The sixth annual Dave Carr Memorial Truck Run was held on Saturday 6 November, starting from the Highway Inn truck stop in Christchurch. Event organisers, Cam Lill and Dave (Skoda) Ching, were rapt to have 80 trucks (including one restored Mount Cook Denning coach) along for the trip.
We had 21 vehicles from the amazing Protranz Earthmoving classic collection. These were joined by others such as a beautifully restored Bedford TK belonging to Barry Pelling.
Peter Turner of Christchurch brought his Australian White Road Boss tractor unit, and he also drove the event in his restored Karrier Superpoise. The second White to join the run was the 1977 Road Boss belonging to Carl McKay.
Gerard Daldry brought his Mack Super-Liner, the 1000th Mack sold in New Zealand. A 1987 Kenworth K100E belonging to Phil Cassidy was resplendent, restored to its original Regans livery.
Strikingly simple yet stunning was the 1983 Kenworth K124 owned by Michael Roberts, whose father Stalky (Brian) was in his 1979 K144, powered by an 8V92 Detroit with 14-speed Spicer trans.
We were privileged to have so many people turn up for the event, along with a plethora of cool trucks to honour the memory of Dave.
Before departure, a briefing was held along with the usual minute of silence in memory of Dave and others we have lost from the industry in the past 12 months. Gumboot Friday was the 2021 charity, which received $2200 from the event.
We then set out for a mystery Geraldine location using some quieter rural Canterbury roads through various villages such as Coalgate, Glentunnel and Windwhistle. We went through the Rakaia Gorge (giving the snaparazzi some good photo opportunities), Mt Somers and Mayfield, until we arrived at the impressive Roger Mahon collection, housed in the beautiful new museum facility in Geraldine.
Once at the museum, we parked up and were warmly greeted by John Welsh, one of the collection’s trustees. John gave an overview of some of the pieces in the museum and we all had the chance to wander around and admire the equipment on display, following on from a quick fire- up of the V16 Detroit in the International Payhauler off- highway dump truck.
This collection is fantastic for anyone keen on old earthmoving equipment, and there are also several old cars, trucks, photos and stationary engines in the collection to view.
One neat thing underway is a collection of old fuel tanks and seats off D7/8- sized tractors that are to be turned into couches with original company liveries painted on them. These will represent past names who have since disappeared from the contacting industry and who may have worked on jobs such as the Upper Waitaki Power Project from the 1970s.
A barbecue lunch was provided along with cold water and soft drinks, which gave everyone the opportunity for a bite to eat and have a mingle, yarn and good look around this amazing gathering of old iron. It is certainly worth a visit if you are in the area and will be enjoyed a second and third time around, too.
