The ‘Red Terror’ is a 1955 International AR162 truck. My wife, Helen, and I purchased it in March/April, 2003 from a vehicle collector near Gisborne, Vic, who had purchased it as part of a collection from a deceased estate nearby. He was after the military vehicles but, in order to get them, he had to purchase the whole collection. Later investigations showed that it had first been registered in Victoria in 1957, going by the original GYC100 registration, and was probably used on a grain farm in the Wimmera. This raised the question of whether it had been a government truck, or if it had originally been registered ‘over the border’ in South Australia.
We didn’t originally intend to buy and restore a truck. Whilst packing up at the end of a rally at Lake Goldsmith, we had to load two engines, then place camping gear around them. Realising the weight involved, we decided we should really upgrade from a regular 6x4 to a tandem trailer. The following February, while at a Historic Commercial Vehicle Club of Australia (HCVC) meeting, we mentioned that we were looking for a secondhand tandem trailer, and at eh end of the meeting, a couple of members took me aside and gave me details of a 3-tonne 1941 Ford. We organised to go and look at it, and Helen bought a truck sales magazine to read in the car on the way. She pointed out one, and said “I like this, what do you think?”. It appealed to me as well.
After looking at the Ford and realising it was beyond our skills and resources to get back on the road in our timeframe, we left it where it was. Over lunch, we looked at the advert again, and calculated that it was located in a town we would pass on the way home, so we rang for instructions and stopped in for a look. I was interested, but knew nothing about Internationals, so when we arrived home I made a few phone calls. Terry Lowe offered to come with me to look at it, and we decided I should buy it - I was now the proud owner of a ‘self propelled tandem trailer’ that I wasn’t licenced to drive, and I started to wonder what I had done!
The truck wasn’t registered, so a couple of weeks went by as we organised insurance, vehicle permits, and help to drive it, etc, and just before Easter, 2003, Terry, Helen and I went to pick it up. We drove it back to Eltham, dropping it off at Alan Cameron and Michael Malone’s (who I know via the Eltham Steam & Stationary Engine Preservation Society (ESSEPS)) factory - they insist on checking any secondhand vehicle for safety before driving it. Between them and Robert Guy the master cylinder, booster and wheel cylinders (all eight) were bored out, had stainless steel liners fitted, then reassembled. They also fitted some old-new stock parts in the steering. There was no need to touch the motor as the “oil came out cleaner than that in a modern car”, the compression was even and there were no bearing noises, even when using a stethoscope. The recommendation was made that “the motor’s in good nick, let’s not break anything by taking it apart”. I fitted clearance lights on the tray, and painted the back of the tray white as requested for visibility reasons and it was historically registered and back on the road in October 2003. While this was taking place I had obtained a Heavy-Rigid licence that more than ensured I could legally drive it.
Its “maiden voyage” was to the November 2003 Lake Goldsmith Rally without any dramas at all. It was then displayed at the HCVC Display Day and driven to the ESSEPS Christmas Party. The President’s report of that meeting said “Bruce & Helen Paroissien debuted the ‘Red Terror”.
A small electric two way winch was added which enabled my stationary motors to be loaded safely with the tipper making unloading by tipping the tray and lowering it down ramps on the winch easy. In this condition it was driven around on club runs all over the place (including Albury and the NHMA National Rally at Narracoorte) and displayed until 2006. During this time I noticed the IH badge on the grill was chrome on other trucks but red on mine. Out came the razor scraper and I was successfully revealing the chrome on the badge when I slipped and hit the grill bar. The paint pealed off to reveal it was chrome too. It turns out the bar was chrome on the AR162 truck but painted on the smaller trucks including the marginally smaller AR160 and AR161 series. At this stage other than purchasing the truck at Gisborne we knew nothing about its history
At Narracoorte a couple of HCVC members asked if they could take a closer look at it. I said ‘sure, open anything you like to get a good look’. A bit later, they approached me saying “that truck looks like it was a grain truck and only just starting its 2nd time around the clock, It is not worn out enough to have done muck more - the condition of the steps and doors are a give away”. A few months later the cardboard headlining started dropping and was breaking to fall. I took it out so it didn’t fall on my face while driving and found some rats nests (but no rats). The newspaper was for Wimmera region papers, confirming the thoughts of a grain farm truck. Similar remains were found when the seat was removed for recovering.
