Owner/Driver #328

“My grandpa John King bought his
first Scania in 1981, a 141.”
Top: The trusty Scania 143
that served the Kings for 30
years and 1.8 trouble-free
million kilometres
Right: Daniel King with his
son Jaxson and wife Karly,
with their freshly delivered
Scania
For Daniel, he’d achieved his dream and taking delivery
of that shiny new Kenworth was every bit as special as
he’d imagined.
“Taking the Mack off my old man was grouse, but picking
a brand-new truck from a dealership is just something I’d
always wanted to do,” he says.
“Even the Kenworth hat and jacket are a part of that memory,
as silly as it sounds.
“I hooked it all up and off I went. It’s just clicked over
200,000ks and compared to the earlier trucks it’s been great.”
Another trick bit of equipment you’re sure to see on the
back of the T610 is Daniel’s Manitou MTX 625 4WD telehandler,
which he says will get just about anywhere on a construction
site. It looks like a hoot to drive, too!
Nowadays Daniel contracts for PGH bricks and pavers out of
Scoresby, servicing the growth corridors around Victoria, from
Seymour to Lorne, the CBD and beyond.
“Late last year I got offered another contract and so I knew
I’d be needing another truck,” he says.
The choice of what truck to get for the job was a decision
that came easily after many years getting to know the ins and
outs of various Scania models, and one that allowed him to
continue a family tradition.
“For that contract I wanted a Scania, for the particular
application it was the way to go,” he explains.
Many decades after his grandfather’s first Scania purchase,
Daniel took delivery of a new P 450 8x4 twin steer rigid tray top
to add to the fleet now consisting of his Kenworth T610 SAR
and the various other Scanias in the King family.
“There’s a photo of me when I was two or three standing in
front of my grandfather’s 141, and now there’s the photo of me
and my son in front of my new Scania,” he says.
Daniel’s decision to go with a European cab-over came down
to the combination he planned on running, as well as the
amount of technology in the Scania.
“I was pretty blown away by the amount of technology in the
truck, and what Scania offered with the driving training and
the safety features,” he says.
“I get the email every Monday morning telling me what the
truck has done over the last seven days, from fuel to braking,
even cornering. It’s leaps and bounds ahead of the Kenworth
for technology.
“The things like lane departure and the driver aids obviously
18 MAY 2020 ownerdriver.com.au