Secret Men’s Business 122: Tommy Hamilton.
Tommy Hamilton arrived at Echuca with two trucks: a W-model and an SAR. As he was sitting beside the W this was the truck to corner him about.
“I’ve just turned 68 years of age and recently sold my business after 50 years, which was earth moving, ready mix concrete excavators, dozers, you name it, out Ararat, Victoria.
“I had a brother who got crook and passed away…yeah, knocks you around a bit, losing a brother. Then I had to go and have open heart surgery. I had two leaking bloody valves, so that was another shock to the system. And so we decided to say, well, that's it.
“Believe it or not, because it was a family business, I wasn't allowed to buy Kenworth because they were too dear. We had Freightliners. We started off with the Coronado’s. They were good trucks. The cabins were a little bit squeaky but the Detroit's were good. Good drive lines, good engines. I had 8 trucks, all up around the 900,000 mark. Had a really good run out of them.
“And then I decided I wanted to buy the new SAR. I said to my brother, can I get one? He said no. What a bully! So after he passed away… Now I've got two beautiful trucks that I dreamt about as a kid. My wife thinks I waste a lot of money but that's the love of it.
“The W model was an ex Brambles fuel tanker and ended up with a young bloke at Moonambel in Victoria, out the back of nowhere. And here we are.
“I got it scrolled up by Robbie Lister who did a magnificent job. We painted the top half silver just to break it up a bit. Then there's a touch of orange up on top as well to remind me of my KHS business.
“She’s a 1985 with a 3406B CAT, 13 speed, everything’s still original and a beautiful old truck to ride in. I can't fault her. This and the SAR, they’re forever trucks. These are going to my grave.”
They’ll have to dig a big hole, Tommy.
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