Silver Star — Chris Sowter’s Defying the Odds tribute

Chris Sowter’s new Western Star 4800 is dedicated to his cousin Courtney, who is defying the odds.

Words by Chris Smith. Photography by Chris Smith.

Coming from a trucking family Chris Sowter was thrown in the truck when he was just six years old to learn how to steer a rig around the yard.

He remembers well the excitement and exhilaration, even though he couldn’t sit on the seat because his legs were too short. Standing while he drove he got to steer the truck and once he tasted life behind the wheel, well…it was difficult to take him away from it.

“I probably spent more time in a truck than at school, which isn’t a bad thing. I love it, it’s just in the blood,” he says proudly.

At 35 all he’s known is transport, the family business having been started 10 years before he was born.

The trucks he first drove included an International Atkinson and an early model 3600 DAF both with 400hp Cummins motors. Today the business runs four prime movers and two rigids.

Chris explains that they do a variety of work, including work for Penske Power Systems, carting massive engines backwards and forwards around the Hunter Valley, Brisbane and Mackay. So it was only fitting then for their new Western Star to be a product sold by one of their main customers, Penske Power Systems.

“We bought this Western Star brand new through Ray Veller, the Penske salesman in Mackay.

“It is a new addition to the fleet replacing an older truck that was written off, a minor incident but because of the age it wasn’t worth repairing so we had to update and buy another truck.

“Penske was a good option for us, with the work we do for them and the service we get through them, we looked down that road and that’s where we ended up.”

The company has changed its philosophy, now buying new rather than low mileage second hand trucks. The change occurred 10 years ago Chris explains.

“We started buying new, all the time, purchasing what we need to suit our jobs, setting up our equipment how we like it,” he says.

“We plan on 10 years plus lifespan on our vehicles, doing 120,000 km roughly a year.”

Based at Denman in the Hunter Valley, inland from Newcastle by about an hour and 20 minutes, the company services the whole Hunter region. The other part of the business is running to Sydney daily, with services to Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane servicing vineyards and the wine industry and general freight.

“All of our trailers and trucks are on airbag suspension, so everything rides smoothly,” he explains.

Unlike his love of trucking, his love of customising his rides isn’t inherited from the previous generation.

“Mum and Dad aren’t real keen on dressing up our trucks, but it’s something that I pride our fleet on,” he says.

“The last three trucks we’ve had have been dressed in this manner.

“Yes, you can say, it’s a bit of a habit of mine,” he tells ACT.

There is method behind this way of thought and Chris isn’t the first and won’t be the last to tell ACT the reason.

“I think you attract drivers that have a bit of pride in what they do, and it also shows our customers that we take pride in our vehicles and we look after their freight. That’s the main aim of dressing up our trucks,” he says.

He tells ACT the rest of the fleet is plain silver but with this he wanted something a little different as a tribute to one of his cousins, Courtney, that has lived a remarkable life.

“She has had a hard time in life, but she keeps “Defying the Odds”, which is the name on the back of the sleeper cab.

“Most of us probably wouldn’t have survived what she’s survived and she just keeps on bouncing back, so we thought we’d do something special for her and her father, which is my father’s brother, who used to work for dad. He’d love to be driving all the time but taking care of her 24/7 means he’s not able to do that,” Chris explains.

“She’s got a little soft spot in the old man’s heart so we thought we’d surprise her, a truck is just something different, no-one really knew about it except for mum and myself, so it was a nice surprise.”

Chris knows that practicality is paramount in his case when customising because of where the trucks travel. The potential for damage is part and parcel of the job. This is particularly evident when looking at the grey guards on the rear wheels.

“We go in to a lot of bad driveways and don’t have a lot of clearance on our trailers due to the way some of them are designed for specific freight that we do,” he tells ACT.

“Having plastic means less hassles when you snag a guard on a driveway, they’re a bit more flexible than the stainless guard you might tear it completely off where this one will just bend it out of shape and you just throw it away and get another one.

He says it is a lot easier to tear out and replace a plastic guard than a stainless guard and you get less damage when something goes wrong.

The bumper on the front is from AJs Total Truck Gear.

Chris says its not a standard bar, it has a few little bits and pieces done differently.

A bar across the top of the bumper was added with the addition of grille bars in place of the mesh. The number plate housing was also recessed so it sits in the bumper neatly.

Stainless surrounds were added around the headlight covers.

With the aircleaner lights he says he wanted something that would block in where the air intake pipe comes out the side of the bonnet, and just fill in that hole to make it look a bit neater.

“It came up really good, really happy with what Rocklea Truck Electrical (RTE) did,” he compliments.

RTE did all the stainless panels, underneath the side of the cab were painted instead of leaving them stainless just to match up with the rest of the truck so the truck was colour coded and easier to keep clean. This was also done to the sun visor.

“I find the stainless visor is too easy to scratch. There are a lot of bugs where we travel so it is not hard to scratch it without even trying, with the painted visor you just give it a quick polish once you’ve finished every now and then and you don’t have the scratch marks on it,” he explains.

The steps are all standard however RTE closed all the gaps on the fuel tanks to make it appear as a one-piece step.

This, once again, is to tidy the look up and make it look neat.

He says the exhaust shrouds have an infill in behind it to prevent daylight coming through.

On the back of the cab RTE created something a little different for the airlines and electrics.

It has been boxed in underneath the cab wall so no lines are protruding.

“This seems to work, so far so good, it’s made a big difference and it is a lot better,” Chris explains.

The Stratosphere is one of the smallest you can get. His priority was to maximise the trailer length to maximise his payload. It does have a few extras to make life on the road more comfortable including a Pioneer audio visual system which hooks up to the phone and can run the GPS and movies as a media player.

To finish the truck off the scroll work and signage were done by B and K Lines based at Darra.

The driveline consists of an Eaton 18-speed box mated to a DD15 Detroit engine at 560hp with Meritor diffs.

“It was a great job done by everyone involved; Penske Power Systems, Rocklea Truck Electrical and B and K Lines. I would like to thank them all. I am really happy with the outcome, so it is onwards and upwards from here on in,” concludes Chris.

Rear Vision: where are they now?

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