The ‘Twain’ Meets with this Truck

In-depth

10 Mar

‘Ne’er the twain shall meet’. The English poet Rudyard Kipling used the term in his poem, ‘The Ballad of East and West’ and it indicates that two things are so different that they cannot exist together. Being well before motorised transport, he obviously didn’t have trucks top-of-mind but the term translates well into the modern age and can certainly apply to Kenworth and Mack.

There are Kenworth lovers and there are Mack lovers and in most cases, ne’er the twain shall meet. There are however, always exceptions to the rule, and one of them would have to be the Mack R600/700 Series.

They about as classic as a truck could be. And as fine an example of a Mack R600 as you ever could see belongs to one Garry Gilchrist from Geelong, Vic.

Originally from Mt Gambier, Garry was “edyamacated” in working hard from a young age by his dad who was a Jack of all trades, cutting fence post, carting hay and whatever it took to put food on the table, using his old Maple Chev or side-whacker Ford.

“Through the winter the old man would do a bit of work for K&S, driving an (International) R90. I started my driving career when I was 18. Prior to that I was in the logging industry in the South-East around the Penola area, driving crane trucks. But I was busting to get on to interstate.

“Around 18, 19 I got my first job driving an AT4 Dodge with a 361 petrol in it, running spuds to Adelaide. The boss had given me a break because in those days you had to be 25 for insurance reasons. Three months later he went bust, so I went to Scotts along with the truck, which Scotts had purchased. I also spent a bit of time at Lake City Freighters.” (Hence the name on the Mack door).

Then came Sneath’s Transport at Millicent where Garry was behind the wheel of a KM Bedford with a 653, running to Sydney.

“One Saturday morning Keith Sneath asked me how the Bedford was going. I replied that it was a boy doing a man’s job, running to Sydney. I was running with the boys who were driving 90’s and C-lines for K&S. He said, ‘Well, how does an Atkinson sound?’

“The next weekend we went to Clayton in Melbourne picked up my truck - a single drive prime mover with a half cab sleeper. I went on to Adelaide and picked up a new trailer for it and mate, I was the proudest bloke on the road! It was capable of 60mph all night. This would have been in the 70’s.

“Eventually I left Keith and went driving tourist coaches, doing accommodated tours and running as far north a Cairns. I always had a passion for that as well.

Another stint behind the wheel followed with Frank Belmonte Transport, who’d advertised for a driver for his brand new K125 Kenworth with an 892 in it. “That truck, apart from being a bit of a bitch to ride in because it was so rough – it was built for road train work up north and the order had been cancelled – was built of granite.”

In 1983 Garry was looking for another career when, unbeknown to him his girlfriend applied on his behalf to join the public service – in the prison system. “That’s where I ended up for 34 years. On the right side of the bars,” Garry hastens to add.

He retired two years ago and takes life as it comes, but loves playing around with the trucks in his possession.

One is a Dodge with a 653 Detroit which is a nod to his father. The other is the Mack R600 Econodyne which is the subject of this story.

“The little Dodge is good, but hard work. Going to Brisbane to truck shows I really had to work hard. So I went looking for a slightly bigger vehicle with a bunk on it for some of this longer haul stuff we (ATHS) go on.

“I went looking for a single drive and the minute you do that it narrows the field down pretty quickly. I heard about a KW up in Peanut country. Rang the bloke up and had a chat. Just before I bought the airline ticket he rang and said it was gone.

“On a previous trip we were at Goondiwindi BP heading for the Rocklea Truck Show. A bloke rocked up and got talking to a mate from Geelong who also has an R600. He said he had one in the shed across the road. ‘You want to have a look?’ So he took Richard across for a gander. He told him it was for sale.

“He said he was in trouble thanks to a failed marriage. He’d met another woman and wanted to buy a house so the truck unfortunately had to go. He was asking $80,000 and said he’d stopped counting his costs of doing it up at $75K. It had been re-cabbed with an ex-army cab, the motor had the sump dropped and a set of shells put through it. It only had the 5 speed Maxi-torque box in it.”

“Richard brought it up later on when I mentioned getting gazumped on the Kenworth. He said, ‘you didn’t see that R600, Gillie. You know, if I didn’t have one I’d buy that Bastard. It’s a really tidy truck. He’s done a lot of work to it. It’s been re-cabbed – the whole lot.’

