While seeing the odometer on a truck click over the coveted one-million kilometre milestone is a noteworthy experience, there are some commercial vehicles in daily operation in South Africa that have far exceeded that mark – and then some!
One of them belongs to Gustavo Caldora, who has been in the transport and plant hire business for a number of decades. As the owner of G4G Plant Hire, Gustavo is often required by clients to transport different types of loads from one part of the country to another, hence his need for a versatile, powerful vehicle.
With the cost of new trucks running way beyond his budget, Gustavo decided to take a chance on a used vehicle in the form of a 1999 Scania 144G 460 which, to date, has covered about 4,5-million kilometres.
“It looked to be in good condition and, what’s more, it was affordable. That’s why I bought it,” says Gustavo. He adds that both engine and transmission are the truck’s original items, bearing testimony to their mechanical durability.
Caldora has performed maintenance and scheduled services in-house since taking ownership of the vehicle just over a year ago, and in that time has often transported loads from the Johannesburg area to the Western Cape without encountering problems.
In order to distinguish his prized possession, Caldora has repainted the truck in white with red front trim. The only other modifications he has carried out involve the vehicle’s wheels, some of which have been replaced.
To put the Scania’s outstanding mileage into perspective, the distance from South Africa’s northern-most border, Beit Bridge, to the country’s southern-most tip, Cape Agulhas, measures about 2 100km, which means the truck would have covered that distance more than 2 142 times in racking up its incredible 4,5-million kilometres.
