Daimler Trucks is donating a historically-important Sterling truck to Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill for its commercial vehicle collection.
The Daimler Truck Group retired the Sterling brand in 2010, replacing the models on offer from its sister brand Freightliner.
The donated LT9500 was built in 2008 as an engineering development unit for the right-hand-drive Sterling program to meet the ADR80/02 emission standard and endured a durability and reliability test programme on Daimler Trucks proving grounds in North America.
The unit, fitted with the 450hp MBE4000 engine, was driven for hundreds of hours over rough road surfaces in extreme weather to ensure the upgraded LT9500 was tough enough for Australian and New Zealand conditions.
At the end of the development programme, the LT9500 was shipped to Australia, where it was used by Daimler Trucks to train technicians and apprentices until it was recently retired.
Regulation dictated that Daimler Trucks was unable to sell the retired truck, but the company didn’t want to send it to the crusher for recycling given its historical significance.
Director of Bill Richardson Transport World, Jocelyn O’Donnell, expressed an interest in adding the Sterling LT9500 to its collection that numbers more than 250 trucks and 50 cars.
O’Donnell’s father, the late Bill Richardson, established transport group, HWR, in New Zealand as well as building up a truck collection.
Several of the group’s companies purchased Sterling trucks in the final decade of the brand, taking delivery of the last of 91 units in December 2010.
The donated LT9500, which is fully functional, will undergo a freshen-up before going on display at Transport World that features trucks, cars and associated memorabilia spread over more than 15,000 square metres of space.
O’Donnell says everyone involved in Transport World is thrilled the LT9500 will soon be on display.
“It will be a great addition to the collection and it’s nice to see the preservation of these vehicles,” she says.
Freightliner Australia engineering, product planning and technical service senior manager, Rodney West, is excited the Sterling is going to such a good home.
“Bill Richardson Transport World is an incredible display, with some fantastic vehicles,” says West.
“We are so happy that our Sterling evaluation vehicle is now part of the collection,” he says.
Bill Richardson Transport World had previously been open to the public, but only by appointment, which limited the amount of people who could enjoy it.
Following the addition of an enormous new art-deco hall fully equipped with everything from a café and children’s play area to conference rooms, Transport World opened to the public full time in November 2015.
More than 28,000 people visited in the first six months.
Star models at Transport World include the rare 1940 Dodge Airflow Texaco tanker, seven pre-Model T Fords and the world’s only known surviving 1914 Stewart one-tonne truck.
