From a small town in NSW, Whittingham, truck lover Iain Cann’s story begins not on the open roads, but on a farm, with a journey that led him into transport and restoration.
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In 1968, a lucerne processing plant opened across the road, offering Iain his first taste into the transport world.
“They were just two axles, and the four ACCOs would carry the Lucent from the farm to the plant,” he says.
That initial experience laid the groundwork for a career that would span decades and countless adventures.
After the plant’s closure, he performed more mechanical work at a different company, repairing trucks damaged during interstate freight hauls, before turning to coal mining in 1973 at Liddel Colliery.
“That was where the money was,” he says. “It was probably double or triple the amount you would earn anywhere else.
“We were working in an underground mine one night at three in the morning, and I was the watchdog. There was a cave in, and the miner driver was killed. I was just two metres in front of him and I got blown over when it fell in.
“The displacement of air was just like a gush of wind… I remember it like it was yesterday.
“We had to recover our workmate’s body and that’s when I thought, ‘Nup, this is not a good environment for me,’ so I left after that.”
This tragedy understandably changed Iain’s perspective on safety and work, so he returned to his roots in trucking and made the leap into truck ownership.
He was presented with an opportunity while working for Gordon Martin, a local transport figure.
“Gordon said, ‘I want you to take out a D9 motor out of this International and put it into this C-Line’, so I did the job.
“Then Gordon asked me if I wanted to buy the truck and I went home to think about it. At that time there was coal that was starting to move around the Hunter Valley by road in semi tippers, so I said yes.”
From there, Iain began hauling coal during freezing winter nights – however the 1971 International didn’t suit the terrain.
Driving into Mount Victoria, he wrestled with his truck’s limitations while navigating steep climbs and icy roads.
“I was in a low gear, and it was a two-speed axle. I dropped the button into low and as it dropped into gear, it sheared an axle off right in front of the Mount Victoria Police Station.
“I was grounded, I couldn’t go anywhere, so the sergeant came out and got me a tow truck. But all I was thinking was, ‘What do I do now?’
“I ended up having to take the diff out and strip it to get the shrapnel out of it – there was quite a bit of snow.
“The ground around the truck had turned to ice, it was cracking under my feet, so we used a 44-gallon drum to keep people’s hands warm.”
After this incident Iain went back home to clean the rig out before putting it all back together and adding a new axle.
But he wasn’t done just yet. One look through the Sydney Morning Herald, and Iain found himself exploring the list of available truck parts.
He found an upgraded version of his engine, transmission and rear axle. It was a turbo motor with a 10-speed overdrive Roadranger and a big Eaton diff and two speed axle.
“So, I took the old running gear out and put this upgraded running gear in. I pulled it apart, took the cab off, straightened the bent and twisted chassis and fitted it all into the truck,” he says.
“I then converted the braking system from aero hydraulic to full air so it’s more reliable. It took me six weeks to get the truck back on the road, and I was only about 26 years old – just a boy.”
The International was originally red, but he got it painted the classic ‘International green’. He also added a grill, bought a new bonnet, added decals, fixed the headlights and added mudguards to blitz up the front of the rig.
“I was able to make a real truck out of it – it would be a collector’s item today,” he says.
“It could easily pull 100 kilometres an hour with 26 tonnes behind it, but I sold my first International in ’77.
“In 1992 I gave trucking away and went back into mining with my brother-in-law the year after, up until 2017.
“I’m now doing restorations on my collection of old tractors and machinery attachments and trucks, but that’s the story on how I got started. “
Iain is currently doing a full resto on a truck he imported from the USA, a 1966 Mack B77.
“There were only 260 made of my Mack in the USA, that’s why it’s so rare.
“I’m going to turn it into a classic. It’s the only one like it in Australia and it’ll be a show piece because I can put my 60 years of experience into it.”
He also owns a stunning grey K-Whopper that he recently took to the Clarendon Truck Show.
Iain’s love of transport has presented plenty of challenges over the years. From his back and forth between trucking to mining to now being semi-retired working on rigs once more, he has had quite the voyage, from a young farm boy to a seasoned transport professional.
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