Event: Gore Truck Show 2022

By: Dean Middleton, Photography by: Dean Middleton

Date: 11.07.2022

The coveted title of 2022 Gore Truck Show ‘King Riga’ went to Southern Transport’s sensational Mack Anthem bulkie

Rohan Haulage’s Freightliner Argosy took out the ‘Best Freightliner’ and ‘Best Curtainsider’ awards. This truck was immaculate and would have been my pick for ‘King Rig’.

Te Anau Healy Limited won the ‘People’s Choice’ award with this colourful CF95 DAF livestock unit

The theme for the show this year was Mack Trucks to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the brand in NZ. Nearly a third of all tracks at the show wore a bulldog.

Winton Cranes’ superb new FM460 Volvo carried away the ‘Best Crane Truck’ award

G.R. & B. I. Henderson’s classic R-Model Mack—one of 38 Mack trucks that attended the show

Scott Transport’s sensational line-up of Kenworth loggers

Freight Haulages’ new R620 Scania waltzed away with the ‘Best New to 40,000km’ category and ‘Best Scania’ awards

Wilkins Farming brought along four immaculate trucks to the show, including this K200 Kenworth dropsider

Riverview Contracting from Cromwell brought along two Macks along with this smart T409 SAR Kenworth aptly named ‘Sar-Casm’

The 38 Mack trucks that attended the show did not fail to impress the truck enthusiasts

I think any B-train unit on logs is a standout and this McNeill Distribution Mack Trident certainly proved that theory

Wokatu Holdings brought along their pre-loved Scania with a new conveyor unloading system on the truck and trailer; you could have been mistaken for thinking the whole unit was brand new

Eden Haulage added to their already impressive trophy cabinet with ‘Best Fleet’, ‘Best 400,000km–700,000km’, ‘Best Nissan/UD’, ‘Best Tractor unit’, ‘Tidiest Oldest Working Truck (W-model), and Best ‘Line Haul’ (T410 SAR)

This smart Herberts Transport DAF took out the ‘Best 100,000km–400,000km’ category and ‘Best DAF’ awards

Switzers Valley Transport’s S650 Scania is a jaw-dropper and won the ‘Best Stock’ truck and ‘Best Paint’ categories

Dynes had several impressive units on display

During the parade, the ‘Classic Macks’ kept coming and coming

During the parade, the ‘Classic Macks’ kept coming and coming

The coveted title of 2022 Gore Truck Show ‘King Riga’ went to Southern Transport’s sensational Mack Anthem bulkie

Rohan Haulage’s Freightliner Argosy took out the ‘Best Freightliner’ and ‘Best Curtainsider’ awards. This truck was immaculate and would have been my pick for ‘King Rig’.

Te Anau Healy Limited won the ‘People’s Choice’ award with this colourful CF95 DAF livestock unit

The theme for the show this year was Mack Trucks to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the brand in NZ. Nearly a third of all tracks at the show wore a bulldog.

Winton Cranes’ superb new FM460 Volvo carried away the ‘Best Crane Truck’ award

G.R. & B. I. Henderson’s classic R-Model Mack—one of 38 Mack trucks that attended the show

Scott Transport’s sensational line-up of Kenworth loggers

Freight Haulages’ new R620 Scania waltzed away with the ‘Best New to 40,000km’ category and ‘Best Scania’ awards

Wilkins Farming brought along four immaculate trucks to the show, including this K200 Kenworth dropsider

Riverview Contracting from Cromwell brought along two Macks along with this smart T409 SAR Kenworth aptly named ‘Sar-Casm’

The 38 Mack trucks that attended the show did not fail to impress the truck enthusiasts

I think any B-train unit on logs is a standout and this McNeill Distribution Mack Trident certainly proved that theory

Wokatu Holdings brought along their pre-loved Scania with a new conveyor unloading system on the truck and trailer; you could have been mistaken for thinking the whole unit was brand new

Eden Haulage added to their already impressive trophy cabinet with ‘Best Fleet’, ‘Best 400,000km–700,000km’, ‘Best Nissan/UD’, ‘Best Tractor unit’, ‘Tidiest Oldest Working Truck (W-model), and Best ‘Line Haul’ (T410 SAR)

This smart Herberts Transport DAF took out the ‘Best 100,000km–400,000km’ category and ‘Best DAF’ awards

Switzers Valley Transport’s S650 Scania is a jaw-dropper and won the ‘Best Stock’ truck and ‘Best Paint’ categories

Dynes had several impressive units on display

During the parade, the ‘Classic Macks’ kept coming and coming

During the parade, the ‘Classic Macks’ kept coming and coming

All the action from the Gore Trucks Show 2022

In the 30-odd years I’ve been attending New Zealand truck shows, 2022 was only the third time I’ve been to a Gore Truck Show. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first being that it’s held at the start of winter (Saturday, 3 June this year) and the other is that the Invercargill Truck Show is on our calendar almost every year and that event is always a good opportunity to photograph Southland’s best.

This coupled with the fact that there had been a drought of truck shows over the last year due to COVID meant that Benny, my second-born son Joel (yes, he has also jumped on the truck show circuit bandwagon with his older brother), and I jumped in the ute and headed south. 

It’s commonplace for us to arrive early on the day to snap a few shots of the trucks arriving, and it wasn’t long before we realised that this would be a big event. This was an understatement, as, by the time the last truck was parked up, the venue of Transport Repairs, Gore branch had exceeded its capacity with at least 20 trucks, which had to be tactically parked across the road on a dead-end street in an adjacent bus company yard. 

Once the dust had settled, more than 140 trucks were ready for the judges to view. There were 38 Macks in attendance, showing huge support for the theme of the show this year, which was the celebration of 50 years of Mack trucks in New Zealand.

The highlight of the day was the truck parade from the venue down the main street into central Gore with adults and children lining the streets to get a view of the immaculate gear on display.

Prizegiving was held later in the afternoon at the Croydon Lodge on the outskirts of town and hundreds of people from the trucking fraternity went along to see who the prize-winners would be.

The coveted ‘King Rig’ trophy was awarded to Southern Transport’s sensational Mack Anthem.

The theme for the show next year is the Kenworth brand, and it’s already looking to be every bit as successful as 2022.

Prize winners

Find new and used heavy machinery for sale in NZ   

Keep up to date in the industry by signing up to Deals on Wheels' free newsletter or liking us on Facebook.