Giti Tyres Big Test - Birthday Bulldog

In one way, Christchurch earthmoving and demolition contractor Gerard Daldry is absolutely and utterly the kind of bloke Mack Trucks was thinking of when it decided to build its latest special edition trucks.

Then again…..he was also one of the most unlikely people to buy one of the 100 Macks (a mix of Super-Liners and Tridents) fancied-up to commemorate a century of Macks in Australia.

Daldry is a man who loves Macks. Simple as that. It's a passion that shows clearly when you walk with him through his collection of Macks. Well, some of them anyway.

His recall of the full details of Macks he's driven over the years suggests he's borderline obsessive. Like, he can even reel off their rego numbers!

Pirelli Trevor Test

It's been 100 years of Mack in Australia and naturally, to celebrate it they've brought out a 100-Year Anniversary Super-Liner.

A couple of them have made their way to New Zealand and we catch up with one of them down in Christchurch at Protranz, with owner Gerard Daldry.

It's an impressive beast with its 58-inch high-rise sleeper and full Australian 100-year customised King bulbar (with under-run protection). It comes complete with the full Aussie Ice Pack, but even on a warm summer's day in Canterbury we don't need it. 

Our job today is to bring back an excavator from out towards Lees Valley to the Protranz yard just down the road from the Christchurch Airport.

No visit to Protranz would be complete without a nosey around Gerard's impressive collection of trucks, with many NZ-built Macks and an extensive range of parts, including several E9 V8 engines.