One of the great things about trucking is how easy it is to slip into the ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’ – that affliction where you kind of forget how old you are. It enables us to rock out like Australian Idol entrants to every song on the radio. It encourages us to spend the little time we have off, polishing every part of our pride and joy and it allows us to stretch our days out well beyond the average office worker.
Snapping out of that syndrome can be as easy as jumping off a sidestep and feeling it in every bone and joint for the next three days, or attempting to read the delivery address on your manifest without reaching for your glasses. Or in my case recently, sitting down to interview a young owner operator and realising my responses to his approach and attitude is more of a proud parent than an understanding equal. It is not always fun being reminded that you are not as young as you think you are, unless of course that feeling is inspired by a sense of admiration for the next generation of truckie. The man responsible for this little internal introspective session I had is Doug Sizer, owner of DTS Haulage, a small family company originating from Millmerran, Queensland.
While he has the name of a much more senior player, Doug most likely has no idea how to load a cassette player, nor has he smacked a TV to improve the rabbit ear reception. Being born in 1994, he has never even experienced life without text messages or a Sony PlayStation. What he does have though is an incredible family that has taught him skills, a formidable attitude and an envious work ethic, all of which has led to him being able to purchase and rebuild this incredible Kenworth T950. So where do we start – the truck or the owner? Why am I asking you? I’m the one writing this. The owner it is.
While I did reference Doug’s age in relation to the life cycle of the Sony PlayStation, the truth is right from day dot being stuck inside playing video games was never an option for young Doug.
“I never sat inside, never played video games, I just loved being outside,” he admits.
That outside life was enabled by both Doug’s mother and father who ran a menagerie of machinery, from fertiliser plants to trucks of all sizes, as well as Doug’s uncle Greg who, along with a collection of trucks, also ran and taught Doug how to operate a variety of earthmoving equipment.
“We were a really close family, Uncle Greg was like second to me old man, we spent so much time together,” Doug recalls.
“From about 12 or 13, we’d be out there with him when we could drive the scrapers and stuff.”
Before you go ’12,13 – why the late start?’, hold your horses folks. Let me transcribe another tale straight from the work horse’s mouth.
“I remember when I was a kid, Mum had a fertiliser business, she had about three silos at home and there would be trucks there up to about 10 or 11 at night tipping onto augers. One night when I was about 10, Mum came and woke me up so I could go and back this B-double onto the auger for a guy who couldn’t back a B-double,” Doug laughs.
“I don’t remember how long it took me, but I got it on there, then went back to bed ready for school the next day.”
Trucking, working and learning have been part of Doug’s DNA since he was old enough to lace up the work boots.
“I would annoy the s**t out of Dad with all the questions I would ask – why this, why that, can I drive? I learnt a lot from Dad, he was only 21 years old when he bought his first truck and he had to learn it all for himself, as Grandad didn’t have trucks. So, Dad has made sure I learn things for myself as well.”
However, not all of his lessons have been advantageous. Sometimes learning to do things the old school ways have their disadvantages and again, I shall let Doug confess this story – bear in mind that Doug grew up in the small town of Millmerran, so small town rules apply.
“When I went to get my HR licence, I used a mate’s 4800 Western Star tipper, but I never learnt how to change gears with a clutch in a truck. I’d been taught how to listen to the engine, feel it, don’t grind it, just slot it in smoothly,” he says.
“So I’ve gone for the test and Dad says what are you gonna do? I said I didn’t know. Anyway, I drove the truck into town. When the instructor got in, we drove around and I just made the motion with my leg like I was using the clutch. He said to me ‘you’re not using the clutch!’ – I told him honestly that I didn’t know how to, that I’d never learnt to.”
Now spare a thought for the poor instructor. He could see this kid knew how to drive, but by law he admitted to Doug that he was going to have to fail him.
“He said he had to fail me, but he would spend some time teaching me. So, the rest of the drive he showed me, and I just started using the clutch. We drove around a heap more, he kept saying to me ‘see, isn’t it easier?’, ‘it’s better on the gear’ and ‘it’s better for fuel economy’ and I was just agreeing with him, telling him I could see why you do stuff like that,” Doug recalls.
By the time they got back to the police station, the instructor was so impressed he agreed to grant him the licence on the condition Doug would attest that he would keep his left foot busy in the cab from then on. I am pretty sure the instructor believed Doug and was happy with his decision, right up until the point where he was waving Doug goodbye and thought to ask him where the person was that drove him down there. Doug gave him the smilingly honest reply that he drove it down himself.
One of the best things about country folk is the tales they tell – I’d happily let Doug share more, but we do have this story to tell. Ok, let’s just tell one more. Another licence story, purely because I reckon many of us could relate.
“I got an early exemption to get my MC and did that through a driving school in Ipswich,” Doug tells.
“I had to help the instructor out unhooking airlines and stuff and then when we did the driving test, he’s directed us down this kind of cul de sac and he’s panicked, telling us we’ve gone down the wrong street. I said it’s all good and I backed it back out and around the corner. He rang the office and just told them we’re coming back, sign this bloke off, he doesn’t need to be here.”
