Hundreds lined the streets to see classic trucks on the old Hume Highway.
Murray Langford’s 1923 GMC was one of over 200 classic trucks taking part in the second Crawlin’ the Hume truck run from Melbourne to Albury on April 12.
Complete with its original trailer, the GMC was floated behind Langford’s Kenworth for most of the journey. “We decided it was way too slow to do too many [kilometres] in it on a trip like this,” Langford says. “So we offloaded in the main street of Benalla and we drove to Winton – that’s about 12 km.”
Langford lives in Mt Gambier, South Australia, and bought the GMC and trailer 18 months ago. He went to great expense to ensure the restoration was authentic. “It’s back now as it was from brand new.”
Brian Smith’s Ford TT also dates back to 1923. Smith drove the Ford all the way from Campbellfield to Albury.
Internationals, Whites, Macks, Kenworths, Peterbilts, Bedfords, Thornycrofts, Commers, Dodges, Chevrolets and Diamond Ts were represented. All trucks were at least 25 years old. They traced the old Hume Highway, passing through towns which have long been bypassed.
Hundreds of people lined the streets to see them. Others took the opportunity to see the trucks when they stopped for lunch at Winton Motor Raceway or at the final destination, Albury Racecourse.
Crawlin’ the Hume was organised by Robert French and Roger Marchetti with help from other members of American Truck Historical Society (ATHS). They were relieved to see blue skies on Saturday morning after days of heavy rain. “We just absolutely have not had a hiccup,” says French who drove his Peterbilt along the old Hume. “You couldn’t have dreamed up, or written a script for how this show went.”
For Marchetti the highlight was seeing the smiles on the faces of retired truck drivers who remember the early years of trucking on Highway 31.
Funds raised at a dinner on Saturday night will be donated to Trans-Help Foundation.
See our full pictorial report in the May issue of Owner//Driver magazine, or check out the video here: http://www.ownerdriver.com.au/news/events/1404/video-crawlin%E2%80%99-the-hume-2014/
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Photography: Tamara Whitsed