So what would have been the best regarded motors late 60s into the 70s. What would most hauliers and drivers regard as the premier motors of the time and what changes have come into the industry now and are they for the better■■?
Okay Ramone, are you sitting comfortably, then lets begin.
The back story starts before WW ll. Australia was still regarded very much as a colony, with much of the population having strong ties to the motherland. Our specialty was wool and other agricultural products. Most of our secondary or industrial products were imported from Great Britain, a little from USA or mainland Europe.
With the outbreak of the 1939~45 conflict we found ourselves isolated. Suddenly we had to develop our own secondary industries, which we did amazingly well, manufacturing small arms, tools, engineering machinery, etcetera to a standard as good as anywhere in the world.
Upon the cessation of hostilities it was decided to expand our manufacturing industry. Nowhere was this demonstrated better than the decision to create our own car industry. Holden was a saddler and waggon builder who graduated to car and truck body building on various marques of imported chassis.
Post war tenders were called worldwide, for a car manufacturer to develop an Australian car industry, with government heavy subsidies. GM won the tender and bought Holden, forming General Motors-Holden. By 1948 the first Holden 48-215, a rejected Pontiac design, was on sale as Australia’s first own car. A fair bit of spin was put on that statement, Ford had a longer history of car building here at Geelong, albeit foreign designs.
The Holden quickly became the best selling car in the country. Ford were producing English models until 1960 when they changed from Zephyr to American Falcon. This started the Holden-Ford competition, which lasts until today. It was encouraged by the excises levered on any imported cars, making poverty spec imports, luxury priced/class. Our first Australian Design Rules (1968?), ADR 1(?) was a globally unique anti pollution specification, designed more to save our car industry than the planet.
All this shows how the government moved its protectionist stance from preferential taxation on imports from within the Commonwealth to a layered system where first preference was Australian products, second preference was Commonwealth products, finally the rest of the world. This scheme was in many ways understandable and sensible. We never had the scale of economy to compete on the world market. When I left school, London had a greater population than the entire country of Australia.
This protectionism was spread across all imported goods.
By 1970ish the people were getting restless, realising that the method to encourage Australian production had made the car industry lazy. A pov spec Volvo 144 was twice the price of an equivalent specced Holden Premier. The mid-spec Holden Kingswood, lacked carpets, a radio and other accoutrements, standard on most cars produced anywhere else in the world.
Things had to and would change.
To be continued…
I’m off to Bordeaux for a forum lunch so I’ll read SDU’s contribution later, but for the moment, you are very right, Fodens had more than a look in, especially in the NT.
Co-ords was an association of hauliers I think originally formed to connect the railhead at Alice Springs to Darwin before the Ghan rail line was built in the ‘70s, and my boss Noel Buntine was in that and Co-Ord trains use to roll into our depot at Katherine carrying 50 foot lengths of rail disposed of by the rebuilding of the Nullaboor line in WA. On 3 40 foot trailers the overhangs used to clang together as they did a big Uie to get to the fuel pumps. That picture at the top may well be one of Ted Stiles’ Fodens, the bloke further down I think standing in front of one of his own Outback Transport body trucks.
So, with the scene set, revealing the artificial choices offered to Australian consumers, I will address the commercial vehicle market. This is my interpretation and view of the situation, in hindsight.
In the latter half of the '60s a few B Model Macks were imported for more specialised and heavier roles. Due to their cost, in comparison to British offerings, they were not common sights. They became highly revered, with 237 horsepower against the 100~150 produced by more mundane trucks. This model established Mack’s reputation for years to come, drivers of the era still rate them highly and they are well represented at historic truck shows.
Ford and GM-H were building D and F series and TK and TJ truck respectively, as they had done for the previous models.
Cyril Anderson, a transport and multi-franchise motor dealership entrepreneur, had a crack at building trucks in the '70s. He had moderate success in the medium duty class and to a lesser degree in the heavy class. He was assembling with proprietary mechanicals and usually a FRP cab, shared with F model Mack.
As the sixties gave way to the seventies the import duties were relaxed, opening the way for trucks from other than Britain.
Ed Cameron imported a few Kenworths, that perfomed well, but needed fine tuning.
White parellelled Kenworth, but on a smaller scale. They also had Diamond Reo in their portfolio.
International, traditionally a medium to heavy sector manufacturer got tied up with Aitkinson, which became their halo offering.
Europe was represented with Scania, MAN, Mercedes and Volvo.
