Rusty's old International

[kscarbel2]

Owner/Driver  /  October 27, 2016

Dennis ‘Rusty’ Radburn’s 1974 D1910 International has sentimental significance for the NSW south coast operator, writes Steve Skinner

Dennis Radburn has been a truckie all his life, and before him his late father Russell was a truckie from the age of 17. In turn third-generation Radburn truckie, Damien, now runs Kerden Haulage from its base at Nowra on the NSW south coast.

Spanning the three generations is this lovely looking old D1910 International, which believe it or not was a highway hero in its day.

Dennis and Russell used to run similar old Inters, but this one was recently restored after being bought from a bloke at Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast.

The emotional tie comes in with the personalised rego plate – RR 2157 – which belonged to Russell Radburn, the first ‘Rusty’ in the Radburn lineage. Russell was a single-truck owner-driver all his career.

Labour of love

The 1974 D1910 was restored in Kerden Haulage’s own workshop, after being stripped back to the chassis rails.

It boasts a 392 International V8 engine, which equates to 6.4 litres capacity in metric lingo. Power in these old bangers was about 190hp (140kW) with torque of about 300ft-lb (407Nm).

That’s not much to be pulling a bogey trailer by current standards, but the single drive classic is only rated to 24 tonnes GCM (gross combination mass) anyway.

Not that the Inter pulls its Loadmaster trailer much. The combination has been to the Penrith Working Truck Show, the Sydney Classic and Antique Truck Show, and the Clarendon Classic. Rusty is gearing up for next year’s Haulin’ the Hume, along the old Hume Highway between Sydney and Yass.

The prime mover does a little bit of yard work if necessary, but Rusty avoids even that. "I don’t want to get it dirty," he declares.

There’s a lot of other gear in the Kerden fleet, which boasts 30 prime movers – mostly Kenworths, including a new T950 ‘Legend’ – and 54 trailers in a wide variety of types since the company diversified from specialising in brick cartage.

Rusty started the company with a single truck in 1992, with his wife Kerry – hence the name ‘Kerden’. The couple have been together since they were 14 years old.

Kerden does everything from interstate line-haul with depots in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, to local work around the south coast and southern tablelands. Trailers include tautliners, flat-tops and high-cube tippers.

Rusty recently turned 64 and still works every day except Sunday.

"Everyone says what a hard industry it is, but I think if you put in the hard yards you get the return out of it," he says. "It’s a 24/7 thing, you never get away from it."

Wife Kerry has also always worked in the business, and has truck and forklift licenses to prove it. "I’ve never whinged about any of it," she adds.

Damien’s wife, Stephanie, is following suit in helping her husband run the business.

And now there could be a fourth-generation Radburn truckie in the making.

"Our granddaughter Imogen sits up with Damien," Kerry says. "She loves it."

TRUCK OWNER: Dennis ‘Rusty’ Radburn

COMPANY: Kerden Haulage

TRUCK: 1974 International D1910

ENGINE: International V8 392 (6.4 litre)

TRANSMISSION: 5-speed Fuller

REGULAR RUNS: Shows and yard horse

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[BillyT]

Well sorted "binder",is it built in Australia,doesn't resemble any medium duty internationals I've seen in America?

[66dc75]

They used the 57-59 A series cab for these with different front sheetmetal.

Same cab and interior as mine but steering wheel on the wrong side

[kscarbel2]

3 hours ago, BillyT said:

Well sorted "binder",is it built in Australia,doesn't resemble any medium duty internationals I've seen in America?

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/31209-when-the-dodge-boys-sold-trucks-down-under/

The Dodge variant was a beast of a truck.

[1965]

That dodge looks good!

[Brocky]

From the later 40's thru the 70's Chrysler and International had a very close working relationship in Australia. IH used the Dodge "Pilot House" cab for a long time before the IH "Comfovision" cab went down under. Then Dodge used the IH A cab for quite a while. Off the top of my head, I do NOT know the details, but all the info is out here in cyberspace.

 

[BillyT]

66DC.thanks for the info! Now I recognize the cab! The visor and front sheet metal tend to hide the cab! The red flatbed has the same front sheet metal as my dad's 52 L160 "binder" crane truck but the cab,under closer inspection appears to be a Dodge of the same era! As I recall the hood would tilt from either side (like the old Buicks) or remove if you unlatched both sides. At first I thought the beautiful green truck was an international,but it's a Dodge! Confusing,but cool,this site is a veritable storehouse of info! The red and white boom truck was a very popular design in America in the late 50s and 60s.

Is the steering wheel on "Rustys" International a factory item? Has swirls in the plastic like the old gearshift knobs on cars and trucks (Hudson in particular used this a lot) Also the old children's glass marbles!😁

Rusty didn't plan on EVER running out of gas did he? Of course I expect they don't have Pilots or TAs on every corner in nsw!

[Brocky]

9 hours ago, BillyT said:

Rusty didn't plan on EVER running out of gas did he? Of course I expect they don't have Pilots or TAs on every corner in nsw!

Billy Finding fuel on the Eastern coast of Australia is not too bad, but much further apart than in the States. When you get into the "Outback" is when food, fuel, and lodging become very scarce!!

Here are a couple of pictures of new Macks and KW's. I forget the capacities and they were in liters, but both of these trucks were about 6-700 gallons of fuel

[BillyT]

Wow! What a beautiful bulldog! I like the rural scene on the side are those decals or hand painted? Is there much diesel fuel theft down under? When the price of diesel fuel almost doubled in America guys used to park in a truck stop next to a sleeping driver and used an electric pump to pump his fuel into their tanks!locking fuel caps became popular! Also company drivers were selling their employers fuel to owner operators!