From the sublime to the ridiculous! Gary 'Two Hat's Richards (BLB's man at Mack and Volvo down-under) has clearly been in the wars as he tells me he's suffering from a major puncture...."Hi Brian, one of the few upsides of having a broken 'drive axle' (leg) is that you get time at home to do some research (fiddle around!!). When I was wandering through the photo section of the State library of West Australia, I can across a couple of great pics of G88s. I thought they follow on from the recent blogs on the Kiwi '88s'. What could be more Aussie than the G88 brewery truck posed with that other famous form of transport - the Mini Moke. Check out the bullbar of the Volvo - with that forward rake, looks like you could clear forests with it !!! It could have been quite possible that the Moke and G88 could have come from the same assembly plant here in Brisbane - Volvo acquired the Leyland plant in 1972. I would guess that this pic is around the same vintage!" Now click through here for more....
"Of course, it wouldn't be right if we are talking about Western Australia and didn't include a road train. Brambles Manford were a large heavy haulage fleet in the west and favoured Volvos for a lot of their haulage work. Here is a typical early '70's tipper set up...again, the bullbar and single driving light really gives the driver some added comfort at night"
Gazza adds: "It seems only fitting to fast forward 30 years and include a couple of pics of today's equivalent to the G88 - the FH16. Peter Tippett Haulage is a Queensland based predominately Volvo heavy hauler and as you see, moves a lot of mining equipment throughout Oz."
Interestingly enough this one still has its tipper body attached while the top one doesn't? Go figure? And get well soon Gary.
Regards
GARY RICHARDS
National Manager - Product Mgmt & Promotion
Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks
Sorry to here about your back leg Gary.Peter Tippet has had an operation going in W.A for yonks,though Peter himself is based in Brisbane.