John “Beetle” Bailey

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2015.

John Bailey was inspired by trucks for as long as he can remember. It started with his father’s 1936 Chevrolet truck which, as a youngster, John was fascinated with and loved to go for trips in. It was inevitable that young John would become a truck driver himself. Once John got his license he progressed through from the old Chev to Morris Commercial, Fargo, Chevrolet and Bedford. The first semi-trailer he drove was a Perkins powered Dodge. This was followed by a 1418 Mercedes Benz. He later went on to drive B Model Macks, including V8s and various F model Macks.

John started driving cab over Kenworths in 1974 and in 1976 he bought the third LNT 9000 Louisville to arrive in Australia. When he was 73 years of age John was still doing what he loved most – driving Kenworth trucks on the interstate runs for Lindsay Brothers. The Lindsay Bros Transport business was established in March 1953 by Tom and the late Peter Lindsay as a Coffs Harbour based business with two second-hand table top trucks which were used to carry local fruit and vegetables to the rail-ways for transportation to the Sydney markets. Working for Lindsay Bros was a highlight of John’s career.

After a long and illustrious career driving trucks John Bailey had plenty of stories to tell. He published a book called “Two Lifetimes behind the Wheel” describing his life driving trucks and carting freight; telling yarns that only other truck driving men can relate to. John loves the road. He intends to keep on driving trucks while ever he feels safe in doing so.