Deals on Wheels #464
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DEALS Resto<br />
years earning it’s keep <strong>on</strong> the family farm<br />
before being sold to another gentleman just<br />
a few hundred kilometres down the road.<br />
Which is where George would eventually<br />
find it just a few years ago, when he was <strong>on</strong><br />
the hunt for something to cart his restored<br />
tractors around.<br />
SECOND COMING<br />
A little history <strong>on</strong> George first; George is <strong>on</strong>e<br />
of those guys that every<strong>on</strong>e would love to<br />
have as a grandad. Because there isn’t a damn<br />
thing that George couldn’t fix. H<strong>on</strong>estly, I’m<br />
thinking they may have based the ‘Macgyver’<br />
TV show <strong>on</strong> him.<br />
He grew up <strong>on</strong> a banana farm but left home<br />
early to go working in sawmills. He got into<br />
trucks well before he was licensed to do so,<br />
driving Diam<strong>on</strong>d Ts and old White tippers<br />
<strong>on</strong> the Clybucca flood mitigati<strong>on</strong>. When he<br />
was close to 18 he did get his license and<br />
next thing you know he’s living in Wagga<br />
Wagga managing a fleet of trucks, as well as<br />
the drivers and still getting behind the wheel<br />
himself. He’s spent time as an owner-driver as<br />
well, covering a lot of the east coast in his own<br />
1418 Merc.<br />
George even got into the modificati<strong>on</strong> game<br />
early when he purchased his sec<strong>on</strong>d 1418 and<br />
proceeded to mount a Cummins sleeper box<br />
to it. Apparently the old ‘board between the<br />
seats’ trick just wasn’t cutting it anymore.<br />
Throughout his years George took a<br />
very hands-<strong>on</strong> approach to everything. In<br />
between sourcing loads and customers<br />
when he was a paid driver, he read countless<br />
mechanical books and manuals, which<br />
enabled him to repair, maintain and rebuild<br />
numerous machines. When the time <strong>on</strong> the<br />
road started to take its toll he shifted into<br />
the earthmoving arena, dealing with land<br />
clearing and logging, which spawned his real<br />
passi<strong>on</strong>: tractors.<br />
It was this passi<strong>on</strong> that would lead George<br />
to the Mack. The work George was doing<br />
repairing, restoring and servicing his own<br />
equipment so<strong>on</strong> built him a reputati<strong>on</strong>. His<br />
skills saw him taking <strong>on</strong> restorati<strong>on</strong> and<br />
repair work for other tractor fans. Ir<strong>on</strong>ically<br />
I’m sure he also would have rebuilt many a<br />
tractor fan.<br />
Sorry, I digress. It got to the point where<br />
George had a full workshop at home where<br />
he could rebuild and restore most parts of<br />
a tractor just a few steps from his back door.<br />
Whilst his services were sought Australiawide,<br />
he was still managing to resto his own<br />
for an impressive pers<strong>on</strong>al collecti<strong>on</strong>. The<br />
issue now was how to get his tractors out to all<br />
the shows. Enter the F-model.<br />
“To put two tractors <strong>on</strong> a truck I needed<br />
a bogie drive,” George admits, adding in<br />
cheekily “putting 10 t<strong>on</strong>ne <strong>on</strong> a single axle is<br />
not real good, they d<strong>on</strong>’t tend to like that.”<br />
So, he went <strong>on</strong> the hunt for a flattop. He<br />
wanted an F-model Mack as he’d spent<br />
some time in <strong>on</strong>e many years ago and loved<br />
it. Finding <strong>on</strong>e wasn’t easy. Eventually he<br />
found this <strong>on</strong>e <strong>on</strong> Facebook of all places.<br />
He drove the 1,000km up to Miriam Vale in<br />
Queensland to check it out and after being<br />
assured there’s no issue with it, he snapped it<br />
up and headed back down south.<br />
The maiden journey lasted less than<br />
100km. She was boiling her head off. George<br />
and his mate Mal, who’d travelled with him,<br />
Once it got back down<br />
south George pulled it all<br />
apart and repainting began<br />
George’s biggest challenge<br />
was pulling apart and<br />
rebuilding the legendary<br />
Mack quad box<br />
The old engine had more<br />
than paid its dues by the<br />
time it got to George<br />
105