Heyfield native Andy Klarenbeek has been fascinated by trucks from a young age; specifically vintage army trucks.
He has fond memories from the 50s and 60s of a friend in town who “zoomed around town in an old Chevy Blitz with the jib on the back and the hooks swaying around”.
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Imagine his surprise then when he first met wife Jen and discovered her father had a converted 1943 Blitz being used to spray trees in the family apple orchard.
As Jen’s father began to slow down and eventually retired, the Chevy sat dormant.
“It stayed with the family forever, lived under trees, sheds, against firewood piles until about 1994,” Andy explains.
“Jen’s mother left for a retirement village and we had to clear things out a bit. The old Blitz was still standing there looking a bit sad. So we took it home to Heyfield.”
No longer needed for service after World War II, many army vehicles suffered the same fate, but the farmers of Australia found many uses for them.
“Jen’s dad converted his into a 4WD spraying unit for his apple trees,” Andy says.
“He was able to use that maybe up until about the mid ‘60s, then after that it was replaced by a one-man Ferguson tractor tow-behind unit.
“Before that, you couldn’t really buy trucks for farms. A lot of farmers bought army vehicles and converted them.”
For at least the next 15 years, Andy didn’t have the time to do much else to the Blitz other than appreciate it and keep it away from any more damage from mother nature.
But as his own work began to slow down and he moved closer to retirement, he and Jen found themselves with more time to dedicate to what would become their passion project.
“About 10-11 years ago, we looked at it and said ‘We better do something about this,’” Andy says.
Starting the process
With the truck in shocking condition, covered in rust and undriven for years, Andy and Jen knew it wasn’t going to be a short process to get it back to its original glory.
The first step was to deal with the chassis — get the biggest bits out of the way.
Luckily for Andy, a long career in mechanics meant he knew nearly everyone he needed to know to get all the right parts, and get all the jobs he couldn’t do, done.
“We stripped it back and sent the chassis off to the sandblasters,” he says.
“Because of the way the truck was wrecked on the orchards, we needed some cab parts. We sourced a spare truck out in Benalla, and got it home.
“I had to think about putting all the parts in some sort of order. A lot of the cab parts were sandblasted and painted.”
The engine proved to be one of the bigger challenges, as it had to be totally rebuilt.
“I was able to get the pistons and rings from Auto Surplus in Melbourne and a young fella in Morwell.
“He runs an auto machining shop, and he was able to bore the engine out and have the rings fitted to the pistons. It was assembled locally by a guy here in town who’s an ex-motor mechanic.”
After that was the tyres, which Andy purchased from a connection who Queensland who gets them in by the container load. They were then fitted locally in Heyfield.
“The wheels have red wheel nuts. There’s two sets. One that were used to bolt the wheel to the vehicle as normal.
“The two halves of the wheel come apart from the red nuts. The wheels are unbelievably strong.”
The next major task was getting all the electrical work done, but once again, Andy’s skills held him in good stead.
“There’s not much in wiring a basic truck that doesn’t have a computer,” he laughs.
“I converted it to 12 volt, it’s so much simpler. 12-volt lights, 12-volt batteries. The starter motor is still okay.
“The local electrician is a bit of an enthusiast himself, he was able to get me a 12 volt generator. It doesn’t have an alternator, just a generator, but it doesn’t look any different.”
While restoring a 1943 model truck to its complete original form may be close to impossible more than 80 years later, Andy and Jen were aiming to get it as similar as they could.
That meant that the water tank had to go, and a tray had to be built from scratch.
“Building the tray was quite a job,” Andy says.
“We had to plan ahead for hinges on the timber side. I wanted the hinges to look really 1950s style. I do a little bit of blacksmithing, so I was able to manufacture them myself.
“We got the tray on, got the sides on, we got the hoops over the top for the canvas.
“I had one fuel tank on my truck and another on the truck I bought, so we had a tank either side. One of them needed a fair bit of repair, so they’re fully refurbished.
“We had a local sheet metal shop put a patch on for me. I must have worn out that many wire wheels and four-inch angle grinders. They were doing a very effective job.
“There’s a fuel tank cleaning system called KBS. Jen and I were able to flush the tanks several times according to the instructions of the product.
“In the end it gets a coating on the inside which feels like the inside of a coffee cup.”
All the fidgety parts
With the biggest jobs out of the way, Jen was responsible for some of the finer details, including the dash instruments and the painting of the Blitz.
“Our panelbeater only painted the cab, I painted all the rest of it,” she assures.
“All the dash instruments were pulled apart by Jen on the lounge room table,” Andy adds.
