When it comes to accomplishments, the Germans have a fair bit to brag about. First thing that comes to mind is Oktoberfest – it takes some serious skill to take what started as a wedding reception back in the early 1800s and steadily expand and develop it over the next two hundred years into an annual two-week beer bender that is now celebrated all around the world. Culturally they shine as well, the Germans can claim the rights to such illustrious influencers as Beethoven, Bach and more recently Bernd das Brot!
The last name may be unfamiliar, but if you get the chance, look him up. He is a famous German kid’s puppet, modelled on a piece of burnt toast and sporting inspiring catch phrases like “Ich würde gerne diese Sendung verlassen”, which translates to ‘I would like to leave this show’, “Mist!’ – German for cr#p and, my favourite, from a kid’s TV show character – “Mein Leben ist Hölle”, which means ‘My life is Hell’.
What the Germans are particularly well known for, though, is their automotive engineering and precision skills. The country is home to some of the most elite automobile manufacturers. Think Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and, of course, Mercedes-Benz. You could see where I was heading, obviously. Now the big Benz you see gracing the pages ahead is a far cry from the world’s first internal combustion powered automobile, the one Karl Benz built in Germany back in 1885, and a far cry from the first truck produced a few years later by Gottlied Daimler. But that ingenuity that led to Karl and Gottlieb’s creations has gestated through decades of engineering evolutions and the iteration of automotive ingenuity that you see on the pages before you is as state-of-the-art in our time as those 1880s creations were in their time 140-odd years ago.
While 140-odd years of making machinery is a heck of a record, the big Benz you are seeing in front of you is a flagship vehicle dedicated to one particular model and one particular accomplishment – celebrating 25 years of Mercedes-Benz Actros in Australia. This particular flagship, number 25 of 25 released, has found its way up to Mackay-based CCL Specialised. The team at CCL Specialised already sport several Benz badges among their expanding fleet, but this top of the range Mercedes is the crown jewel in the company’s kennel.
Before we break down the how and why this giant GigaSpace has ended up traversing the tortuous turns of the Bruce Highway up in North Queensland, let’s take a little look at what makes this Mercedes so special. As I alluded to earlier, the Germans are fanatics when it comes to precision engineering and state-of-the-art technology, with Mercedes-Benz being the epitome of those traits. In 1996, Mercedes broke records and turned heads with the release of the now iconic Mercedes-Benz Actros. The launch came exactly 100 years after Gottlieb Daimler unveiled the world’s first truck back in Germany. Side note, that first Gottlied Daimler truck was called the Daimler Motors Lastwagen.
When the Actros range was first released back in 1996, it was a rolling testament to the ingenuity and foresight of the German designers. The first generation Actros featured cutting edge advances like fully automated gear shifting and an electronic braking system. It also introduced the world to the MegaSpace cab with a completely flat floor.
A year after hitting the road, the Actros picked up the International Truck of the Year award. Since then, it has gone on to win the award four more times in 2004, 2009, 2012 and 2020. I should also point out the eActros picked up the award this year, but we’ll just stick to the internal combustion vehicles for now.
In 2018, Mercedes released its fifth generation Actros, featuring gobsmacking new technology like active drive assist. This was the first assistance system for semi-automated driving in full series production. Being a man who still struggles to understand the Netflix algorithms, I can’t go into specifics, but the Germans found a way to assist with longitudinal and lateral guidance of the truck in order to automatically maintain a distance to the vehicle ahead, proving to be a much fancier and smarter version of what we know as adaptive cruise control now, with the added advantage of being able to assist in steering the vehicle under certain conditions. Yes, is it all stuff we expect in our state-of-the-art cars these days, but to have that kind of technology in a truck back in 2018 was phenomenal.
There was also the much talked about electric mirrors. They were debuted on the gen five Actros, as well as state-of-the-art active brake assist five. This was an emergency brake system that could detect people in front of the truck and apply maximum braking.
