Bulk Transport Since 1950'
Custom Truck Builds  & Landscaping Yard

A tribute to Tony Kuchel, the Transtar 4070

Ever since Tony was a young lad he dreamt of owning a 4070 Transtar after buying the AMT 1:25th scale model. Fast forward to December 2018, we took a road train, small tautliner and a 5t excavator to Brenton Bell's to make a deal on an unfinished project truck including some donor cabs and parts for Tony to build and enjoy in his retirement. After tearing down the truck and tinkering away in between hospital stays he sadly passed away after a long battle with his health in September 2021. The project stagnated for a couple years until we gave ourselves a mission to complete it for Jacob and Philippa's wedding at the end of December 2024.

The cab was sent up to DJs Sandblasting & Restoration at Eudunda to get straightened out by Dave, Sheldon and Michael Reimann and had some colour thrown on it. Once back starting with a donor chassis from one of our old fleet trucks, Darren Stewart went to work on grafting the front chassis horns from the Transtar onto the rear rails and building an exhaust gantry. Wanting a smoother ride to look after the alloy cab and due to it being predominantly driven bobtail, we kept the airliner rear end, had front spring pins machined up to accommodate parabolics in the front and stretched the wheelbase. Once Craig Schubert sandblasted and painted all the chassis and driveline components, Shane Elliott bolted it back together and started on plumbing in the new air system, while Jordan Kuchel and Dave Green fitted all new wiring to the cab and chassis. At the same time Jason Davies got to work on making new top and bottom tanks for the radiator that were cactus, built under cab panels, aircon cover and straitened out the grille and cab trims which then Chad Rose brought back to life with his restoration skills.

The old crusty cab rams were sent down to Andrew and his expert team at Torque Industries to be rebuilt back to spec to get the cab up and down again. A donor 8V71 was sourced which was pulled apart and gone through and Jake’s were salvaged and fitted from the original motor by BMP Diesel Engine Specialist. Once back together it was sprayed international red and prettied up with ceramic coated rocker covers and manifolds by Dale at Adelaide Ceramic Coatings and bolted up to the 15 speed overdrive. A NOS factory fibreglass was sourced from marketplace in America and fitted finishing the cab off nicely.

Next the trim was mastered with plenty of diamonds by Stevie Baum of Stateside Trim (Tony’s life long friend since their apprenticeship days). Continuing inside the cab, the gauges were rebuilt by Dave at Gaugeworks then fitted to the dash panels hydro dipped by Wayne at Adelaide Auto Refinishers - SA Pty Ltd.

Moving to the shiny bits, the stainless air intake pipe was built by Matt and the boys at Reimann Manufacturing PTY LTD, new 3 ribbed guards from Silverback Armour, tanks polished by Grant at YP Rimshine, bumper and grill chrome wrapped by Winguard Paint Protection Specialists and lastly the shrouds, tank straps and battery box built by our mates at Bruze Custom Trucks! With all these bits finished, the end was in sight with Gordon Noack back on board he got to fitting the D’angleo turntable and helped Shane finish up the mechanical side of the build.

It was the end of November, which meant a month out before the big day and the truck was looking good. We just needed a little extra to tie it all together and that’s where Heath from Saunders Signs & Graphics came into the picture. He drove over the weekend before Christmas to lay down his crisp lines and style to the truck nailing the chrome sign writing on the door throwing it back to how Tony used to have it on his early S-lines and Transtar. A big thanks to all the above and everyone involved in this build to get it done in time for the big day and building a great tribute to a great man!

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