As I said, there are plenty of other tales we could crack a beer for, but I will try and get back on task with Doug’s trajectory. Working, driving and learning has been Doug’s life since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Whereas most of us had Matchbox and Tonka toys to spur on our passion, Doug grew up around the 1:1 scale variety – scrapers, diggers, stock trucks, general freight trucks – he had access and experience with them all.
Driving was always the first option. However, like a lot of offspring of truckers, Doug was instructed to gain a trade before he followed his fancy. He chose the auto electrician arena and was soon picking up the tools at Rocklea Truck Electrical.
“I did my first couple of years working for Kim and Brock at RTE and loved it, and now I get a lot of my trucks fitted out by them,” Doug says with a grin.
“The only thing was I’m not a city boy, so I hated Brisbane. I loved working at RTE but I hated Brisbane.”
After the first two years of his apprenticeship, Doug found himself chasing the country life again and took a job with Ostwald Brothers in Dalby.
Finishing his apprenticeship out west meant Doug gathered plenty of experience working on all manner of machinery, not just trucks. Once he was fully signed off as an auto electrician, Doug spent two more years behind the tools, but his heart was still behind the wheel. It was the role that occupied any spare time Doug had, and it was the role he wanted to get into.
“Dad knew all I wanted to do was go driving, he said he had a truck there for me, so I went working for him for about two and a half years,” Doug says, adding that there was no nepotism shown. In fact, it was pretty much the opposite.
“I got most of the s**t – I was the boss’ son, but he also said this is how you learn, by doing the s**t work.”
As cliché as it sounds, it was character building and, if anything, it further flamed Doug’s passion for trucking.
There was a slight deviation in Doug’s trucking career when he handed in the keys in order to spend a bit more time at home rather than on the road. It was a three year hiatus where he started his own auto electrical business and was pretty happy and successful at it. But we all know it is never easy to ditch the diesel dream and, while Doug was rewiring, repowering and lighting up the world, he had a call from his father.
“Dad had always had his eye on a V8 Mack Valueliner of Dave Morgan’s up in Townsville and when Dave decided to sell it he rang the old man,” Doug recalls.
“Dad asked what I thought, because the engine was stuffed and it had been parked up. I asked if I could go halves in it and we ended up buying it.”
That was technically Doug’s first truck – a Mack older than he was. It needed a lot of work, so Doug and his dad did a fair bit themselves. They got the maestro of Mack motors, Dean Conway of DC Mechanical, out and he gave the Valueliner’s heart a full makeover, and soon enough the old dog was all cleaned up and prepared to work. Doug took some time away from his contract auto electrical work and did a few weeks of the 2020 harvest with the old girl.
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That was the turning point – a sharper turning point than the old Valueliner, that’s for sure.
“I loved it and decided I wanted to have my own truck and eventually get into carting grain,” Doug says.
“Dad sat me down and went through all the pros and cons and the realities of owning a truck.”
That reality check, the acknowledgment of the sacrifices that would be needed, didn’t scare Doug. In fact, like the work he got as a wages driver, it solidified his resolve.
The only sacrifice Doug struggled with was realising he’d need to sell his half of the Valueliner to get off the ground.
“Mum and Dad were great but Dad also made it clear if I wanted to do it I would need to stand on my own two feet, like he had had to do,” Doug states.
“I had some savings behind me but needed more – it wasn’t just the buying the truck, I needed cashflow to keep the truck moving.”
His first truck was a V8 Mack. His childhood had been spent around Western Stars, but it was actually a Kenworth T659 courtesy of the King of Creations himself, Jon Kelly, that kicked off DTS Haulage. The reason for the switch to Kenworth was pretty simple – one of Doug’s good mates ran a long wheelbase T659, with near identical features to the truck Doug was looking at and that truck was a dream to drive, so it would be a great starter for Doug.
While that first purchase from Jon Kelly ties Doug to the Kenworth badge and would eventually lead to this stunning T950 before you, Jon plays a more pivotal role in the importance of this 950 than simply the badge. Jon was the one who stumped Doug with the question of ‘have you thought about a name for the truck?’.
“I’d never really thought about it,” Doug says.
“Jon asked if I had any favourite artists or bands or anything and immediately I went with my favourite artist, Jason Aldean. So, the first truck got named The Only Way I Know.”
Once Jon had gotten the T659 repainted, it was silver and green – and green was just not Doug’s colour – he put the big girl to work.
“I was subbing to Mum and Dad, pulling their trailers. I was doing general freight all over the country,” Doug says.
“I really didn’t like general freight.”
His heart was always in the country and getting into the grain scene was the motivation for Doug. By 2021 he was able to order his first A-double set of grain tippers and ventured into the line of work that he really loved.
“I loved the grain side of things, loved working with the farmers and doing all that kind of thing,” he says.
