Glen Lewis - The lap around Australia in a Kenworth T950

Glen Lewis was born and bred in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales where he has mucked around with trucks since he was about 5-years-old. His dad was a truck driver, but he wouldn’t let Glen follow into his profession, telling him that he had to get a trade. So, Glen got into the coal mining industry as an electrician. However, for the past 40 years, he has always had trucks on the side - he either drove them, or owned them and had drivers in them. For him, it is definitely a bit of an addiction - he had a Volvo in the 1990s, which was a truck and dog. Then, a brand new Freightliner Argosy in 2008, followed by a brand new Western Star in 2012. Glen said, “The trucks get in your blood - whether you’re a full-time truck driver or part-time, it’s still an addiction”.
Glen picked up his 1993 Kenworth T950 with an N14-Plus Cummins 525hp powerplant in 2014, when it came up for sale at ADTRANS. It was originally owned by a friend of his for around five years, before it went to McKibbin’s Livestock in Victoria where it worked for about 16 years under one driver for the entire time. Bill McKibbin had tried to trade it in, but the old driver wouldn’t let him. It wasn’t until the driver retired that Bill was able to trade it which is when Glen bought it. He’s the third owner and says its beautiful truck to drive and drives like new, even with its original 2.7 million kilometres on the clock. It runs an 18-speed Roadranger through 3.7:1 Eaton diffs on Airglide suspension.
He hasn’t had to do much to it - he just replaced a few mechanical or electrical components that needed it. He really just tidied it up and got all the stainless steel parts cleaned up, as well as put in some extra lights. He kept its white colour scheme for the first six years of owning it but decided to add some signwriting to it a few years ago.
He retired a few years ago and wanted to do something special for his 60th so he decided to drive his Kenworth T950 on a lap around Australia, where he did 15,500 kilometres in 40 days.
He actually only physically drove for 30 out of the 40 days as he made sure to have logbook breaks every Sunday. His wife also joined him for part of the trip so they would stop to look around a few places as they travelled. He also had a few mates who travelled to join him for parts of the trip - one mate started with Glen from home and jumped out in Cairns, QLD, after which he travelled solo for two weeks, from Cairns across to Broome, WA, where his wife then met him to travel from Broome down to Perth, WA, and across to Adelaide, SA. She then flew home, and another mate was waiting for him in Adelaide to travel the rest of the way to home. He averaged 520kms a day, which was comfortable - it wasn’t a huge task for the Kenworth. The biggest day was about 740kms and the shortest was about 280kms. Glen had mapped out the whole trip out, so he knew where he had to be every day. The only situation he had to fix was when he cracked a headlight, but it kept working so he left it alone until he got back home. He found the fuel consumption to be exceptional - he was getting 40 litres per 100kms and it ended up costing him about $12,200 in total, which he thought was ok for a ‘six-week holiday’. The legs of the trip he really enjoyed the most was travelling down the west coast of Australia, into Albany and Esperance, WA, as the scenery was beautiful. He liked crossing the Nullarbor though he was glad he didn’t have to do it regularly.
Glen said it was a great trip overall and he would thoroughly recommend doing it. He’s hoping to do another trip next year and fill in a bit more of the map by visiting the ‘Red Centre’ (Alice Springs), in the Northern Territory, and the surrounding areas of the outback. In the meantime, he’ll keep busy doing a few more charity hay runs.

[@anthonyteaia8698]

Awesome way to see the country

[@spiderbrandt4066]

Awesome mate

[@bogan4859]

One thing i remember about the t950 is they always had alternator problems. Went on more than afew trips with my uncle when he worked for west fuel here in W.A. always carried spare alternator and belts as they would throw out.

[@garylewis69]

Nice Truck Glenn,

[@68peterbilt68]

Good on ya. If I had the money, I'd be doin the same. My goal is to actually stop and have a look at all the places that I've gone past at 100, 10 ft off the ground and thought, one day I'll actually get time to go and have a look instead of driving past on a mission 😄 Truck on. 🤟😎👍🚛🚛🚛

[@rodneyjeffery9726]

cool

[@aj-kwt909truckin31]

Yep that's the ticket ~ designed and proudly built in Victoria, Australia 🇦🇺

[@rockbiterhd]

Well done would love to do it

[@garylewis69]

My ol father steerd trucks an was a True Kenworth,

[@R00RAL]

Is having a big truck worth it economically ?