Sometimes it’s good to spoil yourself and spend your well-earned money on shoes, jewellery, or even a nice holiday.
But truck lovers would agree, when an opportunity to purchase a 1944 GMC 6×6 cargo truck comes around, sometimes it’s too good to resist.
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The GMC is a 2/1-2 ton 6×6 World War II armourers van that comes with a long and a historical past, serving in Europe with the U.S. army and then later, the Australian Army.
Barry Dunshea pictured a life with this truck before it was even his.
“I hoped to travel the length of the Murray River, from the mountains to the sea in this truck,” he says.
“It’s very loyal to cruise along with, and I would have stopped and had a look at the views along the way.”
Like most things, it wasn’t that he necessarily needed the GMC, but the life he imagined for himself when he saw it cruising down the top end of the Murray was picture perfect.
But unfortunately, Barry’s journey has come with its own challenges.
A painful condition called neuropathy, caused by years of hard work, limits his ability to fully enjoy the truck as he had once imagined.
But even though his physical capabilities have been tested, his passion for the GMC remains unwavering.
“The nerve damage is from the work I’ve done over time. I’ve mostly been in earthworks and I was also a plant operator, along with tree lopping,” he says. “Wear and tear, that’s life.”
“I’m hoping I can still get the truck into some shows, but I just don’t know how I’ll go yet.”
While the GMC was originally designed for the military, it was rebuilt by a former soldier.
“An old army veteran, Phillip Oyston rebuilt the truck and had to go through a hell of a time to get this truck re-registered. It went missing during the war and was no longer on their records,” he says.
Phillip initially built the GMC after suffering from many psychological and physical conditions brought on by his military service.
Fully restoring and rebuilding this vintage vehicle to full state road registration helped Phillip regain his confidence.
He converted the engine to diesel, swapped to an automatic gearbox due to his disabilities, and researched and acquired parts both locally and overseas, overall costing him about $80,000 to transform and complete.
“I was lucky enough to meet a lad by the name of Adam Mill who had bought the old girl from Phillip on a whim I believe. Adam didn’t know much about it, let alone how to drive it.”
“He wanted his wife to learn left hand drive, but she wasn’t too comfortable.”
Next thing you know, Barry became the truck’s unlikely saviour, and the almost forgotten relic has been in his hands for over 12 months now, taking it out to drive local or to go fishing.
“I would take my mate for drives every couple of weeks and even took it to a birthday party so the kids could have a ride.”
For Barry, it was never about the speed or power of the machine, but rather the history it carried and the adventures he could pursue.
“The truck only travels at 27 miles an hour (43 km/h) and I do about 1250 revs; it’s definitely not a fast truck,” he says.
“I haven’t done too much to it, just a bit of maintenance here and there, like adjusting the brakes and a couple of electrical repairs.
“The thermostat isn’t working at the moment, so that’s got to be fixed next, but other than that, the truck will pass a blue slip any day of the week.”
Currently the old GMC is up for sale, but Barry refuses to sell it to just anybody.
“It’s an original truck; it can’t be used for anything that it was previously built for,” he says.
“It would be good to get it into truck shows and for people to just have a good look at it, because it is something different.”
And that’s exactly what Barry wants, to see his 1944 GMC appreciated, to see it used for the right reasons.
“I do enjoy owning the truck, people love seeing it around and when I’ve got it going, it’s great.”
So, the next time you see an old truck rolling down the road at a pace that seems a bit too slow for today’s fast world, take a moment to consider its past.
There may just be a story behind it worth listening to. Just like Barry’s 1944 GMC.
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