Hino heritage for Fleet Towing

Australia's longest-running builder of towing and recovery vehicles, Fleet Towing Equipment, says Hino has been instrumental to its success, with the Sydney-based operation now entering its 25th year of working with the Japanese truck brand.

Established in 1971, the company specialises in designing and building tow truck, cradle and slide bed bodies. It's been converting Hino trucks into towing and recovery vehicles since 1990, and has been working exclusively with the brand for the last 15 years.

Fleet Towing Equipment's proprietor, Wayne Moran, says Hino products are well suited to the rigours of recovery work.

"Recovery work is hard on trucks, and most importantly the chassis of the Hino trucks don't crack when used for towing day in, day out," he said.

"On top of that, they've got good brakes, a good turning circle, and they're comfortable and good to drive.

"They're the pick of the bunch for this application."

In addition to the conversions themselves, the company also offers accessories plus custom painting and airbrushing services, so clients can achieve a unique and eye-catching end result that's perfectly tailored to the task at hand.

"We've made some interesting vehicles over the years to fill all kinds of niches, and we fit them with chains, winches, lights, wheels, audio systems and any kind of accessory owners might want," Mr Moran said.

"The most memorable vehicles were the most recent ones we built for X-treme Towing in Adelaide – one was styled as 'Robocop' and the other was done with a 'Transformer' theme."

Ralph Scutella, owner of X-treme Towing, echoed Mr Moran's sentiments regarding Hino.

"I'm proud of my Hino trucks and I'm really happy with their customer care," he said.

"I've had a number of Hino trucks over the years and they just keep getting better.

"I'm happy with their performance and my trucks have been bulletproof."

Located in Revesby, in Sydney's south-western suburbs, Fleet Towing Equipment sends half of its custom Hino trucks to Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria, supplying vehicles to a range of major clients including another long-standing Hino customer, Kennards Hire.