My older brother did his apprenticeship at Deakins in Oakleigh Victoria back in the early to mid 1950s. Deakins bought ten American army surplus Mack NR models with Mack Lanover diesel engines after the war. He said they all had something wrong with them, so they purchased them for a song, and built them up one at a time. They were LH drive at the time. Deakins used most of them as tippers, and a couple of them were configured as Low Loaders. They also had a 6 wheel drive NM Petrol ex Army Mack. It was a big engine, he said, and once it got hot enough, they would switch it over to power kerosene. He said it had a "lot of guts". An old mate of mine owned and ex-Victorian Tramworks petrol heavy duty tow truck which had a petrol engine. Long gone now, but he still has a spare cylinder head for it, as well as a workshop manual, and the spare parts manual complete with parts prices, if anyone is interested.
