Our second entrant to the Bridgestone Million Mile Club this month is a rather special rig. Starting out life new on New Zealand’s highways just over four decades ago, it is now a little difficult to get an exact handle on just how many kilometres are on the clock of this tidy example of 1980s Scania muscle. Best estimates seem to agree that it would be around the 3,000,000km mark.

Little is known of the 142’s past, apart from photographs from Brian Danvers’ collection where we see it was new into the orange and red Freightways fleet, with a B-train tanker set. Current owner and general good sort, Greg Inch of Dunedin, has tried to uncover the truck’s past, but unfortunately to no avail.

“I have heard rumours that it was also possibly part of the Mogal fleet for a stint, but apart from that, its history is a bit of a mystery,” says Greg. “Back in 2000, I was driving past Mainline Commercials in the Kaikorai Valley, I had an F10 at the time, and I saw the 142 on their yard and I thought, ‘Now there’s a bit of extra horsepower.’ It was a tractor unit at the time. I have set it up as a swap body tipper so I can still use it as a tractor unit when I need to.

“In the 20 or so years that I have owed it, I have basically done very little apart from general maintenance. It’s had a gearbox swap-out, as it dropped a cluster. I have also replaced one piston and rings as well as three head gaskets. As far as payload, it has a tare of 9890kg so I get 11 tonne on its back. And with the six-rod suspension and full cross locks, she has awesome traction and also a fantastic turning circle; basically if you can back in and tip off, you won’t get stuck coming back out.

“I have had a few laughs with it being an older unit. It was built at a time when safety belts were not required, so you get the odd comment, ‘You weren’t wearing your safety belt?’ You say, ‘It doesn’t have any,’ that definitely gets some funny looks. And now it’s over 40 years old, registration is as cheap as chips; it’s now cheaper than a ute to register. Yeah, she’s a great truck, and it does the job extremely well. It’s a cool bit of gear to drive.

“Every year, the 142 takes pride of place at the front of our Special Rigs For Special Kids truck ride day here in Dunedin, and the passenger’s seat is always full, and that’s what it’s all about.”

We couldn’t agree more, Greg, and on that note, we look forward to seeing you all at this year’s event on Sunday 25 August.