Volvo F86/G88/F88 in Australia

My F86 is a great pony with a big heart but the mountains up here give her a good work out. The reason for the planned sale is that waiting in the wings I have an F86 8 wheeler, and being built in dec 89 has the twin plate clutch and sixteen speed spec. 4.11 diffs are going in so should be a good highway cruiser.

Now to the 88's. I always thought that the F models were imported before the G models and then stopped but mine is a '75 model so that can't be the case. According to the Pedr Davis book the first F88 arrived in 1968 (and 10 years later had done 2 million k's). Assembly of knocked down kits started at Wacol in 1971 (elsewhere in the book he says the plant opened in 1972)Sweden had similar axle regulations to Australia so the G88 was already available but it would seem that once the Brisbane plant was fully running a lot more Australian design went into the Volvo trucks, including using American rear ends to get the tare down to meet the market.

There were never any right hand drive F89 because the bigger motor fouled the steering, whereas it wasn't an issue with the G. The poms never took to the G layout so were given an F88 puffed up by 30hp
If anyone has more info on the early years of Volvo please let us know

Gday Mammoth

Just as a matter of interest..
Many UK operators who did European and Middle East runs bought LHD F89s and use them because they spent most of their miles on the other side of the road.

Cheers
RS

I was having a look for an article in an old Truck and Bus about the factory,which I can`t find.I remember Volvo having a winge about having to use Rockwell diffs and Hendrickson suspension to keep the Australian content up,which kept the import duties down.I did however find some old ads.

Dont like to correct the BigC

(But I'm probly rong again)
LOL

RE:Rockwell diffs and Hendrickson suspension to keep the Australian content up

These B imported from Yanky land n not made here

Reason I heard twaz the Volvo stuff twaz just too heavy for hwy work compared to there competition useing the yanky imported stuff

ButEyeDoSt&2BCorrected

LOL


Cya

[ch9787]

Swishy, I don't like to correct Cam either because he knows a lot! However I can say that here across the ditch we used to put Rockwell diffs in just about all the Europeans to keep the weight down; Volvo, Fiat, Mercs just for starters.

I`m cool with being corrected,just ask SWMBO,LOL.I had the feeling they used to assemble the Rockwell diffs here,AtkiPete may know,which is why the Acco,s,whites,Volvo`s etc,all got them,and the horrible wedge brakes,which arn`t really brakes at all.In the article I can`t find,Volvo where saying that if they could have used their components the truck could have been built cheaper.If I get a chance I`ll have a bit more of a look.There was also a pic taken of an open day at the factory,with all the new G88`s and F 86`s with different bodies and trailers.

WellHungVic
GuddayM8

RE I don't like to correct Cam either because he knows a lot!

I nose a lot also

Well



I've been told n shown alot
But me memory bank is old n slo n little rusty n seems to drop a lot of files
Ifn I could only remember most of it
Seems like I only remember not important thingz n BS

LOL

Cya

[ch9787]

Just a bit more info to add. Truck and Bus August 1972 has an article about the official opening of Volvos truck assembly plant in Wacol Queensland. With a pic of a G88 Volvo with a sign on it saying 1st truck of the production line.

Here`s a bit of exciting news from May 1967.



If you havn`t got a magnifying glass,it says that "The Swedish firm of Volvo,which already successfully markets a range of quality cars in Australia,is to introduce some of it`s truck models to this country.Blah,blah,etc,etc.

The Truck & Bus Transportation guys obviously didn't know the difference between F88 & F86 - any picture will do. The first shipment of F86 was in 1966 (or 1967 according to another source) when two went on trial with Mayne Nickless double-shifting on the Melbourne-Adelaide run and two were used as demonstrators and truck show exhibits.
No knowledge of the F88's then?