We had been storing the truck under tarps when not in use as we had no under cover space for it. Helen insisted we build a ‘truck port’ for it to protect it before I did any work on the body or tray. This was built around the time of Melbourne’s Commonwealth Game’s. Once it had all been painted, the truck was moved in.
About this time we noticed the tray was moving more under our feet as we walked around while loading engines, tools or camping gear.
I removed the tin with an angle grinder almost setting fire to the timber as I did it but a bucket of water I had nearby (just in case) solved that problem. As expected this revealed the wooden tray was absolutely rotten and needed replacement. We decided to rebuild the tray and estimated it would take 6 weeks to do.
I was slowly pulling the tray apart to see how it was put together to be able to rebuild it. Jarrod Blair turned up to help and we started angle grinding bolts rather than trying to undo them as they were usually so rusted they were breaking anyway. Within a couple of hours we were standing in a pile of 50 year old scrap timber.
We did save the original steel from the tray for reuse while the timber was ‘recycled’ into the wood heater where it burnt quite well providing plenty of winter warmth!
Removing the tray showed the condition of the wiring so it was removed as well. Once that was removed it seemed like the right time to tidy up the chassis. It and the under-body hoist were high-pressure water blasted then what looked like the remains of super phosphate was removed with a wire brush (much to Helen’s disgust when she smelt my clothes!). The paint stayed firm but the whole lot was coated in a rust converter, then a couple of coats of Kill Rust paint to protect it.
New wire was positioned ready for the lights. At the same time the original metalwork for the tray was cleaned up with a wire brush on an angle grinder, painted with rust converter, primed then coated with Bareco International Red or Black Kill rust as appropriate.
While all this was going on Gary Gladigau organized the new timber for me from a hardwood mill (now closed) local to where he lives. I gave him the order on Sunday Night; Monday Night he rang me with a price which I accepted. He told me it would be 3 to 8 weeks as they cut the timber in house lots and cut an extra piece as they go. That Friday Night I got a call from Gary “Your timber is on my tandem trailer, I am going to visit my son who lives near you, will you be home” Of course I was! The timber arrived. “What do I owe you for cartage?” “This coffee will do” was the reply.
While it was apart we did a check on the mechanical components and found the rear spring hangers on the front springs were excessively worn.
With the assistance of Dave Horne and Stephen Corstorphan these were fixed and the truck ended up sitting an inch higher at the front – back to its original height
The tray, as originally built, had timber cross members. Unfortunately they don’t mill timber to the required size any more so we ordered twice as many pieces of half the width (if that makes sense). Russ Marshall took them, glued two pieces together to make the correct size and cut them to the original profile. These and the other timbers were primed then painted with 2 coats of International Red or coated with 4 coats of deck oil as appropriate.
Assembly day arrived and Russ Marshall, Peter Lynch and Eric Platt came around to give me a hand, by the end of the day we had the frame of the tray together.
This was then given another coat of International Red. The idea was to get the surfaces to be paint on paint rather than timber on timber to help prevent water (and therefore rot) getting in. I only want to do this work once!
Once the frame was together I had the space to paint the deck timbers in deck oil and the headboard timbers red front and side with deck oil back. Top and bottom received 4 coats each and each coat also covered the sides so there were 8 coats where I would not have access once it was put together. Ron Cross came down and assisted me with the headboard and a builder neighbour, Wayne Cunningham, came down and helped me do a dummy assembly of the tray. He cut the final board to length and a couple of weeks later, after I had finally painted the timbers, came down to help with assembly. Once the tray was all bolted and nailed together the appropriate timbers got another 2 coats of deck oil or one coat of International Red and the original metalwork painted.
