PETERBILT’S AUSTRALIAN FORAY©

By far the most unusual trucks that came into the country were two left-hand drive 6x6 model 383 oil field trucks for the French Petroleum Co. (Aust) Pty. Ltd., Adelaide. Although the units were based in Perth in Western Australia, they were always away, travelling over the most inhospitable parts of the Australian continent imaginable. This sale came about when Laurie heard that they were talking to Ed Cameron with thoughts of buying a Kenworth. He obviously made a better offer, and the trucks were ordered with GM 8V-71 engines due to the fact that much of their equipment was already powered by that engine maker. Except for the latter, all other units sold onto the market were landed built up as right-hand drive ex-factory. This makes them unique as no other factory engineered right-hand drive over the road Peterbilts are known to have been made at that time.

Considering the strength built into the 65,000lb capacity Timken SFDD-4640, hypoid spur, double reduction rear axles in the French Petroleum trucks, Laurie was surprised to get a call for replacement axle shafts for one of the trucks. Not ever expecting a call for such parts, none were in stock and had to be flown out from the States. Wanting to find out how they could break such a part, Laurie personally flew the company work plane out to the Simpson Desert where the team had been searching for oil. After landing in a dry creek bed, a demonstration revealed that they had managed to get all wheels skipping at once. Quite a feat for such a large vehicle and clearly explaining the axle failures due to the immense stresses imposed on the drive-line!