Bruce Gunter: A passionate truckie

Since a car accident and ongoing neck injury robbed Bruce of a future behind the wheel professionally, he has turned his years of experience in allocation and scheduling into a successful business in transport education and compliance.

We sat down with Bruce to talk all things trucks, podcasting, men’s mental health and of course the Kenworth brand.

Bruce is a modest, down to earth type of bloke, easy to get along with. But a short time yarning with him about all things transport, his passion and his eye for detail quickly shine.

Some say passion in the transport industry is unfortunately on the decline today. The days of Smokey and the Bandit dreams, CB chatter all night, radar detectors beeping and sitting on 100mph are all but a mid-80s foggy dream.

But Bruce is keen to remember those halcyon times through the restoration of his beloved 1978 ex Max Keough K125 Kenworth and a podcast series Copy Southbound, where he sits down with Australian transport big names like the afore-mentioned Max Keough, Frank Ammoroso, Rod Hannifey and Liz Martin to name a few and get their uniquely Australian views and history of Australian transport.

Bruce is a motor trimmer by trade. He got the same chat from his father Geoff, that a lot of us got when we were young, something like: “You’re not leaving school early unless you have an apprenticeship”. But trucking had been calling since Bruce was a kid. Toy trucks on the lounge room floor, a familiar story…

But a car accident at 25 and subsequent broken neck left Bruce unable to be a truckie like his dad.

Driving for extended periods wasn’t only painful but a tad dangerous, as another accident and neck injury could lead to life in a wheelchair. The recovery was slow. Bruce had plans and a broken neck wasn’t one of them, and this just weeks out from marrying his fiancé, Rachel.

His father Geoff started off in a 1950 Commer petrol Tabletop with a four-speed gearbox. This wasn’t by any means a speed machine. It was a Commer and it was good honest truck. Geoff carried anything that would fit, or overhung just a little, anywhere it needed to go. Produce was a common load and Geoff was a regular at the produce markets.

He was offered a job at Channel 10 Sydney driving an OB (outside broadcast) van. Geoff worked for channel 10 for twenty years and said it was a fantastic job. Bruce would often go with his dad and his love of trucks grew ever stronger.

Bruce did do some driving as a truckie. His first job was driving local in a V series Mercedes-Benz tipper carting grain into the CUB Brewery.

But the neck injury was causing headaches and pain elsewhere so it was suggested he have a go at transport allocations at Benedicts Transport then Adrian Scott at Camsons asked him to come over where he could do some driving as well as allocating. He was then offered a job driving a new NH Volvo truck and dog tipper for Sydney West Excavations.

The driving test? Drive the combination into a cul-de-sac, spin it around and back it back down in a straight line. By his own admission it was not straight but his supervisor, mentor and lifelong friend Vic Pike saw he knew what he was doing, good enough! But again, the neck pain caught up with him and five years in he was forced to drive a desk.

Bruce had stints as an allocator and transport manager at Erskine Pk Quarries, Warringah Cranes and Transport, Hi-Quality and Bingo to name a few until Bruce went into business for himself in the field of Training and Compliance and formed Prodrive Compliance. This is another of Bruce’s passions, education and training in the transport industry and helping companies navigate National Heavy Vehicle Law.

As a young apprentice motor trimmer, Bruce found a love of American cars. Back in those days they were cheaper to come by if they needed a bit of work. So, Bruce started on another of his passions, restorations.

There was a 1953 Ford Customline, then a 57 Chev was sold to get a 56 Cadillac along with his daily driver, a 69 Ford Ranchero. The Ranchero unfortunately almost brought Bruce closer to that wheelchair I spoke about earlier. On December 30t, 2021, Bruce was involved in another serious accident where he hit his head while driving the big Ford.

The impact broke Bruce’s neck for a second time after it had been fused on five levels with rods only six months earlier.

Back in 2007, Bruce purchased a Commer Knocker tabletop, similar to the model his father owned and started a bit of resto on it. But Bruce’s obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) kicked in and it became a full restoration, painted back up in Geoff’s colour scheme, red cab, black guards complete with yellow indicator hand on the driver’s door.

The Commer was sold to a collector in Bathurst to make way for Bruce’s childhood hero truck, an ex-Max Keough K125 cab over Kenworth. Power comes from Detroit Diesel’s finest V8 2-stroke 8v-92 and sent back through a 13-speed Roadranger to the original diffs sitting on Torsion bar suspension. The truck cut a fine sight in the late 70s and 80s. The restoration job that Bruce has done is nothing short of magnificent. It is as close to original as a 44-year-old truck can be.

It started with everything being removed. This literally was two aluminium chassis rails. Then everything was sanded, painted, or polished and slowly added back on. New nuts and bolts were used everywhere. The attention to detail is staggering.

