Does anyone know the history or the original operator of this tough old logger?
Old R-Model Mack
Every now and then, a relic from the bush turns up that stops you in your tracks. This old R-Model Mack and tandem-axle jinker is one of them — and we’re hoping one of our readers might recognise it.
From the looks of things, it’s been parked in this very spot for quite some time. The perishing 10.00 tube tyres on spider split rims tell their own story, cracked sidewalls, rusted lock rings and that unmistakable weathered stance you only get from years of sitting idle. Yet even now, sitting silent and sun-bleached, it still carries the unmistakable presence of a truck that once earned every dollar the hard way.
You can almost feel the nostalgia seep out of it; picture the old Mack parked up late the night before, diesel tank filled from a gravity-fed tank, jinker greased, chains laid out, and everything ready for a pre-dawn departure back up the bush.
Back in its day, mornings started with the bark of that Mack shaking the valley awake, a blue haze hanging low over the log landing. The driver, thermos and lunch tin on the passenger seat, would nose the bonnet toward the hills as the sun was just starting to colour the sky.
Soon enough the cool morning air would give way to dust. Proper bush dust, the fine, talcum powder type that hung in the air long after you’d passed, swirling into tall ghostly plumes behind the trailer. The old girl would settle into her work, the engine digging deep as she clawed her way up the rutted dirt climb.
The chocks rattled in the bolsters, thumping and clanging in that familiar rhythm every log truck driver knows. The chain dogs jingled. The jinker’s walking beam squeaked as it rolled across washouts, and the whole rig groaned like an old shearer stretching his back after a long day. And through it all, that Mack just kept pulling, steady, determined, uncomplaining.
There was a certain romance in that era. Simpler gear. Fewer gadgets. Just a driver, and the timber track ahead.
Truck Specs
So, the big question remains: what’s under the bonnet of this one?
Is she a Coolpower, or one of the much-loved Maxidynes that made their name in the bush?
And while we’re guessing — could she be running the old 12-speed twin-stick transmission? Plenty of blokes will remember how those gearboxes sang on the climb, especially with a full load of hardwood behind them.
If you know anything about this old Mack, where it worked, who drove it, or even just a memory from seeing it on the road, we’d love to hear the story. Trucks like this deserve to have their history shared.
Drop us line. Somewhere out there, someone knows this rig’s past… and it’s about time it was told.
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