GASsius Clay — Forge Transport’s custom Scania R730

Forge Transport gives Scania’s King of the Road R730 a full Australian custom treatment.

Words by Warren Aitken. Photography by Warren Aitken.

I’m sure many of us out there envisioned the likelihood of a blinged up Scania about as probable as an intelligent conversation with a Justin Bieber fan. However the latest addition to Queensland based Forge Transport’s fleet has broken the mould. They have taken Scania’s “King of the Road” R730 and added the full Australian bling package, turning out arguably one of the sharpest looking Scanias around.

Forge Transport is no stranger to the pages of Australian Custom Trucks magazine having previously featured with their stunning looking King cab K200.

The latest addition to their fleet of stunning looking and predominantly Aussie badged trucks is the result of a change of thinking, a push for safety, for fuel economy, drivability and profitability, without losing the eye catching appeal that Forge Transport are known for.

Owner and managing director Alan Forge has always had his eye on Scania. Even in the early days when he was a diesel mechanic, he recalls; “there was an old fella that used to bring his 112 into us for servicing, he got a phenomenal run out of it.”

That memory had always stayed with Alan, so when weight wasn’t the chief consideration for new truck purchases it allowed Alan to thoroughly investigate Scania.

Scania puts a strong emphasis on customer service and a big part of that service is getting to know their customers in order to sell them the right truck, with the right set up for the job. Chris Bolton from Scania Brisbane was going to make this happen for Forge. He put in the hard yards spending a lot of time with Alan, learning exactly what the truck would be used for, the kind of variety it would need, right down to the weights it would cart. This all allowed Scania to personalise the entire setup on the truck right down to the gearbox computer specs.

The other deciding influence in the purchase of a Scania can be summed up by the man charged with keeping the truck moving and profitable. Operations manager Josh Townsend, “price did it!” Josh quips before elaborating “the price was important, however it was the service and backup, five year contract maintenance when most, manufacturers only do three years, and then some don’t offer any. That shows faith in your own product.”

So with the decision made to go European the next step was the look of it. The shopping list from the driver, yes that’s me and manager, Matt Forge definitely would have slowed down Santa’s reindeer, if not, had him ticketed for an overloaded sleigh. Chris from Scania was more than excited.

“I’ve always wanted to do a fully customised Scania,” he says, adding “I’m like Matt, I love the bling”.

The huge task of customising the big R730 was made even tougher by the tight time frame. The truck needed to be on the road in mere weeks rather than months.

There should be several medals handed out for the final product.

Bell-Air Paint & Panel’s Wayne Dawson is the man responsible for the customised paint job. Painting the front grille and mirrors as well as other minor touches helped with the overall look.

Jo Lane from All Suspension Services had the job of applying all the DG requirements to the truck as well as the exhaust system.

Haultech Engineering fitted out the ever popular Icepack air-conditioning system.

The bullbar is the first of ‘King Bars’ exclusive heavy duty Scania range.

However, the gold medal must go to the team at Rocklea Truck Electrical.

Brock and Kim started Rocklea Truck Electrical back in 2003 and have seen it grow from a small team utilising Brock’s auto electrical background and his brother Josh’s boilermaker skills to one of Queensland’s premier all-purpose customising workshops.

When Brock received the list from Chris, he was a little shell shocked.

“We’d done a bit of work for Scania, some mudflap weights and a couple of sleeper air systems,” Brock recalls “but we’d never done a job of this scale to a European truck”.

The list involved ‘Australianising’ a European truck, a task more complicated than it sounds. The Scania fitted rear guards have a completely different bracketing setup to the standard systems, the Adblue tanks are different dimensions to the fuel tanks. The fuel tanks themselves are not standard rectangular tanks. All these little things meant Brock’s imagination went into overdrive in order to produce the final look.

“When your playing in unknown territory, it’s hard,” Brock says.

“You can have a vision in your head and get three quarters of the way and go, that’s not quite right, we need to change it.”

Luckily there wasn’t much that needed changing, in order to streamline the sides and overcome the issue of a smaller AdBlue tank the RTE boys opted to frame it up and wrap the entire lot with a strapless cover.

“I was a little worried,” Brock confesses. ”It’s a huge piece of stainless, I wasn’t sure how it would look.” He shouldn’t have worried, coupled with a custom Air Cleaner cover, it looks amazing!

The opposite side created the issue of wrapping the tank but still allowing access to the step for climbing up behind the cab. This is where RTE’s attention to detail shines, quite literally. Stainless wrap was added inside the tank cut-outs allowing step access but without losing any shine.

The factory guards where replaced with custom bracket-less stainless guards all round. The RTE team designed extra strength rear light bars to keep the guards solid. A custom stainless stone guard was also added, as well as chequer plating on the chassis. A stainless lid was made to cover the aircon, rear wing panels with illuminated FORGE TRANSPORT cut-outs extended from the wings and Scania mudflap weights finish off the end product.

Lights have always been a feature of Forge Transport trucks and the Scania is no exception with LEDs added to the mirrors, side skirts, bullbar, grille and visor as well as LED light bar and spotlights ensure the Scania can easily be spotted, from space!

With a vested interest in the final look of the truck I must admit I was like a ‘helicopter parent’ hovering around RTE during the build process, allowing me to see and gain a true appreciation for the work put in by the guys that turn out these custom trucks all around Australia. Credit to Brock and the team for their work but a special “good onya mate” to Ian, Dale and Alex who spent countless hours ensuring a “King of the Road” product is matched by a “King of the Road” appearance.

Rear Vision: where are they now?

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