The other class leading debut on the fifth generation Actros was the shift to a multi-media cockpit. The driver’s gauges were gone and instead you had a full colour digital display in front of the driver and a secondary touchscreen to the side. It was state-of-the-art all the way.
Getting all of this technology and creativity down under took a little longer. The first Actros hit Australian shores in 1998, two years after the European release. The generation five Actros was released in Australia in 2020, bringing with it a lot, but not all the impressive tech that the Europeans had been privileged too.
Jump ahead to the 2023 Brisbane Truck Show and Mercedes unveiled its anniversary edition Actros now featuring all the technology the Germans had perfected, including the electric mirrors. The launch of the updated fifth generation Actros was the unveiling of 25 limited edition big rigs, wrapped around the freshly debuted GigaSpace cab – Mercedes’ biggest package to date.
The limited-edition anniversary Actros was based on the company’s flagship 2663 model. The 2663 sports a Mercedes OM473 engine, a 16-litre six-cylinder beast that puts out a whopping 630hp. Alcoa Dura-Bright rims were standard on the limited edition, as was the light bar with driving lights. Stainless steel steps distinguish the Actros from a standard 2663, as does the large Actros branding on the rear wall and illuminated Mercedes-Benz logo. Grill inserts and dark chrome 2663 badging may make it difficult for photographers like me, but it certainly adds some class to the overall look.
Interior wise, there is a lot that was touched up and plenty of room to do it with seeing as the limited editions all sported the 2663’s huge new GigaSpace cab. The cab, with a height of 2.13m, is big enough for NBA recruits to test out their vertical reach, as well as their wingspan. To personalise the 25th anniversary editions, the GigaSpace came with custom leather seats, leather wrapped steering wheel, a fold away bunk bed, dual draw fridges and, due to the extra height and storage, there was plenty of room for a microwave as well. All standard in the anniversary edition.
The goal of the limited-edition release was to do something special to acknowledge the imprint the Actros has made in Australasia, and the 25th anniversary Actros ticked all the boxes. State-of-the-art technology, class leading safety features, eye watering efficiency and a cosmetic appeal that turns heads instantly. All of those attributes, as well as an already proven track record, led Ben Muscat, the man in the big seat at Mackay’s CCL Specialised, into the sales office of RGM Maintenance when he was looking to expand his burgeoning fleet.
“The background I came from, it really was the Mercedes’ safety features that played a big part in our decision to buy Mercedes,” Ben says.
“Servicing the heavy manufacturing sector, I know how import safety is and Mercedes is up there at the front when it comes to safety, reliability and efficiency.”
I should point out here that Ben isn’t a dyed-in-red transport affiliate. The passion with which he talks about his trucks and his work could give you a false impression, but that enthusiasm has come about only since he got into trucking. The truth is Ben’s a trained accountant and was an operations manager at an engineering outfit before he decided to try out the transport game a few years ago with his old man. His old man, Joe Muscat, had owned a corner store, a cane farm and basically tried everything else before taking a stab at trucking.
“No, I haven’t grown up around trucks,” Ben admits.
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“My dad and I were on the hunt for something different to try and ended up buying Central Coast Logistics. They had about 10 trucks and were basically just working as an agent for several other companies servicing Mackay.”
It didn’t take long for the transport passion to flourish among the father and son duo. When it combined with their local parochialism, things really started to flourish.
“When we bought the business, we could see the potential for scale. We thought we could grow it. It had a wide range of customers and serviced a region that we are passionate about,” he says.
For Ben, the goal was working with local companies and aiming to help them out and be their all-in-one transport company.
“It is a very tight market and can be difficult to make money. For us we’ve focused on providing a service not a rate,” he says.
“We’re not a flash in the pan; we will be around for a long time. To do that, we need to provide a good service and run a good fleet.”
In order to provide that good service, Ben needed a reliable fleet and, as mentioned, that’s where the Benz badge comes into it.
“We bought our first Mercedes in 2020, we actually went looking because we thought we had a contract that ended up falling through, but we got it anyway and it was our first new prime mover. It was just a little 460hp one, really only doing local jobs,” Ben recalls.
