Western Star Heritage restoration: from the yard to the show circuit

Some of the best ideas arrive at the worst possible hour. For Ray, it was 1:00am when a truck he hadn’t driven in years suddenly occupied his thoughts – a 1997 Western Star Heritage sitting dormant in the yard, its engine already replaced and its potential quietly fading. By morning, the decision was made. He was going to restore it.

The truck had come into Ray’s possession via his brother Mark’s contact at Carlins Automotive Auctioneers, which doesn’t usually deal in big rigs but knew the brothers might be interested.

For about 10 years it worked out of their container business, ANR Freight Services, in the inner Melbourne suburb of Yarraville. By then the Star had seen better days and eventually retired to the back of the yard. Ray was ready to part with it – until that sleepless night changed everything.

A friend who’d previously restored their Peterbilt pointed him towards Alan Mounsey, a craftsman well known for his work on Paul Freestone’s interstate fleet.

The Western Star spent nearly two years in his care. Parts sourced, paint laid, suspension overhauled, but the Caterpillar 525 was left alone as it had already been replaced under Ray’s ownership.

Ray lights up when talking about the custom touches. A sentimental mural across the back. An interior that required dragging a trim specialist out of retirement – the kind of bloke who does things properly because he can’t do them any other way.

Inside the cab, luxury touches such as a television and 12/240-volt converter allow the truck to run household appliances, making the Western Star as liveable as it is eye-catching.

The tanks are painted rather than polished, a deliberate choice that gives the build a unified, purposeful look. Fresh checker plate runs across the back, the whole rear of the truck alive with lights. Up front, a custom bumper completes the vision.

Every decision was Ray’s, thought through carefully over the two years the truck was away.

Mechanically, the truck is true to its heritage. Original chassis, no stretching. Road Ranger gearbox and Eaton diffs unmolested.

It was never about reinventing the truck: it was about honouring it.

Ray’s father Tony spent more than 30 years with AR Neil Transport as a contractor, hauling paper out of railway sheds from the late 1950s to 1987.

The paper came in from Morwell by train, and across the road was a company called BSC, packing and unpacking containers. That, Ray says, is how the container business started – which he stepped into at 16, fresh licence in hand, after deferring a university accounting degree he never went back to.

His brother Mark was a plumber at the time. Ray made him an offer: “You want to come on board, or you’ll keep digging holes for the rest of your life.”

Mark joined about 10 years in. Now, 47 years since starting in the mid-1970s, the business stands as a testament to what a family builds when it backs itself from the beginning.

After completion, the Western Star headed straight to the Castlemaine Truck Show. It has also appeared at a couple of local car shows in Altona. Early outings, but enough to see what the truck does to a crowd.

It’s the kind of build that stops people mid-stride – a Heritage model with genuine history, carrying the right amount of bling while remaining a real working machine given a second life by someone who understood its worth.

Two years of craftsmanship. One sleepless night that started it all. When you see it at a show, you’ll know it: the mural, the lights, the custom bumper, the painted tanks.

But behind all of it is a simple story: 47 years of a family built on transport, and one truck that reminded a bloke at 1:00am exactly why he got into this game.