Beautiful Build: the Materia Bros’ Klos-built Kenworth W model

The Materia Bros Klos built Kenworth has a very interesting build history. It is a case of two Kenworths made into one spectacular ride.

Original ACT archive feature. Photography by Robbie “Dingo” Rose.

It wasn’t hard to notice the Materia Bros W model Kenworth as I walked around the recent Koroit Truck Show. I was lucky enough to meet Mark Materia and catch up with Robbie “Dingo” Rose who conveniently had already done a shoot of the spectacular ride.

Materia Bros has a long rich history in Warrnambool a seaside town about 3 hours out of Melbourne and about 20 minutes from Koroit.

The company isn’t a transport company, it owns a fruit and vegetable shop that is celebrating 50 years in the town.

However the association with trucks has been a long one and form the beginning Materia Bros has transported its own produce from the Melbourne markets.

Mark says it’s this association with trucks from a very early age that sparked his love of trucks.

He admires his dad that drove a1976 International single axle, which they still have today, one of the trucks that never had the luxury of air-conditioning and was rudimentary by today’s standards.

“I learnt to drive on the International and my dad used to drive it every day to get the fruit and vegetables from the Melbourne markets to Warrnambool,” he recalls.

Mark says, in comparison, the trucks driven today are luxurious.

Just looking at his eye-catching W model Kenworth it is evident Mark takes pride in keeping it looking immaculate. Mark has had the truck for three years and it looks as good as the first day he brought it home. The only things that have been changed since the photo shoot is the exhaust stacks and the company name now adorns the door.

He says he had always wanted a Peterbilt but that notion was seriously challenged the moment he laid eyes on this beauty, back then however it looked nothing like it does now. The work put into it by Klos Custom Trucks is a fabulous showcase of the skill of Justin, Turk and the Klos crew.

“When Justin Klos said it was for sale I held my head in my hands, it was a lot of money and I didn’t know what to do,” he says of the decision to purchase.

The truck is a carefully crafted amalgamation of a wrecked 1998 T800 originally imported from the states with a 2000 Kenworth W900L the Klos Brothers found in Colorado.

The 1998 T800 had already been converted to right hand-drive and had complied with Australian Design Rules (ADRs) under a process of certification labelled Amtruck for “American Truck”.

Justin explains that the process of building an American Kenworth truck legal to

register and work in Australia is a complex affair.

He tells ACT in order to protect the Kenworth dealers in Australia, the government passed strict laws that do not allow people to import American KW trucks into the country to be registered and worked.

He says several years ago a loophole was found in the law and someone began importing new Kenworth T800 glider kits into the country as “parts” trucks.

“After they arrived, he would drop a drivetrain into them and register them as new Kenworths,” he tells ACT.

“After a couple years, the Australian government cracked down on this practice and stopped allowing these trucks to be registered as Kenworths – they now get registered as an Amtruck, which is short for American truck.

“For an Amtruck to be registered, it must first be converted into a right-hand-drive configuration.”

They used the 1998 T800s right-hand-drive chassis, cab and some of its drivetrain.

The American W900L provided the hood and sleeper, as well as most of the interior parts and exterior accessories. Mark explains this is one of the differences between the American and Australian Kenworth versions with the American hood being close to 12 inches longer. The Mark says the other difference is the type of gauges on the dash, a style he very much likes.

“Justin built the interior the same style as the American trucks,” he says.

Both trucks were stripped bare before the boys could begin the restoration and reconstruction of the truck.

According to Justin the project began by stretching the frame rails of the T800 as long as they could legally go – from 230 inches to 260 inches.

He explains this didn’t include the hangers and springs, which came from the W900L to get the truck lower, most of the T800’s front end was used.

Justin says they wanted the back of the truck to resemble an old 1930’s hot rod coupe. To achieve this look the boys spent two days cutting, welding and modifying the rear end, to create the curved shape.

While the boys worked on the chassis the brothers sent the cab, sleeper and hood to Litz Transcolor to be painted IH Red.

The red, according to Mark, is the colour of the other fleet truck, a T904, which was bought from brand new in 2002.

The boys also prepped and painted the rails and chassis red to match the rest of the truck.

Once the cab, hood and sleeper came back from the paint shop, the boys added all of the custom stripes and then put everything back together.

Justin painted all the stripes and added the final detail.

“Justin said the stripes would look good continued behind the bunk, and it does,” Mark tells ACT.

After dropping in a freshly-rebuilt and painted Detroit Diesel DD4, with a bit of chrome work, a new 18-speed transmission and a new radiator, the truck was then assembled. Mark says he is a massive fan of the American styled trucks and this includes the placement of steps.

“I asked Justin to move the tank forward a bit, to give me an extra step behind the tank,” Mark says.

The boys polished-out and installed the two American-style step boxes from the W900L in front of the fuel tanks, and then built two more just like it to place behind the painted tanks, which they manufactured in-house.

The rig was also outfitted with a 20-inch bumper, new wheels and tyres, a 12 Ga. air-ride kit for the front axle, Vortox air cleaners, seven-inch pipes and custom stainless steel rear fenders.

The truck also got a new grille, a new mid-drop polished visor, a turbo wing, new roof lights, stainless steel cab and sleeper extensions, tank fairings, a custom rear light bar, painted deck plates, and more LED lights.

The interior of both the cab and sleeper was all redone in crimson red and black, and all of the electrical was moved from the W900L into the new rig.

The cab also got new Bostrom Wide-Ride seats, a new radio, and all of the wood-grain dash panels from the W900L.

“From what it looked like originally to what it looks like now, it is totally different. Now it looks brand new,” says Mark very proudly.

The truck, admittedly, first appeared in the American 10-4 magazine and a few of Dingo’s pictures of it have been splashed on the internet on various social media sites. Incidentally Dingo has made the transition from truck driver taking photos to now being a professional photographer, so be sure to like his Facebook page Robbie Rose Photography.

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.