Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 408 i Deals On Wheels Australia

“Converting it to right-hand drive was a bastard” The Australian outback has a way of absorbing man and machine into its vast interior. The skeletons of mechanical relics litter the landscape like the desiccated carcasses of dead livestock sinking slowly back into the parched earth. The cast-offs of man’s industrial flirtations in an ancient landscape. But there’s one outback relic that won’t be reclaimed by the shifting sands anytime soon. And that’s the MAN KAT tilt tray owned by Birdsville-based Peter Barnes. It’s a relic of the Cold War from a time when the threat of nuclear annihilation cast a long shadow over the globe. Television news stories from the ’70s and ’80s of military parades often showed these trucks labouring under a deadly explosive payload; the sinister silhouette of…

Despite this year’s Clarendon Classic Machinery, Truck and Hobby Rally promoting the theme of ‘all things European’, the event was notable for the inclusion of the ‘Kenworth Klassic’ featuring 265 historical and working Kenworth trucks. Held at the Hawkesbury Showgrounds in New South Wales on September 17 to 18, the event presented around 500 trucks plus a large range of antique engines, tractors, motorcycles and cars. Also on show were working steam engines, earthmoving equipment pushing up dirt, and chain-sawing. Adding further to the show’s retro feel, double decker buses were used to shuttle patrons to Richmond Station. A steam train kept the mood going by blowing its whistle, with the steam traction engines at the show whistling back. For those in for the long haul, there was on-site camping…

As the crow flies, the Swedish city of Södertälje is barely 35 kilometres southwest of Stockholm. But unlike the country’s capital city, it’s not a magnet for tourists. What it does have, however, is industry, with truck maker Scania one of the most prominent names around town. In fact, Scania buildings and signage is everywhere. A typical Södertälje resident either works for Scania, or they have a friend, relative or next door neighbour who does. It’s a little like Canberra’s ratio of public servants. So it goes without saying that a trip to Södertälje was the obvious destination to find out what all the fuss was about in regards to Scania’s ‘Next Generation’ range. With statements from Scania CEO and president Henrik Henriksson that the new models were the company’s…

Dennis Radburn has been a truckie all his life. Before him, his late father Russell was a truckie from the age of 17. In turn, third-generation Radburn truckie Damien now runs Kerden Haulage from its base at Nowra on the NSW south coast. Spanning the three generations is this lovely-looking old D1910 International which, believe it or not, was a highway hero in its day. Dennis and Russell used to run similar old Inters, but this one was recently restored after being bought from a bloke at Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast. The emotional tie comes in with the personalised rego plate – RR 2157 – which belonged to Russell Radburn, the first ‘Rusty’ in the Radburn lineage. Russell was a single-truck owner-driver his entire career. LABOUR OF…