For Brisbane truckie Mick Lee, who runs transport company Dumping Dirt Munruben with his partner Julie, restoring trucks is a family affair.
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Here, he talks us through two of his favourite projects — an award-winning Kenworth T950 and a sentimental Kenworth K100E.
Award-winning rig
Back in December 2016, Mick bought a 1993 Kenworth T950 that was previously owned by Gascoyne Trading Company in Western Australia and used in the mining industry.
“The owner was selling it because he was moving to Bali or somewhere,” says Mick.
“It was pretty hard to get hold of him to buy the truck because he was over there!”
Mick intended to do the truck up and bring it to Alice Springs in time for the annual Festival of Road Transport in 2021. Unfortunately, things did not exactly go to plan.
“The young fella flew over to Perth to have a look at the truck.
“He came home and said ‘Yeah, it’ll be right, Dad.’
“Then when I saw it, I said ‘Wow. You should have left it there!’”
The Kenworth was in a fairly dismal condition when Mick got his hands on it, requiring a full rebuild.
Thankfully he had help, teaming up with his son Matt and wife Julie to get the job done.
The truck was stripped back to the chassis, with a new gearbox put in.
A 50-inch sleeper was also installed, and Mick got a boat builder to stretch the top of it to fit.
“You could buy one, but it would cost you a fortune,” Mick explains.
“So, we got some fibreglass and stretched the top out.”
The rebuild took three to four years in total, with the family slowly chipping away at it on weekends.
“Instead of romantic Sunday drives, Julie and I were working on trucks,” Mick laughs.
Mick put the truck on the road for a while before getting some new additions to the fleet, and his son now uses it to move gear around locally.
It has collected plenty of awards in its time, impressing the judges at multiple truck shows.
“The very first weekend we took it out, at Mt Gravatt, it won there,” he says.
“We’ve got heaps of trophies for it now.”
Most recently, the family were chuffed that the T950 took out Best Paint at this year’s Gold Coast Truck Show, with another of their rigs, a Kenworth T509, winning Best Bling. “We weren’t even going to go to the show because the weather looked so bad,” Mick says.
“But I rang my son at 6.30am on the day and said: ‘We’re going!’
“We quickly washed the trucks and headed off.
“It was a great show, we always enjoy it.”
Like father, like son
Like many truckies, Mick has strong family ties to the transport industry. His father Lester Lee was a driver for 50 years, carting chlorine and gas cylinders up and down the east coast.
About three years ago, a friend of Mick’s stumbled upon a 1988 Kenworth K100E his dad had driven for over a decade, at the end of his career.
“Dad bought the truck when it was four years old, he was its second owner.
“He had a stroke and decided to sell it, and then it went missing for about 15 years.
“It was actually in a front yard in Melbourne, parked up at someone’s house for most of that time.
“A mate came across the truck online and let me know.
“My family said: ‘You have to buy it!’”
After Mick brought the rig home, he gave it a bit of a revamp, while keeping it as original as possible.
“I didn’t do too much,” he says. “We repainted the chassis and polished the fuel tanks.
“The cab paint is all still original, we just got it relined and scrolled.
“Some parts you just can’t get any more, but it’s pretty close to how it was back in the day.”
Mick was on a deadline for the restoration, as he wanted to bring it to the Casino Truck Show as a surprise for his father.
He worked long and hard to get it ready in time, taking his now 86-year-old dad out of his nursing home for a nostalgic weekend at the show.
“When dad first came around the corner and saw the truck, it was a great surprise,” he says.
“Dad drove for 50 years and got to know a lot of people, so there was a great reaction to the truck at Casino.
“The restoration was really a family thing, a sentimental thing.
“We’re happy we found it in time for dad to see it.”
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