Owner/Driver #339

that sits behind the Kenworth when it undertakes
its weekly runs, predominantly between
Melbourne and Adelaide. In a quirky turn of fate,
the day I rocked up to deliver the good news to
the family it was bang on three years since Peppi
picked the truck up.
Over those three years he has racked up over
300,000 kilometres and, if anything, the truck is
almost looking better than new. That is our segue
into introducing the young man who is really
responsible for not just the state of the truck, but
for the fact we were able to photograph it and
get the whole story behind it as well – Jeremy
Inverno.
Jeremy spends all his spare time cleaning the
G&D fleet, specifically the 900 Legend. That’s not
to exclude Jeremy’s younger brother Chris who
helps out as well. However, Jeremy has been the
driving force behind all this.
Window pain
We shall just take a little detour here to include
a little story that Jeremy’s mum Danielle told
me while I was in town. The story explains
how Jeremy got into cleaning trucks because it
was never something he particularly enjoyed
doing. Truth be told, he started because he was
shockingly bad at AFL.
“Jeremy and Chris were out the front of the
house kicking the ball around,” Danielle explains.
“I warned them to be careful, then Jeremy
kicked it to Chris and it’s gone straight through
the front window.
“Jeremy was told he’d have to clean the trucks to
pay them back for the window.”
It’s worth noting here that Jeremy is adamant it
was Chris’s bad hands, not his wonky kick that led
to the broken window. Either way, Jeremy took to
cleaning quickly with a skill level far exceeding
his AFL abilities. He soon repaid his parents for
the window but remained dedicated to cleaning
after school and on weekends.
His passion for trucks and his work ethic saw
him garner a prized apprenticeship at Hallam
Truck Centre in Melbourne at the start of this year
– a highly sought-after opportunity. Even this
didn’t stop his desire to look after the company
fleet though.
Such was his pride in the trucks that when the
family was approached for a story, it was Jeremy
that pushed his publicity-shy dad into running
with it.
“We were just overwhelmed when the truck got
picked for Truck of the Month [last July],” Danielle
exclaims, going onto to say it was a real honour
considering the standard of trucks throughout
Australia.
Pristine condition
It really was a pleasure when I was able to tell the
family that their truck had been voted the 2020
Valvoline Owner//Driver Truck of the Year. At some
stage throughout the afternoon I think I heard
exactly the same line from everyone – Peppi,
Danielle and Jeremy. “I just can’t believe it; I never
thought ours would win.”
Well it did, and it is well deserved. Even on a
random Saturday in early March when I rocked
up, the 900 was in pristine condition. Apparently,
as is usually the case, Jeremy had already been
out washing and polishing after work, getting
the truck ready for his dad to head out again on
Monday.
Full credit to the Invernos. They are a hardworking
Australian family that take huge
amounts of pride in what they do and how they
do it. It was a real honour to award them the 2020
Valvoline Owner//Driver Truck of the Year.
ownerdriver.com.au
APRIL 2021 23