James (Jim) Nicholson

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2007.

James (Jim) Nicholson served his time in his father's business at Werribee. He enlisted in the army during WW2 and was the NCO. IC of the engineering reconditioning section of the 11th ADV workshop in New Guinea.

After his war service Jim joined Antill Ranger and bought a half share in an S-model Bedford with semi-trailer and drove interstate for two to three years. Antill Ranger grew rapidly and Jim took over the maintenance for the company.

Early in the 1950s Antill Ranger took on the Rootes Franchise (Hillerman, Humber, Commer, Karrier) in a subsidiary company; Truck Sales and Service.

Jim looked after the workshop. He developed some very advanced technical solutions for Commer trucks so much so that Rootes England purchased timing kits from the company in Australia. In the late 1950s Antill Ranger took on the Mack franchise. Jim was now in charge of the Antill Ranger's fleet maintenance and also was overseeing the truck sales and service dealership workshops.

By 1960 Antill Ranger was a public company and it was taken over by Mayne Nickless. Jim dropped out of fleet maintenance but stayed with the dealership which was mainly Mack and Commer trucks. Very early in the 1960s a group of the ex-Antill Ranger staff purchased the Truck Sales and Service Business from Mayne Nickless. Jim was one of the investors and carried on his role as head of technical service support.

In 1965 Truck Sales & Service formed Swedish Motors to import Volvo cars and trucks. Jim was very much a part of this. In 1970 Swedish Motors joined AB Volvo in forming Volvo Australia Ltd. Jim was a foundation shareholder. Jim initially took on the position of Service Manager, later moving into the role of technical training. There is no doubt his previous experiences in road transport helped him climb the corporate ladder as he had worked his way to the top striving to keep his customers satisfied. Then around 1972 he took over the role of supporting the export markets of New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, as far afield as Tahiti, with technical support and training.

Today Jim is retired and living on the Gold Coast. One son and two grandsons remain employed in the automotive transport industry.