Age Is No Barrier: the Le Blang family’s Old Faithful Mack

Words by Warren Aitken. Photography by Warren Aitken.

Dependable and faithful like the bulldog that adorns its bonnet the 1979 R600 Mack ‘Old Faithful” lives up to its name working tirelessly for P & A Le Blang Transport of Redland Bay Queensland. The company have taken great care to freshen up the 35 year old Mack with young Jake Le Blang having a major influence on her look and feel, writes Warren Aitken.

As the years pass in the transport industry, traditionally drivers tend to move forward. They learn new tricks, they adapt to new rules and regulations, gain new skills, new experiences and drive new trucks. The Le Blang family of Redland Bay are no exception to this trend, apart from one unique difference.

Paul Le Blang has been driving for decades and been immersed in the industry for even longer. However the pride and joy, and workhorse, of P & A Le Blang Transport is actually almost twenty years older than Paul’s son Jake, the 16 year old who’s had so much influence on the current state of ‘Old Faithful,’ a pristinely presented 1979 R600 Mack.

Old Faithful may look like an example of a superbly finished project truck but she actually still works for a living.

Paul pilots her five to six nights a week hooked up to a single trailer, he loads chickens from as far afield as Gatton and Northern Rivers for Golden Cockerel. The chickens are delivered to the Golden Cockerel plant at Mount Gravatt. Old Faithful can easily accumulate up to 2500km a week. Aside from the obvious highway work she spends a fair bit of time on old farm roads, getting covered in dust, dirt and droppings. This is where Jake comes in.

At just sixteen, Jake is the future of our industry and for that we should be thankful. Not that he had much choice as it was in the genes. His father, uncles and Grandfather all drive, even as a toddler Jake would accompany his mother when she was driving trucks. Though he is too young to acquire his heavy vehicle license he has shown a focus and desire to be involved in the transport industry, a focus lacking in many his age. After a year of school based work experience at the age of 15 Jake approached Karramen Quarries to inform them he was wanting to become an apprentice mechanic. He was told to go home and pack his lunch ready to start at 9am that same day. Jake is currently in his second year with Karramen, learning his trade with one of Queenslands largest fleet of Mack trucks. When questioned on how he compares the new modern trucks against the classics he doesn’t hesitate. It’s the R600 all the way “they look big, they look tough.”

It is Jake that has had a major influence in the appearance and condition of Old Faithful, even his own money gets absorbed on eBay when new parts become available. The cleaning and polishing is another part of his dedication to the cause, and I even caught Paul on tape admitting “eventually it will be his, I suppose” the reluctance in his voice not a reflection on Jake’s ability, more the sad admission of a man not being able to part with his favourite toy.

The truck originally rolled out of the factory in 1979 as a short wheelbase R600 with a 287hp motor and 9 speed box. When Paul purchased it in 2011 it had spent the previous fifteen years with an ex mechanic who had dropped a 350hp 2 valve motor in and 15speed overdrive gearbox. It had 36,000lb diffs running on camelback suspension and a mere 315,000km on the clock. In fact since purchasing it, aside from the changes Paul has chosen, the motor has had one turbo replaced and been bulletproof. That is a lot of the appeal of this generation of truck to Paul. If he breaks down, a lot of the repairs can be done on the side of the road with just a spanner and some zip ties rather than a laptop and power cord.

After purchasing the truck in Melbourne, Paul drove the truck straight back to Brisbane without hesitation. At that stage it was a six wheel tipper with a steel bin on it. The tipper work lasted a year for the Le Blangs before the demand by the contractors for more modern gear made it unfeasible to continue forcing Paul to do what he has been doing the majority of his trucking life. Assess, adapt and act. So off came the bin and on went a turntable.

Paul picked up more work with Golden Cockerel, the majority of it was at night and involved a lot of time waiting around. It didn’t take many nights of sleeping across the seats of the old Mack, a task only manageable by the most agile of Russian gymnasts, before it became necessary to alter Old Faithful.

So Paul took a lease out on a T440 in order to free up the Mack for some rebuilding. Deciding to just use her as a backup if the Kenworth broke down “If you own a kenworth, you got to have a Mack as a backup it will get used a lot!” This is more of a reflection of the dependability of Macks than a desire to start conflict amongst the trucking purists. While Old Faithful did need to fill in more times than planned, she was off the road long enough for all the ideas and additions Jake had accumulated off eBay to be fitted.

With the help of Ian from Frontrow Engineering, the chassis was stretched. The tail shaft was lengthened. Twin stacks were added. A late model 13 double overdrive gearbox replaced the older 15 overdrive. An original sleeper box was added as well as 9 inch offset chrome rims. When she was up and running again Old Faithful was sent off to Franks Signs of Redland Bay for a fresh powdering of makeup and some subtle signwriting and pinstriping. Leaving the stunning 35 year old truck you see now.

But as Jake says “She’s a work in progress” with some stainless work to be added around the sleeper, fitting some extra marker lights and working lights for Pauls night-time needs. There are plans for stainless guards and Paul currently has two original fuel tanks at the sand blasters as this goes to print.

Custom trucks is by no means limited to the new and shiny. The old and reliable are just as impressive. I believe Paul’s wife Annette summed it up best when trying to characterise the Mack “It even smells different, it smells like hard work.”

Old Faithful definitely goes to show that Age is no Barrier.