New Zealand got three of Mack’s 100-Year celebration trucks. One Trident went to that South Island bastion of all things Bulldog, Road Metals, and two Super Liners, one to Protranz Earthmoving in Christchurch and the Golden truck we’re featuring this month.

“I love the Australian outback thing and rural trucking generally, whether here or over there,” said Skip as we all stood back looking on. “I saw the news item in the magazine when they launched these and thought, ‘that’s me, right there.’ So I phoned Nick Kale at MTD and made some enquiries. It’s a lot of truck – maybe not that practical – but there’s a lot more in this than just what it is. And, hey, I was looking at everywhere I went in the Trident the other day, and there’s nowhere I couldn’t have got this and the B-train.”

The initial impact when you pull in the yard is the sheer size of the big gold Super Liner parked in front of the office. Those familiar with the outback will instantly think someone’s overshot the Cloncurry Saleyards or made a bum turn on the Sandover. Mechanically, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for us. Obviously, they’re a gold-dog truck, meaning proprietary components; the MP10 motor, 12-speed mDRIVE AMT, 2370B axles, and Air Ride suspension. What gives the Aussie gigs their real point of difference is all the necessities required to survive in the red centre; 1550 litres of fuel, 200 litres of DEF, ground clearance, the big house on the back, the Icepack, and the bullbar, of course.

   
MP10 with oodles of room.

Skip drew the practicality line at the GCM and specified a rear-end not required to ever drag six decks of Brahman or Santa Gertrudis cattle from Brunette Downs to Darwin

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