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The little Inter that could

Taylor Bros Interstate had one special truck they could always rely on...

Back in May of ’72, brothers Jeff and Jack Taylor bought an International D1950 – a truck that the Taylor family has held onto ever since.

Taylor Bros Interstate Transport kicked things off in 1960 and ran right up until 1999, putting the little Inter to work for most of that period.

Now owned by the Son of Jeff, Brian Taylor, the classic example still has the same bottom end and gearbox it drove off the factory line with…albeit with the wear and tear of 464,000 miles.

With a 160hp 464 cubic inch Cummins, this wasn’t as powerful as petrol equivalents but it was far more reliable, and Brian says his father and uncle were stoked with their purchase.

“It was the first Taylor Bros Cummins-powered truck, all the rest were Perkins powered and made a lot less power,” Brian said.

“The gearbox is a Fuller T401 five speed and it has a two speed Eaton diff.

“It only has a 12 tonne payload, but that was more than enough back then.

“They were really happy with it.”

Mind you, Brian says in ’72 the truck cost just $12,400 – not bad considering how much use the Taylors got out of it!

Back in 1985 Brian got his license straight out of school and began driving the Inter, carting loads out of Riverina.

When the Taylor brothers retired and closed up shop in ’99, the truck was used to do some grain harvest work for the next four years.

After that the truck was parked up in the shed from ’03 to ’09, when Brian decided to get it back on the road and club register it.

“I inherited it off my old man in ’09 and it’s been getting around the classic truck scene ever since.

“It stills going strong, I’m about to do my sixth Haulin’ the Hume.

“It’s never let me down, so I plan on leaving it original and authentic.”

Brian owned a Kenworth T900, Kenworth K100, and Freightliner over 19 years as an owner-driver but sold them up not long ago and started driving for Burkinshaws Transport, a third generation operation based out of Wagga.

The experienced truckie, with 33 years under his belt, is lucky enough to now steer an immaculate single-trailer Kenworth T909 packing a hefty 600hp.

Keep on truckin’ Brian, we look forward to seeing  your Inter at Haulin’ the Hume!

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