The roadside signage in Waihi proclaims the south Coromandel town as being `New Zealand’s Heart of Gold’.

The Waihi gold mining history dates back to 1878 and with a slice of coincidence in 1992, gold also became the colours of Waihi-based Lockley Transport.

John Lockley says he is sometimes asked if there’s any connection between the choice of colour for his trucks and what his hometown is famous for.

The answer is no. Gold became the signature of his family-operated transport company purely by chance, when John took delivery of a Navistar 8200 in 1992 - which just happened to be painted in factory Las Vegas Gold.

This New Zealand Truck & Driver Big Test has been a long time coming. In mid-2023 we are still seeing the effects of Covid-19 disruption to the supply chains, holding up new truck deliveries.

One example is this special Kenworth Legend SAR model, which was launched in 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic. The first ones are now here, and it has been worth the wait!

The latest in the Kenworth Legend special edition models is the third cab off the rank, following on from the Legend 950 (2015) and the Kenworth 900 (2017). The Legend W900SAR has been developed by Kenworth to celebrate 50 years of manufacturing in Australia, and also pays tribute to the first Kenworth model designed, engineered and built in Australia specifically for the Australian operating requirements.