LEGENDS
Spedding’s secret to retirement - Ian Spedding F
OR WELL OVER FIFTY YEARS, IAN SPEDDING AND HIS namesake business ‘Ian Spedding Transport’ has shifted copious amounts of kiwi dirt and earth in order to shape the modern day Auckland City that we see today. However, it’s this ‘hobbyists’ unwavering passion for keeping his trucks and gear in pristine condition that makes him a Southpac legend. Originally from the motherland, the now octogenarian Ian arrived on NZ shores at the age of 11. “My parents [Mary and Harry] came out from England in 1951. They bought a house in Otahuhu, and I lived there until I got married at 29.” Ian can trace his love of trucks back to his childhood, saying that he had “a thousand Dinky toys’ when he was a kid.” However, he is quick to add that even from an early age he was keen on machinery and was very mechanically minded. “I used to go and mooch around the bus company and one of the mechanics there decided that he and a mate were going to buy a service station and when they did, they took me on as an apprentice mechanic.” He recalls that the motor apprenticeship turned into a diesel apprenticeship and his engineering career grew from there. “I went to Otahuhu Welding and then Bitumix and then went to Eddie Seay of E. Seay Limited. That was great, I enjoyed that.” Ian says that when he started work for Eddie Seay, it was initially just driving. But since Eddie had a fleet of trucks, he also ran the workshop for him. “We built a big 10 bay workshop in Lovegrove Crescent Otara, and that’s the one I just sold,” Ian says.
60 | Truck & Driver
In 1970, Ian decided to go out on his own. He bought a truck and a licence and began carting rocks from the quarry. “I bought a licence off Morrie Selwyn for $500 in 1971. And that licence has a phosphate number with it which made you eligible for work every time a ship came in. It was gold for someone like me starting off as we got paid at the end of every boat load.” Spedding started off in business with a 7-tonne Commer and did a fair amount of work for Papatoetoe Borough Council, so was “up and away real early.” However, the Commer was soon to be moved on and upgraded. “I sold the Comer for a 1418 Merc because the traffic cops in Auckland city used to give you a smoke fine, basically anything that smoked they’d give you a ticket, they were really hot on it - nothing came out of the Merc.” Ian says the business grew from there. He recalls that he was mainly doing phosphate and quarry work, but soon got a tap on the shoulder to expand. “I just worked away quietly. Winstone’s came to me and asked if I’d put another truck on, which I did. I put on a blue and white Kenworth which was their colours of the day. It was a brand new W923 and in 1973 cost me $38,400 (Ian still has the sales slip).” With the addition of the new truck, Spedding also put on his first driver and together they moved quarry rock, bulk haulage around Auckland. The next year Spedding added another Kenworth to the fleet, a 1975 W924 and then another driver. “It was built in Canada in ‘75 and went on the road in ‘76. And then a year later I bought another one, so I had three Kenworth’s.”
