Double Down on Charlie – Kenworth C500

The Kenworth C500 is the Chuck Norris of trucks. It’s the go anywhere, do anything, beast-class rig which has earned its place at the top of the Toughest Truck Ever pile

Vast ability and good looks generally don’t go hand in hand. Often it’s a case of choosing either aesthetics or ability but with Scott Shaw’s silver and blue 2005 Kenworth C500 he has the best of both worlds; good looks and massive amounts of kick-arse capability, kind of like Chuck Norris if he had plastic surgery.

But a neat segue from a martial arts legends who is as tough as the proverbial coffin nail to the trucking incarnation of that same robustness has to be stretched today because we have not one, but two Kenworth C500s. Double Chuck anyone?

On the prowess front Scott has no one to thank but the Kenworth gods for imbuing his Charlie with all the strength to go anywhere, do anything and drag back whatever all in time for dinner, but when it comes to the C500’s good looks Scott has himself and Jon Kelly of MegaTruckers fame to thank for that.

Having two C500s in one place let alone two as pretty as these is a rare occurrence

“Some people say I’m good with the graphic stuff, but I don’t know about that, but I drew it all up,” says Scott on the stripe design of his C500.

“I was going to do it the same as my old nine, The Judge, which everyone knows. I changed it a little bit to fit in with the old RTA (Road Trains of Australia) stripes and just put my colours into it. Jon’s got a good eye for detail so between the two of us it came off pretty good, I think.”

Jon Kelly has much the same to say on the theme of Scott’s C500 but can also speak to the merits of C500 ownership as the white Charlie you see on these pages is Jon’s personal truck which he has brought out just for our photo shoot today.

The badge says it all

“Scott’s truck is little bit of his colours and then there’s a bit of artistic license here with me chucking some of my colours on it just to liven it up a bit,” Jon says.

“So it was a sort of scrapbook of both of our designs, and tastes and colours you know. We wanted to sort of keep it as original as we could but with a bit of a twist.”

Scott and Jon both had a play with stripes and colours to come up with something that’s modern but also a nod to the past

Back with Scott who’s based at Alton Downs outside Rockhampton as his phone line crackles in and out of reception but he’s more than happy to talk about all things Kenworth, and his C500.

“I’m only 25 kays west of Rocky and I’m flat out getting service on the phone,” Scott laughs.

“I’ve known Jon Kelly for a while. Some people talk down about him but I’ve never had a drama with him and he’s a good bloke to me. 

“Jon knew I’d been looking for one for a while so when the C500 came up I jumped on it.

C500 looks as good going as it does coming

“I’ve been working for myself for 13 years now and I’ve been driving trucks 22 years, I suppose. Growing up on a cattle property is what got me into it. I mainly do tipper work and drop deck work, pretty much 75 per cent is side tipper work doing roads and construction I suppose you’d say.

“When it comes to trailers I hook up as a quad set. Otherwise, I just run an AB triple, but I’ve got Bruce Rock Engineering making new trailers up for the Charlie in Western Australia and they should be here soon. They’re going to be all colour matched to the truck and I just have to get one of my A trailers sandblasted and repainted because my old ones were all red and white, and now the new ones are going to be silver and blue to match the to match the Charlie.” 

Proud owner Scott Shaw with his Kenworth C500

Being a Kenworth man, after the C500 is there anywhere left to go in the Kenny universe Scott would like to explore?

“Nah the Charlie will do me for a while. I’m gonna sell my T659 which is in the workshop at the moment with a broken crankshaft. I’ve been waiting a bit over three months to get a motor for it and I’ve had motors fall through and all sorts of shit going wrong but the story is I was pulling a quad and giving it a fair bit of horsepower and snapped the crankshaft right on number six piston.” 

L to R Marshall Watego, Jon Kelly and Scott Shaw with the best pair of Charlies getting around town

We all know things go wrong when anything mechanical is involved but Scott hasn’t let the experience sour him on the Cummins.

