Owner/Driver #339

“You can’t just have a truck sitting
around for the sake of liking it.”
Top: Check out the T404 loader at work.
This truck, with an adapted Kesla 2024
loader fitted, is one of only three like it
in the country. It was specially built by
Rosin Developments in Tumut
Below: The grassy green look of
Leeson’s Legend 950 really stands out
– even in the company’s custom-built
full-service workshop
subbying for a couple of local farms. For a 24-year-old he
made a damn good go of it, though being able to do his own
maintenance would have been a bonus.
He spent a couple of years as an owner-driver before the
tough competitive financial conditions forced him back
into the paid driver scene. Deppo spent another couple
of years gaining valuable on-road experience until an
opportunity came up to re-join the Leeson’s team.
Now here is the cosmic, stars-aligning, crystal predication
situation. Deppo started at Leeson’s when the Pete turned
up. Nine-and-a-half years later he returns to the fold as the
Pete is being put out to pasture. Freaky, hey? He recalls his
immediate reaction was one of disappointment: “Oh shit,
that’s a bugger, I wanted to drive it. I’ve loved it since it was
brand new,” he recalls telling the boss at the time.
Deppo watched the boys repurpose the old trailers and
the Pete’s cab guard, utilising them elsewhere in the fleet and
leaving the old Pete to get parked up in Garry’s shed. When
the opportunity came for Deppo to talk to the boss about
cleaning it up for him, he took it. He remembers Garry saying,
“OK, well go ahead, take it home and polish it up.”
With no idea of what the future held for the Pete, Deppo
parked it in his shed for a year and spent every available
moment trying to bring some shine back to the old girl.
Second coming
As we rolled into the end of 2018, Rick recalls having a
conversation with his dad in regard to what to do with the
fleet and, in particular, the old Pete.
“You can’t just have a truck sitting around for the sake of
liking it,” Rick says. A valid point when you consider the cost
of registration alone.
As Rick also points out with the smirk only a child can pull
off when talking about family: “It is mum and dad’s company,
so he gets what he wants.”
Garry had seen the effort Deppo was putting into the Pete
and decided he wanted to put it back to work. Like Stuart the
original driver, they’d found a guy that was giving love and
care for it like it was his own.
In order to get it back to working it was decided they really
needed to give it an overhaul. Starting with the old wornout
engine, the local Kenworth agents sourced a brand-new
Cummins EGR motor and chucked out the old one. The whole
truck got attention: it was stripped almost bare and restarted.
48 APRIL 2021 ownerdriver.com.au