Yesteryear trucks roll in to Gatton

Historic Commercial Vehicle Association of Queensland (HCVAQ) publicity officer Ron Carroll said a highlight of this year's event would be a Mack Truck Muster.

"Two years ago we had our first Mack Muster and had 169 Mack trucks, in addition to the usual vintage trucks that come to be the main part of our show," he said.

"This year we decided to have a second Mack Muster and hope a lot of Macks will turn up, old or new, because we realise that in the trucking industry, people like new trucks as well as older trucks.

"We had a bloke last year who brought a brand new Mack B-treble truck. You have never seen such a beautiful machine."

Mr Carroll said the show attracted visitors and participants from far and wide.

"We always get a lot of visitors fly over from New Zealand. They are really into old trucks. This year there are people from New Zealand who are bringing two vintage trucks to our show, which is costing them about $20,000 to get them here.

"And we always get half-a-dozen trucks from Victoria because Victoria is very into old trucks. They drive them up and always allow extra time because every time they stop at a service station for fuel, they end up talking for two hours to the truckies."

Mr Carroll said about half the exhibits were fully restored and the rest were still in their working clothes.

"Some are even better than new because trucks from the 1940s and 1950s weren't very flash when they came off the production line because after the war they rushed them out. But it is also good to see the trucks in working order like they were in the 1950s and 1960s when they were workhorses and weren't in pristine condition.

"We have a lot of blokes who buy an old truck, just make it mechanically sound and drive it as it is. If it rains when they are on a run, they don't worry too much."

One of the regular exhibitors at the Gatton show is HCVAQ vice-president Graham Kircher, who has a large collection of historic trucks.

Among the machines he will have on display will be a 1967 Scammell truck that was one of 25 imported from England into Australia, of which only 10 survive.

Mr Kircher's is an ex-Shell fuel tanker from Sydney which he bought 10 years ago and did up.

Another of his prized exhibits is a small fire engine from an oil facility at Hiroshima in Japan that he "bought my wife for Christmas one year".

The 600cc twin-cylinder machine is 30 years old this year and has only done 4000 kilometres.

"Children love sitting on the back of it and having their picture taken," he said.

In addition to trucks, the line-up of 250 old commercial vehicles on display at the Gatton Showground will include cars, vans buses, tractors and machinery.

There will be parades each day at 10 o'clock, midday and mid-afternoon.