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Kenworth Grey Ghost driver receives Hall of Fame recognition

Terry Baker drove the first Australian-made Kenworth and plans to visit it when he is inducted to the National Road Transport Hall of Fame.

 

He was King of the Road. She was a Tupperware Queen. And on July 17 Terry and Barb Baker of Lavington, New South Wales, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows.

Terry drove trucks for 48 years before the owner-driver retired last year aged 69.

He says Barterra Transport Lavington couldn’t have operated without his wife.

“Barb was the boss, doing the books and running the business. I was the loose nut behind the wheel, out working and doing all the maintenance on the weekend,” Terry says.

Throughout his 34 years as an owner-driver Terry only pulled trailers for Comet and other TNT divisions.

As a young teenager Terry learned to drive his father’s 1949 Commer farm truck around the Culcairn district NSW in the 1960s.

He met and married Barb in Cairns, Queensland. They returned to NSW soon after and still live in the Lavington home they bought back in 1966.

Terry carted livestock for Murray Brothers for four years in the late 1960s. This was a challenging time for Barb who was left at home with a young family. There was no telephone at the house and days would pass without hearing from her husband.

In March 1971 Terry was employed by Comet Overnight Express. On his first night with Comet he was told to drive a K125CR Grey Ghost from Albury to Sydney.

The K125CR was the first truck produced at Kenworth’s Bayswater factory, and this was its maiden voyage.

The famous truck is on display at the National Road Transport Hall of Fame and Terry looks forward to visiting the Grey Ghost while he is in Alice Springs for the Hall of Fame Reunion from August 25 to 31.

Terry will be among 270 men and women inducted to the Wall of Fame during the reunion.

Read more about Terry’s trucking career in the August issue of Owner//Driver magazine.

 

Terry Baker drove the first Australian-made Kenworth and plans to visit it when he is inducted to the National Road…

Posted by Owner Driver on Sunday, 2 August 2015

 

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