While at the time, safety and efficiency were important components, Ben admits that availability was another strong plus for buying the Benz.
“It was mid-COVID, so availability and price were also a factor, as well as the team at RGM Maintenance (the local Mercedes dealer) – they were great to deal with and that really made a difference,” Ben says.
Over the next couple of years, CCL Specialised did see its workload increase and, with the acquisition of a couple of other companies, the CCL fleet had a cornucopia of cross breeds in their stable. But it was the little Mercedes that was setting the bar, so when Ben and Joe started looking at not just a couple more trucks, but also starting to unify the fleet a bit more, it was back to RGM Maintenance the company went.
“After the first one, the 460, we then got a bigger one, a 630hp with a B-double set. We were moving a lot of scaffolding material so needed something bigger,” Ben recalls.
That first 630hp was still the smaller cab version as linehaul work isn’t a major part of the CCL repertoire.
“Then we ordered two more Mercs in 2022, we were replacing a few of the trucks we’d acquired with other companies, so we got a 530hp and another 630hp,” he says.
Midway through 2023, CCL found one of its customers was looking for a bit more assistance with some linehaul work, mainly doing shuttle runs between Mackay and Townsville. The opportunity arose around the same time as an opportunity to purchase one of the last remaining anniversary Mercs.
“It was just the right timing, there were two of the anniversary models left, a grey one and a white one. The white one suited our fleet look and with my birthday being the 25th, and it being number 25, we chose the white one,” Ben says with a touch of humour.
“It was our fifth Mercedes, and we’d been promised a trip to Germany to see the factory with our fifth one, but we’re still waiting on that.”
While the anniversary models came with a lot of bells and whistles already, the CCL team had their own list for the truck in order to take its place in the burgeoning fleet.
“Most of our trucks end up on mine sites and in pretty rough areas so we don’t add a lot of stainless. We get the Hammertone bullbar, Hammertone visor and painted tanks for protection,” Ben says.
“With the anniversary edition we also got a special gantry made up on the back. We’d had issues with the Icepacks copping a hiding at the back of the truck out on the rough roads, so we moved it up behind the cab and that also let us add a couple of extra toolboxes.”
Although most of Ben’s drivers are home more than they are away, he still ensures the trucks are kitted out to enable a comfortable sleep if they do end up doing the odd night away.
“You can’t work up this end without an Icepack or something. Sometimes the guys will be away a night of two and it’s too hot without that,” he says.
The task of fitting all the extras, customising the bar and visor, customising the LEDs and everything else all fell to the team at RGM Maintenance up in Townsville.
“Brent Griffin up in Townsville has been great, we get well looked after by Jake and the team down here in Mackay, but it was Townsville that put the truck together for us up there. It took a while but it came out great,” Ben attests.
The anniversary model makes up a five-strong Merc fleet now for Ben and, working among some of the most extreme conditions, they are really putting them to the test – tests that the Mercs are happily holding up to.
“Our first one is just now getting to the point where we really see how they hold up, it’s four years and nearly 500,000kms but it is still going strong. We may move it down to a less heavy role, but it’s doing well,” Ben says.
“The drivers love them too, the driver in the anniversary model has had Mercs before, as well as plenty of other trucks and he really loves this one. Especially on the highway up here, it’s not the smoothest road and the Mercedes is extremely comfortable.”
As CCL Specialised continues to grow and solidify its spot among the North Queensland locals, Ben states his goal is to move away from the lolly scramble fleet that comes with acquisitions and move towards a double manufacturer fleet. The performance of the Mercedes units, coupled with the efficiency and reliability the team are seeing, ensures the Benz badge will be a longtime flag bearer for the local Mackay team.
Fingers crossed if he gets that trip to see his next one built, he’ll need a photographer along the way.
On a final note, seriously don’t forget to look up Bernd das Brot. The Germans are serious about their trucks, not so much their kids shows.
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