George Blomfield
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2015.
George Blomfield, was born 1905, moved to Red Hill in 1932 to work for a carrier, Harold Brown, who sold farm produce at the Victoria Market. Mr Brown met with a fatal accident in 1934 and George continued to manage the business for the family. He married Elsie Brown in 1936 and reared five daughters.
George used a Federal diesel to carry produce for many years. World War Two saw a lot of changes in the industry. George had a Fargo truck with gas producer fitted and he put it under a semi and it could not get into top gear on the flat.
After the war George carted fruit from the farm gate to interstate fruit agents. Ed Cameron had also been doing this. After one trip he remarked “we have to get up the hills faster” so he bought a Brockway truck and powered it with a Cummins engine. As the business grew a Leyland “Beaver” was bought followed by an International L190. Post War the Hume Highway got into bad shape and the return trip to Sydney became an unpredictable journey.
In 1955 Ed Cameron contracted George about taking a trip to America. They had both been carting produce to Sydney Markets and had often discussed being unable to buy suitable prime movers for the interstate route. In Detroit they were told a minimum order was 50 trucks and after not striking a deal they headed for Seattle to the Kenworth Plant. The cost, $26000, was more than double the $12000 for the Leyland “Beaver”.
A preliminary design for Australian conditions and the conventional S900 Series was redesigned, tested and shipped to Australia. By August 1962 they were being tested. These ‘S’ Model Kenworths were the first Kenworths to be fitted with a Detroit Diesel engine. They were powered by 6V71 two stroke Diesel with a 12 speed Spicer transmission.
In October 1962 seven prime movers arrived in Australia, three for George (Numbers 76732 to 76634) and four for Ed (numbers 76635 to 76638). One of the last four was a demo model. These two men were the pioneers of Kenworth trucks in Australia. These were the first of many Kenworths that George would own over the years. George passed away in 1995.