Nothing ventured nothing gained:

“So I sent the bloke a text saying that I didn’t want to waste his time and I didn’t want to kick his tyres. I said I’ve got $35,000 put away for another project. If you want to talk at that price I’m happy to talk. Otherwise I’m sorry if I’ve wasted your time.

Blow me down, two days later I get a text back – We can talk at $35,000. Blow me down, two days later I get a text back – ‘We can talk at $35,000’.

“Next thing I was on a jet from Avalon to Sydney, a Fokker to Moree and a hire care to Goondiwindi. I drove it around for an hour or so and thinking, Jeez it’s a long way home, I took a deep breath, went to the local bank and transferred the cash to him. He cried as I departed. First night I stopped over at Coonabarabran and then Echuca where I’d rung mate, Murph and asked if he’d check it over for a roadworthy.

“The only thing wrong that they could find was the steering universal which they changed over. I took it into Vic Roads there and on she went to club rego, then I drove her home.”

The only major change Gillie has done is the gearbox.

“The maxi-torque was a prick of a box. 80kph in 4th gear at 2100 revs. Into 5th and 140kph – a 27% step up in the overdrive 5th gear! So that dropped 5th back to 1100rpm. Out in the bush, not a problem but around town a bloody nightmare! It just didn’t suit what I wanted it to do.

“Dave from Bayswater Difs said to drop the 13 speed in which would give me 100kph at 2100rpm. Well that was no good because it was too high. She’s real happy at 1600 – 1650. That’s all I wanted to be doing at 100.

“So he said he’d have to turn the box around into an overdrive. He said if he gave me a double overdrive it would give me the speed and matched revs I wanted. He gave me the speed I wanted alright! The main box in overdrive top and the aux case in direct will give you 100kph at 1700 revs. You flick the button and she drops back to about 1400. So, once you start getting up into that top slot and get up around the 1800 mark doing around 120kph, and only a silly man will do it!”

The interior of this truck is like brand new! The door trims, the cabin trim, and the dash - everything is pristine. The seats (also in great nick) are commensurate with the age of the truck. They are however, air ride and comfortable.

It’s believed that the Mack is originally one of seven specials built. “Some of the Mack experts have had a look at it and reckon she’s been shortened at some stage. It had a long wheelbase with a pan on it and worked around Toowoomba as a delivery van supposedly. Old mate I bought it off found the sleeper in someone’s shed. It had never been on a truck. It’s a genuine Cummings 27” bunk.”

**Garry admits defeat when it comes to the bunk**

Access to the sleeper requires great aerobic agility and Garry decided that, whilst any port (or bed) in a storm is fine, he could do without the contortions required to ingress and egress.

The ‘shed’ sitting on the Haulmark trailer (bought for $10,000) is a homebuilt slide-on camper found in a Portland scrapyard. “It’s made out of fridge panels and it’s the best. There’s a diesel heater in it and room to stand up.”

“I ran into the father of the bloke I bought the Mack off sometime later at the Allora truck Show and he said that he’d have bought it off his son just to keep it in the family. He asked what I knew about Mack engines and I admitted I was a GM man. He told me to watch the Pyrometer, ‘cos the minute she gets to 600 degrees she’s liable to blow a turbo and I’ll have a fire on my hands with oil over the manifold. “Always go up a cog and bring her back to 1300 revs,” he said, “and she’ll thump along all day. She’ll pull Christ off a cross.”

(That’s why I put the 13 speed in. You can play around between 1400 and 1700 rpm without putting any stress on it. It develops max torque at about1100 anyhow.)

“The old feller walks around the truck and says, ‘Looks like it’s gone to a good home.’ Before he walked away he said, ‘How come this bastard still has the 12 gallon (60 litre) sump?’

“Apparently they normally change them and put a smaller sump on. When I read some specs I discovered that Bramble’s specked them that way for heavy work at the oil rigs in the hot climate to keep the oil a bit cooler. So it’s an expense changing the oil but you can’t have too much of it I reckon. You need a big drain container, let me tell you!”

Apart from the ‘box, all Garry has done is add chrome rims. From $80 to 30K is no doubt a bargain for this piece of rolling history. Gillie opens the door and says, “At the end of the day, why wouldn’t you buy it? It’s a bit like winning lotto.”