Hi all,

Looking for a project vehicle to lug around some miniature trains. Not set on any one manufacturer, just looking for something vintage to suit the trains. Preferably something with a decent length tray, around 5m and located within 350km or so of Melbourne.

If you know of something, let me know!

Photo of said train for reference..

Nice little train yiu have there, so I'm guessing you need something with a nice low tray and a car license perhaps

Paul

Driver1901 A mate has a Dodge truck from the 1970's, that has no tray. It used to have a 5 or 6 metre tray. It is from the era when Dodge and International shared the same front sheetmetal. It has International badges at the moment. It drives. It is on gas and petrol. It spent most of its life near Korrumburra in Gippsland but has spent the last two years near Phillip Island. He wants to sell it. (actually his Wife wants him to sell it, he does not care} I will see him today and will ask him for a price.

Morris.

Mrsmackpaul wrote:

Nice little train yiu have there, so I'm guessing you need something with a nice low tray and a car license perhaps

Paul

Thanks! I've had it a few years and am building a few more carriages to pull behind it. I could get a decent trailer but I figure why not do it properly and find something to finish the picture? Plus a decent truck might be able to lug around a traction engine in the future.. just in case!

Morris wrote:

Driver1901 A mate has a Dodge truck from the 1970's, that has no tray. It used to have a 5 or 6 metre tray. It is from the era when Dodge and International shared the same front sheetmetal. It has International badges at the moment. It drives. It is on gas and petrol. It spent most of its life near Korrumburra in Gippsland but has spent the last two years near Phillip Island. He wants to sell it. (actually his Wife wants him to sell it, he does not care} I will see him today and will ask him for a price.

Morris.

Something like that sounds excellent, if you can grab a photo that would be amazing. I'm not very knowledgeable about vintage trucks so can't picture what you're likely talking about. Have had a look at C model Inters, does it look similar?

Regards,

Owen.

Owen

Your request is very broad. Maybe if you tell us a bit more there are many people on the forum who will definitely help you find the right vehicle.

What size tray do you need.

What weight do you want to carry. That is combined with your licence type car, light/medium/heavy rigid?

What distances do you want to travel.

Easy drive that would be "everyday" use acceptable if you wanted to or slower less comfortable classic/vintage

Do you want a full rebuild project, a tidy up rough goer, a minimum work close to roadworthy machine or a jump-in and drive restored vehicle.

Petrol, diesel, forward control or bonnet style.

No need to lock in any answers but just give people a more focused guide to help you find the right machine.

Lang

Hi Lang,

Here are some answers to your questions.

Tray size: Anything 5m or longer and 2m or wider.

Weight: Realistically I won't be carrying more than 3 tonne so a GVM of 6 tonne will be sufficient. I'll be going and getting an MR licence for the purpose of driving it.

Distance: Probably up to 500km a day, a few times a year. Mostly a show pony.

Style: Looking for something with a bonnet, no cab over just because I don't like how they look! Petrol or diesel, not too fussed.

Condition: Unrestored but preferably mostly complete and little to no rust. Happy to put the effort in to bring it to where I want it rather than buy somebody else's pride and joy.

Ideally, I'll be looking to make some modifications to whatever I buy to make it a bit more comfortable to drive, I'm not going to go for a completely authentic restoration, at least under the skin anyway. Outside, I'll try and keep things mostly true to life as much as possible.

Happy to answer as many questions as possible to get what I'm looking for!

Cheers

The Holden of light medium rigid trucks is the Isuzu FSR 500 or 550 -reliable, easy to drive and mechanics know what they are looking at. Better engine from '95 and get 6 speed for comfortable highway use otherwise you will be revving it hard with commensurate fuel use. Hino of the same era has a good rap. Nissans are good but expensive on parts. International 1650 is a badged Nissan but avoid those without power steering and go for turbo option.
You could go up the weight range with an ACCO 1730. (People on this forum get excited over the petrol ACCOS because they have a V8 engine, which is fine if you only want one to fetch from the local hardware store.) Cheap as chips and would handle a hiab crane and a trailer with no worries but cruising speed belongs to a previous era. For character and function Lang's Volvo F86 8 wheeler was a beut.
Is the wife going to travel with you? If so it has to have easy access and have a comfy ride.
Gumtree is a good place to start looking, otherwise follow the farm clearing sales on Auctionsplus.

Steve

I agree for practicality the Japanese light trucks are the only way to go. He did say he did not want a cab-over which cuts out the rice machines. Also seems a bit keen on something a bit more "historic"

From Driver 1901's reply I am leaning towards an F350. You can select from this same model number from 1950 to 2021 according to your body style favourite. Reliable, not a bad cruise speed (anything after 1970 will keep up on the highway) good to drive. The 6 cylinder is more than enough for old machinery work and not too outrageous on fuel. You often see F350's advertised with extended chassis and car carrier sloping ramp - Ideal for his purposes.



This one is for sale in Glen Waverley Vic right now.

Look at all these F350's for sale in Victoria at the moment.
usedcars.mitula.com.au/ford-f350-victoria

The blue thing is a 50s era F truck, am I correct? Something like that is perfect for what I'm looking for. What would a reasonable price be for something similar but unrestored but otherwise complete? I've been looking around and it seems anything from 2.5 to 8k for these machines, depending on condition?