The resto was done in two parts, chassis assembly was completed in the shed of good mate Ray Schembri from Parklea Sand and Soil while the cab was put back together at Bruce’s home. The Ranchero accident put paid to Bruce completing the build any time soon, so some mates got together to marry the cab back to its rightful home, on top of the freshly rebuilt and painted 8v-92.

Awaiting restoration is a 1930 Brockway Indiana and to keep in the good books with his very understanding wife Rachel, Bruce has also purchased a Denning coach converted motor home so that holidays can be enjoyed together. Also powered by a Detroit 6v-92, Bruce said that the coach will not be restored… but it will be “tidied up”

Travelling to Alice Springs with his dad, they talked about the old Hume highway days and how much fun it would be to try and travel as many of the old parts of the Hume they could.

In 2010 when about to depart Alice Springs and the Road Transport Hall of Fame, Geoff had a health scare and had to be flown back to Sydney for treatment. Bruce had time to himself on the long drive back to think about how to get the idea off the ground.

Geoff recovered and Bruce contacted Ron Kirk, Brad Dwyer and Ron Ross at the Western Sydney Historical Club with an idea to try and drive as many sections of the old Hume as they could between Sydney and Gundagai. Bruce put his hand up at this point and said: “We didn’t know a lot about organising a run like this”.

What he thought was only going to be 40-odd trucks, turned into something bigger than Ben Hur.

The first entrant, Glen Reedmen told Bruce that this would spread through the industry like wildfire. The morning of the first Haulin the Hume in 2011 arrived, and 143 entrants showed up!

Bruce was blown away. As the run started, he was contacted by the highway patrol who wanted to speak to the organiser of the truck protest. So, after a calming conversation on the side of the Hume Highway reassuring the local constabulary that it was a bunch of enthusiasts doing a run for charity and not a repeat of Razorback 1979, they set off. Another lesson learned: involve the authorities!

The charity was Aspect – Autism Spectrum Australia, one close to Bruce and Rachels heart’s. Helping children with autism. To date Haulin’ the Hume has raised over $160,000.

Word very quickly spread through the historic vehicle community of the fun that was had on Haulin’ the Hume and the dinner (catering nightmare) so the late Roger Marchetti and Rob French from Victoria decided they wanted to organise a northbound run from Melbourne up to Albury and a year later Crawlin’ the Hume was born.

Every year around September, an antique machinery rally takes place at the Hawksbury show grounds in Clarendon, near Richmond NSW. It’s a chance for enthusiasts to exhibit and enjoy antique machinery including stationary engines and related machinery, tractors, and historic cars and trucks.

There are swap meet stalls set up but for Bruce it’s another passion, the Kenworth Klassic. Dave Chapman was at the time, discussing the upcoming 50th anniversary of Kenworth in Australia and wanted to get a regular show for Australia’s most popular heavy vehicle brand, Kenworth.

The first year of the Kenworth gathering, Chappo organised one of every model built to be on display at the show. Quite an effort considering the number of models exceeds 40. Chappo then asked Bruce to help do an annual event and The Clarendon Kenworth Klassic was born.

He said from the start that this was not going to be a truck show like others in that there is no judging of trucks. The come as you like attitude has been extremely popular, although you’d be hard pressed to find a dirty truck, most of the entrants spend many hours washing and polishing their pride and joys. The motto of the show is: ‘No Judging, No Trophies, No Worries’.

“What’s a podcast?” Bruce asked work colleague Brendon Ryan after he suggested starting one. Bruce had no idea what was about to start. Another passion!

Fifty episodes later, Bruce has been privileged to speak to some of the pioneers of road transport in Australia. From early owner/drivers like Bob McMillan to 80s trucking icon Frank Amoroso. He told me that the list of people that he has lined up is growing. And if the numbers are any indication, Copy Southbound will be here to stay.

In the first 12 months they cracked 100,000 downloads. At the two-year mark they sailed through just over 500,000 and cracked 600,000 downloaded episodes in just two years and two months.

Related reading:
Commer knocker remembered
Crawlin' the (old) Hume
Mack Value-Liner remembered

The unexpected part for Bruce and Brendon is the impact they didn’t know they were having on men’s mental health.

“So many blokes have told me at truck shows and the like that some of the stories they’ve heard on the podcast have really hit home.” Bruce has spoken about his own mental health issues on the podcast and is encouraging not only men, but everyone who needs a hand to reach out.

“There are so many good organisations out there, we have to reduce the stigma of mental health, especially in the transport game,” he said.

So, if you think that the passion is lacking in the Australian transport scene then get along to Clarendon in September or have a listen to the Copy Southbound podcast and you’ll soon learn that passionate people like Bruce Gunter are alive and well.