Old school trucks: F W McDowall (pt 1)
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It could be said that the small Southland town of Browns was put on the map by F W McDowall Limited.
From modest beginnings, the dark green trucks became a common sight throughout much of the country. Eventually even trucks based in the North Island had ‘Browns’ on the door.
Initially, the rural sector formed the basis of the work for the company which grew rapidly throughout the ’80s and ’90s and saw a general freight division which included an inter-island service.
Much of the growth was due to the acquisitions of some sizeable transport companies coming under the McDowall banner. The most prominent of these were Winton-based Otapiri Transport, many South Island branches of Mount Cook Line, Hedleys Transport from Lumsden, and McCormick Transport from Ashburton, which eventually rendered these Iconic South Island companies into the archives of New Zealand transport history.
One of the more interesting concepts McDowalls adopted through the ’90s was importing second-hand trucks from England and Scotland. Some of these were modified locally to better suit New Zealand applications.
The last few years has seen a stark contrast to the previous decades with the Rural Division of McDowalls retrenching back to the deep south with what is now only a small presence in the Southland area.
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