Western Sydney Historical Truck Club

The 5th Annual Sydney Classic And Antique Truck Show

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The fifth annual Sydney Classic & Antique Truck Show 2015  at the Museum of Fire, Penrith was a great success inspite of the cold and damp weather.  The Mulgoa Rumble was supported again by many trucks.  I rode shotgun with Andy Nash in his Chev tow truck.  We were tail gated by Bruce Brown in his recently painted Rice Burner.  When Andy & I received an "NRMA callout" to tow away a broken down vehicle, Bruce blew past us like he had just won a race. -Haha.  We found out later that he wanted to get back to his 5-star "Rice Burner Hotel" at Penrith Heights, to freshen up before dinner.
Phil  Cassells  cooked up his usual  treat.  Over fourteen enormous pots of chicken & vegie soup went very quickly because the cold night air chilled everyone to the bone.

 There were 170 entries registered prior to the rain which fell overnight on Saturday. Come Sunday morning there was a stream of late arrivals coming through the gate, and at opening time there was a very fine display to be seen.  Most of the trucks on display had supported SCAATS in previous years but there were a few vehicles that I hadn't previously seen...
There was "All-Go-Removals - Warilla" a 1924 Dodge Semi-trailer with timber framed prime mover body  and trailer, both with timber spoked wheels, and on the back of the trailer - several period metal trunks. It was not exactly a large vehicle, no longer than about 7 metres but it was a semi-trailer complete with turntable.
The Loftus Tram Museum displayed two of its unusual vehicles. I have it on sound authority that it took two and a half hours (5:30am - 8:00am) from Loftus to Penrith to get the vehicles to the show.  Firstly there was a 1952 Bedford Over-Head Repairs Tower Wagon. It worked on the Sydney network maintaining  and repairing the overhead power lines.  The truck would be parked along side the path of working tram line, the tower hoisted and swiveled to allow repairs to be done.  The ladder tower could be swiveled sideways to allow a tram to pass and then resume its work afterwards .   It was sold to the Melbourne tram authority in February 1961 and painted in the Melbourne colurs of cream with black lines.  The truck was sold in1980 and driven back to the Tram Museum at Loftus and repainted to its original green color scheme
The second vehicle was a four wheel drive 1942 AEC Matador Gun tug. It was used at the Brookvale depot as a recovery vehicle.  It is still used at the museum to move vehicles around but also for display purposes.  
There was live entertainment on stage throughout the day.  After the vetriloquist act there was the more formal part of the proceedings. There were awards for participants of the Mulgoa Rumble for the most number of circuits travelled.
Next, the winner of the Bill Maddy Memorial Award for the "most authentic truck" was awarded to Charley Grima's  No. 61 International Eagle.  The truck looked like it had just come out of the workshop. Not a mark on it... It was immaculate!!
 The Western Sydney Historical Truck Club was awarded two awards. The first award was the "Keith Cini Award" sponsored by the Pioneer Timber Cutters for our club's involvement, participation and help in organising with the SCAATS show. The second was a Certificate of Appreciation awarded by the Museum of Fire for our involvement in the SCAATS show.    A big thank you to all of  our members who participated en masse at the show.