Picard’s prize-winner

THE HEAD-TURNING BLUE AND ORANGE LOGGERS WORKING IN Rotorua’s M.A & L.P. Picard fleet have won the 2022 Double Coin Tyres Transport Imaging Award.

The award is judged from the 11 poster trucks featured during 2022 in New Zealand Truck & Driver Magazine

M.A & L.P Picard’s two-year-old Kenworth T659 logger was the poster truck in the December 2021 – January 2022 issue of the magazine. The prizes include a specially commissioned painting of the truck by artist Paul Astwood and a pair of Double Coin steer tyres.

Mark and Lisa Picard operate a fleet of 18 trucks from Ngongotaha, mainly loggers working around the North Island but also have a contract with Foodstuffs carting supermarket supplies between Auckland and Rotorua.

The fleet featured on the poster shortly after two new Kenworth T610 loggers went on the road and a new T659 was due to arrive.

The Picard loggers are painted in Prodrive Rally Blue with a teal stripe and detailed with a specially mixed orange. The orange is used as the chassis and trailer colour contrasted by blue bolsters.

Mark says the company inherited the colour scheme from a Mitsubishi Shogun the couple bought from Brian O’Malley to start the business 22 years ago. Over the years subtle changes have been made to the graphics with the biggest refresh being a new company logo that was introduced when the company bought its first bonneted trucks.

The most recent trucks in the Picard fleet have been detailed and signwritten by Darren Caulfield in Rotorua. Malcolm Cab Solutions in

Rotorua do the stainless steel work on the loggers and all of the recent units work with Patchell logging gear and trailers.

“We are so honoured to have won this award,” says Lisa Picard.

“On behalf of MA & LP Picard Ltd a huge thank you to New Zealand Truck & Driver Magazine for entering us into the award, Paul Astwood and Double Coin Tyres, we can’t thank you enough.”

The artwork has been hung on the wall at the Picard’s home.

“The painting is awesome. It’s got a crazy amount of detail in it,” says Mark.

Artist Paul Attwood says painting a modern truck was something different for him.

“My love is the older trucks and almost all the work I get commissioned to do is `eighties and `nineties trucks. People love the Super-Liners and W models.”

He says he spent about three weeks on the work.

“I can’t give a definite count on the hours involved. Maybe one day I will keep a log,” says Paul

“I started on Christmas Day and about three weeks later it was ready to package up and send away.

“Every painting I do I put the same effort into to get the fine details,” says Paul.

“I always start with as many photos as I can find. I’m a signwriter as well and I apply the same skills as signwriting to my art. There’s a lot of cutting and masking involved to get the sharp lines and the detail.”

In the past 12 months M.A & L.P. Picard has continued to grow its operation. A second-hand truck has been added to the fleet and a new Isuzu Giga CYJ 530 8x4 truck and trailer unit has gone to work on the AucklandRotorua run for Foodstuffs in January.

Mark says there’s also another Kenworth T659 logger on order that’s expected to be a 2024 arrival.

Paul Astwood takes commissions for both canvas and large board art works and can be contacted via Facebook. T&D