Paradise — Cornwill Transport’s Kenworth T908

The Cornwill brothers explain the care and custom work behind their immaculate 2008 Kenworth T908.

Words by Chris Smith. Photography by Chris Smith.

The Cornwill brothers are a staple at Victorian truck shows. Their trucks are spectacularly kept. They clean every possible nook and cranny on their vehicles. If you ever get the opportunity to go to a truck show they are at, have a look for yourself. It will blow your mind! Like the mural on its back wall, looking at this truck makes you feel like you are in PARADISE!

We caught up with Troy, Wayne and Rick at the Castlemaine truck show where they are a regular and regularly win.

At Koroit, earlier this year they even took themselves out of the running of winning a prize by doing the judging.

There is no denying the boys love what they do and take immense pride in their fleet.

They grew up around trucks explains Troy, while he is cooking up a BBQ for the group. They offer me a beer and food, a testament to their hospitality.

The shows are a great way to catch up with mates and get away for the weekend and one of their old mates is in the background re-living memories cracking a coldie with the boys while I interview Troy.

“My old man’s been a truck driver all his life, he never owned his own trucks but me and my brothers grew up and that’s all we’ve ever wanted to do, own our own trucks,” he tells Australian Custom Trucks.

“The initial plan was just own a truck and do it up. Because of dad being in the industry for so long it was kind of a passion.”

He says Cornwill Transport started in Geelong but now they are based out at Bannockburn, which is about 15 minutes away from Geelong.

Their main business is carting steel, mainly around town. Knowing the complexities of load restraint and compliance, especially in this segment of the industry, I understand how the boys are fastidious about keeping things in order.

“We do a little bit of Wagga here and there and a bit of country work but not much,” Troy continues.

“90% of our work is metropolitan, Melbourne and through Geelong.

“We also cart a bit of cement for Boral, palletised in bags and do truck and dog work carting sand and gravel for the garden supply sector.”

The company has 10 trucks, but not all of them are working.

“We’ve got a few toys and different things,” he says.

“We’ve got a bit of work going on, so it’s pretty good. It is enough, we could have more but the more you have the harder it gets, I think. I am pretty happy where we are, so we’ll just leave it at that,” he reckons.

The 2008 Kenworth T908 we are featuring in this issue has been parked in the shed for four years now, but that is not why it is immaculate. If it was working every day it would be appearing at the shows in the same condition it is today.

They have had it since it was brand new and it doesn’t show its age, at all.

Troy says from brand new it worked sometimes 24 hours a day.

“I drove it of a night, my brother drove it during the day and then we went to Brisbane for the last six to eight months before fully owning it to finish the payments out on it,” he recalls.

“Since then things have changed and we are back into the sand and gravel a bit with another job, which Wayne is doing.”

He says the T908 may go out again and do work at some stage but adds that he is not too fussed either way.

“Around town she’s a big truck and some of the places we go, you are struggling to get in with what we have now. You can get in, but it’s just a lot harder with the T908, it is a bit impractical,” he confesses.

“You want a short bonnet and something with a bit more vision for the type of work we do.”

He points out a cabover is great for that but affirms you do lose the comfort that you get with a bonneted truck.

“It’s still pretty good, we aren’t doing the long distance so around town you don’t mind if it is a little more rigid or bumpy, a bonneted truck is probably going to be a little bit smoother. It is nicer to climb in an out, but you can’t have everything,” he says wisely.

Troy explains initially when they bought the T908 in 2008 it was specced with the most options you could possibly have, including all the heritage gauges, double locker box doors, double bunks and it came in their colour.

The T908 is powered by a CAT 625 ACERT running with a Pittsburgh Power Box putting out 750-800 via a Road Ranger 18-speed auto. The Cornwills enlisted the expertise of Thorpe Custom Trucks to customise their rig.

“We went to Leon Thorpe at Thorpe Custom Trucks, they did a lot of custom work to it,” he tells ACT.

“At the time I think it took us a couple of years, we were working it and getting the custom work done to it in between.

“It was completed in 2010. Each year it had more done to it, bits and pieces we wanted done. We sat with them and gave them the ideas we wanted on the truck with input with those guys, and we came up with what we have.

Thorpes welded the back of the chassis up to suit the custom infills and removed the rubber flares Kenworth put on.

They glassed the bonnet and re-sprayed it before fitting stainless flares along with custom head light surrounds, grille bars, mid visor, tank trims right through with welded ends, custom guard brackets, 7-inch shooters, some custom stainless battery box lids and a few other things.

That was just the first rounds. Troy explains it went back to Thorpes a year later for a few more additions including wrapping the inside of the front bar in stainless with lights in it, a custom light panel on the bottom lip of the front bar and a light panel between the J brackets on the rear tanks.

They also went back to Thorpe to get stainless steel floor boards through the cabin and sleeper, which by all accounts was a major task.

The result however is a timeless classic, a truck show favourite withstanding the test of time.

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.