The life and times of Australia's "Nullarbor Kid". True stories from his past.

Jim Dinsdale purchased a Thornycroft Prime Mover and attached it to a bogie axle trailer to carry new car batteries, quite a heavy load, from Sydney to Adelaide 2,000 miles return trip, on a regular basis.

Now the Thornycroft was a very strong truck but was more suitable for fire engines and the like, low ratio diff etc. but there wasn't much for us to buy in those days.

It was really too slow even by the standards back in the 1950's.

Most of the trucks back then were British made as Australia was tied to a system that had been around for years to buy British. Tariffs were high on all goods from other sources as much as we would have liked them.

A few Diamond T's and Mack's were seen occasionally but very few as not many were imported and it was a long wait after ordering them.

Around this time Ford 500 and International 180's started to make an appearance. 

Anyway Jim after returning from his first trip to Adelaide which had taken him far longer than he expected as the "Thorny" was governed at a very slow speed like 28 m.p.h. flat out "like a lizard drinking"... (his description) and a full load of batteries  weighing always near the maximum allowed weight or a little over, Jim stormed around to the Thornycroft distributors  and complained bitterly of the slowness of the truck and his frustration.

The manager John Crow immediately went and proudly showed Jim the specifications of his truck, while Jim was loudly yelling he wanted his money back never mind all that "bull".

"Now Jim look at this... look at its torque it's wonderful"

"Torque... TALK... it doesn't even whisper, I want my money back!" yelled Jim.

There was no money back .The truck was his.

So to make the best of what he had Jim decided to do only two trips a month to Adelaide... take his time put "plenty of pudden on" make it worth while.

One summers day at about sun down I was on the way across western Victoria on the way to Adelaide, this sealed road was the only alternative if the more direct route over the black soil Hay Plain was closed because of rain. When this happened the wheels of the truck picked up the wet black soil until it had caked up that thick that it jammed the wheels till they couldn't turn and all traction was lost... no where to go till it dried and then the driver had to chip all the dried soil from under the front mud guards and the drive wheels, which had dried like cement.

I was caught only once never again. It was better to take the longer route although there were more of the "enemy" around. (Police, roving transport Inspectors etc.)

Any way looking into the fast disappearing sun I could just make out a truck ahead parked under a tree "for the night".

"Yeah" I said to myself "it's Jimmy".

I pulled up and sang out through my passenger window, "Knocking off early aren't you Jim"?

He waved and called out "Going to bed Ray".

I switched off and walked over to him and watched in amazement at what he was doing.

He had bought an old army metal cot with wire mesh and cut and welded it, made it narrower and shorter so that it fitted inside the width of his cabin. It was hinged at the bottom to the rear wall of the cabin and hooked at the top so that by climbing up onto the central metal engine cover that divided the cabin from front to back , near the windscreen he could swing the cot down and he had a sleeping bunk. Primitive but it worked for him as he wasn't very tall.

"No use trying to hurry with this thing so may as well be comfortable", this was being said as he changed into pyjamas. True.

Years later I wondered... could that be called the first "sleeping Cab" in Australia"?

The year was... about 1955.

Jim sedately wandered back and forth and sometimes up and down to Brisbane for years and years.

Many the times at some ungodly hour rushing through the night I have glimpsed Jim sound asleep well off the road under a tree and envied him.

From; "My Way on the Highway", Copyright 2005 Ray Gilleland

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