‘It’s a boy’: Old girl’s resto in time for gender reveal

AFTER spending three years out in the paddock, this old girl has had a makeover and was front and centre for a recent gender reveal.

The 1998 Freightliner FLB, which is running on an N14 Cummins engine, belongs to Aaron Zuydam of Zuydam Transport.

He started the company with that truck almost a decade ago and through hard work, he has built the business up to what it is today.

Based in Violet Town, the company runs about half a dozen trucks, doing tautliner and flat top work, both locally and interstate.

Company driver Darcy Kirley, 26, who is expecting a son with his partner Jordan Donohoe at the end of June, decided he wanted to use the truck for the big reveal.

As blue smoke plumed out of the truck’s exhaust, Kirley was excited to learn he’d soon be welcoming a baby boy.

The second-generation truckie has been behind the wheel for over three years. He joined Zuydam Transport late last year and currently drives a 2006 Sterling – however he has his eyes on the restored Freightliner FLB, which he’s hoping will be back on the road within the next few weeks.

Kirley got the trucking bug from his late father, who was also a truckie. “After Dad passed away, Mum said I wasn’t allowed to drive trucks until finished apprenticeship, so I completed my arborist apprenticeship and then went and got my truck licence,” he said.

It was about a month ago that Kirley sprung the idea of using the FLB for the gender reveal on his boss Zuydam. “It was a bit of a rush to get it ready for the gender reveal,” Kirley admits.

After three years of sitting on the sidelines, the truck needed some love to get it ready for the day, so as well as getting the truck up and running again, the duo put a new bumper on, new guards, painted the chassis, added new steer rims and a drop down tail-light bar.

“It’s still a work in progress,” said Kirley. “We cleaned it up and added some new shiny bits for the day. Now it’s soon to be back on the highway,” he said.