Ken Salter

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2014.

Ken Salter began driving full time in the early 1970's in a cab-over Mercedes Benz carting wine to Melbourne and sometimes cider to Adelaide. Several years later the company brought a single axle 1418 Mercedes Benz but Ken was not happy because he lost his sleeper cab. In 1976 he started driving for Eagles Transport, going to Melbourne, Broken Hill and Alice Springs with a refrigerated van behind a bogie drive cab-over Benz.
Ken brought his first truck in 1978; it was an old Volvo G88 bogie drive with a 40ft Fruehauf trailer. By 1980 he had upgraded to a Kenworth with a 290hp Cummins. His next venture, in 1983, was a partnership with a syndicate doing earthmoving and haulage. Ken stayed with the haulage and employing seven drivers and purchasing several new trucks. This turned sour and by 1989 he was back to driving for himself. In 1990 Ken purchased two Macks, one for himself and one for his youngest son. He sold them in 1992 and bought a Kenworth T600 with a CAT motor and started doing Express freight for NQX. Later he got a contract hauling loads of computers from Sydney to Perth.

In 1996 Ken upgraded and bought two more T600s so he could drive one and his son the other. In 2000 he purchased a T950 and a new Freighter trailer and they continued to cart slate, honey, copper and lead to all cities.

By 2005 Ken had had enough of the government bureaurocracy so sold up and went to drive for his mate in Sydney where he started to get involved in heavy haulage and oversize loads. His eldest son could see the revenue in this, so in 2008 he brought a new T608 Kenworth and all the necessary equipment for wide loads and asked Ken to drive for him. He is still doing this today.
After 40 years of driving, Ken still loves what he does. He has made a lot of friends and had a lot of fun. He is not happy about all the red-tape and government rules but he especially appreciated the mateship he has had with his fellow truckies over time.