In 1988, a young Tasmanian truckie named Mick left home with two bags and started driving for a TNT subcontractor. The Ford LTL he was assigned became his life for the next stretch of his career, running Melbourne to Perth every single week hauling Bulla Cream, 52 weeks a year, first truck on the dock at 3am every Monday morning. Decades of 36-hour runs across the Nullarbor, loading fish at Ceduna, and friendships made at truck stops along the way turned it into far more than just a job.
Finding the Ford LTL Again, 30 Years Later
More than 30 years later, Mick stumbled across his old truck sitting in a yard in Tasmania — he knew it instantly by the red interior. What followed was a complete frame-off restoration, stripped back to the chassis rails and rebuilt with original parts to bring back the iconic TNT orange and cream livery. Across its working life the Ford LTL clocked 103 return trips between Footscray Road and Perth, and this episode tells the story of the truck, the driver, and the era of interstate transport that shaped a generation.
103 return trips across the Nullarbor is a career’s worth of driving in one truck, which is what makes tracking this particular Ford LTL down in a Tasmanian yard so unlikely. Mick’s restoration isn’t just cosmetic — it’s putting a working life back on public display.
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