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NEWS
Brick-hauling Benz clocks up a year
One of 40 trucks in the Clifford fleet, this 'new' 2651 is a hit with the owners and the driversClifford Brick and Tile has given the new generation Mercedes-Benz truck a thumbs-up after one year in the job.
The Ballarat-based family business has a fleet of 40 trucks and all but two of them are Mercedes-Benz or Freightliner units. Its fleet mainly services Melbourne, regional Victoria and Southern New South Wales, but there are also five trucks in Adelaide and one in Sydney.
The Clifford Brick and Tile trucks can be spotted from a long way back as they are beautifully presented with smart paint schemes featuring scrolls and other designs that are hand-painted by veteran Ballarat signwriter Mason Stevenson, who has worked on all the Clifford trucks since the mid-1970s.
Run by brothers Neil, Peter and John, the Clifford business has long been using Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner trucks.
They say they like the mixture of models and gearboxes which allows them to pick the best truck for the various applications.
“A lot of it comes down to where they are working, but we take driver preference into account as well,” says Peter Clifford.
Given the varied applications of the business, Clifford Brick and Tile was one of the 35 customers who were asked to evaluate the new generation Mercedes-Benz truck before it was introduced in Australia.
The brothers were impressed with the test truck and ordered a 2651 from long-term partner Daimler Trucks Somerton. It was one of the first of the new generation Mercedes-Benz trucks delivered after the launch late last year.
The 2651 runs at around 46 tonnes with bricks or tiles and is loaded 70 per cent of the time, travelling around Melbourne and back up to Ballarat. It uses a low loader trailer, which is fitted with a forklift at the rear.
“We don’t bother checking the fuel economy on it anymore because it is clearly the best on fuel in our fleet and is very consistent. The fuel consumption is excellent,” Peter says.
The regular driver of the new Mercedes-Benz, Ray Mollenkamp, also enjoys the new truck.
Both Neil and Peter still do a few shifts driving and can also attest to the quality of the new Mercedes-Benz.
“It’s nice and quiet,” Neil says.
I took it up to Stawell to pick up a load of bricks to come back the other day and it was very good to drive, nice and quiet,” he says.
The 2651 runs an all-new 13-litre in-line six-cylinder that generates 510hp. Like all new generation Mercedes-Benz prime movers, it’s linked to the automated manual transmission with a new crawler gear function.
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Written byTrucksales Staff
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