Gerry Hicks 1986 Kenworth W925 Restoration

Gerry Hicks, originally from Shepparton, is now based in Melbourne and has been in the truck transport business since the early 1970s. In 1986, he bought this Kenworth W925 new which came with a Caterpillar 3406B engine, torsion bar suspension, and ran a 13-speed gearbox through 3.9:1 Eaton diffs. He ran it on interstate trips for over six years before he sold it and the truck was relocated to Perth, WA. Gerry didn’t go looking for the truck to buy it back but about 12 years ago, Justin and Turk Kloss mentioned to him that it was for sale and were insistent that he should buy it back, as they were very familiar with the truck, having grown up around it and they were keen for Gerry to own it again. However, Gerry wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Even though Gerry was hesitant, he did go over to Western Australia to have a look, and he was amazed to find that it still had the original Cat B motor in it, the original Keith bullbar was still attached, and it was still on the original bud wheels, which were a bit unique back in the mid-1980s. He had a good look all over it, a price was agreed on, and he brought it back home. It was approximately 12 months before the restoration started, of which 90% was carried out by the Kloss brothers and Gerry did the rest at home. With a restoration such as this it required a lot of passion, as Gerry set out to take it back to how he remembered it, but to do this it needed to be stripped right back to bare metal and rebuilt from the ground up. The Kloss brothers stripped it down to the chassis rails and the only contemporary alterations not restored back to original was the 18-speed gearbox (which had replaced the 1986 13-speed box) was left in, and the torsion bar suspension has not been reinstated, though Gerry considers that this could happen in the future. Even the interior is back to the original trim. Gerry was lucky to get some of the original material from Rae-Line (who supply all the Kenworths), and in the original wheat colour. The first truck Gerry ever bought was a Mercedes-Benz 1418, in 1979. He’d only had it for about four or five months, when he was lucky enough to get a permanent job with Pirelli Cables, based at Minto, and this is where he then stayed for the next 15 years. After the Benz, he bought an imported Transtar 4070, followed by his first cab-over, a 1982, which he had for four years before he ordered the new 1986 Kenworth. He worked this truck with Pirelli until he left the company and sold the Kenworth. One thing led to another, and Gerry decided to move with his partner, Hayley, to Melbourne, where they continued to grow the business. They ended up with about eight or nine prime movers, approximately 20 trailers, six or so light rigids, and depots at Ingleburn, Melbourne, and Adelaide, while working the business pretty solidly until about 2019, when they decided to sell it to Land Transport. These days, they made sure to keep a couple of their trucks, as Hayley travels with Gerry while they still do a little bit of interstate, but, only what they pick and choose to do – they both turn 70 at the end of the year, so they have decided to slow the pace down a little. They say they’ve had a good journey, and that they now enjoy the opportunity to sit at shows like the Kenworth Klassic and catch up with everyone.