From Rust to Riches: Steve Joliffe’s custom Kenworth W model

Words: Anthony John-Pier · Photography: C5 Photography

Steve Joliffe spent 13 years rebuilding a former Western Australian salt-hauling Kenworth W model into a bright yellow custom truck.

Steve Joliffe’s Kenworth W model is anything but standard, from its bright yellow livery to its custom finish. It took Steve 13 years to get this rig from rust to riches.

Steve’s father Jack was into earthmoving and logging and Steve was naturally attracted to trucks and machinery.

He was seeking a trade and did an apprenticeship with Kenworth Trucks at St Peters in Sydney as a mechanic.

“We purchased that Kenworth because I was biased towards them after completing my apprenticeship there,” he freely admits.

Steve’s family bought the Kenworth in the early ‘80s and used it to pull a float. He says although the family business operated various trucks over the years the W model was always the best.

“It’s an old salt truck from WA, one of the green ones that used to pull road trains of salt across the pans from the harvester to the processing plant,” he explains its origins.

“We worked it hard and then in the mid ‘90s we parked it up as I went back to being a mechanic.

“Once I decided to go back to the trade, I thought we might as well sell the Kenworth.

“The only trouble was that the firewall was badly rusted out from years on the salt,” he recalls.

One Easter Steve decided to pull the cab off as no-one would buy it with so much rust, after the four day Easter break, there was nothing left of the truck!

“I just kept going,” he says. “Over the last 13 years, I have slowly put it back together, my way.”

Steve says it took a bit of time and thought to work out how to fit a Cummins N14 engine into the rig.

“The truck originally ran on a 335hp Cummins engine under a narrow butterfly hood,” he says.

When he went to fit a Cummins N14, he needed a bigger radiator but the butterfly hood would not allow for the larger dimensions of the radiator.

“I thought to myself, sh*t what am I going to do here? So I made an aluminium bonnet and it all fitted together well,” he explains.

Steve manufactured the side steps and says he did 95 per cent of the restoration himself however he turned to local company SLS Custom Stainless for some additional customisation.

“SLS did some of the stainless work and I did all the wiring and plumbing,” he says.

With his mechanical brain he says he thought how good would it be if the cab would lift up as it would make working on the truck much easier.

“It would be brilliant,” he says.

“It was a challenge but it didn’t matter, I wanted to do it,” Steve tells ACT enthusiastically.

With the tray, Steve had it cut out to his design and dimensions and then he put it together and fitted it. The paint scheme is very bright and you wouldn’t be able to lose this truck in a convoy. ACT found out that the livery wasn’t what Steve originally planned for.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this colour. I wanted the same colour as Al Sneddons.

The painter said that he knew the trucks, so I said okay and left him to it. I came down to put some hoses on it as he wanted me to move it out of the paint shop. I looked at the truck and said that it wasn’t the right colour. It looked nothing like what I wanted, and he said sh*t, that is what it has been painted,” recalls Steve.

Steve decided to put the stripe on it to break the yellow up a bit. Danny Showman did the line work.

The interior upholstery was done by Wayne Mulhall.

Now all done the W model will have to again earn its keep, this time though just enough to cover its expenses.

“I’d like to work it enough to pay the registration, maybe ten grand a year. That’s all I’m interested in. I’m looking forward to showing the truck off, after all it has been 13 years in the making.”

Rear Vision: where are they now?

Do you know where this truck is today, or have an update on its story? Tell ACT what happened next. We will verify current updates before adding them to the archive.