Tsunami — Mick Lake’s International Atkinson 4870

Mick Lake and Dany Lark transform a well-travelled International Atkinson into a remarkable custom truck.

Words by Chris Smith. Photography by Warren Aitken.

Mick Lake’s International Atkinson 4870, named Tsunami, has had a very long and distinguished history as a workhorse. It was Mick’s intention to spruce it up again so it could get back on the road over-nighting from Brisbane to Sydney.

However, when Mick, owner of Truck’in Stainless, gets a concept in his mind, well sometimes intentions get left by the wayside and cool designs lead him to the wild side.

His partner in crime customising Tsunami was Danny Lark, who was instrumental in helping with the eight-week makeover.

This particular International Atkinson 4870 has a rich history and ACT did a bit of research discovering it’s origins. It belonged to one of the most innovative transport companies Australia has ever had, the Interstate Parcel Express Company, better known as IPEC.

IPEC originated in Adelaide in 1955 by brother in-laws Charlie and Alf Charleson, they had a great idea about the need for overnight express freight and the idea really took off and changed the world!

This isn’t a history on IPEC, although it is fascinating, this is just a snapshot of where the International Atkinson 4870 Mick has originated from.

He says there are only 37 of these particular models that were made specifically for IPEC in two batches. The first run of 20 and the second of 17. The difference is the high level specification and they can be differentiated by the twin headlights.

Researching the topic ACT stumbled upon some great information. On the history of IPEC PDF through http://www. chauffeursforum.eu, it says that at the 1980 Sydney Truck Show, IPEC actually presented a new truck of its own. It was designed to be a truck that had American power and European handling and driver comfort and took almost a year to complete.

The result was the IPEC Tiger powered by a Detroit Model 8V TT diesel, it was rated at 365 hp at 1950 rpm which developed 1657 N/m of torque at 1400 rpm. GVM was 22, 500 kg, and CGM 38,000 kg. Operational tare weight was 9200 kg.

The prototype travelled some 670,000 kilometres over three years before being sold, in accordance with IPEC’s standard vehicle replacement policy. The truck, which never went into production was developed primarily to show the major suppliers exactly what was required to handle Australian conditions.

This is the connection. The International Atkinson 4870 was introduced to IPEC Linehaul in 1981 following the IPEC Tiger’s resounding success and based on the power, ride and comfort IPEC was seeking for its fleet.

This particular model International Atkinson 4870 came into the fleet in 1986 and has an A92 TA 475hp Detroit engine, 15-speed transmission, 3.55 diffs and Hendrickson suspension with a 22,500 kg GVM and a GCM of 42,500 kg.

After its time with IPEC Overnighters it was owned by Keith Smith who had it running up to North Queensland.

It was then owned by Craig Duffield and had been doing local work for the last 20 years.

It briefly belonged to Mick’s brother Tony Lake before Mick got his hands on it. As stated before, the intention was to spruce it up to get it working the Brisbane – Sydney run.

Mick says he tried to keep as much of the original parts on the ACCO as he could and fixed or modified pieces to his vision of what the truck could look like.

“We just stripped it, painted it and put it all back together,” he tells ACT.

“We tried to use everything that was original, like the air cleaners, however we cut them all up and changed them to fit in with the new look.”

It has a chopped look and this was achieved by lowering and extending the panels so they covered up the view of the engine. Mick says next to Aerodynes, Tsunami looks like a low rider in comparison.

From the front Mick replaced the aluminium bulbar with a one piece flat stainless bumper, fabricated in-house. The lighting on the bumper is all hidden so it produces a shadow lighting effect at night.

Moving up on the truck face the double headlights received new hoods. He tells ACT operating the headlights is unique for these special models.

“With the electrical system, this truck actually has override switches so if you lose your electrical system, you can still switch your lights on from inside the cab. This is another unique feature for the IPEC ACCOS,” explains Mick.

The grille has stainless inserts and the grill mesh has been replaced with stainless. Setting off the front is his own Truck’in Stainless logo.

Moving up, the windscreen glass has been replaced and above this Mick put on one of his signature boltless visors.

On the roof is 10 roof lights which are actually Argosy indicators.

These provide 360 degree lighting and can be illuminated in both white and amber.

“Because they are a 360-degree radius they light up all the pipes on the back of the cab so it has a great effect at night,” Mick explains.

These lights are also used on the side skirts to give the ACCO a ghostly glow at night.

“The side skirts all has shadow lighting underneath. It can be either blue or amber with a switch inside that allows the colour to be changed,” he explains.

Beyond the roof lights is mounted a “Moo Built” dovetail. The visual effect of the dovetail, the exhaust stacks and the air rams is impressive bling.

On the sides of the cab, to help with entering the ACCO, a third step was added and the existing steps were polished.

Mick also added new side mirror arms however he chose not to add any lights to these.

From the cab back the whole truck was re-wired, due to age and to facilitate the additional lighting that would be put on.

He created new wheel guards which are unique. They are extended by a quarter and create a very robust look.

“We created all our own wheel guards, as you can see there is a full guard plus another quarter, we need to pull that off to lift the cab,” he explains.

Much of the design was to enclose the vehicle and eliminate the view through to the chassis and to the engine bay.

The tanks have been painted. Two thicker stainless straps replace what was originally three straps and the tank steps have been taken away.

All the guards are extended – they are bracketless guards. Sitting under the wheel guards are the original spider rims.

The battery boxes were all hidden and now sit under the chassis. The chassis was finished off with nut covers imported from the states.

Mick added the turntable he has had for a while and fabricated a stainless turntable cover. Underneath the turntable sit four rear lights, which look very different but give off a very polished look.

The back light bar sits low to the ground and meets with the extra-long guards. It is complemented by a one-piece rear mudguard. Once again, the theme is enclosure.

Looking towards the back of the cab it is like a sea of chrome. There is a mirrored stainless back cab wall that reflects off the two exhaust stack and the two air rams.

The air hose couplings have been moved higher and the stainless header tank has become a feature.

Five stainless cross braces on the back of the cab are welded into the pipes rather than welded into the supports so all you see is pipe work rather than bracketry, which creates a very clean look at the back of the cab.

Behind the cab Mick also added two new aluminium steps to make getting up to the deckplate easier.

With a working truck in mind the engine and interior were also paid attention to. The cab was fully stripped. The dash was re-wired and painted while the bunk was revamped with party lights and a new stereo system.

“We just guttered the inside because it was pretty bad inside,” he says.

Wooden floors were put into the passenger side and the plan is to do the same to the driver side.

The gear stick has also been extended.

To prevent heat from the engine affecting the cabin, it has all been heat-proofed. The engine and compressor were all fixed to ensure the ACCO is a fully functioning working machine.

To cap it all off the signage was done by Sam’s Signs from Jimboomba.

Mick says this project is all but finished and the truck will go on-sale, so if you would like a bit of history in your shed, give him a call!

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.