{"id":136781,"date":"2025-11-15T18:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/136781\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T18:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:57:07","slug":"putaruru-truckers-restored-foden-wins-top-prize-at-morrinsville-motorama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/136781\/","title":{"rendered":"Putaruru trucker\u2019s restored Foden wins top prize at Morrinsville Motorama"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt came with a Cummins engine, but they were trouble when they reached 700,000km,\u201d Alf said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2000, I put in a Caterpillar 3406E 14.8-litre engine, which has 6-cylinders and produces 455hp, and I\u2019ve never had an issue with it since.\u201d<\/p>\n

The engine is coupled to a 15-speed Road Ranger gearbox and a Rockwell differential. <\/p>\n

Alf said it had done 1.6 million kilometres now, and neither the gearbox nor the diff had needed an overhaul.<\/p>\n

The truck body is about 6.5 metres long, with 10 wheels, eight at the back and two at the front and a tare weight of 8300kg.<\/p>\n

\" The weight of the bright yellow Caterpillar engine is a unique way of keeping the truck from bouncing around when there\u2019s no load. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

When carrying logs, it is a 44-tonne-rated truck, but when being used to transport heavy machinery, it is rated for 65 tonnes. <\/p>\n

Alf used his engineering skills to manufacture logging trailers that were lighter, allowing more load to be carted.<\/p>\n

\" Retirement suits the Foden S106 which spent 33 years clocking up 1.6 million kilometres. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

\u201cI retired the truck in 2021, and because it\u2019s quite unique and there are very few left in New Zealand, I decided to restore it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did everything authentically, even down to the traditional hand-painted sign-writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AlfAlf Williamson\u2019s Foden S106 ready for its first day at work in 1992.<\/p>\n

Alf and his wife Kath, who luckily for him shares his love of trucks, regularly take the Foden touring together. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been across to the South Island and completed the classic South Island Long Lap tour with other like-minded truckers and their trucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople enjoy seeing all the trucks, and it causes quite a stir when they all come into town.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Foden won the truck of the show at Morrinsville Motorama. Between tours, it sits pampered in the shed with the rest of Alf\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt came with a Cummins engine, but they were trouble when they reached 700,000km,\u201d Alf said. \u201cIn 2000,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1975,27703,138,6184,21642,1656,93420,3072,44309,2109,51049,1866,93418,296,31737,31045,93419,111,139,69,7497,1136,10512,63512,23908,8997,1858,34381,12633,1361,165,107,3010,74119,85019,29271,3608,1316,6202,1530,1959],"class_list":["post-136781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-at","tag-born","tag-business","tag-childhood","tag-collection","tag-company","tag-conversion","tag-drawing","tag-engineer","tag-family","tag-few","tag-find","tag-foden","tag-into","tag-mechanical","tag-morrinsville","tag-motorama","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-owned","tag-private","tag-prize","tag-putaruru","tag-qualified","tag-reasonable","tag-restored","tag-seems","tag-spent","tag-that","tag-their","tag-then","tag-top","tag-truckers","tag-trucking","tag-trucks","tag-were","tag-when","tag-wins","tag-years","tag-your"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}