Deals on Wheels #464

DEALS Resto
years earning it’s keep on the family farm
before being sold to another gentleman just
a few hundred kilometres down the road.
Which is where George would eventually
find it just a few years ago, when he was on
the hunt for something to cart his restored
tractors around.
SECOND COMING
A little history on George first; George is one
of those guys that everyone would love to
have as a grandad. Because there isn’t a damn
thing that George couldn’t fix. Honestly, I’m
thinking they may have based the ‘Macgyver’
TV show on him.
He grew up on a banana farm but left home
early to go working in sawmills. He got into
trucks well before he was licensed to do so,
driving Diamond Ts and old White tippers
on the Clybucca flood mitigation. When he
was close to 18 he did get his license and
next thing you know he’s living in Wagga
Wagga managing a fleet of trucks, as well as
the drivers and still getting behind the wheel
himself. He’s spent time as an owner-driver as
well, covering a lot of the east coast in his own
1418 Merc.
George even got into the modification game
early when he purchased his second 1418 and
proceeded to mount a Cummins sleeper box
to it. Apparently the old ‘board between the
seats’ trick just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
Throughout his years George took a
very hands-on approach to everything. In
between sourcing loads and customers
when he was a paid driver, he read countless
mechanical books and manuals, which
enabled him to repair, maintain and rebuild
numerous machines. When the time on the
road started to take its toll he shifted into
the earthmoving arena, dealing with land
clearing and logging, which spawned his real
passion: tractors.
It was this passion that would lead George
to the Mack. The work George was doing
repairing, restoring and servicing his own
equipment soon built him a reputation. His
skills saw him taking on restoration and
repair work for other tractor fans. Ironically
I’m sure he also would have rebuilt many a
tractor fan.
Sorry, I digress. It got to the point where
George had a full workshop at home where
he could rebuild and restore most parts of
a tractor just a few steps from his back door.
Whilst his services were sought Australiawide,
he was still managing to resto his own
for an impressive personal collection. The
issue now was how to get his tractors out to all
the shows. Enter the F-model.
“To put two tractors on a truck I needed
a bogie drive,” George admits, adding in
cheekily “putting 10 tonne on a single axle is
not real good, they don’t tend to like that.”
So, he went on the hunt for a flattop. He
wanted an F-model Mack as he’d spent
some time in one many years ago and loved
it. Finding one wasn’t easy. Eventually he
found this one on Facebook of all places.
He drove the 1,000km up to Miriam Vale in
Queensland to check it out and after being
assured there’s no issue with it, he snapped it
up and headed back down south.
The maiden journey lasted less than
100km. She was boiling her head off. George
and his mate Mal, who’d travelled with him,
Once it got back down
south George pulled it all
apart and repainting began
George’s biggest challenge
was pulling apart and
rebuilding the legendary
Mack quad box
The old engine had more
than paid its dues by the
time it got to George
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