British heavy weights were on the wane, but brand loyalists waved the flag for Foden and ERF. Bus and medium weight chassis outlasted their heavier siblings with Leyland and Albion, Scammell were hanging in with a truck.
To be continued…
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Reading this second part it comes across as having very little choice until import restrictions were lifted.That would probably just as it did over here lead to complacency by the British suppliers. Leyland certainly were but with arrogance and an attitude of this is what we’ve got or nothing. The flexibility of the likes of Foden , ERF & Atkinson would be a better fit due to the fact that they were assemblers so spec the engine and drivetrain you require. None of them got up to speed quick enough here to stem the decline
Indeed, Leyland did come across as arrogant, seeming to believe they knew better, than a mere colonial, what we needed and wanted. It got to a stage where their trucks weren’t fast enough, robust enough or modern enough, having only made minor, incremental improvements over the previous twenty, odd years. They were certainly left in the dust in the heavy, long distance end. The lighter segment was not as arduous, so they lasted a little longer there. By the time I started driving, there were few Pommie trucks left on the road, but I did work on some old relics (Leyland Hippo) during my apprenticeship.
I’ve just been looking at the photos posted by Robert of the Foden ‘train’ , what would something like that be powered by and what box would it have ? I’ve seen similar Mammoth Majors which must have been modified pulling that sort of weight bearing in mind the standard would be AV760 and a 6 speed box , overheating must have been a problem
Probably Gardner, as Foden were big on them in those days.
Rowena
The first photo shows an early version of air con with the n/s windscreen open. A Gardner 150? must have been low geared
By the mid to late '70s it was rare to see a British truck on the highway, apart from Aitkinson, which had become so different to its English counterpart, that almost only the badge was common.
Mercedes, Volvo and MAN had always had a small presence, the Mercedes 1418 particularly successful and punching above its weight, like the Volvo F and G 88.
With the arrival of the Swedish pair it was game on.
We now have a battle between the Europeans, Volvo, Scania, Mercedes, MAN, and the Australian Americans, Aitkinson, White, Mack and Kenworth. Whilst some were more successful than others, there would be no outright winners or losers.
In no particular order:
Volvo:
Impressive successes with F and G 88/89 and later F 10/12 in its various iterations. The F16 was less popular, those wanting top horsepower usually opting for American power.
Volvo has become the premier fleet truck, outsold only by Scania, on price, in this role.
Scania:
Very similar to Volvo, but at a keener price. The 111 put Scania on the map here.
Mercedes:
Had remarkable success with the little 1418 and to a lesser degree it’s big brother 1924. They only went downhill from there. They are relatively popular as a fleet truck that is confined to bitumen and owe most of their sales to the ability to supply multiple units, immediately.
Mercedes bought Ford tucks and renamed them Stirling, before ceasing production. They also aquired Freightliner and degraded it to the point that it has a reputation of rattling to pieces. A reputation, well deserved. Western Star is the premium badge in Mercedes portfolio.
Daf:
Not a particularly well rated truck ceding to the Swedes but above the Germans. It is owned by Paccar and gaining sales on Kenworth’s coat tails and distribution network.
MAN:
A relatively small player, seemingly struggling to stay alive.
Aitkinson:
Sadly no longer with us, with the demise of International. The Iveco that tried to take it’s place failed dismally.
Aitkinson developed the 3800 into a truck, as revered as the best of the best, by adapting to the specific needs of Australia’s unique landscape.
White:
Like Kenworth and Aitkinson, adapted to suit this country, justifiably earning it’s solid reputation. White morphed into Western Star after Volvo purchased the former. Like White before it, Western Star struggled financially, ending up Australian owned, before being bought by Mercedes. Merc are in the process of demolishing the reputation and high position once held by Western Star. The latest generation has been released with a Freightliner cab and the only engine option, Detroit, another of Mercedes acquisitions.
Mack:
A once great name ruined under Volvo ownership. There was a time when if you drove a B Model, you were King of the Road. Mack had a strong following of drivers and fleets alike.
Modern Macks are basically conventional control Volvos, with previous generation software.
Kenworth:
Well on the way to finally winning the long tussle with Western Star for the crown, but by default thanks to Mercedes mismanagement of that division.
Since Kenworth started building trucks in Melbourne they have strived to provide high quality and service. They have modified and adapted the product to withstand one of the harshest and diverse, operating landscapes in the world. Australian built Kenworths have no relationship to American models and are totally different.
