For many truckies, their rig is their home away from home.
Cosy sleepers, microwave, fridge…They’ve got just enough packed in to make the trips away more comfortable.
But what if you could actually make your truck a home?
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Neil Maclean asked himself this question, very quickly proving that he indeed could.
A creative man, Maclean had previously dipped his toes in the world of interesting trucks back in 2000 after seeing a photograph of a mini truck in an old magazine.
Wanting a daily driver that stood out, inspiration saw him attach a S2 Kenworth cab to a C30 Chev chassis.
“I wanted to create a mini-Kenworth, something a bit different from everything else you see,” Maclean says.
A hybrid between a ute and truck, Maclean kept the cab’s original size, simply cutting down the bonnet and sleeper.
The unique rig is most often seen parked outside his business, Wagga Windscreen Doctor, garnering a fair bit of attention.
Sating his need for creative expression for a while, it took a whole decade before the itch was back, and he needed something else to create.
Enter the miniature cab-over.
Sitting on a SBR 722 Isuzu chassis with a 6-cylinder Isuzu motor, Maclean’s “little cabover” was the perfect addition to his unique fleet.
“I cut a 1980 Kenworth small cab in half, removed 30cm from the middle, and rejoined the two halves,” he says.
“And then I’ve stretched it out to make it a big, long cab, like an American cab.”
Satisfised with his rig, it took another decade before inspiration struck again.
“I wanted something else mini, and that’s when I thought a mini motorhome would be perfect,” he says.
While strategically mapping out his plan of attack for the build, he happened across one organically.
“I was fully ready to build one myself, but when I saw this, I thought it was perfect.”
But the owner wasn’t ready to hand it over so easily.
“I chased it for 12 months,” he laughs. “I made him an offer over a year ago and he just wouldn’t take it.”
Not one to take no for an answer, Maclean persisted in his pursuit, waiting four months before approaching again.
“This time he had come around, and he was ready to sell it to me.”
The original creator was an engineer in Western Australia who had built the motorhome from the ground up, using a cabover Kenworth K100 as the cab.
When he passed away, it made its way through a few owners before finally landing in Maclean’s capable hands.
“He’d done a bloody good job, but there was still a fair amount I wanted to change,” Maclean says.
Spending the better part of 12 months meticulously remodelling and rethinking, the rig is almost done.
“We put a new floor in, completely remodelled the kitchen, changed a whole heap around.
“We added solar panels to it, stone guards and more.”
The final piece of the puzzle will be re-upholstering the interior, which Maclean will have to outsource.
“We just wanted to make it look as much like an original type of that Kenworth that we could.”
Despite the finishing touches still not being done, he’s enjoyed travelling around in the motorhome.
“I’ve been to Sydney three times in it, Adelaide and back, and Melbourne and back.
“It’s a great time.”
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