Deals On Wheels Australia – September 2019

exception of several holes in the back of

the cab where people had drilled randomly

to affix different equipment. “It looked like it

had been shot with a machine gun,” Phyllis

says. At the end of its water truck days it

had been sold to another Mercedes fan in

Adelaide; unfortunately, that gentleman

passed away suddenly and the truck

ended up out to pasture on his daughter’s

Jimboomba property.

The timing of the purchase of ‘ Thelma-

May’ coincided with Trevor having some

time off the road with a shoulder injury so it

was a perfect project for the Davies family.

Trevor and Phyllis spent the next 12 months

removing all of the rusted-out pieces, all

of the bolted-on extras and ripping out the

dilapidated interior. Phyllis laughs as she

recalls the family effort that went into fixing

the dashboard wiring. “ Trevor had the

bonnet off and was on that side, our daughter

Sonya and I were inside sticking labels to

each wire, left-hand indicator, right-hand

indicator, it was a mess!”

Trevor took care of the mechanical side of

the old girl. Though in true testament to the

longevity of the Mercedes motors the old

1418 still fired up after nearly five years sitting

in a paddock. “I got covered in a lot of black

when she started up,” Phyllis laughs. It did fire

up though.

Trevor gave it a full work over during its

tear-down stage. Once all the rusted and

unwanted extras had been removed the

truck was sent off to another friend who

repainted the cab in the new Caterpillar

yellow, with its original white guards and

bull bar.

The interior had been rewired and then

new upholstery fitted. A little extra sound

proofing was added around the firewall

and all the original gauges reinstalled. “ The

hardest part was finding the little warning

lights,” Phyllis admits, referring to the lights

that sit just above the rear of each door. The

advantage of being members of the Heritage

Association really came to the forefront

when undertaking projects like the one

Trevor and Phyllis were into.

“ There’s always someone who knows

someone or has tried something that

will help,” Phyllis says. Though she does

The 1418 Mercedes-Benz

is a truck that’s played a

major role in Australia’s

transport history and

preserving that history is

just as important

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