Resurrecting Krystal Dreams (Ford LTL 9000)

Born in the horsepower wars of the 1980s, this Ford LTL 9000, aptly named “Krystal Dreams”, became a legend on the notorious East–West run across the Nullarbor, where fast trucking was king. Now, its restoration brings that golden era roaring back to life, thanks to Highland Haulage owner Mick Linger.

There are certain trucks that transcend steel and chrome, machines that etch themselves into the memory of an industry and the lives of the men and women who drove them. For anyone who ran the East–West in the late ’80s, the sight of high-horsepower rigs blasting across the Nullarbor at pace was as much a part of the landscape as the roadhouses dotted beside the highway and red dust. This story is about one of those rigs, Krystal Dreams.

This wasn’t just another big-bonneted Ford; it was a thoroughbred speck’d for speed and reliability, by the truck’s original owner, Klaus Derichs, for the toughest long haul of them all—Melbourne to Perth. At a time when the race against the clock was relentless, when two-day turnarounds were the benchmark and reputations were made or broken on delivery times, Krystal Dreams carved its name into trucking folklore. Its distinctive TNT orange and cream paintwork, commanding presence, and the way it ate up the miles made it a recognised figure at every fuel stop and depot along the way. Drivers would nod knowingly when they saw it streak past – because they knew it would be Perth-bound long before most had hit the halfway mark.

Fast trucking in those days was more than a job. It was a way of life. It demanded grit, ingenuity, and the sheer willpower to keep pushing when the road seemed endless. The Ford LTL 9000 became the weapon of choice for many who lived that life, as it was more affordable compared to similar-spec’d Kenworth and Mack prime movers.

Today, decades later, Krystal Dreams has been lovingly restored, not only as a tribute to those golden years of interstate freight, but as a rolling time capsule of an era when horsepower ruled and the open road was the proving ground.

By mid-morning Saturday, the rush to get trailers from the ferry at Devonport was all but over at Highland Haulage’s Deloraine depot. Owner Mick Linger was busy spraying tyre black on the trailer tyres of the restored TNT Express trailer that rolled out of the workshop the day before.

Mick’s an old school kind of bloke who still believes a handshake means something and that taking the time to teach a young kid how to change a tyre properly matters.

Mick’s passion for trucks isn’t just skin-deep; it’s in his blood. He’s a man who’s spent the better part of four decades behind the wheel. Yet, what truly sets Mick apart is his meticulous attention to detail. Whether it’s hand-polishing an air intake, double-checking a load chain, or moving a pallet to get the weight just right, nothing escapes his eye. His perfectionism is a testament to the quality of his work, a craftsman who knows the little things add up when you’re hauling heavy freight across the country.

But Mick’s generosity extends beyond the mechanical realm. He’s a mentor in the truest sense, always ready to guide the younger generation, whether it’s explaining gear ratios or offering a handy tip on securing a load. He’s opened his workshop to apprentices, lent his trailers to friends in need, and always has time for a cuppa and a chat with anyone who drops by the yard. His role as a mentor is invaluable to the trucking community.

In an era where time is money and wisdom can be hard to come by, Mick Linger remains a rare breed, a gentleman trucker with grease on his hands, pride in his fleet, and a heart as big as the loads he’s known to haul.

Almost on cue, as Mick stood up and replaced the cap on the trye black can, an elderly lady appeared beside the LTL. “Hello, Mick”, she yelled with a smile and a wave. “G’day, Jean, be with you in a minute,” Mick replied with a grin. Then, as Mick wandered off to the wash bay, while no one was looking, Jean hugged the front guard of the LTL and quietly whispered, “Hello, Krystal, welcome back” …

Let’s rewind the clock here.

In the eighties, Jean and husband Klaus Derichs, the original owners, had a contract with TNT hauling ice cream and cream from Melbourne to Perth. They had a small fleet of Ford LTL 9000 prime movers. In 1986, when they ordered Krystal Dreams, they wanted something a little different with this truck. Klaus requested that extra uprights be fitted at the bottom of the bullbar and a larger 42-inch sleeper also fitted. Both Klaus and Jean were fond of Chesterfield couches with the deep button tufted upholstery, so they had the interior completely customised in the Chesterfield pattern. The right-hand switch panel on the LTL was modified entirely to Klaus’ specifications with additional switches.

As Mick returned, he gave Jean a big hug and said, “What do you think, Jean? She’s ready to go around and load up the cream?” Jean smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Mick, I want you to have this,” Jean said, placing a small box into Mick’s hands. “It’s the crystal that Klaus and I use to put on the dash when we travelled together. It belongs with you and Krystal Dreams.

“All our trucks had names,” Jean explained. “We had ‘Inspirations’ and then when this one came along, we wanted something that worked with Klaus’ initials ‘KD’. We both liked crystals, we weren’t hippies, she added with a smile. So that’s how we came up with ‘Kyrstal Dreams’ from Klaus’ initials. Oh, there were all sorts of rumours going around, it was named after an old girlfriend, but that wasn’t the case,” Jean added.

