The resurrection of a scattered 1984 Kenworth

It all began at his son’s soccer game.

While most parents were casually talking about tactics or weekend plans, Allan Casey was deep in conversation about all thing’s trucks with a former school mate, who mentioned an old Kenworth wasting away at his property.

Curious, Allan decided to make the trip and have a look at this supposedly run down rig.

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“I brought it home in a million pieces, but everything was there to keep it all original,” he says.

“It was on about 10 pallets in a paddock when I found it. There was no diff under it, no motor, no gearbox. It was just everywhere.”

Most would have taken the easier route and walked away, but Allan rolled up his sleeves.

For the next 12 months he toiled, alone, stitching the 1984 SAR Kenworth back together and slowly, a forklift and determination became his best mates.

“That was the hardest part, doing it alone and trying to get all the heavy parts in place.”

“I’ve got a forklift but that thing is like an ant, it can lift three times its weight, the poor little thing,” he laughs.

But let’s rewind for a moment. This wasn’t just a random, fantasy project for Allan, trucks have always been a part of his life.

“My family has lived and breathed trucks and earth-moving gear all their lives,” he says.

“I think it’s in our blood. We’ve always liked trucks and one day I planned to restore one, then this SAR popped up, so the job was on.”

Digging into the truck’s past, Allan chased down some history with a man from Tasmania who provided him with lots of information about its former life.

This resto took about 12 months to complete

Little was he to know, his Kenworth would have a full circle moment.

“He sent me the ad of the truck in Deals on Wheels around ten years ago when it was advertised for sale,” he says.

And now here it is, yet again. But this time it’s to show off Allan’s handy work.

Old receipts had fallen down under the seat and behind the dash of the truck, which also told another life the old Kenworth had lived.

“I believe it used to have a tipper on it and towed a trailer with his bobcat on it. I found a few receipts from landscaping supplies,” he says.

Allan then tracked down the truck’s original fleet number as KA 247 and slowly but surely, brought the old rig back to life.

As we’ve already discussed, the rig started off as a cab on a chassis with no diffs under it, so Allan had to start from scratch.

He brought it home on a tilt truck and stripped the chassis rails before sand blasting them. He then tidied up the six rod suspension, re-bushing things that needed replacing.

“I put all new wheel bearings right throughout it, as well as new brake linings, boosters, air lines,” he says. “The gearbox had been reconditioned before I got it, and the diffs have all been re-coated.”

“A guy in Wagga did a full rebuild on the motor, so it went in, and the truck got running, then I continued with the rebuild.

“I re-sheeted the panels and back of the cab as it had been cut open.

“So, I put it back to a single day cab and got all the electrics working again. But I have to give a shoutout to Express Trucks Service in Queanbeyan for all the help they gave me along the way, with the wiring mainly. They did such a great job.”

Piece by piece, the truck was finally standing tall, and Allan’s next step was to paint it up and get the historic rego.

Allan discovered the Kenworth as a plain old white rig, so he decided to breathe some life back into it and paint it back to its original colours, a vibrant purple, white and red.

“So, it was finally done, and I started to take it for little drives, found a few bugs that appeared, along with some air leaks and various things I had missed along the way,” he laughs.

Once the truck was roadworthy, Allan gave it a second life on the show circuit and hauled a little step deck trailer with it.

“I’ve got an old Caterpillar 4D that’s restored also, and we put it on the trailer and take it to a few shows as well. It’s now retired to light duty, as some may say.”

And now after five years and countless hours spent with grease, machinery and diesel; Allan has sold it.

“I just got rid of it last week to a guy down in Melbourne,” he says.

“He’s going to go through it all over again, finish off the little things I never got to do. I never touched the dash, so he will most likely tidy it up and get it all working again which will be nice to see.”

In the end, Allan couldn’t be more pleased.

“God knows how many millions of kilometres that thing has done up the highways over the years,” he says.

“It’s good to keep the old bangers on the road and preserve the history that comes with them.”

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