Trucks in Action 2010 - Part 1

Trucks in Action was held at Lardner Park, Warragul, from the 19th to 21st of February. The historic truck display was co-ordinated by the Trafalgar Truck Restorers Club and named in honour of Jim Bury, a foundation member, so naturally Jim & Delsa's seven trucks were a feature of the Display. All in all, there were 103 historic vehicles displayed including tractors, bulldozers, a bus and some caravans. In this blog post I have featured all the smaller commercial vehicles and the rest of the vehicles are featured in Part 2 and Part 3. There is not necessarily any logic or technical reasoning in the manner that I have decided that trucks are either big, medium or little, it is just vaguely based on appearance. The Volvo is a big truck, so you will see that in the second post.

Line up of Jim & Delsa's trucks, and in the next seven photographs are the Bury trucks, featured individually.

1947 Studebaker.

1948 REO Speedwagon.

1947 Chevrolet Maple Leaf. The name on the door is Chilling Bros of Katyil.

1948 International KBS 6.

1944 International KS 5. Name on door C.E. Burgess of Oakleigh.

1948 International KB 2.

1947 G.M.C.

Roy Bright's 1924 International, Wayne Henry's 1928 Ford and Graham & Heather Cameron's 1927 Chevrolet Capital. This truck was originally owned by Graham's grandfather. Another 1920s vehicle displayed in the Memorabilia shed was Max Devlin's 1928 Dodge (below).

Theo Versteden had six trucks displayed, above a 1966 Austin with a Fergie tractor. Below is a 1943 Ford, with a charcoal burner on the tray.

Two more of Theo's trucks (above and below) both from the early 1950's - a restored and unrestored Fordson Thames.

The other trucks displayed by Theo were a 1963 Austin and, below, a 1942 Ford Blitz.

Daryl Teale's 1955 International AR110.

John Nicholson's 1963 International Scout.

This is a 1954 International AR160, now owned by Reno Maddaluno, and previously owned by Jim Bury.

Sam Cape's 1956 De Soto, with a sleeper cutter on the back.

A 1949 Morris Commercial, owned by John Burley.

Bob Needham's 1947 KM Bedford.

Bob Lee had various vehicles displayed including a 1942 D6 Caterpillar Bulldozer, purchased by his father in 1946. I don't have a photo of that but, above, is Bob's 1937 Diamond T and below, in the throes of restoration, is his 1941 Ford.

Neil Tilley's 1967 Ford F100.

Andrew McIntosh displayed his International AB130.

In this blog post of Trucks in Action 2010 I have featured all the smaller trucks and commercial vehicles. To see the large vehicles, click here  and to see the rest of the vehicles on display, click here. There is not necessarily any logic or technical reasoning in the manner that I have decided that trucks are either big, medium or little, it is just vaguely based on appearance.

David Calleja Memorial Car Show 2010

We took the Volvo out on Sunday, February 7 to the fifth Annual David Calleja Memorial Car Show at Maddingley Park in Bacchus Marsh. It was a long way from Cora Lynn, but John knew David Calleja from when they were both young truck drivers. They met about 45 years ago when John was working for Fleetways and David subbied for Albert G Sims, as Sims Metal was called then. David passed away in January 2005, aged 59. It is mainly a Car show - there were about 15 cars that had belonged to David Calleja on display, plus other family member’s cars and around five hundred other cars turned up – every thing from the 1920s to the 1950s to modern cars. A small number of trucks were displayed, including two owned by Rod Calleja, David's eldest son.

Rod Calleja's B-model Mack and Diamond REO and our Volvo, same three trucks below in more detail.

This truck was originally owned by McMullen's of Orbost and was named the Gippsland Princess.

The Diamond REO was originally owned by Fred Love of Morwell and is now part of Rod Calleja's collection.

Our Volvo. John had worked this truck at Calleja’s for sixteen years.

Two Fords - a 1920 T-model and Don McGregor's 1960 Ford F500.

Don is the Event's co-ordinator for the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club.

Andrew McIntosh's AB130 Inter.

Joe Zammit's Diamond REO.

A trio of Kenworth's - a W-model, an S2-model and a SAR.

Some of David Calleja's cars, above.

Two of the many other cars displayed, a Ford Edsel, above, and a 1925 K-model Chev, below.

Neerim Show 2010

We took the Volvo to the Neerim Show on January 24. It was a perfect day, especially weather wise and the truck looked fantastic, gleaming in the sun shine. I haven't been to a Show for years, so I was a bit surprised not to see any cattle, poultry or other livestock. Shows have now re-invented themselves, it appears, and have new attractions such as the Dog high jump, which was very entertaining. Neerim Show also had lots of vehicles on display, for a start there were about 50 utes decorated with racy slogans, lots of Bundy Rum accessories and fluid and lots of Australian flags - they are a very patriotic lot in a nationalistic sort of way.

This was one of the more colourful Utes on display.

The Baw Baw Old Engine & Auto Club had about 20 cars displayed and some stationary engines.

Baw Baw Club vehicles. I love these old caravans.

There were also five Steam Traction Engines. They lined up for a group shot at the end of the day (below)

This is a Foden.

This is an Albaret Steam Roller. I had never heard of Albrarets before, but according to the Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles, they were made in France and Albaret was mainly noted for agricultural engines and road rollers. The Company operated from 1865 to around 1914.

Foden Steam Truck.

Foden, above and below, the full-size version and the mini-me version.

Ruston Steam Roller.

The Neerim Show Committee had invited the Trafalfar Truck Restorers Club to the Show and around twelve trucks turned up. Below is the Volvo, next to Graham & Heather Cameron's 1943 Lend Lease Chev. The Chev was originally owned by John Lloyd, who incidently owned Brechin on the Princes Highway at Narre Warren, which is where Fountain Gate Shopping Centre now is. The vehicle was used as the Narre Warren Fire Brigade truck. The second owner of the truck was Ian Pask of Upper Beaconsfield, and Graham and Heather are the third owners. In the background is Fred Black's 1970 C1800 Acco.

An Atkinson, a White and a G88 Volvo.

Max Devlins' 1928 Dodge and Tony & Glenys Hackett's 1957 REO Gold Comet.

John Gramlick's 1961 Commer Knocker and John Denholm's 1962 AB Inter.

John Nicholson's International Scout and John & Bev Ferguson's KB3 International.

Finally, Dave Horne was a visitor form the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club, with his 1934 British Bedford, pictured next to Ian & Val Benson's 1970 C1300 International.