Robert Peter Picone

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2021.

Robert Peter Picone (Bob) was born in Nhill, Victoria in March 1944.

In 1963 Bob started driving for Carland Transport driving an International AA 164 petrol truck, towing a 34 foot Fruehauf Trailer.

In 1964, Bob bought his first truck, a Bedford TK Diesel and towed a 34 foot Fruehauf trailer as a contractor for Austral Steel in Adelaide, South Australia. After 16 months, the Bedford was traded for an AT4 675 Dodge Perkins Truck, and the trailer converted to a bogie axle. Bob ran this business for three years.

In June 1966, when Bob married Betty Meyer, the business became a partnership known as RP & B Picone.  After the birth of their first son, John in 1967, and daughter, Christine, in 1968, the business traded the AT4 675 Dodge for a AT4 760 Dodge 361 petrol.

In 1969, Bob worked under contract for Jack and Dave Toll, based in  Footscray, Victoria. He  carted General Motor Holden components and supplies from Melbourne to Adelaide. Bob continued as a subcontractor when East Coast Transport bought Toll’s.

In 1973, their second son Paul was born, and the Dodge was re-powered with an 1160 V8 CAT Motor with 10 speed road ranger gearbox, repainted and detailed. Bob went on to drive this truck for over 11 years, covering in excess of 1,120,000 miles.

In 1979, a  Ford LNT 9000 with a 903 Cummings engine was purchased to continue work with East Coast Transport, renamed Intermodal, towing one of their trailers for six months. The next year, Bob went to work for Mario Satori in Melbourne carting steel for Sherwell Manufacturing and cement for Ray Merrett, Nhill out of Adelaide. The business was sold in 1982 and Bob was employed as a driver by Hindmarsh Shire but twelve months later, he started driving night runs for Meier Transport. He continued driving for this business until they shut down in 1992, having  covered 1.5 million kilometres and driven three different trucks.

For the next 22 years Bob drove for RJ Martlew in Bordertown, South Australia. Driving eight different trucks, he drove over 4.6 million kilometres. Bob retired in 2014 after 51 years of driving in excess of 9 million kilometres.