Double Coin Imaging Awards

There’s a sharp car transporter travelling the Canterbury roads for the family-owned business of Parks Towing and it’s doing everything that’s asked of it and more.

It’s hard to miss the orange and yellow fleet colours of Parks Towing and when you accompany that with the sharp, aggressive grille of the Hino 700 series FS2848 6x4 cab and chassis it certainly stands out.

Parks General Manager Stuart Gerring says; “We’ve had a long-standing partnership with Hino NZ – it’s a great product. This is one of several trucks that we purchased through salesman Aaron Thompson who sadly passed away recently. Unfortunately, Aaron didn’t get to see the Hino 300 (pictured, bottom left) completed.” 

Parks Garage (as it was originally known) began in 1925 after founder Matthew Park sold his undertaking business and started Parks Garage. From there Parks Breakdown was established in 1925.

Over the past 10 years the business has experienced a growth phase with the purchase of another long-standing Canterbury business, Southern Salvage. This acquisition came about after they discussed purchasing one of their six car carriers.

“One thing led to another and three months later we were operating a linehaul fleet carting cars, trucks and machinery,” Stuart says. 

“Another growth area of the business has been our engineering department. Post Covid we started with one engineer building our own tow trucks and doing Lt400 repairs.

“We now have a team of six engineers who have carried out a vast number of new build projects from design to a quality finished product on the road which includes building rear and front mounted cranes along with rebuilding a Hydrovac unit and mounting it onto a 8x4 UD,”  says Stuart.

The Hino 700 has slotted into the fleet nicely and operates as part of the Parks port fleet, towing low loaders but the majority of the time it has the six-car carrier behind it transporting vehicles off Lyttelton Port. When it’s not required for port work the Hino travels around the South Island collecting and dropping off vehicles at various locations.

The six car TopStart carrier was built in Australia and imported by MTE. Designed to withstand some of the toughest conditions, TopStart trailers are built to last.

The Hino 700 Series FS 2848 6x4 has a 480 horsepower (353kW) Euro 6 E13C-BK 12.9 litre engine which produces 2,157Nm of torque. The ZF TraXon 16-speed AMT transmission is accompanied by an integrated ZFIT3 intarder and a four stage Jacobs exhaust brake which gets good use on the South Island terrain. 

Driver comfort is taken care of with an ISRI seat 6860/870 NTS2 with an integrated seat belt. Communication is always important whether you are talking to other drivers or calling up for your next job. The Hino is equipped with a Navman Telematics MNav unit plus CB radio with a general and closed channel which is used for internal coms.

Safety is also paramount and the Hino has some of the latest technologies including the (PCS) Pre-Collision System which includes AEB and PD, (VSC) Vehicle Stability Control, (LDWS) Lane Departure Warning System and also an adaptive cruise control to help the driver in changing driving conditions. 

Other features of the Hino are the LED main beam headlamps with daytime running lamps (DRL) and polished Alcoa wheels.

Since Parks began a rebranding project back in 2012, Rosiez Paint and Panel along with Paul Knight Signs have been used to get the trucks fleet ready.

The engineering department at Parks has also added additional marker lights along with a full custom rear light bar for the tail lights and a hydraulic PTO fitted to operate car carriers and low loaders.

With a busy and expanding fleet that has operated for the best part of a century, the Hino 700 Series FS 2848 fits in well and does its job to keep the wheels rolling for the team at Parks Towing.