Blinged-up trucks converge on South Bank for Brisbane Truck Show’s heavy vehicle bonanza
By Nick Dent
If you’re on a lonely highway between Melbourne and Brisbane and look in the rearview mirror to see a thundering, jet-black semi-trailer with the Grim Reaper painted on the bonnet, don’t panic.
It’s not the Toe Cutter, Immortan Joe or any of the other Mad Max villains. It’s just Damian Toms’ Kenworth T909, affectionately known as “Karma”, driving one of its regular routes.
“I decided to go all black, and I thought, well, being all black, it’s got to be a bit sinister as well,” said Adelaide-based Toms, who is one of the managers at trucking company Auswide Transport Solutions.
With a Stygian view of the Nullarbor Plain painted on its sides, the design has a special meaning for Toms, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2021.
“I’m a cancer survivor. Basically, the Grim Reaper did not take me. It’s not my time, you can eff off! It’s a big finger to all the negative people and the haters out there.”
“Karma” will be spending the week parked in Little Stanley Street, South Bank, along with 27 other blinged-up trucks, for Brisbane Truck Show 2025.
Damian Toms’ prime mover with the bonnet raised to show the Grim Reaper design. Toms estimates $850,000 has been spent to purchase and customise the vehicle.Credit: Warren Aitken
The 28 salty rigs are competing in the inaugural Show ‘N’ Shine National Championship, bringing together prime movers from Show ‘N’ Shines in regional Queensland, Victoria, NSW and WA.
A panel of experts will choose a Champion of Champions, while the public can vote for their People’s Choice Champion.
“Each one of these vehicles has a story,” said Todd Hacking, CEO of Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia, which runs the biennual Brisbane Truck Show.
Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia CEO Todd Hacking (centre) with (left) Sandy Landers, Brisbane City Council’s Deputy Chair of the Economic Development, and (right), Queensland Assistant Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training, Amanda Stoker.Credit: HVIA
“Each one has an owner that’s poured money – probably too much money if we’re honest – into making them look absolutely fantastic.”
Just ask Kenny “J.J.” Easter, general manager of Queensland’s K.S. Easter Transport. The company’s “Pegasus Volvo”, a social media favourite still plying the highways, features custom airbrushed art by renowned late US painter Mike Lavallee.
In 2015, Lavallee was flown out by the Viking Trucks company on the Sunshine Coast to complete the job at considerable cost, with the help of East Coast Airbrushing.
“When I spoke to Mike he said this would be an expensive project, but he said ‘this will be something that will be a showstopper everywhere you go’.
“And sure enough, every show that it’s been in, it’s taken out first place.”
Pegasus Volvo, part of the K.S. Easter trucking fleet. Owner Kenny Easter recommends viewing it in the dark under LED lighting.Credit: Kenny Easter
While K.S. Easter is a large operation, Hacking said 75 per cent of Australia’s fleet was made up of companies with just one truck.
“You’re talking about mostly regionally based people who have probably mortgaged their house to buy a piece of equipment to have a profession as a truck driver, so it becomes almost an extension of the family.”
Brisbane Truck Show began as an industry-only event held in Rocklea in 1968, with 21 exhibitors.
Now, 57 years later, it’s the biggest automotive exhibition in the southern hemisphere and the second-largest trade show in Australia.
According to the Brisbane Economic Development Agency, 2023’s show attracted more than 43,000 visitors and injected $31.5 million into the local economy.
Hacking said that since 2019 the event had focused on involving the general public with activations and sister events.
The Heavy Equipment and Machinery Show at the RNA Showgrounds and the Heritage Truck Show at the Rocklea Showgrounds are taking place concurrently, while a careers hub in South Bank will introduce 1400 school students to the heavy vehicle industry.
“The whole surrounds of the Convention Centre will be alive and have a festival-like atmosphere,” he said.
The show would coincide with National Road Safety Week, and Hacking said exhibits shone a light on new safety technologies on the market, such as cameras that made it easier for truck drivers to see cyclists in blind spots.
“There’s all manner of low and zero-emissions technology, from just improving the aerodynamics of the vehicles right through to full-battery electric vehicles and alternative fuels like HVO, which is hydrotreated vegetable oil.
“This is the Australian industry’s biggest event, so this is where you’re going to see it first.”
Brisbane Truck Show takes place at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, May 15-18, with adult single day tickets costing $25.
Silverback Show ‘N’ Shine National Championship trucks are on display in Little Stanley Street, South Bank, throughout the show.
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