This month, we have another person best described as one of the quiet, unassuming, great blokes of New Zealand road-transport photography and a dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast for everything trucking. Manawatu-based Derek Tankersley has spent decades amassing a vast collection of images. Thanks, Derek, for letting readers enjoy some real pearlers from your archive.

“Growing up in Carterton in the Wairarapa, I was always interested in farm and earthmoving machinery. I managed to get a short ride in a Pinfolds Transport stock truck, and I have been forever hooked on trucks.

“My uncle worked in the office of Transport Wairarapa in Masterton, and he got me dozens of rides in their trucks in the early 1980s. School holidays were spent travelling around the lower North Island in stock trucks and visiting various freezing works and sale yards. After a few rides, I decided to start taking photos with my parents’ Kodak Instamatic camera. I graduated to a point-and-shoot camera and eventually an SLR. Any spare money was spent on developing many thousands of photos.

“Family holidays were spent in Rotorua, so I spent time at Taupo truck shows and the Waipa weighbridge. My passion for trucks or taking truck photos has never waned.”