Deals On Wheels Australia - Issue 399 2016_

248 TradeTrucks.com.au AUSTRALIA’S #1 TRUCK MARKETPLACE

NEWS&REVIEWS

A

part from harvest time, Anthony Ryan’s

1980 Kenworth K125 has spent every night

in the shed since he bought it second-hand in

April 1983. However, it made a rare appearance

outside daytime working hours when it took part

in the convoy at last year’s Road Transport Hall of

Fame Reunion in Alice Springs.

“I have been to quite a few truck shows and

always said that one day I was going to do that,

and we did,” Anthony says.

“It would have been the longest period it’s been

out of the shed, that’s why it looks as good as it

does.”

Anthony calls the small town of Halbury home.

Around 150km north of Adelaide, it’s a place he

has lived all of his life.

The K125 was originally owned by Graham

McNeill in Quirindi in New South Wales. Anthony

bought it through Gilbert and Roach and recalls

phoning Graham about the truck back in 1983.

“He said I would only need a one-way ticket,

and he was right. I’m sure it’s a Wednesday

truck,” he says.

The K125 came out of the factory with a

Cummins Big Cam 400 and a Fuller 1215 RTO

overdrive gearbox. Anthony repowered it in

January 2007 with a Big Cam 2 and it’s now

putting out 435hp (325kW).

The diff centres were changed at a million

kilometres. As they happened to be on special at

Kenworth, changed both diffs for $8,000.

“Everything else is original, and it’s never been

painted,” Anthony says. “That’s why people up at

Alice Springs recognised it.”

The Kenworth hauls grain and fertiliser, a

vocation that Anthony and his parents have been

involved in during their entire working life.

Anthony originally bought the Kenworth to pull

a tautliner to haul fertiliser but he sold that trailer

and bought his present tipper. He later added the

pig trailer.

“It’s more versatile than a B-double but carries

the same weight,” he says.

“It’s allowed to go anywhere a B-double can go

and it is very quick to change.

“For example, if you don’t want the pig trailer

on, you just drop that and immediately you are

back to a single, whereas with a B-double you

have to wind down legs, unhook and swap onto

your B-trailer.

“The pig trailer will just sit there because it’s a

floating hitch.”

HAULING GRAIN

Anthony’s father Pat Ryan began carting grain in

the area in 1947, trading as PJ & NM Ryan.

“Dad came out of the war with a Maple Leaf

Chev. He carted grain into Halbury as bagged

product still coming in,” Anthony says.

“As time went on, what they used to do was

send the bags on an elevator, cut them open into

bulk bins and we would then bulk the grain to

Ardrossan.”

Although Adelaide is closer than Ardrossan,

Adelaide’s long turnaround time remains a

lengthy exercise.

“One morning my brother Barry was over at

Ardrossan, and I was number nine from the

sampler in Adelaide. He was about 150th in line

and he beat me home,” Anthony says.

In brief

Name Anthony Ryan

Company A W Ryan

Truck 1980 Kenworth

K125

Engine Cummins 435hp

(325kW) Big

Cam 2

Trans 15-speed

Roadranger

Freight

carried

Grain and

fertiliser

Regular

run

Mid north of

South Australia

Thanks to it being

safely tucked away

undercover each

night Anthony

Ryan’s 1980

Kenworth K125

has kept its almost

original condition.

Peter and Di

Schlenk write

WELL KEPT

kenny

1

DOW 399.cls 248 26/02/2016 10:02 am