Owner/Driver #339
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“The engine delivers<br />
power to the wheels<br />
via a five-speed Spicer<br />
crash gearbox.”<br />
THE ONSET OF COVID-19 has no doubt driven a surge in<br />
the already booming historical truck movement over the<br />
past couple of years. The preference for staying at home<br />
and limiting social interactions on any sort of scale has<br />
undoubtedly led to much more ‘shed time’ for those midprojects<br />
and resulted in some others previously relegated<br />
to the back burner for some time slowly but surely rolling<br />
their spider web-covered cabs out from their dusty caverns<br />
of ‘blokedom’.<br />
Even so, with so many projects on the go, I really don’t know<br />
where Charlie Borg, current custodian of this 1958 Kenworth, finds<br />
the time.<br />
Among Charlie’s other toys and projects are a White Road<br />
Commander named ‘Lizzy’, a Kenworth SAR, a Kenworth S2 in the<br />
build, a restored 1956 Austin that was originally a Resch’s brewery<br />
truck, a W-model Kenworth and a White 3000 part way through<br />
restoration.<br />
Upon approaching Charlie’s 1958 Kenworth – official model<br />
classification CC925C – my curiosity was immediately piqued by<br />
the inscription on the door – ‘Lebanon Truck Service’. As many<br />
would, my mind immediately thought of that far off Middle<br />
Eastern country adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea, a land of<br />
kebabs and falafel. I wondered how many Kenworths made it to<br />
the Middle East, I naively thought to myself.<br />
After initial introductions, obviously one of my first questions<br />
was, surely this truck is not from Lebanon, is it Charlie? “Yes,” he<br />
proclaims. Lebanon in the USA to be more specific.<br />
Charlie informs me that there are several towns named Lebanon<br />
in the US and, as indicated by the build sheet he has for this<br />
particular truck, Lebanon, Oregon is where this truck hails from.<br />
A little post-interview Googling revealed there to be anything up<br />
to 47 Lebanons in the US!<br />
Lebanon Truck Service of Oregon unfortunately didn’t reveal<br />
much from Google searches and, apart from the build ticket<br />
information and address, not much is known to Charlie about the<br />
truck’s obviously well-lived life prior to coming to Australia.<br />
Lebanon is a small town in north-west Oregon with a<br />
population of around 17,000 residents and was once famous for<br />
its strawberry production and timber industry. The once thriving<br />
local timber industry eventually petered out in the 1980s. Perhaps<br />
Charlie’s Kenworth was originally used for timber transport or, as<br />
the name on the door references, “truck service”. Maybe it was used<br />
as a recovery or salvage truck for a truck repair business? Charlie is<br />
determined to find out some day.<br />
As for recent history, Charlie can trace it back around five years<br />
Top: Charlie and his best mate<br />
Lu-Lu, who also enjoys a ride in the<br />
classic Kenworth<br />
Above: The original Cummins<br />
220hp in-line six-cylinder<br />
turbocharged engine still powers<br />
the ’58 Kenworth<br />
ownerdriver.com.au<br />
APRIL 2021 25