Shirl McCosker, Bill Ferguson, Andrew kelly and a 1985 SAR - A Brief History in Words & Video

In-depth

7 Aug

Shirl McCosker had never owned a Big Banger until quite recently. His excavation business only required smaller trucks to move his Bobcats, Mini Diggers and suchlike from job to job.

His love of Big Rigs however was there from a young age and this led him – along with Graeme Morris and Richard Allen – to instigating the Koroit Truck Show in Western Victoria, an event that has become a must-see for any trucking aficionado.

Life changes and Shirl stepped down from the Koroit Committee, sold his business and moved to Gippsland on the other side of the State. Along with the move he came across a cool Kenworth K100E called ‘The Prowler’. With cash in the pocket and a stunning truck looking for a new home, The Prowler became his.

“It was my first big truck and I had visions of taking it on Crawlin’ the Hume, back to Koroit and other truck shows. Then along came Covid. We did manage to get to Beaufort Truck Show where someone came up to me, commented that it was a beautiful truck and if I ever wanted to sell it….

“I said, ‘no worries’, thinking that’s what they all say, but the thought nagged at me so I said to (partner) Terri that I might put it on FB and see what interest it pulls. Eleven minutes later a bloke rings from McKay and says he’ll buy it sight unseen and will transfer the cash there and then! I couldn’t do that but then another guy rings a minute later, asks where I live, comes over that night and, bloody hell, The Prowler is gone!

“I thought there might be a dollar or two in this.

“So then we found a 1979 SAR with the KTA 19 in it. I didn’t realise how rare the KTA motor was. We knew the SAR Legend was being released at the Brisbane Truck Show and I have this thing about history, so we flew to Geraldton in Western Australia to pick up the truck and shook the blokes hand on the day the SAR Legend was first shown at Brissie. I felt it was a nice link between old and new. We drove it home and tidied it up. It’s now gone to a bloke in Wagga.”

“Then came a 1989 cab over Peterbilt 362 – Detroit power and a 9 speed ‘box - we found in Perth. I believe there’s only four of them in Australia. That truck is (son) Louis’ toy. He is Peterbilt mad. We flew over, had a good look, decided to buy and drove it back home. The truck is fully restored from the ground up. It was originally imported by Paul Freestone and has been fully restored from the ground up.

“We’ve had our chain yanked a bit on that one thanks to a couple of tyre kickers so it’s still on the market for a mere $80,000.” (There’s a link to the Pete at the end of this article for those who may be interested).

**Shirl with Bill Ferguson and Bill’s old ride**

Then came this truck – a 1985 Kenworth SAR. Shirl, as mentioned earlier loves a bit of history, and this truck had plenty, including its build sheet and first owner, Doons Transport. After buying the SAR, Shirl tracked down one of its owners, Bill Ferguson at Avenel, Victoria and offered to take the truck there so Bill could get reacquainted.

This video records that meeting …..

(The story continues after the video and photographs)

**After Snap Truck Polishing have worked their magic**

**The Ferguson clan all came to see the old girl: Bill, Ross, Jorja and Grace**

**Not too old to climb into the cockpit**

AFTERMATH:

The meet between Bill and Shirl wraps up and Shirl and Louis hop in for the trip back to Gippsland armed with more info on the SAR. Shirl picks up the story…

“We’re heading home when Bernie Cornfoot rings and asks if the truck is for sale. ‘Everything is for sale,’ I reply. “Cool. Drop it off at my yard at Craigieburn.” We did so and had a $170 Uber drive from there to home.

“Bernie rings me apologetically the next morning and tells me his Missus won’t let him buy it so Terri and I head up there to retrieve the truck. Meanwhile I said to Louis to plonk it up on the SAR Facebook Page and see what happens. There followed 13 phone calls and about 55 messages!

‘Number one was a Nigel from Hamilton who wanted a few photos and then said he’d be around at 4pm the next day to pick it up.

“A few phone calls later and a Rastas Amaran rings. “Is it sold?’ Yes I reply. “I’ll give you $10,000 on top.” Tempting I must say but definitely not the right thing to do so I have to knock him back.

