Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
"Before we didn't know we couldn't"
The Rhodes Ridley was commissioned in 1958. Unfortunately, during its construction, laws governing the roads in the outback of WA were changed. This piece of bureaucratic procedure sounded the death knell of the mighty Rhodes Ridley truck, along with an era in road transport, decades before its time. This magnificent behemouth that emerged from chalk marks on a floor was robbed of the opportunity to have a very proud past, and to make a huge contribution to the earlier development of mining and transport in Western Australia.
We can never know its potential. Despite this setback Don Rhodes led his company with characteristic determination and successfully pressed on.
The truck used ex military WWII General Grant tank engines (twin pack 6-71 GMs) and transmission parts fitted to a fabricated chassis and casting made specifically for the project.
Code No. 017661, 143 pages, ISBN 9781684541478, $38.00