Kent’s Gamble: Jaimie Kent’s Western Star recovery truck
Originally published in Australian Custom Trucks, Issue 2 (2013) · Riley Blue
Rear Vision | First published in Australian Custom Trucks, Issue 2, Summer 2013.
Jaimie Kent took a 1999 Western Star that had carted scrap into Port Kembla Steel Works and rebuilt it as a heavy recovery truck for Kent Collision & Kustom. When ACT visited in 2013, the result was a vivid purple and green machine with a playing-card and dice theme: a reminder, Jaimie said, of the financial gamble involved in the build.
The family knew trucks well. Jaimie’s father Ray had been an owner-driver and a founder of Riteway Express. After years buying, dismantling and exporting used trucks in Canada, the family returned to Australia in 1994. Jaimie and Debbie Kent refocused the business on smash repairs, paint, custom work and right-hand-drive Peterbilt conversions, adopting the Kent Collision & Kustom name in 2006.
A truck built to show the work
Heavy recovery was a natural extension of the repair business. Jaimie became an Australian distributor for Jerr-Dan equipment in 2008 and later decided to build a truck for his own operations. This one combined a Jerr-Dan wrecker and Side Recovery System with the company’s custom paint and finishing work.
The deadline was the 2012 Melbourne International Truck, Trailer and Equipment Show. With four weeks to go, the truck still lacked its interior, recovery body and paint. The crew worked long days. Two painters spent a week setting out the graphics and applying pearl silver over the purple base; Todd at Kick Ass Kustoms added the cards and dice airbrushing, while Aqua Dip handled dash panels.
Operator Dave Fuller told ACT he took pride in driving a truck that could do demanding recovery work and stand out while doing it. The gamble became a working showcase for the shop.
Words and photographs: Riley Blue. Images recovered from the original ACT Issue 2 print file.
Featured image: Kent Collision & Kustom’s Western Star heavy recovery truck. Photo: Riley Blue / ACT Issue 2.
Rear Vision: where is it now?
This is a 2013 archive account, not a statement of current ownership or operations. Do you remember this Western Star, work on its rebuild, or know where it is today? Tell ACT what happened next and share a current photograph.