up with mc mullens from orbost and billys paperwork says v6-71 then he may well be correct!!!!
around 1966 mc mullens had 2 s models and they loaded out of don binns yard in queen st Revesby and as a apprentice back then I regularly serviced dons fleet as well as those 2 s models of mc mullens , one had a 8v -71 the other a 6 v -71 the service bay had a blackboard with each trucks filters and oil capacity listed
including McMullens 2 smodels

I got a very large kick in the @rse once for filling the 6v to the 8v,s sump capacity so its etched in my mind pretty well
some years back I did mention to one of the s model gurus that mc mullens had a v6 71 and a 8v and was promptly told I didn't no what I was talkin about cos he had it all on paper!!!! even though he was probably in nappys at the time I was layin under mc mullens trucks!!! thanks for the post billy I owe you a beer

Hi guys... just got in and reading over all the comments here while chewing on a pizza...
Firstly regarding Binder's comments on wearing nappies,in 1966 I wasn't wearing nappies as I was still itching in my old man's pants and also we couldn't afford nappies.
Now regarding the rivot counters comment,after studying the picture below I notice this is the ex Ansett single drive in question (76639).
Just to keep Binder informed it has 72X(3/16X5/16) and 100X(3/16x3/ rivots in the back panel.71X (5/32x5/16) rivots attaching top roof panels.
But more importantly it has 5 spoke hubs with "kenworth" letter sets on the hood with a "seattle USA" badge confirming it is one of the former Ansett single drives and the other (76640) went to Bill Flynn from Bairnsdale which currently resides here in my shed.
But most importantly it has a 16" vortox aircleaner confirming it has a 8V71.... Also Billy I notice the date you have quoted 5-22-62 is on the earlier seven build sheets,so I'm guessing a typing error here in the manual you have. Cheers James.
ps. as Detective mentioned Ansett didn't trade these S-models in till 1968...

jim I said around 66? doubt it was much later than 68 cos binns went belly up about then and by feb 71 I was workin for cummins out of darwin

Sorry Kirky, didn,t include you in the vague catergory,just referring that a lot of the guys that had anything to do with these old trucks are getting on & more worried about there health than how many rivets were in them.Ill still lean toward the guys that were there, than the johny come laters.

noel no offence taken

chappo n i had a yarn about these old gadjets and agree that you younger blokes are more nostalgic about em than us because then they were just another job that you may or may not get payed for and the latter seemed more common then!!!! but regardless of how us old farts are percieved and the history written without young blokes the old truck game is dead in the water!!!
at least there will be plenty to talk about at the next rivet club meeting???

and I just remembered that bruce that owned your gadjet still owes me for a accessory drive job on a w model he had back then!! or maybe it was his brother donny??????

jim I said around 66? doubt it was much later than 68 cos binns went belly up about then and by feb 71 I was workin for cummins out of darwin

...it's still a curly one binder because it will account for the McMullen's 8V71 (ex Ansett)...but what about the 6V71?.....and i've got no problems at all with your recollections.....cheers