“Rastas tells me that he’d bought the truck after Bill Ferguson had owned it. They bought it to use on their farm at Boree Creek, carting grain, hay and tractors. They did the hydraulics and re-pearled the steering wheel. In the twelve months they had it the truck did 100,000km.

“Then his parents sold the farm and the truck sold for $60,000 in the clearance sale. It was Andrew, the bloke I bought it off, who picked it up at that clearance sale. Rastas told me that he rang Andrew every 12 months saying that if he ever wanted to sell it he (Rastas) would buy it back. He couldn’t believe Andrew had sold it to me.

“He also had the service history of the truck. When they sold it in 2011 it had 614,000 km on the clock. The truck has only done 100,000 km in 15 years! The 721,000 on the clock are all original kilometres! No wonder I didn’t have to do much to it.

“Back to Nigel. He is a truck collector and wanted the SAR to round out his Kenworth collection, but as is the way with the world he had to back out.”

“I also had a call from the Doons boys, whose grandparents had bought the truck new for the business at Queanbeyan. They passed on the original build sheet. They also wanted to buy the truck which was part of a fleet order back in 1985.”

“However, the second caller on the list wasn’t the Doons or Rastas, but a bloke called Andrew Kelly at Euroa, so it was he who I called …”

Andrew Kelly

Andrew Kelly was born into a farming family and has his own Ag business. “I couldn’t believe it when Shirl rang me back and told me the truck was still available. I’m bloody excited!”

The family was never into trucks but Andrew has loved them since he was knee high. In a classic case of The Wheel Turning Full Circle, Andrew used to see Bill’s SAR parked over the road from the local fire brigade and on the way to school. Coincidently he had been talking to a mate the day after we shot the video with Shirl and Bill, and the mate mentioned it to Andrew.

**How Andrew remembers Bill’s SAR as a kid**

Bill’s (and Shirl’s) SAR ends a quest for Andrew, who’s been looking for one for some time.

“I went to Ceduna a month or so ago because I saw one come up. I jumped on the plane to have a look, but it was all full of rust. I’ve missed out on a few over the last few years because I’ve either been too late or they’re just too worn out.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw Shirl’s ad and then the Avenal name on the door. I knew it was for me. Unfortunately when I rang Shirl someone had already bought it which I gotta say, sort of broke my heart, the truck been local and all.

“But I guess the stars were aligned and I was over the moon when Shirl rang me and said it was still available. And I gotta say, what a champion bloke, ringing me rather than taking an extra $10 grand.”

**Shirl’s son, Louis hands over the keys. The old SAR changes hands again - possibly for the last time**

“It’s fantastic. I love the old trucks and I love the old blokes who used to drive them. I love the history.”

“I started looking for an SAR five years ago but not seriously. I wanted to fully restore one and actually have it as a working truck. Then they took off in price. As I was doing my homework I realised how much work there was involved in doing one up and how much would really cost. I was only ever planning on spending around $40,000 but all the ones that that price need about $140,000 spent on them!

“Then Shirl’s came up. It didn’t need a firewall because it wasn’t rusted out, it didn’t need a floor because that wasn’t rusted out. And only 720,000 original miles! I can’t wait to get it home. I couldn’t write Shirl out a cheque quickly enough!

**Andrew’s daughters, Olivia (L) and Ella are pretty chuffed with Dad’s new truck**

“This truck won’t just get parked in a shed, I will actually drive it myself. I love driving old gear. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got some new machinery but I love getting in the old Cat Loader and that sort of stuff, and trucks are the same. If I had this truck and a new one to pick from I’d be driving this one. Even if there were three trailers on the back and I could only drive it at 30 miles to wherever.”

And so this 1985 Kenworth SAR moves onto another owner and another chapter in its long life. Maybe, just maybe, this SAR has found its final home.

**Andrew with wife, Chrissie. He does love her and the kids more than the truck…just**

…..

For those who may interested in a rare Peterbilt cab over, here is the link to Shirl’s beast. If you are keen, let him know who put you on to it. Might be worth a bottle of Scotch to me. Haha.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/734377923361673/permalink/2519917318141049/

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