Upton Tractors and UD's

There was a bloke in Townsville who repowered a petrol Looselybilt with a UD5 in the late 1970s. It used to scream along at about 85ks flat stick carting sand from the Black River sandpit. Ended up going over the side of a bridge and being written off.

Last one Ive seen on road was Geoff Smith from Archerfield ,he had one in a restored KM Bedford ........the motor was imported new ,not a worn out one.........Stradbroke Transport imported it around 1970.........anyway ,even though Geoff lives just behind the Stantons ,I hadnt seen him for years,when he came into the sandblasters with a new tanker from Hockneys ........seems he had a spare time job shifting their new tankers around ........anyhoo,last I heard the motor had grabbed a liner ,and was off the road.

We had two UD repowers on here, one was Pat Melonroe, not heard from him for many years the other name escapes me….and a local bloke sold a 190 UD repower a few years ago….. McQuarrie industries in coburg had boxes of used ex Japan engines cheap. My brother fitted a 5 cyl one to a MAN 760…. It flew LOUDLY… until sold….

i forgot about the km bedford john, when he wasnt shifting tankers it pulled a fair lump of a john deere around with a slasher on it, if memory servse me right, was a nice looking truck and as someone said made the right noise

There was a fella on here with a Commer, from memory.

Jarrod

www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-12/history-o...on-tractor/103079928