New Zealand harbours many cabover trucks, mainly of European origin, which began their life in the milk collection sector. Many go on to have a purposeful second life in another industry area. A Scania R500 that began its life picking up milk in the Deep South now hauls grain and fertiliser for a cropping operation in Mid Canterbury. Its owner has a passion for all things trucking.

New Zealand’s milk tanker fleet underwent a major combination change, beginning in the late 1990s. A-trains were phased out in favour of the rigid truck and trailer, now the dairy industry standard.

When these units are due for replacement, common practice is for the tanks and associated hardware to be transferred to a new truck, while the used cab and chassis are put on the second-hand truck market.

One of these trucks was purchased by Canterbury farmer, Craig Clucas. He farms ‘Foxdale’ under the banner of Clucas Farms, a 430ha (1060-acre) property located at Lismore, 21km southwest of Ashburton.

It’s a typical Canterbury arable farming operation. Multiple crops such as wheat, barley, grass and brassica seeds are grown and, following harvest, 4000-odd lambs arrive for finishing.

Craig’s late father, Norman, ran trucks throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including a Detroit Diesel-powered International ACCO, which was superseded by an ex-Clinton Waipahi Holdings Hino FY 5036.

The Hino was a lift-out-side tipper with a set of Sutton three-deck stock crates, making it a real jack of all trades.

Following Norman’s death, the Hino was sold. As Craig puts it simply, “There was no one else to drive it,” and local carriers looked after the farm’s cartage requirements.

Craig became the fourth generation of the Clucas family to farm Foxdale in 2007. With a passion for agriculture and trucks, owning another truck was always on the agenda.

A 1992 model Volvo FL10, which had spent all but the first 18 months of its life in Mid Canterbury, came up for sale.

Craig knew the truck well, and it had visited the farm many times previously when it was owned by Mayfield Transport.

He made a deal with its then-owner, and for the next decade, it carried much of the farm’s grain to local dairy, deer and pig farms for stockfeed, as well as to seed stores and feed mills between Timaru and Christchurch.

On the return from either Timaru or Christchurch, loads of fertiliser were bought back for use on the farm.

In 2022, a melted piston in the Volvo’s engine prompted a rethink for Clucas Farming’s trucking operation. Craig remarked the FL10 was a little underpowered with the four-axle trailer in tow. The Dominion Breweries 1990s advertising phrase of a ‘well earnt day’ used to come to mind when battling up the Canterbury Plains into the infamous nor’west wind with a load on.

He elected to replace the Volvo rather than repair it, and set about sourcing a suitable replacement.

Having a fondness for the Scania brand, which stemmed to his school days when the red and white McCormick Transport Scanias ruled the roads of Mid Canterbury, he looked into what was available in the way of an ex-dairy tanker.

In the Deep South, Open Country Dairy had a Scania R500 available for sale. It had clocked up 960,000km over five seasons on farm milk pickup and it fitted the bill perfectly.

Once back in Ashburton, local company Engineering Repairs removed the Volvo’s deck and mounted it on the Scania chassis.

Craig had initially planned to use the Volvo’s Roadmaster trailer behind the Scania. But those plans were shelved when he discovered a newer-model Cowan high-tensile spilt tipper for sale locally.

An extra metre of length would prove to be handy for shifting bales of straw and the high-tensile construction of the trailer offered an enhanced tare weight in comparison with the Roadmaster.

Lusk Engineering stripped back the trailer and fabricated a new headboard, sides and tail door, matching those on the truck. New toolboxes and guards were also fitted.

When it came to choosing colours, Craig was adamant blue wasn’t going to be an option. “Too many trucks in Canterbury are blue. We just wanted to do our own thing,” he says.

The white and green livery came about after a bit of trial and error and, although never intended, it has a John Deere look, which ties in nicely as the Clucas Farming tractor fleet originates from Moline in the United States.

Local businesses were used throughout the refurbishment, with the paintwork undertaken by Bus and Truck Bodyworks in Ashburton. Timaru Signs and Graphix turned Craig’s ideas for a stripe into something unique but eye-catching, and the logo, which adorns the Scania’s doors, is also the result of the team’s handywork.

Craig admits spending more money on the project than initially expected. However, the finished result is great and will serve the operation well into the future.

Anyone who sees the Clucas Farms Scania around Canterbury would be hard-pressed to pick that the truck is on its second life servicing the rural sector.