Eastoe’s Transport won’t be forgotten, thanks to a replica rig under restoration.
Allan Prowse of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, is restoring a Kenworth and refrigerated van as a replica of an Eastoe’s Transport rig.
His 1966 Seattle Kenworth K123 is at Royan Truck and Trailer Repairs, Wagga Wagga, and will soon be moved to Wodonga, Victoria, where Gordon ‘Crackers’ McCracken will line and scroll it in Eastoe’s style.
Crackers has already sign-written the trailer.
Allan, 75, drives for Farey Transport. He found the K123 advertised in a magazine. “I’d been looking for a truck for a while, and it was reasonably priced, and because of its vintage — it’s a 1966 model — I jumped in pretty quickly and told the fellow that I wanted to buy it. I was lucky enough to get it.”
The K123 was originally ordered by Eastoe’s Transport but the company never took delivery of the truck. “Because of the tie with Eastoe’s, I wanted to do it in their colours,” Allan says.
“When I was a young fellow in the bush, Eastoe’s were running around with their big trucks and stood out really well. You admired them when you saw them.”
The fridge van dates back to 1980 and is cooled by a Thermo King in good working order.
“For 38 years old it’s in really good condition. It’s not on airbags – it’s got spring suspension. And it hasn’t got aluminium wheels – it’s got spider wheels. Old school.”
Former Eastoe’s driver Peter ‘Lizard’ Williams of Wangaratta, Victoria, can’t wait to see Allan’s restored Kenworth and fridge van. Lizard started with Eastoe’s in the early 1970s.
He remembers how good it felt to park an impressive Eastoe’s rig in front of a roadhouse and step out of the truck in the company’s smart green uniform. “And because we reckoned we were kings of the road, we used to wear polished slip-ons.”
He was proud to have ‘The Specialists’ written on the Eastoe’s trailers.
Read the full story in the September 2018 issue of Owner//Driver.