Cecil Mitchell

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2008.

Born in 1952, Cecil James Mitchell, known as Cec, has seen, and been a part of, the road transport industry in many ways.  He is currently owner-operator of a 1998 International Transtar and still enjoys the occasional run when he gets the chance.

He first became involved with heavy transport when he was a training and testing officer with heavy transport in the army during the mid 1970s.  After retiring from the army in 1990, Cec began driving for Deluxe Coach lines for two years.

After this he established CJM Transport Pty Ltd to subcontract for Arnolds Transport, later known as TDG, and eventually part of the Patrick Toll Group.  His first vehicle wasa Ford 88LTL.  He remembers this truck well.  Finding the truck well-looked after and reliable, he purchased it from Naggy Transport.  Carrying cars on a double roadtrain across the gruelling distance from Adelaide-Darwin was high maintenance so every five years he would change trucks to ensure reliability and service.  His was the only roadtrain that operated for the company in that area for many years.

When rail was being introduced to the Northern Territory the personalised 'door-to-door' service diminished, decreasing the number of people operating in the area.  It was disheartening seeing the once flourishing roadhouses disappearing.  However, the change of roads from narrow dirt to wide bitumen, especially in the Northern Territory, was a milestone.  A sad time he remembers is having to pull people out of a truck only to find that the operator was drunk and had his family him.  They survived, but as a professional operator and a hardworking man, Cec, who has given his all to the industry from an early day, found this incident quite disturbing.  Cecil Mitchell well deserves to be remembered for his contribution to road transport.