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Lindsay Fox nears 80

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7 years 8 months ago #171663 by Roderick Smith
Lindsay Fox goes overboard with party cruise ship.
Herald Sun July 1, 2016.
ANCHORS aweigh! LINDSAY FOX will batten down the hatches on his top-of-the-line cruise ship, which takes to the high seas this week to celebrate his 80th “conception party”.
Nine months before his actual birthday in April, the image is not worth conjuring.
But no expense has been spared by the trucker. Page 13 got wind that the US-owned ultra-luxury liner Seabourn Odyssey has been chartered at more than $200,000 per day for the seven-day cruise between Athens and Venice.
The ship will have more than 450 guests living the life in ocean view suites — some equipped with a whirlpool bathtub, and plasma TVs in every room.
Fancy a swim?
For those swimmers worried about sunburn.
CAPTION: Seabourn Odyssey — Lindsay Fox ship for 80th conception for Page 13.
Not to mention private butlers at their beck and ahoy.
HUGH JACKMAN is expected to put on his dancing shoes in the ship’s showroom, the Grand Salon, with MOLLY MELDRUM hitting the decks as DJ for post-dinner drinks at The Club.
The logbook of guests is chock-a-block full of Melbourne’s establishment including EDDIE MCGUIRE, ragtraders SOLLY LEW and MARK MCINNES, miner ANDREW FORREST, four-time Melbourne Cup winner LLOYD WILLIAMS, first mate BILL KELTY, JEFF KENNETT and the Pratt family. We have wobbly sea legs just thinking of the combined wealth aboard.
Lindsay Fox will be treating 450 guests on the cruise ship.
Making a grand entrance will be easy on this staircase.
Dine in style.
After dinner, catch a Hugh Jackman performance.
Thankfully, there is a medical facility staffed around the clock by a doctor and nurse for the silver-haired sea dogs.
Sadly, some of Fox’s political cronies will say bon voyage from Down Under, due to today’s election getting in the way of the party of the decade. RON WALKER is one giving it a miss.
There will be no wide berth jokes for downsized mining magnate and guest GINA RINEHART, who is at her bikini best for the super cruise following a dramatic slim-down, shedding a whopping 40kg.
She’s organised a special fireworks display, which will go off when the cruise docks at Venice. The mind boggles.
< www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/page-...82c8f50cae6d74aa9dcd > lots of photos; 12 comments: half congratulations, and half flippant.

Then came a three-page biography, which I have edited down.
I've edited out the family bits. Not mentioned in this interview: he owns Essendon Airport (Essendon Fields), also Avalon Airport.
Fantastic Mr Fox: Hamish McLachlan talks to trucking magnate and Aussie transport legend Lindsay Fox.
Herald Sun July 2, 2016
LINDSAY Fox. A legend of Australian transportation. A “captain” of industry. From a single truck in 1956 to a fleet of more than 6000.
HM: He [LF's father] was driving trucks and selling grog on the weekends when you were growing up?
LF: He was — he had a bit of imagination and go. Most pubs would close at 6 o’clock, so he would go and buy 100 dozen beers, and sell them on a Saturday night.
LF: I went to an auction in St Kilda a few years later and Lloyd Williams was there. He asked if I was going to buy and I said yes. I asked him if he was going to buy it, and he said yes. We decided to go halves in it. He left and we bought St Moritz together. All done over a handshake. We’ve been mates ever since.
LF: I was about 17 or 18, and I was physically very fit. I didn’t like running, but I did like ice skating, and an extension of that became ice hockey. I played for Victoria when I was 16, and was selected in the Australian team for the Olympics. Geoff Henke was also selected in that team and has been involved in the Winter Olympics for Australia ever since.
Fox (front bottom left) and his ice hockey team.
HM: You also started Linfox that year?
LF: Yes, and the year before, in ’55
LF: national service... For 98 days I taught people how to drive trucks.
HM: When you first drove a truck you were under age; how did you get a licence as a 16-year-old?
LF: I lied. If you told them you were 18, they would always check your birth certificate, so I decided to tell them I was 19 instead, and nobody bothered to check. A decade ago I wrote back to them when my licence was ready for renewal, and told them that they had made a mistake on my birthdate.
Trucking magnate Lindsay Fox in one of his first trucks.
HM: You started driving trucks, and decided it was better to own them than to drive them?
LF: My father had a truck and we used to cart Coke from the gasworks, 12 tonnes a day. It gave you a lot of physical fitness, having to load that each day. Over the summers I’d go swimming, and I’d have to drive the truck down to the beach because I didn’t have a car. Heating oil came along in the early ’60s, and I started with BP. I was carting heating oil in the winter, and soft drinks in the summer. I had about three trucks when I lived in High St. I then went to Manning Rd in 1962, and had about six trucks at that point. I bought my first depot in 1966, when I had about 12 or 15 trucks. By 1968 I had 30 and had a contract with Courage Breweries, where I eventually took the fleet from 30 to 60.
HM: What age were you when you bought your first truck?
LF: I was 16 or 17. I got it from EV Timms, a wreckers in Collingwood. I bought it for four £100 promissory notes, which were to be paid quarterly.
HM: I like the fact that you were driving, and owning trucks while you were underage! How many trucks do have now?
LF: We’re in 11 countries now, with 6000 trucks and 36,000 employees.
LF: $4 million a day, 365 days a year. We have warehouse space to the equivalent size of 250 MCGs.
HM: Who came up with “You’re passing another Fox”?
LF: ...A sign writer, and he put that on my second truck...in the ’50s...Our Sydney manager sent Paula congratulations after she’d given birth to David. It said: “Congratulations Paula, you’ve passed another Fox”.
HM: 1500 quid a year — what would a truck have cost you back then?
LF: A two-year-old commercial truck would cost me about 1200.
Lindsay Fox addressing the Tourism & Transport Forum Leadership in 2014 at Parliament House in Canberra.
< www.heraldsun.com.au/news/fantastic-mr-f...97e1ff774919bc30022a > two comments
* No mention of his wonderful car collection. Some which are on show at his Classic Car Museum Docklands. All the admission money goes to charity, $24,000 last year. I am proud to work as a volunteer there. Come down for a look and bring your camera. The cars are housed in the Old Queens Warehouse built in the 1890s.
* ...I saw him when he drove a B Triple to Sydney when they were trialling them, although they haven't been allowed on that route as yet.
Attched: Lindsay Fox truck photos from HS. The road train was cropped in the online version, and over a cluttered background in the paper version, so I have done both. What model is the 1950s Ford V8?
160501Su Melbourne (Vic.): Essendon Airport, Open day, Lindsay Fox's preserved 1950s Ford V8. (Roderick Smith).

