Wilson Bolton – the newly-appointed Daimler Trucks dealership in Horsham, Victoria – has delivered its first truck to a local farmer.
The company recently joined the Daimler Trucks dealer network, selling and supporting Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Fuso products.
Daimler Truck and Bus President and CEO, Daniel Whitehead, said it was great to see Wilson Bolton join the Daimler family.
“The team at Wilson Bolton are well known for looking after their customers across the Wimmera region and beyond and we are really pleased to have them selling and servicing our trucks and buses,” said Whitehead.
The new dealership’s first Daimler delivery was a Fuso 1124 Fighter Tipper, purchased by cropping and sheep farmer, Sam Eagle.
“It is very exciting to sell our first Daimler truck and to share this milestone with a great member of the community like Sam Eagle,” said Wilson Bolton General Sales Manager, Luke Hutchinson.
Eagle runs sheep and grows crops such as wheat, barley, canola and beans on a property he manages with the help of his parents, Geoff and Merryn, wife Emily, nine-year-old daughter Penny and seven-year-old son Henry.
Looking to replace a worn-out farm ute and facing an eight-month wait for a new one, he wondered whether a truck might do the job better.
“The price difference wasn’t actually very much at all and the Fuso Fighter is so much more capable,” said Eagle.
He explained that the extra payload and towing capacities mean it can do things a ute couldn’t.
“If we put a 3500kg fuel trailer on the back the ute is at maximum Gross Combination Mass which means legally we can’t carry anything in the tray,” he said.
“Also, during harvest, if we have a problem with the comb front on the header, which is very heavy, we can’t tow it into town to be repaired with a ute, but we can with the Fighter.”
Other benefits, according to Eagle, include being able to carry gravel and other material easily around the farm and haul rubbish to the tip without having to hook up a trailer.
“You just throw it all in the back, turn up to the tip, pull the lever and the job is done,” said Eagle.
He also observed that the Fighter tipper has more features than the ute he was originally looking at.
“You get a lot of features, three seats, a touch screen display and a rear camera, whereas they only just made air-conditioning standard in the ute I was going to buy,” he said.
The 1124 Fighter features a Gross Vehicle Mass of 10,000kg and a Gross Combination mass of 20,000kg.
It’s propelled by a 7.5-litre six-cylinder engine delivering 177kW of power and 745Nm of torque, teamed with a six-speed manual transmission.
Fuso Fighter models feature what are said to be class leading 30,000km service intervals to help maximise uptime and reduce maintenance costs.