Nuts and Bolts

The Caterpillar 3406-B under the long bonnet delivers a cracking 400 horsepower (298kW), big power for 1986, and punches out a hearty 1650 lb-ft (2237Nm) of torque. Behind the big yellow CAT engine sits an RTO-16915, overdrive transmission. In the 15-speed 900-series Roadranger transmission, the top two gears get swapped around, which means that the top gear is forward towards the dash. The shift from third to fourth gear position is like an upside-down “U” move, as the two ratios are side by side. The rear axles are Rockwell SSHD at a 3.9:1 ratio on a Rockwell six-rod.

The 42-inch sleeper is 6 inches (150mm) longer than a traditional 36-inch sleeper, which meant the fifth wheel sits behind the centreline of the tandem to enable enough swing clearance for the fridge motor on the van.

Mick admits that the configuration of the fifth-wheel behind the centre of the tandem meant he could only ever get 5-tonne over the steer axle. “Yeah, I got knocked off a couple of times for overloading, Mick recalls. “Mostly when I had a load of meat. The meat works were no different from many companies back in the day. They would write the load of the product on the docket but not include the three-quarters of a tonne for cartons and another tonne for the pallets. Consequently, you were always running the gauntlet.”

Finding the truck!

“I knew where it ended up to start with for a couple of years, after Klaus sold it, then totally lost track of it,” Mick recalled.

For years, the trail had gone cold. Then along came young Tim Creswell, a spud grower from just up the road, who was looking for a truck of his own. Tim stumbled across a Ford LTL way over in Western Australia, bought it, and drove it back, ironically enough, under one of Mick’s trailers.

“I remember walking past it in the yard here,” Mick said with a grin. “I had a quick glance at it and thought she’d been hit with the agricultural stick. The door was open, so I glanced inside. Straight away, I noticed the red trim. I thought to myself, ‘I’ve driven one like that before.’ But I didn’t give it another thought.”

What happened next reads like a script you couldn’t make up. Klaus, the original owner of Krystal Dreams, had lived on Tim’s farm for 26 years. When Tim proudly showed off his new purchase, Klaus only had to spot the bullbar, with its distinctive extra uprights, to know instantly: “That’s my old truck!”

A few months rolled by, and farming pressures saw Tim concede that his plans to restore the LTL would have to wait indefinitely. So, he decided to sell it.

One afternoon, he rang Mick.

“Tim asked me if I’d recognise if the LTL were Klaus’ old Krystal Dreams,” Mick recalled. “I told him I’d call out to his place after work. I had no sooner hung up the phone when I heard the rumble of a Jake Brake coming down the road. I look around, and Tim wheels it straight into my yard.”

Mick climbed into the cab.

“I sat there for about five seconds, looked for two things I knew, then climbed back out. ‘That’s it!’ I told him.”

Ironically, when Tim asked if Mick wanted to buy it, the answer wasn’t immediate.

“Initially, there was a part of me that did, but I wasn’t sure. I said to Tim, ‘Give me a week to think about it.’ Truth is, I’d already started building a replica. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realised, why settle for a copy when you can bring the real McCoy back to life?”

Mick and Tim struck a deal, and the LTL got parked down the back of Mick’s yard, letting the restoration idea simmer until February 2023, when he made the call to move it into the shed. “One Saturday afternoon, I drove it inside, and we just got stuck into it.

The old Ford LTL was stripped right back to bare rails. From there, the chassis was sandblasted clean and treated to a generous coat of TNT orange—just as it left the factory all those years ago. Mick’s aim was simple: keep the restoration as faithful as possible to the truck he once drove across the continent. But the tyranny of time had left its mark. Sadly, the bonnet, cabin, and sleeper were in a poor state.

“We started to repair the original cabin, but the amount of rust removal required would have well and truly blown our project deadline,” Mick said. “I had another LTL cab in better condition that we’d already started repairing for a different job, so we used that one. The bonnet was brand new—straight out of the crate I’d picked up years ago. The sleeper still carries the original frame and roof, but we built new walls here in our shed.”

For Mick, authenticity came with scars. “I want the finished truck to resemble what I drove back in the day,” he explained. “Sure, I could’ve straightened up the fuel tank brackets where I’d cleaned up a kangaroo or two on the Nullarbor. But those knocks are part of its story. You know the old saying: behind every scar there’s a good yarn. I thought it was important to preserve that heritage. Unfortunately, the tanks themselves were too far gone. After forty years, the dents and road damage meant we had no choice but to fit new ones.”

Not every detail could be left untouched, though. Some refinements were made for comfort. “We kept as much original gear as we could,” Mick said. “But we did modify the exhaust brackets to take Kenworth-style isolators. The old pipes were solid-mounted to the bunk and really droned inside when she was on full song. We also added sound deadening to the cab. Other than that, she sits today about as close to original as you’d get.”

Mick is the first to admit the restoration was bigger than one man’s project. “This truck wouldn’t be back together without the generous help of so many people who share a passion for keeping our transport heritage alive,” he reflected.

Here, sitting gleaming in the sunlight, it’s ready to tell its story to a new generation. And in its rebirth, we are reminded of a time when Australian trucking was at full throttle, when the East–West run was the ultimate test, and when a truck like this and the men who operated them could become a legend.