Things progressed well for DTS Haulage – in 2022 Doug was able to order his first ever brand-new truck. Straight out of Bayswater came a new T909 named ‘My Kind of Party’ – another Jason Aldean song. By this stage, Doug had already had a driver in his original 659 and Doug was back helping his dad run his trucks up in Townsville. Once he picked up the new T909 though, he ventured back down to the Toowoomba area and got behind the wheel again.
The goal for Doug was never to run a massive fleet – it was all about a couple of cool trucks, providing a solid service to the growers and farmers in his local region. Over the next couple of years he added a couple more trucks, but that was more out of necessity by his customers than a desire to build an empire. Then in late 2024, Facebook Marketplace stuck its nose in and changed things.
“I was doing harvest in the new 659 I had bought and was on Facebook when this thing came up,” Doug admits with a dose of guilty pleasure.
“I instantly fell in love with it. It was my dream truck. A 950, six-metre wheelbase, C15, this thing was cool.”
The truck had been a single operator its entire life. Run by Phil Whittam under the WRT banner, the big rig had been a very fast truck in its day.
“I spoke to Phil a lot and he gave me the full rundown. The truck had six million kilometres on the chassis. They used to do three Sydney-Adelaide runs a week with it, so 9,000 kilometres a week,” Doug says as he smiles while recalling the day in late 2024 that he flew down to Adelaide and picked it up.
“I was like a kid in a candy store, I remember thinking how am I, at 30 years old, driving home in one of the rarest T950s in the country?”
Oh, that’s the other thing. It is not just a standard T950. It comes fully equipped with a limited-edition badge. Now exactly why I am still trying to find out, but as Doug tells it, he’s also not sure.
“Phil was a bit vague about it. Apparently, there were only 10 made like this and it might have something to do the C15, the wheelbase and the tank set up, but I’m not sure,” he says.
I do have a few Kenworth gurus investigating, but if this paragraph makes it to print then obviously I’ve had no success tracking down more information. Once Doug got it home, it needed the DTS overhaul.
“I wanted to show respect to Phil when I repainted it. I changed it to my colours but the stripes on it are still Phil’s – silver and blue rather than his red and white.”
The paint job was done by Gavin and his team at Spray King Restorations in Allora – a small country town close enough to Doug that he could, and did, frequently call in for consultations. Once that was done, it was sent down to Brock and Kim at Rocklea Truck Electrical for a shiny side spruce up. All new steps around the truck, exhaust shrouds, road train guards, taillight bar, walk plates, the dovetail, lights, all the stainless – the list wasn’t quite endless as Doug was adamant he wasn’t building a show truck. This thing was built to work, but by God it would look good doing it. The attention to detail however, is exactly what you expect from a RTE project. Look closely at the steps, the grooves are all painted to match the painted fuel tanks.
Anyone with an appreciative eye will recognise the steady hand of Damo from MasterArt in the lines and scroll work that adjourns the big 950 and credit for the back wall falls at the brush of Damian Gormley from Zealous Airbrush Studio, Damo’s go-to artist.
“I’ve never had any artwork on my trucks, but a couple of years ago when Jason was on his Highway Desperado Tour, that image was the one they used for his tour photo,” Doug says.
“I thought that would be so cool to put on the back of a truck. When I bought this thing, this was my special truck, so I thought ‘bugger it’, I’ll put a mural on it.”
Fixing up the interior like the bunk air, fridge, microwave – all the essentials for a harvest season away from home – were completed by the team at Pittsworth Fleet Maintenance in Pittsworth, but that came about a few months after the cosmetic overhaul.
“I had to put it to work for a bit before I got to do the inside, everything cost money,” Doug laughs.
“But I made sure I did the inside before the next harvest started.”
If we excuse the dropped liner and fuel blockage issues that haunted Doug when he first got the truck, his dream ride really is his dream ride. With five trucks on the road now, life is a lot busier, but he is still the only pilot of his big T950 and he couldn’t ask for anything more from it. Or could he?
“When I heard Jason Aldean was preforming at the Sunburnt Country Festival in Toowoomba, I went big on social media trying to get him to sign the truck for me,” Doug says.
It turns out going viral on social media isn’t that easy. In the end, like his T950, Doug went old school, parking the truck up outside the performer’s entrance to the show (in a two minute park, mind you). He explained to the security guard about the truck and that he wanted Jason to sign it, the guard said if he saw him, he would let him know and see what happens.
No sooner had Doug gotten changed, grabbed a beer and settled in to enjoy the show, he got a call from the security guard. Doug did his best impression of Usain Bolt with Bali Belly heading for a Portaloo and arrived minutes later to find his idol Jason Aldean looking on in awe at Doug’s rig.
“He was such a great guy, we spoke for ages. He asked all about the truck and said he has seen heaps of trucks but none as cool as this one,” Doug recalls with pride.
“I was very star-struck, but he was so cool. His minders kept pointing to the time, but he just hung around and chatted.:
And yes, Doug did get his pride and joy signed by the man himself. And that is how you end a story. You can’t ask for more than that.
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