Please excuse me for getting a little bit deep and meaningful with my introduction to this year’s Kenworth Klassic write-up. Those who have been to the Kenworth Klassic will be able to relate to my description and, for those who haven’t, I hope I can paint a calming blissful picture that will inspire you to make the pilgrimage next year. The Kenworth Klassic is not a truck show, per say, it is a gathering, an occasion, a celebration, I’d even go as far as to say it is a rite of passage, although I think the perfect word would actually be a festivity. By definition, a festivity is ‘the celebration of something in a joyful and exuberant way’ and that is exactly what goes on for an entire weekend in the small Sydney suburb of Clarendon every September since 2016.
Here is the deep and meaningful part I warned you about. I have been to several of these festivities and therefore I feel I can attest to this with plenty of experience. There is just something about the Kenworth Klassic, something almost sedative and soothing. The moment you walk through the gates of the Clarendon showgrounds you feel all your daily stresses and anxieties get washed off your shoulders. There is a sense of relaxation, a sense of comradery, a sense of exultation, all mixed in with the aroma of barbeques, dagwood dogs and diesel. You are surrounded by hundreds of stunning looking Kenworths, hundreds of well lubricated Kenworth fans and thousands of bottles of tyre shine. It is an event where every Kenworth aficionado gets to show off their truck, but it is by no means a truck show. In that technicality lies the source of the relaxed aura that encompasses the entire weekend.
While the Kenworth Klassic is pretty much an ingrained institution among the transport industry, I will refresh the memories of those wondering what it is all about. It began back in 2016 as an add-on to the Clarendon Classic Rally, a local community event that sees an array of historic machinery filling up the Clarendon showgrounds, from classic truck to classic car, historic tractors to historic lawnmowers. The Clarendon Classic rally is an institution in the local area and the only place you get to enjoy watching old school tractor pulls before restocking your workshop with antiquated tools while trying to consume a soft serve ice cream before it melts all over your hand and creates that god awful sticky finger conundrum.
In 2016, Kenworth guru Dave Chapman and fellow KW devotee Bruce Gunter approached the Clarendon committee with a proposal to utilise part of the showgrounds for a Kenworth catchup. The event was meant to be a small gathering that would piggy-back off the success of the yearly local show. While the two men will claim they never anticipated the rousing interest in the show, Kenworth is a brand that doesn’t tend to do things on a small scale. The first show drew in a couple of hundred passionate partisans, all keen to experience a non-truck show truck show. By last year, the number had more than doubled to 500. This year saw the Kenworth Klassic crew prepped for 700 trucks, which wasn’t enough. They still had to make up another 22 entrant packs to ensure every Kenworth entering received their official merchandise bag. That’s an official total of 722 Kenworths for the 2024 Kenworth Klassic.
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The success of the Kenworth Klassic has in large part been chalked up to the atmosphere it creates. It is a festivity that allows every Kenworth lover, be they six or 60 years old, the opportunity to mix and mingle. It is a weekend where fans of the badge get to just hang out and chew the fat. In its inaugural event back in 2016, the decision was made to make this event a show for trucks, but not a truck show. There is no judging, no prizes, no expectations. There are folks rocking up in brand new T909s with more shine than the Chicago Bean parking next to semi-restored classics that have just had the cobwebs wiped off the mirrors. There is the most state-of-the-art trucks Kenworth has on the market lined up next to vehicles that ruled our roads before aircon and indicators were factory fitted. Even though it is solely a Kenworth community event, there is a huge variety of trucks and people to interact with. It is all about the company rather than the content.
The other feature of this festivity is that it is a full-on weekend event. Trucks start rolling in on the Friday morning before the show starts and there were some still popping in on the Sunday morning. In fact, this year it was just one in Warren Ahern, who had just finished a run down from Brisbane. He rocked up with a beautifully rebuilt W-model that got tongues wagging and cameras clicking, so he can be forgiven for the late entrance. It is a weekend event though, with drinks and laughs spreading between the polishing and the nightly light shows. While there are plenty of beers consumed over the weekend, it is still marketed as a family friendly festivity and there were plenty of the next generation of truck lovers getting indoctrinated into the best side of our industry. When the little ones did get tired of all the chrome and tall talk, they could just wander over to the Clarendon Classic which was well equipped with kids’ entertainment and free flowing sugar rushes, a perfect combination in order to keep the whole family entertained.
As much as I have reiterated the ‘not a truck show’ mantra that leads the atmosphere of this event, there is actually a little bit of officialness around the event. Only one award gets formally presented each year in the Dane Ballinger Memorial Award, which this year went to Adam Twyford. However, Bruce and Chappo have their own Excellence Awards. These aren’t judged, they are just people that Bruce and Chappo choose to acknowledge, be it for their dedication to the brand or for a restoration project or their current Kenworth ride. This year those acknowledged were John Johnston, who travelled down from Dalby in his original SAR Gold Nugget that he has owned for 30 years and still works, Scott Clarke, a young owner driver building himself a tidy little fleet of customised Kenworths, Craig Eagan from Just In Time Transport for his outstanding CAT powered W-model, and another icon of the Kenworth scene in the legendary Kelly Durkin, who was on hand with his outstanding SAR. The last two awards went to Carters Transport, a company fully entrenched in the Kenworth badge, and Schaeffer Transport. Trent Schaeffer had a couple of his stunning Kenworths there, with his new K200 being a target for every truck spotter at the show.
I’ll wrap this up with a very simple statement. You have to see the Kenworth Klassic. There are no maybes about it – the volume of vehicles, the quality of Kenworths and the cacophony of characters on hand make this an event that needs to be experienced. So heed my words, and ensure the Kenworth Klassic 2025 is on your calendar for next year.
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