Trevor Davis’ restoration journey began in March 2009, with an eBay listing and a whim.
Trevor was scrolling through the site when a truck caught his eye. It was a 1927 International located in Queensland, and it was far from pristine.
But this wasn’t just any classic vehicle, this is one of only five remaining in the world, a rare piece of automative history revived after decades of neglect.
Trevor was set on it, and a phone call to the seller sealed the deal. Next, he enlisted a family friend to inspect the rig.
“My mate had a look at the truck — he was to be my eyes as we went over every inch of it on my phone,” he says. “So the deal was done, and the deposit was paid.”
But after the initial excitement, one problem remained: how to get the truck to Melbourne?
After having no luck trying to find someone who would pick up and deliver the truck, it was decided that Trevor and his dad would make the road trip up and bring it back.
“After our four day, 3,800km road trip, the truck was home,” he says.
Once arrived, the truck sat in Trevor’s shed for quite some time, before he got his teeth into a project that would end up consuming him. He began sourcing pieces from across the globe — bonnet badges from America, headlight parts from New Zealand, a drive plate from England, and an ignition switch from Canada.
He even worked closely with a team in America to come up with a replacement oil pump for the Lycoming CT engine.
“The old pumps were made from pot metal (die cast) and were nearly all failing due to cracking,” he says.
Some parts he also sourced locally, like a grill badge from WA, new bonnet panels/side and front skirts from NSW and hub caps from Queensland.
By mid-June 2011, the restoration began at Trevor’s shed alongside his son Ross.
Their first task was to strip the truck down to bare bones, so only the chassis was left.
“Once we achieved this, we started the hard slog to completion,” he says.
The chassis was then sanded and prepared for painting.
Ross, a qualified painter, had been handed the task, including choosing the colour of the chassis — a bold International Red.
“We then continued to check, repair and paint all the other small parts for the chassis, including wheels,” he says.
With Ross handling the intricate painting, Trevor took on the mechanical and logistical side of things. In August 2011, the rare rig was back to a rolling frame — however the restoration had to be shelved for a few months due to work commitments.
Starting back up again in February 2012, there was a big push to have the International completed in time to debut at the Sandown Truck & Bus Show in November that year.
And when that clock started ticking, it was all hands on deck.
“We started working about 40 to 50 hours nearly every week, with the cab and panels starting to take shape over March and April,” he says.
“The main panels were painted claret and by the end of April most of the C-cab framework was completed.”
Trevor then finished off the chrome grill surround, seat and headlight buckets and was supplied bearings, nuts and bolts, pins and bushes by the staff at Bearing Wholesalers.
May saw the pre-fitment of the grill bonnet and guard complete and ready for painting, but Trevor says a lot of work still needed to be done on the truck, so they decided to leave the guards until last to avoid scratching them.
“Towards the end of May, the jarrah timber for the tray and cab arrived, so it was time to get stuck back into some more timberwork,” he says.
“All timber used is jarrah except the C-cab sides, which are mahogany, and all the timber has natural decking oil applied.”
In early June, work slowly moved towards the front of the truck.
“With the tray finished, the cab was next, the floorboards and then the electrical work,” Trevor continues.
“June saw lots of fiddly stuff going on as we still had our deadline for Sandown.”
Every detail was painstakingly addressed, including modifications for safety.
Trevor modified the pedal arrangement by moving the accelerator from the middle to the right-hand side.
“We had heard too many stories about when drivers panicked, they would go straight for the middle pedal to stop.
“With now only 43 days until Sandown, we still had lots to do, like fitting up the horn bolting on the carby, fitting all the linkages and choke, oil gauge and amp gauge.
“We were still yet to paint the front guards so that coming weekend was going to be another busy one.”
With the deadline looming, the final sprint was intense.
“At the time there were only 10 days until the roadworthy. With the days ticking away very quickly, we still had about 60 hours of work to be completed.”
During that weekend, Ross finished painting the front guards, with the first one placed in position and the second one ready to go on. While he was painting, Trevor finished off more “fiddly bits”.
“The Saturday morning, with only six days to go, I got to drive the old girl out of the shed for the first time. We had to move it so we could complete the last bits, including fitting the side steps, fitting the front apron, fitting the rear mudguards, painting and fitting the rope rail, installing the front parking lights and getting the indicators working.
“All this and the truck had still not been driven on the road.” It was finally time to take the truck for its roadworthy, and with just eight days left until Sandown, she passed with flying colours.
But from there, it was far from smooth sailing. On its first run out, Trevor and Ross discovered a major problem. The truck was “boiling its head off” and they also had an oil leak from the fan pulley. They tried everything to fix it, but time was running out.
“After running completely out of time, we decided we would not risk driving to Sandown,” Trevor says. “We loaded it up on the back of another truck and headed off with rain falling. This old girl was going to drive into her first showing in her fullest glory.”
Trevor and Ross then proudly drove into Sandown: “Our smiles were as big as Luna Park’s,” Trevor remembers. “What a relief, we had made it!”
The truck’s debut was nothing short of spectacular. Not only did they receive many congratulations on their work, but were also presented with an award.
“To put the icing on the cake, we had the President’s Choice Award presented to us,” he says. “December had the truck also featured on the cover of The Monitor.”
The one-of-a-kind International has now done nearly 2,000 miles since being restored.
For Trevor, the time he spent in the shed working on the truck was a labour of love shared between three generations — himself, his son Ross and his father Wes, who chipped in where he could.
“The time Ross and I spent in the shed together working on the truck is irreplaceable,” he says. “Dad’s help along the journey just makes it even more special.”
The rare International’s story doesn’t end there though.
Chasing the truck’s history proved just as difficult as restoring it, with it being sold and traded many times.
Through some detective work, Trevor traced it back to Armidale in NSW in the late 1970s, when it had been pulled from a collapsed barn, believed to have been in there for around 30 years.
“Armed with only this information, we decided to place a story in the local paper,” Trevor says.
“We heard nothing until about six months later when an unexpected call came through from the original owner’s grandson, Ray Golden in Coffs Harbour.
“Then we felt the story was complete.”