Bernie’s Idea: Bernie Learson’s Kenworth W900B

Words: Ian Lee · Original photography from the ACT archive

Bernie Learson’s Kenworth W900B is now one of the most recognised trucks on the road. Ian Lee has the story of how it came to be.

“I want to start with a blank piece of paper. I want a truck that doesn’t have off the shelf custom parts, I don’t want to pull into a service station and find someone else has the same mods as me,” were the thoughts of Bernie Learson before he started to create his truck. When Bernie decided he wanted a truck, he knew exactly how it should be built, he just didn’t have a truck to customise.

At that time Bernie had no idea that the path he would take would be such a ride, with his Kenworth W900B ending up one of the most well known trucks on the road. No show pony, the W model still runs up the kilometres on a weekly basis, and has been built to allow for regular use. It’s definitely the whole package, and then some.

The journey started five years ago, when Bernie decided that he wanted a truck of his own, something to customise and put his mark on. After travelling to see a few different trucks that didn’t quite fit the description given in the ads for them, he tried his luck on an interesting find, an import 1985 Kenworth W900B. Bought unseen, just on the word of the owner, it was a surprise to everyone that Bernie had purchased the truck. None more so than his wife Cheryl, who when noting the nice truck in the driveway asked whose it was, Bernie replied ‘well it’s yours Love’.

As soon as the big W model rolled through his gate, Bernie could see the potential in the old girl, and knew it was the truck he was looking for. It just needed the Learson touch, was all. The truck had already had a right hand drive conversion by the time it landed in the current owner’s hands, so that was one of the big jobs out of the way.

With the powerplant being a Cummins N14 Plus, running power through an 18 speed gearbox to Rockwell 38 diffs, and sitting on Kenworth 8 bag suspension, the driveline was up to the task of the work the big rig would be doing. It was the way the truck looked that would be the major change.

The truck’s first stop was to Robbie Attard’s workshop, J & A Attard, where the truck received a complete freshen up of the front end.

New brakes, springs and air valves have given the W model a new lease on life, while the steering box has also been recently changed out to allow for the truck to be easier to handle on its weekly run. The rims are now aluminium all round, this work, just the beginning of the customisation process.

Next it was on to the aesthetic part of the build. From the front of the truck, there are so many stand out points it’s hard to focus on just one.

The radiator grille has been converted from the factory type to a full custom job, fitted up with horizontal louvres. The front bar suits the truck nicely, it’s an import just like the vehicle it sits on, with side extensions fitted, the bar works well with the custom mudguards, fabricated exclusively for this truck by All Style Metal Fabrication based in Penrith, NSW.

There are touches of work by All Style Metal Fabrication, as well as Londonderry Auto Electrical, peppered over the rig, with their work and Bernie’s ideas coming together to create the rig you see on these pages. The factory mirror brackets have been ditched, in their place a fully fabricated bar that incorporates the grab handle for the cab into the mirror mounting.

The steps and toolbox have also been fabricated just for this truck, with a barbecue being incorporated into the steps mounted behind the cab. This is handy for Bernie, who enjoys a nice cuppa while he is waiting to load.

Mounted over the drive tyres sit a set of custom Lelox guards that run along one side of the guard.

At the rear is a fully fabricated light bar, running LED Autolamps light componentry. The deck plates are heavy gauge heavy duty steel, painted and scrolled to suit the paint theme of the rig. The fuel tanks the truck came with are gone, the round tanks being replaced with wrapped Hilton units that complement the lines of the sleeper nicely. The side light bars, although low enough to look good on the truck, are not too low that they get knocked off on a regular basis.

Also hidden away under the cab is a diesel heater unit, to help keep the cab warm on those frosty early starts. To keep the theme of the rig going, Bernie has had the trailer built to suit.

Metallic blue chassis, stainless highlights, and blue scrolls ensure the truck and trailer are a complete package that Bernie is proud to show off.

Not that the truck needs to be talked up, with Bernie having trouble getting away from the bowser every time he stops to fuel up. By his calculations, it’s “10 minutes to fuel up and 15 minutes to answer all the questions”.

Going over the truck, it is easy to pick up on small touches that show thought in the build process, like the shape and angle of the headlight visors matching the shape and the angle of the sunvisor, or the trailer having a practically identical light bar to that mounted on the truck. Small touches that add up to make this a quality build. It is truly a credit to Bernie and the tradesmen that worked on the rig. Search for the song ‘Truck Stop Honey’ by Ben Ransom and you will find Bernie’s rig is the co-star in the clip. For a regular working truck, it certainly looks the goods, however like many other working trucks it still needs to pay its own way.

According to Bernie; “the truck has to pay for itself, all rego, insurance and mechanical bills come from the money it makes while the wheels are turning”.

From regular working rig, to a spectacular working rig, Bernie Learson’s build brief ensured a sweet truck, and that is definitely what he has.

Rear Vision: where are they now?

Do you know where this truck is today, or have an update on its story? We would love to hear from its owners, drivers or anyone who helped build it.