Jeff Poulton’s family has been on Australian roads for more than six decades, starting with his father’s first trucks out of Beaconsfield in the 1950s — Jeff himself was driving in the spud paddock at age 11. At the centre of his story is a 1966 International Loadstar paired with a 1976 McGrath spread-axle trailer, a truck that passed through several owners, including Bruce McPhee and Trevor Matthews, before Jeff rescued it in 2004. Despite holes in the cabin, rusted floors, and a smoking engine, he brought it back to life.
A Loadstar That Kept the Family on the Road
Jeff’s stories range from working the produce markets seven nights a week and hauling citrus from Mildura to Rosebud, to running B-doubles and everything in between — Diamond Ts, Transtars, twin-stick gearboxes, and GM V6 conversions. Now 72, he still takes the Loadstar to truck shows to keep the legacy alive, a tribute to family tradition and the golden era of Australian road transport.
Jeff’s Loadstar is a working memory as much as a restoration. Three generations of his family have driven for a living, and the truck ties that history together. It’s the kind of story The Aussie Truckers Channel keeps returning to: not just the machine, but the driver behind it.
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