“We bought a temperature gauge. We had the spare truck so Jen was able to completely reassemble the new one with 12 volt bulbs.”
After that was the seats, which Andy refurbished himself, springs included.
“We’ve got a canvas guy who’s familiar with military vehicles, he was able to make us cushions and the backrests to go over the original seats.
“My spare truck also had a wooden steering wheel. Mine was made out of a Bakelite-type substance.
“The wood one was the original, steel spoked with the wooden surround. We were able to use that.”
The exhaust system also needed a full overhaul, with Andy doing the wiring himself. By his own admissions, it “was pretty easily done”.
“I had a local person who did the pipe bend and then I brought it back home. I did some measurements, got some wire, did some bends. It was easier to do it that way then to drag it backwards and forwards.
“I did a lot of fuses into the systems, which to my surprise when I pulled it apart, it didn’t seem to have any. I thought we’ve got to have fuses.
“I don’t want to be driving down the road and smell something on fire!”
One of the unchanged parts on the Blitz is the switches, which Andy either used from the original truck or the spare model.
Some of the parts for the body, and the headlights, needed to be sourced from interstate and even overseas.
There are sellers out there just as passionate as Andy, who supply the minutiae of parts like rubber inserts and springs for the headlight, and converters for the fuel gauge.
“There was a company in Queensland called Ross Prince World War 2 Truck Parts. I was able to buy parts off him quite okay,” he says.
“Then I got onto a company in America called Chevs in the 40s for the headlights and fuel gauge. I called them up and told them the parts I needed. I ordered it on a Friday and it was at the post office by the next Wednesday!
“I never really knew whether the gauge on the dash or the tank would work. I fitted it all and wired it and said to Jen, ‘let’s see what happens!’
“We flicked the switch, and bingo, there was a full tank of fuel.”
More than 10 years later, and the truck is finally complete, driveable and all.
Andy built a carport for it to stay in (just another one of the great delays on the decade-long build), and it mostly gets taken out for local shows and rallies.
He says the Heyfield event is one of the highlights of the year, as one of the biggest community events in the local calendar.
“We would get excited and get a few things done then it sits in the shed for a while,” Andy admits.
“Jen and I belong to the Heyfield District Vintage Machinery Group. There are a lot of wives involved, even though the engines tend to be manned by the guys.
“Some of the club was about small engines, but they went very strong to steam. I’ve got the old truck, and one other guy has one too. We have the rally here in Heyfield. Everyone chips in, we all have jobs to do. I’m the garbo!
” I convinced my brother to give me his golf cart so we zoom around and empty rubbish bins into the Dumpmaster.
“At the rally we have military vehicles, I belong to the Victorian Military Vehicle Corps.
“One of the guys has a Studebaker, and a couple have Jeeps. Another guy has a monkey-faced Blitz.
“We all get together once or twice a year, at the rally if we can.”
And though it took a massive amount of work, effort, dedication and money, Andy says he loved every bit of the process.
“Restoring an old truck is a lot of fun. You don’t have to think about upholstery or chrome!
“I’d wake up some mornings and tell Jen I reckon I know how to do this or that bit. Rain, hail or shine, you just go out there and do it.”
The meaning behind the mechanics
Looking at the photos of the stunningly restored Blitz, you may notice the numbers painted on the side and front.
This is the original Army Registration Number the truck was given when it was first deployed, which Andy and Jen were able to track down through a little bit of research.
“We tracked it through the War Memorial in Canberra,” Andy explains.
“We got a researcher for a small fee to get the basic information to look for in the books. They were able to get through. They asked how far they wanted us to go and we said ‘keep going’.
“She rang us back and said she found it. We had the date of when it was disposed. It matches the chassis number.”
The other decoration on the side is the truck is the truck’s name, ‘Ted’.
It wouldn’t have been complete without a loving tribute to the original owner, Jen’s dad. Now it will forever hold onto the memories of the days passed on the apple orchard in Hastings.
“He bought it and he loved it,” Andy says.
“Even when he didn’t need it he didn’t scrap it. It was always there on the farm. That’s where it stayed. We thought it’d be fitting when we finished, so now it’s called Ted.”
“I remember it from when I was a child,” Jen recalls.
“I was born about the year Dad bought it. I do remember it on the apple orchard. It’s been in my family my whole life.”
“When I met Jen, she showed me the Blitz when we were walking around her dad’s place,” Andy says.
“All those years later we were thrilled to bring it home to Heyfield and I thought I got a good wife and a good truck to boot!”
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