Teletrac Navman Fleet Focus

First there was Walter (Wally) Pinfold – who put in 30-odd years running the show. Then came Podge – the boss for a standout 60-plus years! For the past 12 years (or more) there's been Steve – the third-generation Pinfold to run the family business.

Now, as this Carterton trucking company works through the first few weeks of its second century (yep, it turned 100 in May), there's a fourth-generation family member – Ethan (AKA Podge junior) – in the wings.

Like his Dad, his Grandad and Great-Grandfather before him, the 23-year-old loves trucks….and he'd seem the perfect candidate, sometime in the future, to carry on the Pinfold family ... ... 

It's complicated. For sure, Osborne's Transport is a real family business….has been for pretty much all of its near-on 70 years.
But, unlike most Kiwi trucking dynasties, we're not talking just the one family here – not the traditional father/son/grandson line of succession that so often is the way with longtime family businesses. Well, not so far anyway.
It'd help to have some grounding in genealogy to fully appreciate the twists, turns and intricacies of the DNA that's created this once big and bullish, now modest (and happy with it) Te Awamutu trucking company.
Essentially, three families – in amongst 12 different co-owners – have run the sho... ... 

Remember MacGyver – that hit tv series from back in the 1980s? And MacGyver himself – the super-cool, super-smart dude who came up with outrageous high-tech tricks to get himself and others out of trouble?
Well, about 30 years ago, the New Zealand trucking industry had its own MacGyver-like figure – Auckland transport operator Robin Thomas earning a bit of a whizz-kid reputation for his innovative thinking and can-do attitude.
With an old K-900 Series Dodge, a D Series Ford, a 4x4 Commer and an FR Mack – each with Hiab truck cranes – he was building a business on the back of finding ways to deliver bulky objects into hard-to-reach locations.