Flat Top — OzWide Freight’s custom Kenworth K200

OzWide Freight’s first Kenworth combines a flat roof with a distinctive custom identity.

Words by Chris Smith. Photography by Chris Smith.

Image has been the driving force behind Brisbane based OzWide Freight’s expansion in the last few years.

A major rebranding in 2015 spearheaded the company to a prosperous future and 2018 has been its biggest year yet. The company has opened its second depot, based in Cairns, to complement its Brisbane depot and agencies in Perth, Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville to accommodate its growth.

For owners Luke and Rebecca Ashton, putting in place a combination of key management staff, loud livery and a great looking fleet has seen this quiet achiever find its feet in a very competitive general freight transport industry.

Luke and Rebecca both worked for transport companies before they started their business and in 2005 they had a crack at doing it themselves.

Born and bred on the Goldie Luke bought himself a truck and started running Brisbane to the Gold Coast.

Through hard work and determination, the business steadily grew. Helping it along was the acquisition of a decent sized customer.

They say image has been important to the way they have done business from the very start.

“From the start we spent a fair bit of money on our first truck making it look the part,” says Luke.

“We’ve always had our fleet stickered up.

“In 2015 we added to our logo and we just changed what was around it.”

The result of the change turned the company into a highly visible brand, especially in North Queensland where they primarily operate.

“People see our trucks a lot more and they like the Australian motif, the change in branding has made a big difference to where we were to where we are now,” Luke tells ACT.

“We get a lot of exposure especially in North Queensland. I get people ringing me on the weekend, saying oh gees your trailers look good. We have drivers that have parked up and people will get photos with them.”

The fleet is made up of five line-haul trucks, mostly Western Stars with the new Kenworth K200 flat roof as well as two prime movers that pull single trailers and a twin steer that pulls a pig trailer around town doing local pick-ups.

The fleet also has 12 body trucks running around between Brisbane and Cairns.

Luke and Rebecca are always on the go. They have a strong work ethic that incorporates a focus on customer satisfaction.

They say they are constantly keeping the lines of communication open with their customer base and differ from most companies who seem to only correspond if there is a major issue or an accounting problem.

“We’ve still got customers from when we started,” says Luke.

He tells ACT customers have followed him along from the days of driving for someone else. He adds, the customer base in North Queensland are particularly loyal.

“North Queenslanders are pretty loyal once you do the right thing by them.”

Rebecca says Luke is very hands on in the business.

“Luke still talks on a one on one basis to each customer. You don’t talk to many owners of companies these days, you speak to us in the office, depot managers or something like that, but not with OzWide Freight,” Rebecca tells ACT proudly.

But this business and its success is not just about the dedication of Luke and Rebecca.

Adding to the customer centric motivations is a people centric ethos.

“We’ve got good managers as well that are well known in the industry that have brought their own customers across that have followed them for years.”

One of the people onboard, Manager Michael Miller, is a veteran in the industry with more than 30 years under his belt.

Luke tells ACT he tried to get him a year and a half before he actually came over to the business.

“He’d only come on to work at OzWide Freight on the condition that we promise that we weren’t going to sell our business. I told him I’d give him 10 years and he told me he’d give me 10 years, and that is how the deal was done,” he says.

“Mick’s very proud that he’s going to be a two business man through his career,” Luke says.

“When we brought him on, he had an ambition to grow Perth and I let him go and pursue that vision and at the end of the day, that’s paid off.”

The business is now at a comfortable size and both Luke and Rebecca are adamant there is a fine line of where they want to be as a company.

“We don’t want to keep growing where we treat our customers like another number,” Luke states.

He is adamant that service backed by a great looking fleet is the best way to succeed in this business. Luke was beaming when we caught up with him.

It was the day he picked up his latest addition to the fleet.

This husband and wife team have an electric relationship with a lot of spark as they discuss the fleet purchasing decisions.

Rebecca confides that after the purchase of the first 10 trucks, “I don’t want to know about anymore, I don’t,” she says with a hint of exasperation.

Luke adds, “I usually put the order in before Bec sees.”

Rebecca retorts, “I just see all the deductions coming out,” as they both share a laugh.

With life partnership and working in the business together you can see the chemistry between the two is very strong.

With all Luke’s semis he’s tweaked the trucks so each of them have something unique. Every one of them has something that’s sentimental including personalised number plates.

The trucks are a family affair. The kids get picked up at school in them, they drive the trucks on the weekend and they even take the trucks out to do the grocery shopping. Now if that doesn’t show how much this mob likes trucks, I don’t know what does!

The latest truck is something very different. It is the first Kenworth ever for the business and the reasoning behind its purchase is that it is fit for purpose.

It is a cabover that has the right weight and length specifications for a new contract they have acquired.

“The type of truck we went for this time is a type that we actually need for a certain configuration that we have. It is a versatile truck which can pull 97 tonne,” Luke explains.

It may have been designed to perform a task, but that doesn’t take away the fact that it was superbly customised to be a unique specimen on the road.

“It’s a statement piece not just a truck.

You don’t just see flat roof K200s anywhere,” explains Luke.

Luke and Bec worked with Brown and Hurley Yatala salesman Ben Sparrow to get just the right look for the flat roofed K200. They enlisted the skills of Highway Lights in Burleigh Heads to provide the custom work.

The build concept is a retro style says Luke.

“Whatever I could get that was the old style that’s what we went for and Jason at Highway Lights was good like that, he told me what we can and can’t do and what he could get for the truck.”

Luke says Ben has been around some pretty cool gear including the spectacular SRV builds and explains that when he and Ben started chatting they both had a common idea of how the build should go.

“I’d ring him saying what do you think of this idea and he’d go yeah we’ll do this. Some of the stuff he didn’t even consult me with, but it’s turned out really good,” Luke admits.

“I think when I first said I want to do a flat roof he knew straight away how I wanted it to look.”

For Ben, he believes that building a rapport with a customer and knowing about their business is essential for delivering a product that is both practical and that looks cool.

“It’s a brand, it’s their brand and they’ve got cool trailers and you can’t just have cool trailers without a cool truck at the front pulling them,” Ben tells ACT.

With a flat roof one of the most obvious aspects of the truck that stand out is the air intakes and exhaust stacks.

The air intakes are the biggest that could be sourced.

“Jason put them up as high as he could,” says Luke.

The K200 comes with two plastic air intakes and a dummy exhaust pipe.Ten grille bars were added to the front grille as well as a LED light bar. A red LED was also added to illuminate the Kenworth bug up the front. Steer flare headlight lamps were also added.

Rear walk plates were added as well as a stainless-steel front on the rear of the turntable.

Other work done by Highway Lights included the round on cab LED roof lamps to give it that ‘Old School’ look.

Glow traces were put on the Z panel under the door.

They also painted the rear bar and added two red LEDs behind the bar and the step.

The wing panels with LEDs were added as well as a stainless-steel battery box.

The tank straps were wrapped, and some work was done to make the AdBlue tank a bit better looking.

Highway Lights also added a watermelon panel under the rear bar and added seven glow traces (LEDs).

They also added the K200 panels.

The unit is definitely ‘Old School’ COOL as the livery suggests.

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.