Re: Batmobiles..the overnighters

I remember when i was a kid my old man drove an 8X4 cobover with an 8V71 & 10 speed overdrive that had a 29 foot tray on it. The bloke he worked for had pulled the pan off it to fit the tray. They would cart sheep and cattle in a slide on crate and anything they could get on the tray. He said it was one of the fastest things he ever drove. The last time we seen it was in melbourne carting brix the tray had been cut down, im trying to find some photos of it and the other trucks he drove.

the overnighters had 2x sydney based 8x4's with them stupid roof kits and fibreglass pans.1 had a 692 and the other had a cummins.the one with the gm ended up at browns slipway (moololaba)till about 10 years ago with a frige pan on it.i think one of them got painted into the fleet blue.hope this helps

Hi Guys
"The Overnighters" was originally owned by Sid Ward who owned Wards Air Cargo and this was his road transport division, I started there 3 weeks after operations started in September 1975 at Kingsgrove road Kingsgrove behind the bus depot, as an apprentice mechanic, originally we ran ex IPEC MAN,s 8.168's 6 of them. In 1976 the linehaul manager Lindsay King purchased two 8 wheeler Kenworths fitted with 8V71T's 350HP ( SA rego numbers SIH 436 and SIH437)they were fitted with Don Gray Pans ( Now Lucar) 29 foot long on torsion bars. This purchased was followed up with another 2 shortly after ( SA Rego numbers TIH 035 and TIH 036).Then 2 primemovers were purchased all fitted once again with the 2 stroke and the primemovers towed Fruehauf 41 foot tri axle vans.The move to primemovers was forced as Kenworths at that time would not build 8 wheelers with 450 to 500HP apparently we were maniacs. At this stage we were to my knowledge the only transport company running semi trailers in an overnight situation that was company owned. All fruehauls were fitted with nose cones, another first, these were purchased before Nose Cone Australia was even formed from J and S fibreglass at five dock. We moved depots twice, once to South St Rydalmere and lastly to Day street Silverwater. All trucks were painted Boeing Blue, a fitting name i might add.
There were the original four 8 wheelers that were purchased back in 1976 and 1977 after that we only ran semi trailers. All vehicles were fitted with Detroits progessively from the 71's right thru to the 92's. in about 1987 were purchased 2 new 8 wheelers coloured white as per the picture in previous blog for the specific purpose of carting air freight Syd to Melb once again for Wards Air who were no longer the mother company as we had be purchased by Mayne Nickless a few years earlier. These were both fitted with 6V92T's at 350HP. at about this time we moved to the series 60 12.7 litre a new era for detroit. 1991 i was transferred to IPEC (the enemy for many years) as Mayne Nickless was joining all the companies together. The Bat was removed from the doors in about 1985 and all the trucks become white. If you looked closley at the white 8 wheelers you will see just at the tip near the exhaust stack you will see a 2 inch bat running off the air foil. All vehicles were fitted with generally 4.11 ratio and 15 overdrive (always around the corner), although a few were specced with 3.3's and 15 direct for the brisbane run. These trucks were later fitted with 15 overdrives and drivers had the instructions not to use top gear ( lucky ).April Last year we had a driver, mechanic dock hand renunion in which about 40 employees from the beginning sat around at my place and did a few thousand kilometres in one night, all the original staff members about 40 are still with us and are regularly in contact. Long Live the Bat

P.S the truck with the tray top from previous comment was sold to a young guy in Mittagong area and was used to cart hay that particular truck was SIH 437 from the previous entry, and at the time we actual said this will be the fastest hay truck in the west.

g'day hollywood .. thanks for that very informative rundown.....there are people who were johnny on the spot ...and you're one of 'em.....thanks for the memories....cheers mate

hoped it help with the mis conceptions

Was this one?


-b

I drove an F7 volvo with a Lucar pan and a lazey axel back in 85/86 for a guy who was running it for Ansett overnight express. We picked up in Bris at the depot, We loaded the truck as it did the milk run Nambour, Gympie, Maryborough and finally Bundaberg. There was a 2 axel dog that the dock guys loaded which was dropped at Caloundra on the way. Started at about 2pm and was usually tucked up by about 2am. The F7 was hopelessly under powered for the job, used to have to ask the semis to back off a bit so I could get passed etc. I am sure that they were annoyed at me because I would usually pass the same guys 3 times in the night. Any way it was a start to trucking and made me realise that I didn't want to do that all my life.

Just read this old thread and had to laugh, why would you change this name.
1979 Porky's Pickups acquired and rebranded as IPEC Darwin

I drove an F7 volvo with a Lucar pan and a lazey axel back in 85/86 for a guy who was running it for Ansett overnight express. We picked up in Bris at the depot, We loaded the truck as it did the milk run Nambour, Gympie, Maryborough and finally Bundaberg. There was a 2 axel dog that the dock guys loaded which was dropped at Caloundra on the way. Started at about 2pm and was usually tucked up by about 2am. The F7 was hopelessly under powered for the job, used to have to ask the semis to back off a bit so I could get passed etc. I am sure that they were annoyed at me because I would usually pass the same guys 3 times in the night. Any way it was a start to trucking and made me realise that I didn't want to do that all my life.

Gday mate, was this aforesaid two axle trailer a pig trailer painted in Comet colours? was it involved in a fatal accident when the drawbar snapped off? Probably mid 80's?