“These old Gen II are best motors out, I reckon,” Scott says. 

“Even on fuel economy, I reckon the old Gen II motors are better than all these new motors, it’s the way you set it up I suppose, other fellas will mostly disagree but yeah I can’t stand these new electronic motors. Gen II is electronic too but it’s not like these new ones with the AdBlue and all that shit to them.

“Part of the reason I went back to buying an older truck with the C500 was to get away from the new motors,” Scott says.

Interior is typically Kenworth but if it ain’t broke…

While we’re waiting for the two C500s to roll out for some photos we take a walk around Jon Kelly’s new base of operations in Archerfield, QLD and there’s a ton of tasty rigs to check out.

“It’s pretty much like we’re operating in a time where people can’t get trucks and we’ve got 50 on the ground here,” says Jon as we wander the yard. 

“We’re defying, I suppose, the market trend of where people don’t have the ability to get trucks. We’ve got some great trucks but my biggest problem is I can’t fall in love with everything and do a custom paint job or a custom fit-out on everything but, you know, that’s the challenge,’ Jon smiles.

People who think reality TV shows are what they say on the tin might be disappointed when meeting Jon Kelly in person. The fiery persona he conveys on MegaTruckers might be lurking within but in the flesh he just comes across as a relaxed bloke who absolutely lives for trucks.

“We try and make the process of buying a truck, and dealing with someone, as nice as we can,” Jon says.

“There are always speed bumps involved with trucks because they’re mechanical and it can go bad and sometimes stuff goes bang, but you know, we try and do the right thing by everyone.” 

Getting back on the subject of Scott’s C500, Jon’s eyes light up as both he and Scott are in awe of what the big Charlies can do.

“I’ve known Scott probably close to 10 years, if not more,” says Jon.

“His nine-oh was a good-looking truck and we sort of kept in contact when he bought that new, then he bought a truck off me a couple of years ago at the old yard when we kicked off at Rocklea.

“When I bought this big package of Charlies he’d been chasing one for quite a while so he just rang me one day and asked if I had one available and I said ‘matter of fact, I do’.”

While selling the C500s was done without advertising a single one, the road for Jon to actually get his hands on the trucks was a bit longer and more expensive than he might have anticipated.

Trucks need a name and as with all Jon Kelly creations a song lyric doesn’t go astray either

“I’ve known Dave Jones who owns RTA for a long time – we’ve done a lot of business over the years – and I wanted RTA 193 which is the last Charlie made and I’ve been trying to buy it off him for the last six years.

“I actually had quite a few Charlies in the HHA (Heavy Haulage Australia) days, I had three of them that I did up, and they were very famous trucks. Everyone loved them and ever since I sold them all I’ve just been wanting to fill that void of getting one back in the family.

“So I kept on Dave, and Dave being Dave, told me to piss off about 460 times and then made me buy another 30 trucks to get to the Charlie. He goes, ‘Listen. You can have 193 but you gotta buy 28 other trucks’ so when everyone asks how much I paid for the C500 I let them know it was about $7.2million actually,” Jon laughs.

“When it came down to doing the deal he goes ‘I’m not gonna sell you yours, if you want to buy them, you need to buy them all’ so he gave me a price and we came in and bought the lot. Six C500s and they’re all gone now, and we didn’t even have to advertise one of them.”

Passion is the dominant theme here and it’s easy to see why, just ask Scott or Jon about their Charlies and the pride of owning what is the pinnacle of achievement in the trucking world is instantly visible on their faces.

The legend of the C500 also shows that owning one is a bit like have a constant Chuck Norris in your corner, you know the old bloke is getting on a bit but you also know that when push comes to shove he’ll have you covered.

Some of the trucks on hand at Jon Kelly’s yard drop a heavy ‘want’ on you as soon as you walk in the gates

Photography: Ben Dillon