Some more toys

Started dragging out some more photos





This is the TK I owned. It was a handy crane but a seriously slothful dog on the road.





Here is my toy collection about 5 years ago. Really original 67 Kenworth K123 - last of the American deliveries ex Caltex tanker, 1956 Albion Reiver and 1942 Dodge Carryall.





Close-up of the Albion. Sold it to TOLLs and they have totally restored it to concourse for their historic collection





This was taking the Albion to Tolls at Wagga for restoration and the Dodge to Corowa for the Military vehicle meet. On my 1969 Volvo F86 with 6ton Atlas crane (I love this truck - drives like a car and the cook is happy to come along. She hated the Kenworth which was like riding a bucking bronco - it was a seriously good exchange! - the Kenworth for the Volvo not the wife for the Volvo..then again...



This is my first truck. A 1941 British Army Morris. Photo of me at 14 with my sister on South Stradbroke Island. A mate and I made a raft out of 44 gallon drums and floated her across from Southport to what was then a totally deserted island. We hid it in the bush and would go over on weekends in our 16 foot putt-putt boat and race (in a Morris?) up and down 20 miles of wonderful uninhabited beach then sleep beside the truck under the stars. Used to take us 4 hours to get back over the sandhills with 2 wheel drive hence the sheets of marsden matting. Can't imagine modern parents allowing a 14 year old to disappear for whole weekend doing "dangerous" things like driving a truck with his school pals.

Here are a couple of closeups of me and my Commer 1966. Did I ever have that much hair?

G'day Lang
Sounds like there might be a few more stories /photo's in the attic. (on par with ronhorse).Would really love to hear / see them.
Alistair

Alistair,

There are hundreds of stories like everyone, I suppose. Unfortunately I was not a great photo taker. Wil continue to look in the cupboard for interesting stuff.

Below are some photos of the 1967 Kenworth I had until recently. I swapped a 1958 Foden aircraft fuel tanker for it (will try to find photos of the Foden). The KW was the last of the American trucks to come in before Australian assembly started. I have its build sheet for Caltex Australia. It has a 671GM and roadranger box and was wonderful to drive except the power steering was too strong and the wheel was super-light with little feel.

The worst thing was the ride - beats me how anyone sat in these damn things all day long. I did the club runs with 30psi in the front tyres and 20psi in the rear but the fixed passenger seat was hell until I replaced it with a suspension seat for the cook. It was still so bad that I looked like losing access to home comforts if I continued to insist we went to shows in it so I changed for the F86 Volvo which was like changing from gumboots into Nike runners.

The KW now belongs to club member here in Brisbane and he comes to all the runs (I must ask him when he is booked in to have his spinal disc fusion operation).

Found some more photos.

The first is the TK Bedford in action about 1983.

I have put all the photos of the inter on one post. Not many trucks have had so many reincarnations.

The first picture is of it originally with its rusty AB1200 cab. We then dropped an ex-Telecom Dodge dual cab on her and took to Cape York and Fraser Island.

This one is pretty interesting for small inter fans. The AB1200 4X4 inter shown with its original Inter cab then a Dodge twin cab was finally returned to its family by the fitting of a late model Inter cab and a short wheelbase inter pick-up body with a tool box. Finished up a really good looking jigger.

I saw it driving past only about 6 months ago not bad for 50 year old flogged vehicle.

Hey lang, interesting to see the Inter 4x4's, loved the story of you and your sister on the island, that is real fun! The first Inter 4x4 I ever saw was this one I took to Darwin in around 1955-6, an AS160 brand new for Rum Jungle, don't know if this was when Inter started making 4x4's, neat truck

Nice photo of the Inter. The Foden is the same model as the fuel tanker which I swapped for the Kenworth (except the tanker was bogie drive).

International have been making 4X4 trucks since at least the 30's. They were the main suppliers to the US Marine Corps and Navy in WW2. Their 6X6 trucks looked very much like the GMC 6X6 - there are a few floating around in Australia. They also produced light 4X4 similar to the Dodge Weapon Carrier in fairly large numbers.

Lang

Found a photo of the Foden tanker. Really original and ran like a dream but when kids started flashing past on their skateboards while I had her flat out on the governor my enthusiasm waned. It has gone to a good home and I hope to see her at a truck meet some time in the future.

Hi Lang, reckon you'll be lucky if you ever see that truck again let alone at a show. As for a good home, I thought he was going to have everything crushed by Simms when he Carks it. That model was DG wasn't it?

Found a photo of the Foden tanker. Really original and ran like a dream but when kids started flashing past on their skateboards while I had her flat out on the governor my enthusiasm waned. It has gone to a good home and I hope to see her at a truck meet some time in the future.