An operator can go into any Kenworth dealer in the country with a VIN and Kenworth will provide a build number and spec sheet. They can also provide every part for any Australian built Kenworth.
Engine options are now limited to Cummins or Paccar, the latter actually being a Daf engine.
Every young driver has ambitions to drive a Kenworth 909, or in truckie parlance a nine oh.
Iveco were in that mix for a short while, after taking over International. The trucks didn’t last, now seemingly surviving on van and ACCO sales. The ACCO was an Australian designed International, once ubiquitous on our roads, offered in multiple specifications and variou weight
You know you’ve made it when you’re driving a nine oh or Western Star 6900. I’ve driven both, each an honour and pleasure to pilot, but hard work in the cities, thanks to its size and limited vision.
Iveco were in that mix for a short while and now seemingly surviving on van and ACCO sales. ACCO was an Australian designed International, once ubiquitous on our roads and offered in multiple specifications and various GVMs from 6 to 30 tonne. The ACCO was superseded by various Iveco model that totally flopped, the specs not working in this country. After a big hue and cry from certain sectors of the industry, a single spec ACCO model was re-introduced for the cement and garbage sector, it has a Cummins engine, Allison transmission, Meritor diffs and rubber block suspension. It has also gained favour with tipper operators.
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A fascinating insight, SDU. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to put it together. 
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A great read SDU , looking at what you’ve posted the Austrailian market was and is a specialised area . The manufacturers who didn’t or don’t listen will or have failed. Some suprising things you list though the first being the success of the 1418 Merc which we had over here i never drove one but they were gutless but no doubt bullet proof. I remember Henry Longs TPT where my dad worked starting a Merc dealership Northside Truck Centre and Longs slowly replacing their fleet with these new motors. He had just come off a 1959 9.6 MKV MM8 and trailer and onto a very sad brand new Atki and weeks later the 1418s started to arrive. You haven’t got the monopoly on Merc complaints , we run 7 of the heaps and if any had gone to owner drivers they would be bankrupt. Regular breakdowns and an average 2/3 weeks off the road then back in again for the same fault. MANs are the same , we had the exact same experience as we had with Mercs.
I’m suprised that Daf aren’t too popular 95/105/106 were a decent tool but there i go falling into the trap , it’s a specialised market with different needs to Europe. What would be the problem with the F16 , too heavy, too thirsty , too pricey? It’s fascinating stuff and who would have thought only Atkinson would have got it right from the British contingent. Maybe if others from the Leyland group could have worked without constraints their products may have been more freindly.
Keep it coming SDU
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Cummins power.
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A couple of points about all of the above, ironic to hear that a Daf engine is now powering Kenworths in Australia because I remember many years ago that Daf used to use Leyland engines in their trucks. How are the mighty fallen.
Also, I am fascinated to know how, if Mercs are so hated both north and south how did they manage to not only survive but buy out most of the rest of the market it seems.?
I said 2 points but just a mention of thanks to Oily for that picture of my favourite Foden cab. I had one with a 205 Cummins in (I think) at K & M of Hucknall Notts and loved every minute in it. I have mentioned it before on here but worth another I reckon.
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As stated, my view, coming into to the game in the latter part of time frame being discussed. As they would say in the movies, “based on factual events.”. 
The first semi-trailer I drove, in anger. As you said, gutless, but short of heavy haulage, they could do anything a Mack could do, albeit without the snob value, haste or fuel consumption. They set a lot of blokes up with their frugality, robustness and economy of maintenance.
I once overtook a well loaded 1418, just north of Brisbane and called him on the UHF, asking him where he was headed. Townsville was his response, 1400km north. I said he must be doing it hard, to which he replied, not as hard as if I had repayments. Fair point and another point, worthy of note, the little Benz had a much lighter tare weight, handy if you were the type to get aynal* about those sort of things.
Tyu spelling it the correct way on this forum.
I worked for a mob who had two MANs amongst their fleet of Western Stars and Scanias. The MANs were definitely the higher maintenance trucks in the small fleet. If one of the MANs broke down, the issue, no matter how obscure, was replicated in the other the following week.
Daf were latecomers to our sunny shores. Volvo had set the benchmark for the Europeans and the 2800 and 3300 were up against Volvo F and N 10s and 12s.
The slap across ZF 16 speed wasn’t popular. First impressions…
A big 
to all the posts here. All interesting stuff
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