Back in September of last year (2025), my husband and I jointly braved my fear of spiders to fly to Australia for the first time. Over the past few years, we’ve become good friends with a few Aussies who have become semi-frequent visitors to American truck shows, and it was high time that we headed to their hemisphere. I could fill an entire issue with stories from our two weeks of non-stop trucks but wanted to highlight one particular part of the adventure – our visit to the Museum of Vehicle Evolution (MOVE) in Shepparton, Victoria.
Located about two hours north of Melbourne, it was one of our stops on our 1,800-mile Aussie road trip. While our visit was only a couple of hours long, it deserves to be commemorated! The museum’s website discusses how the local community came together, bonded by a growing passion for the motoring industry and its history. Open since 2011, MOVE houses anything with wheels including bikes, motorcycles, and cars, but obviously, the readers here want to know about the trucks at the museum.
Kenworth has engineered and built trucks in and for the Aussie market from their factory in a suburb of Melbourne since 1971 (a factory tour was also part of our adventure). They sponsor the commercial vehicle display at MOVE, which includes buses and a wide variety of makes and models of trucks like Mack, Mercedes, Peterbilt, obviously Kenworth, lots of Australian brands, and even a very rare (yes, rare) Freightliner FLC 120.
American companies have sent trucks to Australia for decades to put their durability to the test. The 1982 FLC at the MOVE is one of only two imported, specifically to be tested by Aussie conditions. 2.2 million miles of testing eventually determined that it was not conducive to the market, in part due to its length, along with the results of the rough roads and their poor treatment of the aluminum cab and hood. Strict length laws (still in effect today) meant that these trucks were also never made into right-hand drive production vehicles. But the testing did eventually allow for production of Australian-manufactured FLC112s. If you cannot tell from the photo of me with this FLC, it was mighty cold inside the museum!
A 1988 Mack SuperLiner greets visitors to the pavilion. Next to the truck, a TV screen shows why it gets to be front and center. The truck became a Guinness World Record holder in 1994 when it pulled 29 trailers, with 28 converter dollies, pulling 500 tons, or 1 million pounds! Kevin “Plugger” Bowden drove the setup through the town of Bourke. A painted bulldog with “500” adorns the side of the hood and commemorates the feat accomplished by the white and green V8 powered Mack.
An interactive area for kids gives young children (and adult-sized kids) the opportunity to climb inside a T610 cab and sleeper while simulating driving down the road. Toys and a dress-up area can also occupy their attention while parents read the timelines.
Through our outsider observations, we really saw how Australia’s trucking industry has a sincere desire to preserve the legacy of drivers past (The Truck Drivers’ Memorial Wall in Tarcutta could have an article of its own). In the MOVE’s truck display, each truck is accompanied by a huge banner detailing the truck and its owner or company’s history. MOVE is so much more than just a vehicle museum – it’s a destination where stories of innovation, design, and transportation come to life.
For those of you who cannot get to Australia to see the current display in person, check out the museum’s website (www.moveshepparton.com.au). There is some pretty cool stuff to see there. And if you do happen to make it “down under” and over there, be sure to put this on your list of things to do, because you will not be disappointed.