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Retirement ready
We’re hiring
Passionate panel
AMTA president steps down after three years at the helm.
Calgary employment expo shows industry opportunities.
Future of Trucking panel offers generational perspectives.
DECEMBER 2017 VOLUME 28, ISSUE 11
Reach us at our Western Canada news bureau Contact Derek Clouthier Derek@Newcom.ca or call 403-969-1506
WWW.TRUCKWEST.CA
RETAIL ING IS ADVERT 9PAGES 2
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Making some new friends MTA working with new provincial government on issues important to the industry By Derek Clouthier
A real head-turner Vintage Western Star traces its roots back to Kelowna, B.C. KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA Possibly the oldest of its kind in existence, Doug Small’s 1968 Western Star WD4964 began counting its miles in Western Canada. Now calling The Truck Shop dealership in Auburn, Wash. home, the truck was manufactured in Kelowna, B.C. during the second year of the Western Star brand’s existence. The vintage 1968 truck spent time on display at the Daimler Trucks North America corporate headquarters in Portland, Ore., and earlier this year rode cross-continent on a flatbed from Auburn to Quebec City, where it was on display at the 2017 Western Star dealer meeting. Despite its age, Small said the 49-year-old truck doesn’t need any help adding to its odometer. “It runs like a top,” said Small. “I would drive this truck anywhere. We just want to protect it.” Small and his brothers, Steve and Dan, purchased the truck for their dealership in December 2015. “We bought it because we love old trucks,” said Doug. “It’s got sentimental value because we’re a sentimental dealer.”
Though it now lives a life of leisure, the 1968 Western Star worked for more than 45 years, hauling logs and poles for a decade after being built at the company’s former plant in Kelowna. It was then converted into a crane tractor for the subsequent owners’ building truss company, delivering trusses in and around Washington’s Skagit Valley from 1978 until the company closed its doors in 2015. The truck maintains most of its original parts. The initial Cummins 335 engine was replaced with a Cummins Big Cam II with 400 hp in 1980, and in 1994, the 5-speed main box and 4-speed auxiliary transmissions where changed for an Eaton Fuller 18-speed. But its working days are over, and other than some coats of polish, the classic Western Star has only become more striking with age. “It’s a beautiful truck,” Doug said. “Customers come in, particularly the older ones, and they can’t stop oohing and aahing over it.” TW
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A vintage 1968 Western Star enjoys retirement after more than 45 years on the road.
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA The Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA) says it has the ear of its new government, however, challenges remain while the provincial Progressive Conservative party settles into its leadership role. In office since April of 2016 after ending the NDP’s 17-year reign, the government has been in talks with MTA executive director Terry Shaw about a number of issues facing Manitoba’s trucking industry, including the “made in Manitoba carbon tax policy,” which aims to avoid a federal plan being imposed in the province. “We’ve been involved from day one in helping this government craft that plan, helping them understand what trucking means to the economy and what trucking means in terms of environmental impacts,” Shaw said. “We’re using the most efficient vehicles cur-