Fuel

I think that lot of truck shows will have a hard time in the near future if the price of fuel keeps rising at the rate it's going now.

I think people will become selective on what shows they like to go to and we the HCVCAust will find our numbers could down this year due to fuel .

I say make the most it now because by 2010 petrol could be $ 2-50 p/litre and rising and deisel could be $3-00 p/litre and rising so on that happy note smile and enjoy what you have now. Dave

Hey Deadly, while the price of fuel is high at present it is still lower as a percentage of avrage earnings than if you had applied the inflation rate to it each year since the mid 1970's

While I would obviously prefer it was cheaper it is unlikely to happen so get used to it.

Also beware of emails telling you to avoid a particular company. I have had them sent to me over the last 10 years all claiming to be Australian blaming BP, Caltex, Shell, Mobil Exxon, Texaco etc. (thw last 2 are really big in Australia)

The reality in Australia now is that Coles and Woolworths/Safeway control the prices and their prices after discount are often more than the petrol station down the road.

Despite this people wait for 15 to 20 minutes with their motor idling to save $2 on a tank (or about 1.2 to 1.4 litres of fuel) most of which they would have spent idling in the queue let alone the time spent waiting! :

Yes, it is not realistic for fellas to travel too far these days. Maybe the club needs to look at some fuel vouchers for members travelling long distances. Just an idea ?

well im a self employed truckie(furniture removalist).doing a bit of interstate work my UD(7.4litre diesel) uses up to 30l-100kms.. soon im "upgrading" to my old dodge V8 on lpg gas ..it will virtually take about 35/40% of my current fuel bill

Drove the Inter to Echuca lastSunday to store it ready fo rthe steam rally. Approx 63 litre of fuel - total cost $98.02. and I need to bring it home next Monday too. On top of that there was the car (approx 35 - 40 litres for the return trip in an AU Falcon). All because I can't get Friday off!

Luckily I earn more in a day than the fuel bill and I ma not driving the Inter every day either.

Still around $200 in Inter Fuel, $350 for a cabin at a caravan park and $150 or so for car fuel makes for an expensive 3 days away. That has not included food or drink yet either and we are not being fancy

Hi Kennymopar, having been a owner driver for 30yrs and owning a truck with a 7.5 litre motor and doing lot of local country and the once in a blue moon interstate trip i know where your coming from.
But i would think you would be charging for a interstate trip about $3-50 a klm plus waiting or loading if not your going to go broke in the current times best of luck Dave :

thanks Dave .. na lucky to get $2 a km..but i just qoute a job & take my time(unless theres local work)

Kenny, what sort of mileage do you get out of the Dodge. Has that motor been built up for gas ? People running the IH v8s on gas seemed to run into all sorts of maintenance problems.

ive had a few inter trucks..with their V8s if youve got the "canadian"392 the valve seats tend to fall out/also they crack heads the USA made 345/392s seem to have a better designed cooling system in the motor..on GAS or LPG ive found the inter V8s to be thirsty
my current dodge has a factory big block 361..it does run straight gas but they have a very low compression(6.6cr from the factory)on gas it uses approx 35L-100kms(the inters were over 40L-100ks)
anyway im just doing some minor work to the motor at the moment ..ie larger gas carb/-heads shaved 50thou-4bbl inlet- ..also ill possibly will be fitting a 3 speed "joey" box soon(current top cruising speed is around 55mph.. i want the old girl geared for around 110km/h ..simply because this is one old truck that will be earning her keep doing the occasional interstate trip !

(i was running a dodge dodge 690 318 powered interstate untill 3 years ago)

I spoke to various people about LPG when writing my book on the ACCO trucks but not great enthusiasm for it. The IH motors didnt seem to last very long on it, compression on those was 6.55 early ones, then 7.18 then 8 to 1 on the later ones. As far as I know there are US (pre 1971) and then Aussie made 345 and 392 engines.
With diesel prices approaching $2 a litre it is certainly worth a second look.