During this time it was tilt-trayed to the HCVC Display day and a temporary setup using shortened original cross members and plywood guards enabled it to get to the Domain Gardens on Australia Day 2007.
It went so much better without the tray I almost left it off!
April 2007, about 12 months after this 6 week project was started, the ‘Red Terror’ was back on the road attending HCVC runs etc. While the tray was apart Ray and Bill O’Hallaron had given me a toolbox to go under the tray. Uncertain how to mount it I spoke to Stephen Corstorphan for advice. He provided a couple of fuel tank brackets from his scrap pile which I cut to size, painted then bolted to the chassis. The toolbox was then bolted to the brackets. I purchased a 9000 lb winch to tow my stationary engines onto the tray from Neil Roberts who also made a bracket for me to enable me to mount it to my tray (a project still in progress)
Having done all this work the cab was looking a bit out of place. Many years prior to me obtaining it the truck had received a cheap respray. The fact the headlight mounts had been painted over gave it away. There was a dent in the grill panel, the roof, and an area on the back that looked like it could have been welding splatter painted over or maybe rust which I wanted to take back to investigate (luckily it was the former). By the time these areas were fixed it seemed to make sense to paint the whole cab. I had worked this out in 2003 and slowly gathered the parts I needed as I found them at Swap Meets, as gifts from HCVC and ESSEPS Members, Barry Thomas would often leave parcels for me at work saying “Dad (Rob) found this while cleaning up the shed and thought you could use it” and elsewhere, Amongst the parts Rob supplied via Barry was a needed window winder handle.
In September 2008 the truck was taken to Jim and Stephen Corstorphan for attention being beyond my skill and time availability. The original plan was to paint it red with a black bumper but as time went on changes were suggested and given the use of the vehicle now they made sense. A start was made and the vehicle was rubbed back, had 6 coats of primer to give room to rub back and highlight the lines
Four coats of white were applied to the roof and 8 coats of red basecoat on the rest of the body to give some depth. This was then covered with 4 coats of clear topcoat. It was done this way to stop the red going chalky.
When purchased the original mirror arms were in use with more modern mirrors of about 3x2 inches attached. These were too small to be useful and I had replaced them with mirrors about 6x4 inches in size, assisted by spotter mirrors. These vibrated badly when moving inhibiting vision. Stephen got a small pair of West Coast Mirrors, He also arranged for a set of grab handles to be made up to make entry and exit easier. He also suggested the white roof. I wasn’t sure about it at first but liked it when I saw it. The bumper was also done in white. Having seen it I changed my plans for the pin striping. I had originally planned black pin striping but kept the design, changing the colour to white as I thought it would match in better. I had a company name “NFI Transport” that I wanted on the door along with “Red Terror” on the bonnet. I wanted the writing to be in a style used in the 1950’s so I left the fine details to the signwriter, Coldstream Signs, who did all the signwriting and pin striping by hand. During this time the badges and grill bar were taken to be rechromed at Prahan Platers. I was very happy with the result.
While the truck was away the neighbours asked “Where is your Red Truck? We miss it terrorizing the neighbourhood.” I realized how many people helped me out. Helen and I decided to have a “Red Terror Rebirth” BBQ inviting friends and those that helped us out. At the party Barry turned up with a bottle of Red Terror Rebirth” Port, which will probably never be opened.
While the major work has been done it is not quite finished yet with headlining, new carpet or rubber flooring, fit the winch to the tray and fixing the gauges that are not working still on the to-do list.
What does NFI stand for? Well it appears that some people have ‘No Flaming Idea’. If I get pulled over it is officially ‘No Farm Ignored’ but is really limited only by your imagination. Other suggested meanings have been “No Fools Inside”, “Nearly Finished International”, “No Fertile Imagination” and “Not For Idiots” just to name a few. I am sure there are others but will leave that for you to have some fun with.
*Bruce Paroissien
