Every man is allowed a mid-life crisis car, aren’t they? Usually these are red, have two doors and are made by one of the great marques.
Of course, the picture in your mind might not exactly match what we ended up getting, but when I took the family to Ournie to meet the red, two door, all wheel drive Mercedez-Benz, it was simply love at first sight.
When we turned up to look at the big red truck, we met a real character in its owner, Michael. Michael’s first question was almost impossible to answer. “Whaddaya want to use it for?” he asked…
I didn’t really know what to say. I mumbled something about using it for a horse truck.
“Nah. Too slow for that.”
“Um… I don’t really know.” I confessed. Michael look at me curiously. I think he thought I was just a little mad. But nonetheless he let me take the take the family for a spin. And we were hooked. Slow it might be, but it was so much fun.
With the move coming up, I could see a real benefit in being able to load up all our farm equipment onto the truck – and so it didn’t take much for me to say yes.
And Myrtle? The name came from a story dating back to its RFS days. The truck was going flat out to a fire near Ournie, with a full load of water and a crew onboard. One of the crew looked out the window and said over the roar of the engine “Oh look, we’ve been overtaken by a turtle”.
This is one of the last LA911 trucks made in Stuttgart Germany. It rolled off the production line in 1983, and was initially delivered to Telecom, before being transferred to the Ournie Rural Fire Service sometime there after. It has traveled a mere 38,000km making it barely run in. That said, the hills around Ournie are pretty steep, and given this truck gets along at around 70km on the flat, it would have plenty of hours on the clock. These trucks have been known to put up with years of abuse and hard work, opening up large parts of Africa and South America where the term ‘roads’ is an euphemism.
The engine is the venerable OM352, a 5.7 litre direct injection 6 cylinder diesel renowned for its longevity and simplicity. The OM352 commenced production in 1964, and is found in trucks, tractors and boats the world over. Later models were turbo-charged, however this one is naturally aspirated.
I feared parts were going to be an issue, however Donaldson Motors in Melbourne has a full parts catalogue online – and most parts in stock. The truck does need a new hand throttle fitted (as this also shuts the engine down), and a new one was delivered from Singapore within a week. Impressive service indeed.
Nearly everyone who has seen the truck reckons it is fantastic, and loves it. Except for one, who reckons I’m crazy. But he’s a diesel mechanic. What would he know?
So what are we going to use it for? Well I do have a couple of ideas, but I reckon it would make a great camper. With a coffee machine so I can sell coffee in remote areas and fund our travels. In the mean time, it might haul firewood on the new not-so-rocky farm. And i reckon it makes me look pretty cool too. After all, isn’t that what a mid-life crisis car is supposed to do?
rockfarming 