Australia then and now

You questioning the red and white one, next to the R & B East?

Yes, certainly looks like a Foden to me. What do you think?

Possibly,
Early Kenworth K100. No.
Rare Pommie cabbed Western Star 7564. No.
Rareish Scammell. Maybe.
Foden. NFI.

Dear oh dear itā€™s an OSHKOSH

Oily

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The one and same. You did tell us, Oily. :grin:

The Scammell/AEC ā€¦ or whatever else they decided to badge it had a sloping windscreen. Africa were users

I took this (rubbish) photo years ago, and I saw this old bird again in town last week albeit with a different rego. M-B 2238

One for SDU, an ACCO 3070 (my photo)

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Legendary, with a nine and thupence, 9 or 15 RR, carting 38 tonne +++ all over the country.
A well specced, basic prime mover, the Land Rover Defender of trucks, they set a lot of blokes up as an excellent mile and money maker.

images - 2024-09-19T054520.948

The upmarket Eagle, they all came in the red and white, so everyone knew you werenā€™t driving just any old Acco. :slight_smile:

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Is this Merc still on revenue earning work do you know?

I couldnā€™t say - when I saw it last week it was parked up in a yard with a lot of other ag & mining equipment. I pass that yard often, so Iā€™ll have a shufti to see if it moves.

With the prime movers, could you spec engine/ geartrain according to need or was it mostly off-the-shelf? I presume (Iā€™m out of my depth here) Cummins/ RR/ Rockwell or something like it was common.

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That mechanic was me! I still have the chassis imprinted on my forehead.

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Limited options, defo not custom.
V or VT 903 (IIRC).
9 or 15 RR imagine 6 or 9 series, depending on which engine.
Rockwell 38,000lb choice of ratio 5.28, 4.88, 4.11, 3.9, 3.7:1.00

Going back a bit (the thick end of 40 years), I was one of a myriad of backpackers in Australia. At any hostel in any major city, the backpacker sceneā€™s vehicle of choice was the Holden HQ wagon. To my European eyes at the time, they were crude (live rear axle, leaf springs, OHV inline 6) and American-looking, butā€¦ it was a bus and an off-road vehicle and these things must have circumnavigated Australia almost as many times as the big rigs. I have a big soft spot for them these days, especially if they havenā€™t been molested.

No leaf springs on a Q mate, they were the first model with all coil suspension, albeit with a live rear axle.
Any Holden or Falcon from the mid 60s on were amazingly bulletproof, simple, basic and robust.
We had a Scottish backpacker where I was working in '84.
He and his brother bought a one owner, very tidy HR wagon in Melbourne. When it was almost time for him to go home, I bought the car from him. I lent him a Mazda Bongo van until he left.
On the Monday following my first weekend of ownership, I asked him if heā€™d hidden and forgotten anything in thespare wheel compartment. He said he hadnā€™t, but heā€™d ask his brother, who also said he hadnā€™t. I then told him Iā€™d found an Old Holburn, tobacco tin with a sum of money in it. The sum was greater than Iā€™d paid for the car. His reaction was priceless. There was no money but I didnā€™t tell him until the day he left. A cruel joke? But funny at the time.

You know better than me. All I know is that the Holden wagon (and the lesser-spotted Falcon wagon) were bought, driven everywhere, and sold again on a back street in Kings Cross only to go around the country again. $2K for a pricey one between four people for 4 months travel was a risky but worthwhile bargain. And they were the sort of thing you could get fixed or get parts for more or less anywhere.

Iā€™m a bit sentimental about these old buses these days, Holden 202 and sludgematic and all: I would love one. Have you seen what an original unrestored 70s Holden wagon goes for these days? Yikes!

Yeah mate, I wish I still had all the old cars I churned through, as a young fellow.
Multiple Morris Minors, various Austins, Hillmans, a Humber, many Holden Specials and Premiers, Fairlanes and a couple of Fairmonts. Even the Toyota Crowns, Kwaka, Yammy and Honda bikes are are pulling dollars to the power of ten, over what I sold them for.
The only car I made a profit on was a Mazda Bongo van.
I bought it second hand, used it to deliver groceries from woolies, five days a week for two years, then got more for it than I paid.

Con artists everywhere, not just in the building industry.