Trucks — “you either love them, or you hate them,” Andrew Sculli says.
Which I guess is true, you either don’t think twice about them, or like Andrew, you dream of owning a particular one from childhood.
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An old Atkinson is the truck he admitted to fantasising over when he was growing up. To him and his mate, this was one “iconic” rig.
“A mate of mine had an Atkinson, and growing up as a kid, I was sat in the yard at TCB Transport which had a few old girls there,” he says.
“My mate wanted to sell it, and when I first looked at it, I said, ‘gee, it needs a lot of work’ so I bought it off him and that’s when the journey began.”
Originally it was a prime mover that was converted into a twin steer hauling timber and saw-dust, then it fell into TCB’s hands. Overall, the truck was run down, not to mention the inside was rough, but Andrew saw its potential.
“I could never sell it. Its year being 1988 makes it even more special as my wife was born that same year, so I told her I’d keep this one forever,” he says.
When Andrew first brought the truck home, he didn’t dive straight into glamming it up.
“I didn’t want to take that old school look away,” he says.
“I haven’t done all the glitz and glam to it, not yet anyway.”
But what he did do was restore it and the first stop was the mechanic, who gave it a once over.
The interior was going to be a “major job”, so Andrew got to work, but while doing so, he uncovered part of the truck’s past.
“It was an ex IPEC truck, so it was originally yellow. They had the twin lights on it and upgraded the suspension and the electrical side of it, so we just rewired it,” he says.
“We put the new bunk in, inserted the seats, dash and got it all up to scratch and then we put a new 400 Cummins motor in. It was a slow process.”
The outside of the truck remains TCB red, but underneath it has kept its IPEC yellow. On its side it features TCB’s signature eagle logo. Andrew explains that in New Zealand, Atkinson’s are called Eagles and this is what the logo would be a reference to.
“Passing all these new trucks in the Atkinson is good fun,” he says.
“You see all the old girls passing the new ones which just shows how strong the old rigs were built.
“You feel every bump, every bit of the road. The old school is a classic and I would never want to take that old look away from it.”
I can just picture Andrew’s 1988 truck rolling by as heads turn, kids point and old timers nod at the vintage vehicle. As Andrew says, you don’t see too many historic ones these days.
You would think an old truck like that would be babied, rolled out only for shows or short runs, but not this Atkinson.
“I’ve been working it every day,” he says. “I’ve driven up to Queensland truck shows and it’s still going strong, these trucks are virtually bulletproof.”
“Driving to Queensland and back was one of the longest trips I’ve done in it, I even brought the old school tarp out.
“It’s just good old school driving. When you’re driving one of these, you’re driving a truck.”
Andrew has owned the old Atkinson for three years now, and it does all sorts of work, whether it’s a big job, a joy ride or going to the market to take some empty pallets, it’s always in use.
“I maintain a connection with the Indigenous community up in Queensland. Every few weeks, they cut up firewood and I bring it down,” he says.
“I just fell into this venture. This truck mostly hauls firewood as well as the odd general fruit and veg.”
Being in the fruit and vegetable industry, Andrew says he sees plenty of trucks in his day to day and has a natural born passion for it.
Even his son has taken after him…
“The kids had to take their favourite items into prep class, my son brought in a truck magazine that he loves,” Andrew laughs.
“He tells me all the time, ‘dad, I’m going to buy a long nose.’ He’s a little me, I love that my kids love trucks too.”
And the Atkinson is a crowd favourite at school too.
“Parents ride cars into school, I pick mine up in the truck, and all the kids come charging over,” he says.
“I do this work just for fun. I work in retail with fruit and veg, but since I was a kid, I’ve just always loved a good truck.”
Andrew plans on getting a trailer to match his rig, maybe one day. But for now, the “old girl’s” holding her own just fine.
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