Roderick







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7 years 8 months ago #171668 by werkhorse
Replied by werkhorse on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
Sorry ... but I got no words for this man ... well not printable anyway ;)

You might Laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same

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7 years 8 months ago #171669 by overnite
Replied by overnite on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
Werk, stop pushing in, get in the line behind everyone else.
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  • Swishy
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  • If U don't like my Driving .... well then get off the footpath ...... LOL
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7 years 8 months ago #171671 by Swishy
Replied by Swishy on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
les jist say
He had to stand on a few toes 2 get where he iz

cya

OF ALL THE THINGS EYE MISS ................. EYE MISS MY MIND THE MOST

There's more WORTH in KENWORTH

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7 years 8 months ago #171673 by Dave_64
Replied by Dave_64 on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
Suppose IF you were cynical, you could say that the two blokes playing 'hug me' deserve each other!
But, as not knowing either one personally, that may be a tad harsh!
Dave_64

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7 years 8 months ago #171674 by d23j
Replied by d23j on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
The story I heard was the boots were higher than the toes but I was not there!

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7 years 8 months ago - 7 years 8 months ago #171680 by defective
Replied by defective on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
I don't have an opinion of Lindsay Fox other than to say, as always, the Tall Poppy Syndrome is alive and well in Australia. He mastered the art of networking very early on in his life, as evidenced by his connections with Lloyd Williams in the purchase of the St Moritz ice skating rink way back in the day. These types of "connections" have pervaded every aspect of his business and professional career. We "normal" Aussies have usually been altogether far too independent to engage in this activity as it just goes against the grain of who we basically are...

...I distinctly remember reading about him when making a speech, where he stated "If you didn't have any Tall Poppies, you might end up only with weeds" (or words similar to that effect). He somehow keeps his army of employees happy, but when it comes to other business people and transport Sub-Contractors, you will not meet a tougher competitor or work provider... he is merciless in his negotiations...

...Where he finds himself very unloved by many is the fact that he personally fronts his massive empire, whereas the public listed trucking corporations run by faceless directors and boards can hide within the safety of numbers, whereby basically no individual gets singled out for scrutiny. These very same companies and corporations would see Lindsay Fox squashed like a bug if they could....hence his competitiveness and resilience...

..... Just a couple of bobs worth of observations.....
Last edit: 7 years 8 months ago by defective.
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7 years 8 months ago #171692 by d23j
Replied by d23j on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
I think that sounds like a lot of truth, we all have other that want what we have.

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7 years 8 months ago #171696 by Mrsmackpaul
Replied by Mrsmackpaul on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80
well put Defective love or hate him he is good at what he does and when I say good he is better than almost any others

Paul

Your better to die trying than live on your knees begging

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7 years 8 months ago - 7 years 8 months ago #171712 by hayseed
Replied by hayseed on topic Lindsay Fox nears 80

Roderick Smith wrote: What model is the 1950s Ford V8?
Roderick


Roderick, I reckon It's a 1957 Model..

http://www.hcvc.com.au/forum/attachment/1571



"Be who you are and say what you feel...
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind....
don't matter." -
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Last edit: 7 years 8 months ago by hayseed.

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