The Alexandra Truck Show saw some of the flashiest and most graphically captivating trucks rolling through the streets of the small country town over the King’s Birthday long weekend in June.
Amidst the trucking menagerie of more than 300 rigs stood a 2024 Kenworth T610 SAR from Tytan Transport, brought along by owner Nathan Smith, alongside a 2022 Kenworth W900 SAR from Winston Express Haulage.
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Co-owned by his brother-in-law, the flash Tytan Transport Kenworth T610 is the first truck in the Tytan fleet.
Though Smith admits to having a lot of love for big rigs, he says attending truck shows isn’t on the top of his wish list, but the chance to chat to old friends and compete for an award is always tempting.
“We didn’t do any good trophy-wise, but we still had a great day,” he says.
Having been born into the family business, Winston Express Haulage, Smith says being passionate about trucks wasn’t really a choice.
Currently owned by Nathan’s parents, Dean and Rosemary Smith, Winston’s Express Haulage was formed in April 1990.
Throughout Smith’s schooling, he spent his time greasing and cleaning trucks, along with a weekend job at a local steel shop.
When he finished school he spent four years at Grant Engineering, in the building game, before finishing his apprenticeship and opting to start work in 2014 as a truck driver for his family.
Winston Express started with one truck in 1990. It has grown over the years and now boasts an impressive fleet of 55 trucks and 45 trailers — ranging from small trucks through to semi-trailers and B doubles.
Winston’s services cover local, country and interstate destinations, with an emphasis on general and express freight, specialising in overnight transport as well.
The fleet sports a unique and interesting choice of colours that Smith opted to mirror somewhat on his own Tytan Transport truck.
Hugging around the sides and front of the new rig, a vibrant purple and deep blue liven up the silver truck with bursts of colour.
However, it’s not quite as bright as Winston’s popular K200, which sports pink guards on its rear wheels.
“I think people like the different colours. There are not too many people out there with pink and purple on their trucks,” Smith says.
With those same colours, the scrollwork embellishes the cab of the truck, working harmoniously with a smooth, silver base, catching the eyes of onlookers.
“The silver is based on the Grey Ghost, which is an old Kenworth. It’s called ‘German Racing Silver’. I’ve just always loved that colour,” he says.
“The other two colours are Ford colours. The purple is called ‘Wild Violet’, and the other one is called ‘Kinetic’.”
As a big Ford fan, Nathan explains that his car and truck share the same colours, as he has always been a fan of those ones specifically.
He says the silver painted trucks were his idea and design, but the white, purple and blue trucks were his parents’ idea from “back in the day”, admitting he had no idea what the inspiration behind the colours were.
All the trucks at Winston Express Haulage are bought brand new, however, of late, Smith says the process to buy them has been something of a nightmare.
“The wait times on things are getting better, but the last three years have been shocking, especially for new trucks,” he says.
“The whole process is just long and drawn out. One of the trucks that was there at the show came offline in October and went on the road two weeks before the truck show,” he says.
“That’s an eight-month wait. A very long time!”
Nathan hopes to bring one of his trucks back to next year’s Alexandra event and see if he can secure a trophy.
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