Template for Thornycroft rebuild

The team at Tafe Queensland Skillstech now have the perfect template to develop plans for the restoration of our 1926 Thornycroft A2.

Avid historic vehicle collector Ron Toy provided his own Thornycroft A2 for display in the foyer of the 2017 Brisbane Truck Show.

He has now made that truck available again to assist the major legacy project led by Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia for our 50 year celebrations.

Why? Because our vehicle, recovered from a paddock in Glen Innes in NSW, was used as the stage for the first ever Brisbane Truck Show in 1968. It was on the back of that event that our organisation was formed.

Geoff Tillett is the on-the-ground project manager at Skillstech, and along with a few of his passionate colleagues, is guiding the team of apprentices applying their diverse range of new skills to the project.

“We will be using Ron’s vehicle to look at the cab design and structure as it was made from scratch” Geoff told us.

“The body was hand made with a number of brackets and hinges forged.

“We needed to look at the mounts for lights and at the guards, as they were also hand made.

“We will look at how we can use modern equipment to manufacture some of the required components and decide what should be made by hand using artisan skills, like forging and woodwork.

“We will also try and put together CAD drawings for dimensions etc from the vehicle which we can then modify when we compare them to the original photos.”

Join us on the journey to bring her back to life, culminating with her presence at the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show. Want to get involved or to support the project?

Join the Thornycroft Restoration Project – Facebook Group